Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 147

1880 · 16 pages

Catalog Note *Will Wildfire, the Thoroughbred; or, The Winning Hand* by Charles Morris (author of *Will Somers*, *Phil Hardy*, and *Detective Dick*) is a sporting serial beginning with Chapter I: "The Schuylkill Navy Regatta." The narrative centers on a single-shell rowing race on Philadelphia's Schuylkill River during the fall regatta. A young, well-dressed stranger—later revealed as Will Wildfire, a Yale College crew member—wagers five hundred dollars against an English sporting gentleman, betting on the Iris boat to defeat the favored Vesta, piloted by champion rower Ben Huntly. When the original Iris oarsman Jack Boyle sustains a wrist injury, Wildfire himself takes the shell. Despite Huntly's superior reputation and initial spurts of strength, Wildfire employs a steady, measured rowing strategy, gradually overtaking his opponent to win decisively by a full boat-length in a thrilling race witnessed by hundreds of spectators lining the riverbanks.

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