"Where were you?"
"Here in Rampart."
"What?"
"Wait! Wait!" commanded the Judge, as the crowd rocked towards Butts: "P'raps you'll tell us what kept you at home?"
Butts shut his mouth angrily, but a glance at the faces nearest him made him think an answer prudent.
"I was tired."
The men, many of them ailing, who had nearly killed themselves to get to Idaho Bar, sneered openly.
"I'd been jumpin' a claim up at Hunter."
"So had Charlie. But he joined the new stampede in the afternoon."
"Well, I didn't."