
CHAPTER I.—The Boy Messenger.
CHAPTER II.—An Oath to Win, a Vow to Avenge.
CHAPTER III.—Tracked to His Lair.
CHAPTER IV.—The Meeting.
CHAPTER V.—The Boy Protector.
CHAPTER VI.—The Reward for a Convict.
CHAPTER VII.—The Lost Gold Piece.
CHAPTER VIII.—The Dashing Dragoon.
CHAPTER IX.—Phantoms of the Past.
CHAPTER X.—Deserted.
In the grimy backstreets of early‑20th‑century New York, a wiry twelve‑year‑old named Will hustles a cryptic commission. A sharply dressed stranger hires him to deliver a sealed note to a man known only as Jerry “the Night Hawk,” promising a quick dollar in return. Though poorly clothed, Will’s keen eyes and quick mind set him apart from the other street kids.
The address leads him into a narrow alley and up a creaking, stair‑filled building that feels out of time. Inside, doors open onto empty hallways, dim skylights, and a lone bell that seems to answer itself. When Will finally meets the enigmatic Night Hawk, the encounter feels both ordinary and oddly magical, hinting that more than a simple delivery lies ahead.
Listeners will be drawn into Will’s gritty world, where courage meets curiosity and a single letter could change the course of a boy’s life. The story balances street‑wise realism with a touch of wonder, promising an engaging adventure from the very first step.
Language
en
Duration
~3 hours (175K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Demian Katz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University (http://digital.library.villanova.edu/))
Release date
2013-07-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1843–1904
A wildly prolific dime novelist and adventure writer, he turned a life shaped by war and travel into fast-moving popular fiction. He is especially remembered for helping build the legend of Buffalo Bill through dozens of frontier tales.
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