The Black Arrow · Chapter
The Sack of Shoreby explained
After the battle, Dick searches for Joanna amid the chaos of Shoreby's sack.
What happens
After the battle, Dick searches for Joanna amid the chaos of Shoreby's sack. He finds Sir Daniel's house pillaged and learns that Sir Daniel has fled with Joanna. Dick requests fifty lances from Richard of Gloucester to pursue Sir Daniel, but his request is granted only after he forfeits future favor by pleading for the life of the old shipman Arblaster, whom he had wronged earlier. Dick secures the lances, but his encounter with Arblaster fills him with remorse. He then leads his men in pursuit, discovering the body of a young girl with long brown hair along the way.
Themes in this chapter
War and Political Conflict
The chapter depicts the aftermath of battle, the sack of Shoreby, and the brutal realities of war, including pillaging and summary executions.
Greed and Corruption
Soldiers loot houses and seek booty, reflecting the greed that follows victory; Dick's own actions contribute to Arblaster's ruin.
Revenge and Justice
Dick seeks to pursue Sir Daniel for personal grudges, while Gloucester dispenses harsh justice without mercy.
Characters to notice
- Dick Shelton
Leads his men after the battle, seeks Joanna, negotiates with Gloucester, and experiences remorse over Arblaster.
- Richard of Gloucester
Commands the Yorkist forces, grants Dick lances but warns him that mercy will cost him favor.
- Sir Daniel Brackley
Flees Shoreby with Joanna before his house is sacked.
- Joanna Sedley
Missing after Sir Daniel's flight; Dick seeks her.
- Gossip Arblaster
Captured and condemned to hang, but Dick secures his release; he mourns his lost ship and his man Tom.
- Catesby
Assists Dick by providing horses and lances, and explains that Gloucester's favor is based on Dick's name.
Key passages
“There was not a foe left within striking distance; and Dick, as he looked ruefully about him on the remainder of his gallant force, began to count the cost of victory.”
With no enemies nearby, Dick surveyed his depleted men and realized the heavy price of their success.
Dick reflects on the losses after the battle.
“I owe you one thing that I value little, my life; and one that I can never pay you for, this victory.”
Gloucester acknowledges that Dick saved his life and secured the victory, debts he considers immense.
Gloucester offers Dick a reward for his service.
“An I had had my ship, I would 'a' been forth and safe on the high seas—I and my man Tom. But ye took my ship, gossip, and I'm a beggar; and for my man Tom, a knave fellow in russet shot him down.”
Arblaster laments that if Dick hadn't taken his ship, he and Tom would have escaped safely; now he is destitute and Tom is dead.
Arblaster expresses his grief and anger at Dick.
“He saw, through tears, the poor old man, bemused with liquor and sorrow, go shambling away, with bowed head, across the snow, and the unnoticed dog whimpering at his heels, and for the first time began to understand the desperate game that we play in life; and how a thing once done is not to be changed or remedied, by any penitence.”
Dick watches Arblaster stagger away in drunken sorrow and realizes that some actions cannot be undone, no matter how sorry one feels.
Dick experiences a moment of profound regret and understanding.
