Q 01/05

Which fellow writer, once Bret Harte's friend, later branded him a liar, a thief and a swindler?

A) Ambrose Bierce

B) Mark Twain

C) Jack London

D) Walt Whitman

Answer · why

B) Mark Twain

Mark Twain wrote the insults in a letter to William Dean Howells, trying to block his old friend's appointment as a US consul. He later nicknamed Hart...

Q 02/05

On which playing card does John Oakhurst write his own epitaph in 'The Outcasts of Poker Flat'?

A) Ace of spades

B) King of hearts

C) Two of clubs

D) Jack of diamonds

Answer · why

C) Two of clubs

The two of clubs, which the story calls the deuce, carries his farewell note. It says he struck a streak of bad luck and handed in his checks two week...

Q 03/05

What does Poker Flat exile John Oakhurst do after winning Tom Simson's entire fortune at cards?

A) Hands it back

B) Bets it all again

C) Buys him a mule

D) Splits it in half

Answer · why

A) Hands it back

Oakhurst hands it back, all forty dollars or so, and tells the youth never to gamble again. The kindness turns Tom into his devoted admirer.

Q 04/05

Which Poker Flat outcast, named for an English prophetess, starves herself so Piney can eat?

A) The Duchess

B) Cherokee Sal

C) Thankful Blossom

D) Mother Shipton

Answer · why

D) Mother Shipton

Mother Shipton hides a week of untouched rations under her head and asks Oakhurst to give them to the girl. Her namesake was a soothsayer of English f...

Q 05/05

Which Greek epic does Tom Simson retell in mining-camp slang in 'The Outcasts of Poker Flat'?

A) The Odyssey

B) The Iliad

C) The Argonautica

D) Works and Days

Answer · why

B) The Iliad

The Iliad comes out in the talk of the diggings, with swift-footed Achilles renamed 'Ash-heels'. Oakhurst follows that hero's fate with special intere...