The Bishop's Creek Gold Strike

By Stephan Masica

Archie Buford is on the verge of striking it rich in the Bishop's Creek gold fields. He has only one problem, he's deeply in debt to Artemis Cain, a talented card sharp with a shady past. But Cain has his own problems, a rich San Francisco businessman with unforgiving ways who he was foolish enough to cheat at poker and two crooked investors who are demanding he make good on deals gone bad. Everyone is out for something in The Bishop's Creek Gold Strike. Enjoy this fast-paced short story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephan Masica
• Release date: Jun 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466133549

Stephan Masica

I've had a life-long interest in history in general and the history of the American West in particular. My other interests aside from writing are painting, sculpture, wood carving, travel, 60s Rock and Surf Music, and Fender guitars and tube amps.

Book preview

The Bishop's Creek Gold Strike

A Short Story

Stephan Masica

Published by Stephan Masica at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Stephan Masica

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction and any depictions of or dialog with real past historical persons is the author's creation and should not be interpreted as having taken place.

Acknowledgements

I would also like to thank Mr. Mark Rheinberger for permission to use his spectacular photo of a 4.25 ounce gold nugget found at Bendigo, Victoria, Australia on the cover of my book.

Dedication

I wish to dedicate this book to my loving and supportive wife, Nancy. She believed in me, supported, me, and encouraged me to keeping working and to finally bring this project to fruition. I couldn't have done it without her.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Artemis Cain was an incurable cheat. He owned The Temple Saloon in the Bishop's Creek mining camp and cheated the miners who sat at his poker table. It was unnecessary because he was skilled enough at poker to win consistently without cheating. He did it because he enjoyed manipulating people so much that it had nearly become an addiction for him. Money wasn't that important to him, he could easily win whatever he needed. Instead, he cheated as a shortcut to get what he was really after, their mining claims. Since he had come to the backwater mining camp a year ago, he had gradually acquired nearly every claim of value and then quickly sold them off to investors for a handsome profit.

There were a few claims left that he had his eye on, but he hadn't yet lured their owners into his trap. He knew he'd get them eventually. Miners could be counted on to do at least two things, drink and gamble. Whenever they wanted to do either, then they usually came to The Temple Saloon. When they first sat down at his poker table, he'd let them win occasionally to build their confidence. Eventually, he'd pick them clean of their disposable gold and then drag them deeper and deeper in his debt until they had no choice but to either turn over their claims or sell them to him at a loss to cover their debts.

Cain was a talented cardsharp. Depending on your viewpoint, he was either blessed or cursed with a rare skill to manipulate a deck of cards. When it came to palming, bottom dealing, or mucking he had no peer. It all came quite easily to him and for years he had honed his skills in the dives along the San Francisco waterfront. Eventually, he had worked his way up to playing in the private games of the Nob Hill swells. They enjoyed the excitement of occasionally rubbing shoulders with what they considered the dangerous lower classes.

The problem was that he got greedy. He wasn't satisfied to take their money; he wanted to prove to them that he was in some way as good as they were. Losing any amount of money in a card game didn't matter to