This was too patently a scheme of Harper's and Joe Ladue's, trying to entice prospecting in the vicinity of their town site and trading post.

And who was Carmack?
A squaw-man.

And who ever heard of a squaw-man striking anything?
And what was Bonanza Creek?
Merely a moose pasture, entering the Klondike just above its mouth, and known to old-timers as Rabbit Creek.

Now if Daylight or Bob Henderson had recorded claims and shown coarse gold, they'd known there was something in it.

But Carmack, the squaw-man! And Skookum Jim! And Cultus Charlie! No, no; that was asking too much.
Daylight, too, was sceptical, and this despite his faith in the Upper Country.