Still, John Hale, feeling indignant and wronged, rustles up a group of men to catch them. However, one of these men is Colonel Clinch, a man who has been cheated over a hand of draw poker by the leaders of the robbers and seeks revenge. John's justifiable trip to catch the robbers now has a band of men that seem to have motives of their own.

Bret Harte grew up in California and based many of his stories on the pioneering spirit that was ever-present in the early days of Californian history. In his day, he was very well known and many an editor requested his short stories for their magazines. "The Luck of Roaring Camp" is the story that propelled Harte to national fame.