522 Harte, Bret
the situation to a streak of bad luck. Their luck has
changed since they left Poker Flat, he announces to
the others. Their fate is sealed, but only he seems
aware of how bad things are likely to get.
A week goes by, and the party becomes impris-
oned by the snow in a small cabin; their provisions
are running out. Oakhurst calls it a losing hand,
though the others try to make the best of it. Ironi-
cally, Mother Shipton, the strongest of the party, is
the first to die because she starved herself to give
her food to the young Piney so she can live longer.
Eventually, all of them realize that their situation
is hopeless, but Oakhurst, in a last attempt to cheat
fate, sends Tom back to Poker Flat on a pair of
snowshoes fashioned out of an old horse saddle.
It is a two-day journey on foot, but it is his only
chance to save Piney. Though Oakhurst could
save himself, he never once thinks of deserting the
others.
The next morning, both Piney and the Duch-
ess accept their fate, and when they are found by
the men from Poker Flat, they are covered in snow,
locked in each other’s arms. It is Oakhurst’s fate to
be the last of the outcasts to die. His body is found
under the snow beneath a tree on which he has left
his own epitaph, written on a deuce of clubs, the
lowest card in the deck. Oakhurst lived as a gambler
and dies the same way. At the end he writes that he
has “struck a streak of bad luck” and “cashed in his
checks.” His fate has finally caught up to him. The
ominous sense he felt the morning of the exile has
been realized.
Gary Kerley
innocence and experience in “The
Outcasts of Poker Flat”
Mr. John Oakhurst, an experienced gambler, the
central character of the story and the impetus for
the casting out of undesired elements in Poker
Flat, is a natural foil for a young Tom Simson,
the “Innocent” from Sandy Bar, another camp one
day’s journey away. The two characters represent
opposites in both life experience and understanding.
Oakhurst is described at the beginning of the story
as a professional gambler who is not at all surprised
by the townspeople’s sudden moral indignation. He
has been in situations like this before, and he takes
the sentence of exile with calmness and a bemused
acceptance of Fate.
Tom Simson’s inexperience and naiveté are evi-
dent when he is first introduced to the outcasts.
He and Oakhurst had met a few months before
when Oakhurst won Tom’s entire fortune of $40.
Because of Oakhurst’s knowledge of human nature,
he returns the youth’s money and urges him never
to gamble again. Though Tom is excited to see his
old friend, he again shows his inexperience by telling
Oakhurst that he is going to Poker Flat to make his
fortune and to elope with Piney Woods, a waitress.
Piney, on meeting the others, hides behind a tree,
blushes, and acts even younger than her 15 years.
Oakhurst’s fellow outcasts have diverse experi-
ences in the ways of the world. The narrative clearly
implies that both the Duchess and Mother Ship-
ton are ladies of questionable character, and Uncle
Billy is a gold thief and a drunkard. When they are
exiled from Poker Flat, they are not surprised, only
indignant. When Tom assumes the Duchess is Mrs.
Oakhurst simply because she is traveling with him,
Uncle Billy has to be restrained from laughing out
loud. Oakhurst also has to keep Uncle Billy in check
when he starts to tell Tom and Piney that their situ-
ation is getting desperate.
Even before a snowstorm traps the outcasts
and their new acquaintances, it is Oakhurst who
correctly sizes up the situation. When Uncle Billy
leaves them stranded by taking off with a horse and
mules, Oakhurst’s years of gambling experience help
him remain calm. He chooses not to tell Tom and
Piney the truth about the defection, telling them
that Uncle Billy accidentally stampeded the animals.
Oakhurst remains cheerful and merely says they
have had a run of bad luck. He even likens their
situation to a week-long camping trip.
As the storm worsens and their provisions dwin-
dle, Oakhurst continues to keep himself calm and
to keep Tom and Piney in the dark, thereby leaving
them content, even happy. The group builds a big
fire, and Tom plays his accordion and regales the
others by acting out stories from a copy of the Iliad.
Both the Duchess and Mother Shipton are
aware of their predicament. They are not surprised
to learn that Uncle Billy stole the mules, but neither
dares to upset Tom or especially the young Piney.