R L Stevenson's Kidnapped

I enjoyed the beginning of Kidnapped, but I have to confess that I thought it dragged in the middle and the ending was a little too neat.  I think this is due, in part, to the fact that I have never really caught the sea-story bug.  Kidnapped is not solely a sea tale, but a good part of the action takes place on the ship on which the main character, David Balfour, has been taken captive.  Stevenson uses much of the last third of the novel to put the manners of the inhabitants of the Scottish Highland on display for the reader.  The picture is not flattering.  In fact, there are some interesting similarities between Stevenson's descriptions of the Highlanders, and many of the stereotyping descriptions that exist in travel accounts of the American South in the mid-19th century.