The Gold Nugget was the largest cafe in Kirkwood. Although it was still after noon at the time our story opens, the place was crowded with the greater part of the crowd around a table where five men sat playing poker. Spark Webber - the dealer - looked impatiently at Carl Vaughn, a heavyset man and owner of a small gold claim not far from the town. But during the next hand, Carl loses again, on something that should have been a sure thing. He knows there's something crooked going on, and he aims to prove it!