The Black Arrow

The express, it appeared, had brought great news. A battle was impending. Sir Daniel had sent for every man that could draw a bow or carry a bill to go post-haste to Kettley, under pain of his severe displeasure; but for whom they were to fight, or of where the battle was expected, Dick knew nothing.

Dick's wardship → Black Arrow outlaw band → Wars of the Roses battles → Shoreby rescue → marriage forms a serial adventure spine with historical frame, so plot scores 87.

Two men came forth out of the thicket, each in green forest jerkin, each with a long bow upon his back and a black arrow stuck in his cap. "Why, Lawless," said the younger of the two, "it is young Shelton."

Dick Shelton's yeoman growth, Joanna Matcham's disguise, Lawless's roguish piety, and Sir Daniel's greedy villainy are solid but less iconic than Jim/Silver, so cast scores 88.

On a certain afternoon, in the late springtime, the bell upon Tunstall Moat House was heard ringing at an unaccustomed hour. Far and near, in the forest and in the fields along the river, people began to desert their labours and hurry towards the sound.

Serial origin shows in Kettley setup and repeated skirmishes; Shoreby siege and wedding breakfast restore forward motion, so pace scores 86.

He drew bridle willingly enough—a young fellow not yet eighteen, sun-browned and grey-eyed, in a jacket of deer's leather, with a black velvet collar, a green hood upon his head, and a steel cross-bow at his back.

Stevenson's Tudor diction ('pottle of spiced ale,' 'sanguine-coloured cloak') is vivid though the author rated it below Treasure Island, so prose scores 89.

Tunstall hamlet at that period, in the reign of old King Henry VI., wore much the same appearance as it wears to-day. A score or so of houses, heavily framed with oak, stood scattered in a long green valley ascending from the river.

Wars of the Roses border country—Tunstall, Kettley fens, Shoreby—reads as adventure geography against a real dynastic backdrop, so world scores 89.

"It is the ruin of this kind land," a woman said. "If the barons live at war, ploughfolk must eat roots." "Nay," said Dick, "every man that follows shall have sixpence a day, and archers twelve."

Midnight rent-collecting at Kettley is atmospheric but lacks Treasure Island's mythic omen; the Black Arrow summons arrives slightly late, so hook scores 84.

The tale was written years ago for a particular audience and (I may say) in rivalry with a particular author; I think I should do well to name him, Mr. Alfred R. Phillips.

YA historical romance in serial form competes with Phillips rather than inventing a new template—Stevenson's own footnote concedes this, so innov scores 82.

Thenceforth the dust and blood of that unruly epoch passed them by. They dwelt apart from alarms in the green forest where their love began. The other, who had been a bit of everything, turned in the end towards piety, and made a most religious death under the name of Brother Honestus in the neighbouring abbey.

Forest retreat while Gloucester marches to Bosworth—gentle lovers' epilogue and Lawless's friar death—competent rather than unforgettable, so ending scores 85.