Other historical novels for young people by Howard Pyle include Otto of the Silver Hand and The Story of Jack Ballister's Fortunes. Otto of the Silver Hand, perhaps the best of Pyle's historical novels, is set in a medieval Germany ruled by ruthless robber barons. The novel ends with the triumph of civilization and order over brutality as the robber barons are suppressed and the enlightened reign of the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg begins. The novel is acclaimed for its realistic, unromanticized portrayal of life in the Middle Ages. The Story of Jack Ballister's Fortunes is set in eighteenth-century England and in the American colonies.

Kidnapped from England and sold in Virginia as a "redemptioner," or indentured servant, Jack flees a brutal master to join Blackbeard's notorious pirates in North Carolina. Sickened by the pirates' brutality, Jack helps a captive heiress escape from them, and her...