The Splendid Spur · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for The Splendid Spur by Arthur Quiller-Couch.
Chapter 1
Dedication
The author dedicates the book to Edward Gwynne Eardley-Wilmot, expressing the joy of pleasing a friend with one's work and the hope that the tale will find a warm welcome from new readers, while noting that the heart of his friend Q beats under the coat of Jack Marvel.
Chapter 2
The Splendid Spur
The opening chapter introduces Mr. John Marvel, a servant of King Charles I, and sets the stage for his memoirs during the years 1642-1643, hinting at the adventures and conflicts of the English Civil War.
Chapter 3
The Bowling-Green of the Crown
The narrator, a scholar at Trinity College, Oxford, recounts how on November 29, 1642, he fell asleep in Mr. Robert Drury's fencing room and awoke to witness a mysterious man reading in the bowling-green behind the Crown Tavern. He observes the man secretly meeting with a bully from a gaming party, and overhears a plot involving a young gentleman named Anthony. The chapter ends with the narrator slipping away as Mr. Drury returns drunk.
Chapter 4
The Young Man in the Cloak of Amber Satin
Jack Marvel, distracted by the plot he overheard, struggles through a rhetoric lecture and later seeks shelter from a hailstorm in the Pig Market. There he encounters Anthony Killigrew, the young man from the bowling-green, now selling trinkets. After a tense exchange, Jack reveals he knows of the plot against Anthony. They reconcile, and Anthony explains he is a royal messenger carrying a letter from the King to the Army of the West, planning to leave Oxford that night. Jack resolves to accompany him.
Chapter 5
III: I Find Myself in a Tavern Brawl: And Barely Escape
Jack Marvel receives a note from Anthony Killigrew to meet at the Crown tavern, but upon arrival a brawl erupts. Anthony is fatally wounded by Captain Settle and a trooper. Jack throws a tankard at the trooper, grabs a chair, and after Anthony's death, escapes through a window, fleeing the Watch. He runs through Oxford, eventually tripping near Master Timothy Carter's house, where a stranger offers to help him hide.
Chapter 6
I Take the Road
Jack Marvel sets out from Oxford to deliver a blood-stained letter to Sir Ralph Hopton in Cornwall. After a wrong turn leads him to Wantage, he rests at an inn and encounters a cattle fair. He meets a young gentlewoman who gives him advice, and later falls victim to a pickpocket who steals half his guineas and his horse. He buys a lame horse from swindlers, then is confronted on the road by Captain Settle, who recognizes the mare Molly. Jack also meets an old rogue who recites verses on a windowpane, and the chapter ends with Jack learning from the young gentlewoman's counsel.
Chapter 7
My Adventure at the Three Cups
Jack Marvel, riding Molly after escaping from Oxford, stops at the Three Cups inn. He discovers the young gentlewoman from Hungerford is there, along with Black Dick and a peculiar old gentleman. After a swordplay incident reveals the demi-bear crest, Jack learns of a plot against him and sneaks into the foreign guests' room, where he encounters the old gentleman and his servant.
Chapter 8
VI: The Flight in the Pine Wood
Sir Deakin Killigrew uses a clever ruse to distract Captain Settle and his drunken crew, setting the punch bowl ablaze to allow his daughter Delia, the narrator, and Jacques to escape. They flee through a field and into a pine wood, pursued by Settle's men. The narrator is wounded in the knee by a bullet, but Delia binds the wound. Sir Deakin's strength fails, and he dies from a lung hemorrhage in the snow at dawn.
Chapter 9
I Find a Comrade
Jack Marvel recovers from his wound and fever, nursed by Delia Killigrew. He reveals that he carries a letter from the King and must travel to Cornwall. Delia, after learning of her brother Anthony's death, asks to join him as a comrade. They discover the enemy has left the area, bury Delia's father, and form a pact to travel together.
Chapter 10
VIII: I Lose the King’s Letter; and Am Carried to Bristol
Jack and Delia continue their journey toward Marlboro', where they witness a battle and the burning of the town. After hiding in the woods, they are captured by Parliamentarian soldiers. Jack loses the King's letter, which is taken by a captain, and both are marched to Bristol and imprisoned in the castle.
Chapter 11
I Break Out of Prison
Jack Marvel escapes from prison by impersonating Colonel Essex, overhearing a plot to ambush the Cornish forces. He flees to Delia's house, and together they evade capture, eventually boarding a ship to continue their escape.
Chapter 12
Captain Pottery and Captain Settle
Jack Marvel and Delia escape Bristol Keep and board the Godsend, captained by the deaf but kind Billy Pottery. After hiding in casks in the hold, they endure seasickness and meet Pottery's eccentric, drunken crew. Pottery agrees to land them in Cornwall, and during the voyage, Jack presses Delia for an answer to his earlier proposal, but she evades him, leading to tension. They disembark at Bude Bay, and Delia's lighthearted singing contrasts with Jack's somber reflections.
Chapter 13
I Ride Down Into Temple: And Am Well Treated There
Jack Marvel, wounded and grieving the loss of his comrade, flees on a sorrel mare from pursuing troopers. After a desperate ride across the moors, his horse collapses and he is rescued by a young woman named Joan, who carries him to her home, tends his wound, and hides him from the searching soldiers.
Chapter 14
How Joan Saved the Army of the West; and Saw the Fight on Braddock Down
Jack Marvel, wounded and recovering in a remote cottage, learns from Joan how she hid him from pursuing rebel troopers. Desperate to deliver a warning to Sir Ralph Hopton about the approaching enemy forces, Jack entrusts Joan with the King's letter. Joan rides off to deliver it, and Jack later hears the sounds of the Battle of Braddock Down, witnessing the rout of the rebel army.
Chapter 15
XIII: I Buy a Looking Glass at Bodmin Fair: And Meet with Mr. Hannibal Tingcomb
Jack and Joan attend Bodmin Fair, where Jack buys a mirror and Joan gets into a brawl with a Cheap Jack. After the fair, Joan reveals that the white-haired gentleman in a carriage is Mr. Hannibal Tingcomb, steward of Gleys. They return home to find Joan's father dead, and they bury him on the tor.
Chapter 16
XIV: I Do No Good in the House of Gleys
Jack awakens early, finds Joan washing at the well, and after a playful exchange, rides to the House of Gleys. He confronts Hannibal Tingcomb, who initially feigns ignorance but is exposed as the white-haired man from Oxford. Under duress, Tingcomb writes a confession, but after Jack leaves, he mocks him with news of a Parliamentarian army approaching.
Chapter 17
XV: I Leave Joan and Ride to the Wars
Jack returns home humiliated after being tricked by Tingcomb, but finds Joan in a hidden chamber called the Jew's Kitchen, where she has dressed up. They wrestle, and Joan declares her love and submission to Jack. Billy Pottery arrives with news of war, and Jack decides to leave Joan and ride to fight for the King.
Chapter 18
The Battle of Stamford Heath
Jack and Billy Pottery journey through the night to reach the King's forces, encountering the Earl of Stamford's army at dawn. They join Sir Bevill Grenville's Cornish troops in a fierce assault on the enemy's earthwork, enduring artillery fire and a brutal repulse before rallying for a second charge. Jack kills a rebel in self-defense and is saved by a comrade, experiencing the chaos and horror of battle firsthand.
Chapter 19
XVII: I Meet with a Happy Adventure by Burning of a Green Light
Jack Marvel and Captain Billy Pottery discover Luke Settle using a charcoal signal to communicate with a sloop. They overpower him, and Jack learns that Delia Killigrew is being held on the sloop. After the Battle of Braddock Down, Jack and Billy pursue the sloop, intercept Delia's captors, and rescue her with the help of Colonel John Digby's dragoons. Settle and his accomplices are captured, and Jack is reunited with Delia.
Chapter 20
XVIII: Joan Does Me Her Last Service
Jack and Delia depart from Stow after the victory at Braddock Down, with Sir Bevill Grenville issuing a warrant for Master Tingcomb's arrest. They ride toward Looe with Billy Pottery, but encounter a troop of rebel cavalry. Joan, having led pursuers into a quagmire, returns mortally wounded and dies in Jack's arms, her final act a sacrifice for him.
Chapter 21
The Adventure of the Hearse
Jack buries Joan and then travels with Delia to Gleys, where they reunite with Billy Pottery and his crew. Later, Jack and Matt Soames hide in a hearse to ambush Tingcomb's men, but the plan goes awry when Jack shoots the minister and the horses bolt. They discover the hearse was carrying Delia's silverware, and see a fire in the distance that appears to be the House of Gleys.
Chapter 22
XX: The Adventure of the Ledge; and How I Shook Hands with My Comrade
Jack and Matt Soames escape the burning Gleys, rescue Delia and the horses, and discover the fire was set with straw and oil jars. Jack later climbs a dangerous cliff ledge to retrieve a rope, nearly falling but succeeding. Delia plans to sail to Brittany on the Godsend with Billy Pottery, and she and Jack confess their love, exchanging tokens before she departs. Jack rides inland to rejoin the war.
