As handy with a gun as with a deck of cards, wandering gambler Macon Fallon is forced by a lucky hand and a fast draw to bid a swift farewell to the town of Seven Pines. Driven out into a waterless desert near the ghost town of Buell's Bluff, Fallon's only chance for survival—and a brand-new grubstake—is to raise the town of Red Horse from the ashes of Buell's notorious gold-strike hoax. Can Fallon keep Red Horse a going concern long enough to raise a stake and get back to San Francisco? Can he bluff the skeptical Ginia Blane? Fans of the old Maverick TV series will admire this slim novel about a gambler with more up his sleeve than jacks and queens.