Beadle's Pocket Library, No. 55

Delaware Dick: The Young Ranger Spy This serial installment, "Delaware Dick: The Young Ranger Spy; or, Brother Against Brother" by Oll Coomes, depicts Revolutionary War espionage and guerrilla action. The narrative follows Delaware Dick (Wing-of-the-Wind), a young patriot spy, who observes a clandestine meeting of Tories at Woodvale Church in Jersey. After witnessing their treasonous plotting, Dick sets fire to a Tory's barn and delivers a warning note signed "Wing-of-the-Wind." Pursued across the frozen Delaware River, Dick reaches George Washington's encampment and reports the Tories' activities. Washington, facing despondency and supply shortages, requests Dick obtain Lord Cornwallis's winter campaign plans from British headquarters thirty miles upriver. Dick accepts the dangerous mission and reunites with his ranger band—young patriot volunteers motivated by revenge for ravaged homes—to infiltrate enemy lines disguised.