With the Joker Wild

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Ike Harper tells a rough-and-ready Western tale with a dry, comic edge, and his partner Magpie Simpkins is the kind of man who can turn a gold strike into a catastrophe before lunch. After the two stumble onto rich pay dirt on Whispering Crick, they dream bigger than any sensible prospector should, planning a dam and sawmill that draw them straight into trouble with forest reserve rules and the law. When suspicious supervisors arrive, Magpie greets them with outrageous hospitality, gold panning displays, and a theory that every man has his price—then begins giving away nuggets, grub, burros, and even the outfit itself as "political finance." Ike watches in horror as Magpie's reckless generosity, slippery logic, and misplaced confidence spiral into bribery, brawls, and slapstick confusion. A sheriff and forest ranger soon arrive hunting swindlers, only for Ike and Magpie to realize they have mistaken the officials for allies. By the end, their short-lived fortune has vanished, their plans are in ruins, and Ike can only respond with sardonic resignation as the joke lands hard on greed, corruption, and frontier foolishness.