Hannah's Wager

HANNAH'S WAGER is a classic American Western - an unproduced screenplay by Verland T Whipple, published for the first time.

When Indian raiders kill her husband and carry off her young son, Hannah Alder refuses to wait for the law, or for luck. She marches into a lawless gold-mining camp and makes an offer that stops the saloon cold: any man willing to ride with her can put his name in a hat, and when they bring her boy home, the winner gets her hand in marriage - and the farm to go with it.

Six men take the bet. A gunfighter with something to prove. A former officer with nothing left to lose. A nervous little man running from his debts. A card sharp who can't resist bad odds. And two hard cases who mean to collect on Hannah long before any Indians do.

None of them know the country. None of them know where her son is being held. All Hannah knows is that he's out there - somewhere north, somewhere in the mountains - and she isn't turning back.

Written in the tradition of classic frontier cinema, Hannah's Wager is a page-turning story of grit, betrayal, and one woman's refusal to accept "impossible" as an answer. Presented here in its original screenplay format, exactly as Whipple wrote it.