"No, they wasn't."
"Well, that is what the affidavit says which I entered late yesterday afternoon."
John now interposed. "We have been camped on this ground for three weeks, and have been on continuous watch. We staked these claims at 4 A.M. yesterday. No stakes were in the ground when we staked."
"I can't help that; Joseph Trudean swears he staked one, and Ole Anderson swears he staked the other."
"Say! have these claims been transferred?" asked Hugh.
"Yes, each has been sold to James C. Beecher, barrister, of Dawson."
"One dollar."
"Which would not buy a meal in Dawson!"
Sick and beaten, John and Hugh stepped aside; George and Frank passed to the slaughter. Their friends waited for them. The time to wait was not long—the second two being even more quickly disposed of than the first.