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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:06 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:06 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12495-0.txt b/12495-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91f2561 --- /dev/null +++ b/12495-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5971 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12495 *** + +CASEY RYAN + +BY + +B. M. BOWER + +Author of "Chip of the Flying U", "Rim O' the World", "Cow-Country", etc. + +1921 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Casey reached for his pocket, and the white man also +reached for his. FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 237.] + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +From Denver to Spokane, from El Paso to Fort Benton, men talk of Casey +Ryan and smile when they speak his name. Old men with the flat tone of +coming senility in their voices will suck at their pipes and cackle +reminiscently while they tell you of Casey's tumultuous youth--when he +drove the six fastest horses in Colorado on the stage out from Cripple +Creek, and whooped past would-be holdups with a grin of derision on his +face and bullets whining after him and passengers praying disjointed +prayers and clinging white-knuckled to the seats. + +They say that once a flat, lanky man climbed bareheaded out at the stage +station below the mountain and met Casey coming springily off the box with +whip and six reins in his hand. The lanky man was still pale from his +ride, and he spluttered when he spoke: + +"Sa-ay! N-next time you're held up and I'm r-ridin' with yuh, b-by gosh, +you s-_stop_. I-I'd ruther be shot t-than p-pitched off into a +c-canyon, s-somewhere a-and busted up!" + +Casey is a little man. When he was young he was slim, but he always has +owned a pale blue, unwinking squint which he uses with effect. He halted +where he was and squinted up at the man, and spat fluid tobacco and +grinned. + +"You're here, and you're able to kick about my drivin'. That's purty good +luck, I'd say. You _ain't_ shot, an' you ain't layin' busted in no canyon. +Any time a man gits shot outa Casey Ryan's stage, he'll have to jump out +an' wait for the bullet to ketch up. And there ain't any passengers offn' +this stage layin' busted in no canyon, neither. I bring in what I start +out with." + +The other man snorted and reached under his coat tail for the solacing +plug of chewing tobacco. Opposition and ridicule had brought a little +color into his face. + +"Why, hell, man! You--you come around that ha-hairpin turn up there on two +wheels! It's a miracle we wasn't--" + +"Miracles is what happens once and lets it go at that. Say! Casey Ryan +_always_ saves wear on a coupla wheels, on that turn. I've made it on one; +but the leaders wasn't runnin' right to-day. That nigh one's cast a shoe. +I gotta have that looked after." He gave up the reins to the waiting +hostler and went off, heading straight for the station porch where waited +a red-haired girl with freckles and a warm smile for Casey. + +That was Casey's youth; part of it. The rest was made up of fighting, +gambling, drinking hilariously with the crowd and always with his temper +on hair trigger. Along the years behind him he left a straggling +procession of men, women and events. The men and women would always know +the color of his eyes and would recognize the Casey laugh in a crowd, +years after they had last heard it; the events were full of the true Casey +flavor,--and as I say, when men told of them and mentioned Casey, they +laughed. + +From the time when his daily drives were likely to be interrupted by +holdups, and once by a grizzly that reared up in the road fairly under the +nose of his leaders and sent the stage off at an acute angle, blazing a +trail by itself amongst the timber, Casey drifted from mountain to desert, +from desert to plain and back again, blithely meeting hard luck face to +face and giving it good day as if it were a friend. For Casey was born an +optimist, and misfortune never quite got him down and kept him there, +though it tried hard and often, as you will presently see. Some called him +gritty. Some said he hadn't the sense to know when he was licked. Either +way, it made a rare little Irishman of Casey Ryan, and kept his name from +becoming blurred in the memories of those who once knew him. + +So in time it happened that Casey was driving a stage of his own from +Pinnacle down to Lund, in Nevada, and making boast that his four horses +could beat the record--the month's record, mind--of any dog-gone +auty-_mo_-bile that ever infested the trail. Infest is a word that Casey +would have used often had he known its dictionary reputation. Having been +deprived of close acquaintance with dictionaries, but having a facile +imagination and some creative ability, Casey kept pace with progress and +invented words of his own which he applied lavishly to all automobiles; +but particularly and emphatically he applied the spiciest, most colorful +ones to Fords. + +Put yourself in Casey's place, and you will understand. Imagine yourself +with a thirty-mile trip to make down a twisty, rough mountain road built +in the days when men hauled ore down the mountain on wagons built to bump +over rocks without damage to anything but human bones. You are Casey Ryan, +remember; you never stopped for stage robbers or grizzlies in the past, +and you have your record to maintain as the hardest driver in the West. +You are proud of that record, because you know how you have driven to earn +it. + +You pop the lash over the ears of your leaders and go whooping down a +long, straight bit of road where you count on making time. When you are +about halfway down and the four horses are running even and tugging +pleasantly at the reins, and you are happy enough to sing your favorite +song, which begins, + + "Hey, ole Bill! Can-n yuh play the fiddle-o? + Yes, by gosh! I--I--kin play a liddle-o--" + +and never gets beyond that one flat statement, around the turn below you +comes a Ford, rattling all its joints trying to make the hill on "high." +The driver honks wildly at you to give him the road--you, Casey Ryan! +Wouldn't you writhe and invent words and apply them viciously to all Fords +and the man who invented them? But the driver comes at you honking, +squawking,--and you turn out. + +You have to, unless the Ford does; and Fords don't. A Ford will send a +twin-six swerving sharply to the edge of a ditch, and even Casey Ryan must +swing his leaders to the right in obedience to that raucous command. + +Once Casey didn't. He had the patience of the good-natured, and for awhile +he had contented himself with his vocabulary and his reputation as a +driver and a fighter, and the record he held of making the thirty miles +from Pinnacle to Lund in an hour and thirty-five minutes, twenty-six days +in the month. (He did not publish his running expenses, by the way, nor +did he mention the fact that his passengers were mostly strangers picked +up at the railway station at Lund because they liked the look of the +picturesque four-horses-and-Casey stagecoach.) + +Once Casey refused to turn out. That morning he had been compelled to wait +and whip a heavy man who berated Casey because the heavy man's wife had +ridden from Pinnacle to Lund the day before and had fainted at the last +sharp turn in the road and had not revived in time to board the train for +Salt Lake which she had been anxious to catch. Casey had known she was +anxious to catch the train, and he had made the trip in an hour and +twenty-nine minutes in spite of the fact that he had driven the last mile +with a completely unconscious lady leaning heavily against his left +shoulder. She made much better time with Casey than she would have made on +the narrow-gauge train which carried ore and passengers and mail to Lund, +arriving when most convenient to the train crew. That it took half an hour +to restore her to consciousness was not Casey's fault. + +Casey had succeeded in whipping the heavy man till he hollered, but the +effort had been noticeable. Casey wondered uneasily whether by any chance +he, Casey Ryan, was growing old with the rest of the world. That +possibility had never before occurred to him, and the thought was +disquieting. Casey Ryan too old to lick any man who gave him cause, too +old to hold the fickle esteem of those who met him in the road? Casey +squinted belligerently at the Old-man-with-the-scythe and snorted. "I +licked him good. You ask anybody. And he's twice as big as I am. I guess +they's a good many years left in Casey Ryan yet! Giddap, you--thus-and-so! +We're ten minutes late and we got our record!" + +At that moment a Ford touring car popped around the turn below him and +squawked presumptuously for a clear passage ahead. Casey pulled his lash +off the nigh leader, yelled and charged straight down the road. Did they +think they could honk him off the road? Hunh! Casey Ryan was still Casey +Ryan. Never again would he turn out for man or devil. + +Wherefore Casey was presently extricating his leaders from the harness of +his wheelers ten feet below the grade. On the road above him the driver of +the Ford inspected bent parts and a smashed headlight and cranked and +cranked ineffectively, and swore down at Casey Ryan, who squinted +unblinkingly up under his hatbrim at the man he likewise cussed. + +They were a long while there exchanging disagreeable opinions of one +another, and Casey was even obliged to climb the steep bank and whip the +driver of the Ford because he had applied a word to Casey which had never +failed as automatic prelude to a Casey Ryan combat. Casey was frankly +winded when he finally mounted one of his horses and led the other three, +and so proceeded to Lund as mad as he had ever been in his life. + +"That there settles it final," he snorted, when the town came into view in +the flat below. "They've pushed Casey off'n the grade for the first time +and the last time. What pushin' and crowdin' and squawkin' is done from +now on, it'll be Casey Ryan doin' it! Faint! I'll learn 'em something to +faint about. If it's Fords goin' to run horses off'n the trail, you watch +how Casey Ryan'll drive the livin' tar outa one. Dog-gone 'em, there ain't +no Ford livin' that can drive Casey off'n the road. I'll drive 'em till +their tongues hang out. I'll make 'em bawl like a calf, and I'll pound 'em +on the back and make 'em fan it faster." + +So talking to himself and his team he rode into town and up to one of +those ubiquitous Ford agencies that write their curly-tailed blue +lettering across the continent from the high nose of Maine to the shoulder +of Cape Flattery. + +"Gimme one of them dog-goned blankety bing-bing Ford auty-_mo_-biles," he +commanded the garage owner who came to meet Casey amiably in his shirt +sleeves. "Here's four horses I'll trade yuh, with what's left of the +harness. And up at the third turn you'll find a good wheel off'n the +stage." He slid down from the sweaty back of his nigh leader and stood +slightly bow-legged and very determined before the garage owner, Bill +Masters. + +"Wel-l--there ain't much sale for horses, Casey. I ain't got any place to +keep 'em, nor any feed. I'll sell yuh a Ford on time, and--" + +Casey glanced over his shoulder to make sure the horses were standing +quiet, dropped the reins and advanced upon Bill. + +"You _trade_," he stated flatly. + +Bill backed a little. "Oh, all right, if that's the way yuh feel. What yuh +askin' for the four just as they stand?" + +"Me? A Ford auty-_mo_-bile. I told yuh that, Bill. And I want you to put +on the biggest horn that's made; one that can be heard from here to +Pinnacle and back when I turn 'er loose. And run the damn thing out here +right away and show me how it works, and how often you gotta wind it and +when. Lucky I didn't bring no passengers down--I was runnin' empty. But I +gotta take back a load of Bohunks to the Bluebird this afternoon, and my +stage, she's a total wreck. I'll sign papers to-night if you got any to +sign." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Thus was the trade effected with much speed and few preliminaries, because +Bill knew Casey Ryan very intimately and had seen him in action when his +temper was up. Bill adjusted an extra horn which he happened to have in +stock. One of those terrific things that go far toward making the life of +a pedestrian a nerve-racking succession of startles. Casey tried it out on +himself before he would accept it. He walked several doors down the street +with the understanding that Bill would honk at him when he was some little +distance away. Bill waited until Casey's attention was drawn to a lady +with thick ankles who was crossing the street in a hurry and a stiff +breeze. Bill came down on the metal plunger of the horn with all his +might, and Casey jumped perceptibly and came back grinning. + +"She'll do. What'll put a crimp in Casey Ryan's spine is good enough for +anybody. Bring her out here and show me how yuh work the damn thing. Guess +she'll hold six Bohunks, won't she--with sideboards on? I'll run 'er +around a coupla times b'fore I start out--and that's all I will do." + +Naturally the garage man was somewhat perturbed at this nonchalant manner +of getting acquainted with a Ford. He knew the road from Lund to Pinnacle. +He had driven it himself, with a conscious sigh of relief when he had +safely negotiated the last hair-pin curve; and Bill was counted a good +driver. He suggested an insurance policy to Casey, not half so jokingly as +he tried to sound. + +Casey turned and gave him a pale blue, unwinking stare. "Say! Never you +mind gettin' out insurance on _this_ auty-_mo_-bile. What you wanta do is +insure the cars that's liable to meet up with me in the trail." + +Bill saw the sense of that, too, and said no more about insuring Casey. He +drove down the canyon where the road is walled in on both sides by cliffs, +and proceeded to give Casey a lesson in driving. Casey did not think that +he needed to be taught how to drive. All he wanted to know, he said, was +how to stop 'er and how to start 'er. Bill needn't worry about the rest of +it. + +"She's darn tender-bitted," he commented, after two round trips over the +straight half-mile stretch,--and fourteen narrow escapes. "And the man +that made 'er sure oughta known better than to make 'er neck rein in +harness. And I don't like this windin' 'er up every time you wanta start. +But she can sure _go_--and that's what Casey Ryan's after every day in the +week. + +"All right, Bill. I'll go gather up the Bohunks and start. You better +'phone up to Pinnacle that Casey's on the road--and tell 'em he says it's +his road's long's he's on it. They'll know what I mean." + +Pinnacle did know, and waited on the sidewalk that afforded a view of the +long hill where the road curled down around the head of the gulch and into +town. Much sooner than his most optimistic backers had a right to expect-- +for there were bets laid on the outcome there in Pinnacle--on the brow of +the hill a swirl of red dust grew rapidly to a cloud. Like a desert +whirlwind it swept down the road, crossed the narrow bridge over the deep +cut at the head of the gulch where the famous Youbet mine belched black +smoke, and rolled on down the steep, narrow little street. + +Out of the whirlwind poked the pugnacious little brass-rimmed nose of a +new Ford, and behind the windshield Casey Ryan grinned widely as he swung +up to the postoffice and stopped as he had always stopped his four-horse +stage,--with a flourish. Stopping with a flourish is fine and spectacular +when you are driving horses accustomed to that method and on the lookout +for it. Horses have a way of stiffening their forelegs and sliding their +hind feet and giving a lot of dramatic finish to the performance. But +there is no dramatic sense at all in the tin brain of a Ford. It just +stopped. And the insecure fourth Bohunk in the tonneau went hurtling +forward into the front seat straight on his way through the windshield. +Casey threw up an elbow instinctively and caught him in the collar button +and so avoided breakage and blood spattered around. Three other foreigners +were scrambling to get out when Casey stopped them with a yell that froze +them quiet where they were. + +"Hey! You stay right where y'are! I gotta deliver yuh up to the Bluebird +in a minute." + +There were chatterings and gesticulations in the tonneau. Out of the +gabble a shrill voice rose be-seechingly in English. "We will _walk_, +meester'. If you _pleese_, meester! We are 'fraid for ride wit' dees +may_chine_, meester!" + +Casey was nettled by the cackling and the thigh-slapping of the audience +on the sidewalk. He reached for his stage whip, and missing it used his +ready Irish fists. So the Bohunks crawled unhappily back into the car and +subsided shivering and with tears in their eyes. + +"Dammit, when I take on passengers to ride, they're goin' to _ride_ till +they git there. You shut up, back there!" + +A friend of Casey's stepped forward and cranked the machine, and Casey +pulled down the gas lever until the motor howled, turned in the shortest +possible radius and went lunging up the crooked steep trail to the +Bluebird mine on top of the hill, his engine racing and screaming in low. + +Thereafter Pinnacle and Lund had a new standard by which to measure the +courage of a man. Had he made the trip with Casey Ryan and his new Ford? +He _had_? By golly, he sure had nerve. One man passed the peak for sheer +bravery and rode twice with Casey, but certain others were inclined to +disparage the feat, on the ground that on the second trip he was drunk. + +Casey did not like that. He admitted that he was a hard driver; he had +always been proud because men called him the hardest driver in the West. +But he argued that he was also a safe driver, and that they had no +business to make such a fuss over riding with him. Didn't he ride after +his own driving every day of his life? Had he ever got killed? Had he ever +killed anybody else? Well! What were they all yawping about, then? +Pinnacle and Lund made him tired. + +"If you fellers think I can't bounce that there tin can down the road fast +as any man in the country, why don't yuh pass me on the road? You're +welcome. Just try it." + +No one cared to try, however. Meeting him was sufficiently hazardous. +There were those who secretly timed their traveling so that they would not +see Casey Ryan at all, and I don't think you can really call them cowards, +either. A good many had families, you know. + +Casey had an accident now and then; and his tire expense was such as to +keep him up nights playing poker for money to support his Ford. You simply +can't whirl into town at a thirty-mile gait--I am speaking now of +Pinnacle, whose street was a gravelly creek bed quite dry and ridgy +between rains--and stop in twice the car's length without scouring more +rubber off your tires than a capacity load of passengers will pay for. +Besides, you run short of passengers if you persist in doing it. Even the +strangers who came in on the Salt Lake line were quite likely to look once +at the cute little narrow-gauge train with its cunning little day coach +hitched behind a string of ore cars, glance at Casey's Ford stage with +indifference and climb into the cunning day coach for the trip to +Pinnacle. The psychology of it passed quite over Casey's head, but his +pocket felt the change. + +In two weeks--perhaps it was less, though I want to be perfectly just-- +Casey was back, afoot and standing bow-legged in the doorway of Bill +Master's garage at Lund. + +"Gimme another one of them Ford auty-_mo_-biles," he requested, grinning a +little. "I guess mebby I oughta take two or three--but I'm a little short +right now, Bill. I ain't been gitting any good luck at poker, lately." + +Bill asked a question or two while he led Casey to the latest model of +Fords, just in from the factory. + +Casey took a chew of tobacco and explained. "Well, I had a bet up, y'see. +That red-headed bartender in Pinnacle bet me a hundred dollars I couldn't +beat my own record ten minutes on the trip down. I knowed I could, so I +took him up on it. A man would be a fool if he didn't grab any easy money +like that. And so I pounded 'er on the tail, coming down. And I had eight +minutes peeled off my best time, and then Jim Black he had to go git in +the road on that last turn up there. We rammed our noses together and I +pushed him on ahead of me for fifty rods, Bill--and him yelling at me to +quit--but something busted in the insides of my car, I guess. She give a +grunt and quit. All right, I'll take this one. Grease her up, Bill. I'll +eat a bite before I take her up." + +You've no doubt suspected before now that not even poker, played +industriously o' nights, could keep Casey's head above the financial +waters that threatened to drown him and his Ford and his reputation. Casey +did not mind repair bills, so long as he achieved the speed he wanted. But +he did mind not being able to pay the repair bills when they were +presented to him. Whatever else were his faults, Casey Ryan had always +gone cheerfully into his pocket and paid what he owed. Now he was haunted +by a growing fear that an unlucky game or two would send him under, and +that he might not come up again. + +He began to think seriously of selling his car and going back to horses +which, in spite of the high cost of feeding them, had paid their way and +his, and left him a pleasant jingle in his pockets. But then he bumped +hard into one of those queer little psychological facts which men never +take into account until it is too late. Casey Ryan, who had driven horses +since he could stand on his toes and fling harness on their backs, could +not go back to driving horses. The speed fiend of progress had him by the +neck. Horses were too slow for Casey. Moreover, when he began to think +about it, he knew that the thirty-mile stretch between Pinnacle and Lund +had become too tame for him, too monotonous. He knew in the dark every +twist in the road, every sharp turn, and he could tell you offhand what +every sharp turn had cost him in the past month, either in repairs to his +own car or to the car that had unluckily met him without warning. For +Casey, I must tell you, habitually forgot all about that earsplitting +klaxon at his left elbow. He was always in too much of a hurry to blow it; +and anyway, by the time he reached a turn, he was around it; there either +was no car in the road or Casey had scraped paint off it or worse and gone +on. So why honk? + +Far distances called Casey. In one day, he meditated, he could cover more +desert with his Ford than horses could travel in a week. An old, +half-buried passion stirred, lifted its head and smiled at him +seductively,--a dream he had dreamed of finding some of that wealth which +Nature holds so miser-like in her hills. A gold mine, or perhaps silver or +copper,--what matter which mineral he found, so long as it spelled wealth +for him? Then he would buy a bigger car and a faster car, and he would +bore farther and farther into yonder. In his past were tucked away months +on end of tramping across deserts and up mountain defiles with a packed +burro nipping patiently along in front of him and this same, seductive +dream beckoning him over the next horizon. Burros had been slow. While he +hurtled down the road from Pinnacle to Lund, Casey pictured himself +plodding through sand and sage and over malapai and up dry canyons, hazing +a burro before him. + +"No, sir, the time for that is gone by. I could do in a week now what it +took me a month to do then. I could get into country a man'd hate to +tackle afoot, not knowing the water holes. I'll git me a radiator that +don't boil like a teakettle over a pitch fire, and load up with water and +grub and gas, and I'll find the Injun Jim mine, mebby. Or some other darn +mine that'll put me in the clear the rest of my life. Couldn't before, +because I had to travel too slow. But shucks! A Ford can go anywhere a +mountain goat can go. You ask anybody." + +So Casey sold his stage line and the hypothetical good will that went with +it, and Pinnacle and Lund breathed long and deep and planned trips they +had refrained from taking heretofore, and wished Casey luck. Bill Masters +laid a friendly hand on his shoulder and made a suggestion so wise that +not even Casey could shut his mind against it. + +"You're starting out where there won't be no Bill handy to fix what you +bust," he pointed out. "You wait over a day or two, Casey, and let me show +yuh a few things about that car. If you bust down on the desert you'll +want to know what's wrong, and how to fix it. It's easy, but you got to +know where to look for the trouble." + +"Me? Say, Bill, I never had to go lookin' for trouble," Casey grinned. +"What do I need to learn how for?" + +Nevertheless he remained all of that day with Bill and crammed on +mechanics. He was amazed to discover how many and how different were the +ailments that might afflict a Ford. That he had boldly--albeit +unconsciously--driven a thing filled with timers, high-tension plugs that +may become fouled and fail to "spark," carburetors that could get out of +adjustment (whatever that was) spark plugs that burned out and had to be +replaced, a transmission that absolutely _must_ have grease or something +happened, bearings that were prone to burn out if they went dry of oil, +and a multitude of other mishaps that could happen and did happen if one +did not watch out, would have filled Casey with foreboding if that were +possible. Being an optimist to the middle of his bones, he merely felt a +growing pride in himself. He had actually driven all this aggregation of +potential internal grief! Whenever anything had happened to his Ford +auty-_mo_-bile between Pinnacle and Lund, Casey never failed to trace the +direct cause, which had always been external rather than internal, save +that time when he had walked in and bought a new car without out probing +into the vitals of the other. + +"I'd ruther have a horse down with glanders," he sighed, when Bill finally +washed the grease off his hands and forearms and rolled down his sleeves. +"But Casey Ryan's game to try anything once, and most things the second +and third time. You ask anybody. Gimme all the hootin'-annies that's +liable to wear out, Bill, and a load uh tires and patches, and Casey'll +come back and hand yuh a diamond big as your fist, some day. Ole Lady +Trouble's always tryin' to take a fall outa me, but she's never got me +down so't I had to holler 'nough. You ask anybody. Casey Ryan's goin' out +to see what he can see. If he meets up with Miss Fortune, he'll tame her, +Bill. And this little Ford auty-_mo_-bile is goin' to eat outa my hand. I +don't give a cuss if she does git sore and ram her spark plugs into her +carburetor now and agin. She'll know who's boss, Bill. I learnt it to the +burros, and what you can learn a burro you can learn a Ford, take time +enough." + +Taking that point of view and keeping it, Casey managed very well. +Whenever anything went wrong that his vocabulary and a monkey wrench could +not mend, Casey sat down on the shadiest running board and conned the +Instruction Book which Bill handed him at the last minute. Other times he +treated the Ford exactly as he would treat a burro, with satisfactory +results. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Away out on the high mesas that are much like the desert below, except +that the nights are cool and the wind is not fanned out of a furnace, +Casey fought sand and brush and rocks and found a trail now and then which +he followed thankfully, and so came at last to a short range of mountains +whose name matched well their inhospitable stare. The Starvation Mountains +had always been reputed rich in mineral and malevolent in their attitude +toward man and beast. Even the Joshua trees stood afar off and lifted +grotesque arms defensively against them. But Casey was not easily daunted, +and eerie places held for him no meaning save the purely material one. If +he could find water and the rich vein of ore some one had told him was +there, then Casey would be happy in spite of snakes, tarantulas and +sinister stories of the place. + +Water he found, not too far up a gulch. So he pitched his tent within +carrying distance from the spring, thanked the god of mechanics that an +automobile neither eats nor drinks when it does not work, and set out to +find his fortune. + +Casey knew there was a mining camp on the high slope of Barren Butte. He +knew the name of the camp, which was Lucky Lode, and he knew the foreman +there--knew him from long ago in the days when Casey was what he himself +confessed to be wild. In reaching Starvation Mountains, Casey had driven +for fifteen miles within plain sight of Lucky Lode. But gas is precious +when you are a hundred miles from a garage, and since business did not +take him there Casey did not drive up the five-mile hill to the Lucky Lode +just to shake hands with the foreman and swap a yarn or two. Instead, he +headed down on to the bleached, bleak oval of Furnace Lake and forged +across it as straight as he could drive toward Starvation Mountains. + +But the next time Casey made the trip--needing supplies, powder, fuse, +caps and so on--Fate took him by the ear and led him to a lady. This is +how Fate did it,--and I will say it was an original idea: + +Casey had a gallon syrup can in the car which he used for extra oil for +the engine. Having an appetite for sour-dough biscuits and syrup, he had +also a gallon can of syrup in the car. It was a terrifically hot day, and +the wind that blew full against Casey's left cheek as he drove burned even +his leather skin where it struck. Casey was afraid he was running short of +water, and a Ford's comfort comes first,--as every man knows; so that +Casey was parched pretty thoroughly, inside and out. Within a mile of +Furnace Lake he stopped, took an unsatisfying sip from his big canteen and +emptied the rest of the water into the radiator. Then he replenished the +oil in the motor generously, cranked and went bumping along down the trail +worn rough with the trucks from Lucky Lode. + +For a little way he jounced along the trail; then the motor began to +labor; and although Casey pulled the gas lever down as far as it would go, +the car slowed and stopped dead in the road. After an hour of fruitless +monkey-wrenching and swearing and sweating, Casey began to suspect +something. He examined both cans, "hefted" them, smelt and even tasted the +one half-empty, and decided that Ford auty-_mo_-biles do not require two +quarts of syrup at one dose. He thought that a little syrup ought not to +make much difference, but half a gallon was probably too much. + +He put in more oil on top of the syrup, but he could not even move the +crank, much less "turn 'er over." So long as a man can wind the crank of a +Ford he seems able to keep alive his hopes. Casey could not crank, +wherefore he knew himself beaten even while he heaved and lifted and +swore, and strained every muscle in his back lifting again. He got so +desperately wrathful that he lifted the car perceptibly off its right +front wheel with every heave, but he felt as if he were trying to lift a +boulder. + +It was past supper time at Lucky Lode when Casey arrived, staggering a +little with exhaustion, both mental and physical. His eyes were bloodshot +with the hot wind, his face was purple from the same wind, his lips were +dry and rough. I cannot blame the men at Lucky Lode for a sudden thirst +when they saw him coming, and a hope that he still had a little left. And +when he told them that he had filled his engine with syrup instead of oil, +what would any one think? + +Their unjust suspicions would not have worried Casey in the least, had +Lucky Lode not possessed a lady cook who was a lady. She was a widow with +two children, and she had the children with her and held herself aloof +from the men in a manner befitting a lady. Casey was hungry and thirsty +and tired, and, as much as was possible to his nature, disgusted, with +life in general. The widow gave him a smile of sympathy which went +straight to his heart, and hot biscuits and coffee and beans cooked the +way he liked them best. These went straight to ease the gnawing emptiness +of his stomach, and being a man who took his emotions at their face value, +he jumped to the conclusion that it was the lady whose presence gave him +the glow. + +Casey stayed that night and the next day and the next at Lucky Lode. The +foreman helped him tow the syruppy car up the hill to the machine shop +where he could get at it, and Casey worked until night trying to remove +the dingbats from the hootin'annies,--otherwise, the pistons from the +cylinders. The foreman showed him what to do, and Casey did it, using a +"double-jack" and a lot of energy. + +Before he left the Lucky Lode, Casey knew exactly what syrup will do to a +Ford if applied internally, and the widow had promised to marry him if he +would stop drinking and smoking and swearing. Since Casey had not been +drunk in ten years on account of having seen a big yellow snake with a +green head on the occasion of his last carouse, he took the drinking +pledge quite cheerfully for her sake. He promised to stop smoking, glad +that the widow neglected to mention chewing tobacco, which was his +everyday comfort. As for the swearing, he told her he would do his best +under the circumstances, and that he would taste the oil hereafter, and +try and think up some new names for the Ford. + +"But Casey, if you leave whisky alone, you won't need to taste the oil," +the widow told him. Whereat Casey grinned feebly and explained for the +tenth time that he had not been drinking. She did not contradict him. She +seemed a wise woman, after a fashion. + +Casey drove back to his camp at Starvation Mountain happy and a little +scared. Why, after all these years of careless freedom, he should +precipitate himself into matrimony with a woman he had known casually for +two days puzzled him a little. + +"Well, a man gits to feelin' like he wants to settle down when he's +crowdin' fifty," he explained his recklessness to the Ford as it hummed +away over Furnace Lake which was flat as a floor and dry as a bleached +bone,--and much the same color. "Any man feels the want of a home as he +gits older. And Casey's the man that will try anything once, you ask +anybody." He took out his pipe, looked at it, bethought himself of his +promise and put it away again, substituting a chew of tobacco as large as +his cheek would hold without prying his mouth open. "G'long, there--can't +you? You got your belly full of oil--shake a wheel and show you're alive." + +After that, Casey spent every Sunday at Lucky Lode. He liked the widow +better and better. Especially after dinner, with the delicious flavor of +pie still caressing his palate. Only he wished she would take it for +granted that when Casey Ryan made a promise, Casey Ryan would keep it. + +"I've got so now I can bark a knuckle with m'single-jack when I'm puttin' +down a hole, and say, 'Oh, dear!' and let it go at that," he boasted to +her on the second Sunday. "I'll bet there ain't another man in the state +of Nevada could do that." + +"Yes. But Casey dear, if _only_ you will never touch another drop of +liquor. You'll keep your promise, won't you, dear boy?" + +"Hell, yes!" Casey assured her headily. It had been close to twenty years +since he had been called dear boy, at least to his face. He kissed the +widow full on the lips before he saw that a frown sat upon her forehead +like a section of that ridgy cardboard they wrap bottles in. + +"Casey, you swore!" + +"Swore? Me?" + +"I only hope," sighed the widow, "that your other promise won't be broken +as easily as that one. Remember, Casey, I cannot and I will not marry a +drinking man!" + +Casey looked at her dubiously. "If you mean that syrup--" + +"Oh, I've heard awful tales of you, Casey dear! The boys talk at the +table, and they seem to think it's awful funny to tell about your fighting +and drinking and playing cards for money. But I think it's perfectly +awful. You _must_ stop drinking, Casey dear. I could never forgive myself +if I set before my innocent little ones the example of a husband who +drank." + +"You won't," said Casey. "Not if you marry me, you won't." Then he changed +the subject, beginning to talk of his prospect over on Starvation. The +widow liked to hear him tell about finding a pocket of ore that went +seventy ounces in silver and one and seven tenths ounces in gold, and how +he expected any day to get down into the main body of ore and find it a +"contact" vein. It all sounded very convincing and as if Casey Ryan were +in a fair way to become a rich man. + +The next time Casey saw the widow he was on his way to town for more +powder, his whole box of "giant" having gone off with a tremendous bang +the night before in one of those abrupt hailstorms that come so +unexpectedly in the mountain country. Casey had worked until dark, and was +dog-tired and had left the box standing uncovered beside the dugout where +he kept it. He suspected that a hailstone had played a joke on him, but +his chief emotion was one of self-congratulation because he had prudently +stored the dynamite around a shoulder of the canyon from where he camped. + +When he told the widow about it as one relates the details of a narrow +escape, and pointed out how lucky he was, she looked very grave. It was a +very careless thing to do, she said. Casey admitted it was. A man who +handled dynamite ought to shun liquor above all things, she went on; and +Casey agreed restively. He had not felt any inclination, to imbibe until +that minute, when the Irish rose up hotly within him. + +"Casey dear, are you _sure_ you have nothing in camp?" + +Casey assured her solemnly that he had not and drove off down the hill, +vaguely aware that he was not so content with life as he had been. + +"Damn that syrup!" he exploded once, quite as abruptly as had the giant +powder. After that he chewed tobacco and drove in broody silence. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Being Casey Ryan, tough as hickory and wont to drive headlong to his +destination, Casey did not remain in town to loiter a half a day and sleep +a night and drive back the next day, as most desert dwellers did. He +hurried through with his business, filled up with gas and oil, loaded on +an extra can of each, strapped his box of dynamite upon the seat beside +him where he could keep an eye on it--just as if that would do any good if +the tricky stuff meant to blow up!--and started back at three in the +afternoon. He would be half the night getting to camp, even though he was +Casey Ryan and drove a mean Ford. But he would be there, ready to start +work at sunrise. A man who is going to marry a widow with two children had +best hurry up and strike every streak of rich ore he has in his claim, +thought Casey. + +All that afternoon, though the wind blew hot in his face, Casey drilled +across the desert, meeting never a living thing, overtaking none. All that +afternoon a yellow dust cloud swirled rapidly along the rough desert road, +vainly trying to keep up with Casey who made it. In Yucca Pass he had to +stop and fill motor and radiator with oil and water, and just as he topped +the summit a front tire popped like a pistol. + +Casey killed the engine and got out a bit stiffly, pried off a chew of +tobacco and gazed pensively at Barren Butte that held Lucky Lode, where +the widow was cooking supper at that moment. Casey wished practically that +he was there and could sit down to some of her culinary achievements. + +"I sure would like to flop m'lip over one of her biscuits right now," he +said aloud. "If I do strike it, I wonder will she git too high-toned to +cook?" + +His eyes went to Furnace Lake, lying smooth and pale yellow in the +saucerlike basin between Barren Butte and the foothills of Starvation. In +the soft light of the afterglow it seemed to smile at him with a glint of +malice, like the treacherous thing it was. For Furnace Lake is +treacherous. The Big Earthquake (America knows only one Big Earthquake, +that which rocked San Francisco so disastrously) had split Furnace Lake +halfway across, leaving an ugly crevice ten feet wide at the narrowest +point and eighty feet deep, men said. Time and passing storms had partly +filled the gash, but it was there, ugly, ominous, a warning to all men to +trust the lake not at all. Little cracks radiated from the big gash here +and there, and the cattle men rode often that way, though not often enough +to save their cattle from falling in. + +By day the lake shimmered deceptively with mirages that painted it blue +with the likeness of water, Then a lone clump of greasewood stood up tall +and proclaimed itself a ship lying idle on a glassy expanse of water so +blue, so cool, so clear, one could not wonder that thirsty travelers went +mad sometimes with the false lure of it. + +Just now the lake looked exactly like any lake at dusk, with the far shore +line reflected along its edge; and Casey's thought went beyond, to his +claim on Starvation. Being tired and hungry, he pictured wistfully a cabin +there, and a light in the window when he went chuckling up the long mesa +in the dark, and the widow inside with hot coffee and supper waiting for +him. Just as soon as he struck "shipping values" that picture would be +real, said Casey to himself; and he opened his tool box and set to work +changing the tire. + +By the time he had finished it was dark, and Casey had yet a long forty +miles between himself and his sour-dough can. He cranked the engine, +switched on the electric headlights, and went tearing down the +fifteen-mile incline to the lake. + +"She c'n see the lights, and she'll know I ain't hangin' out in town +lappin' up whisky," he told himself as he drove. "She'll know it's Casey +Ryan comin' home--know it the way them lights are slippin' over the +country. Ain't another man on the desert can put a car over the trail like +this! You ask anybody." + +Pleased with himself and his reputation, urged by hunger and the desire to +make good on his claim so that he might have the little home he +instinctively craved, Casey pulled the gas lever down another eighth of an +inch--when he was already using more than he should--and nearly bounced +his dynamite off the seat when he lurched over a sandy hummock and down on +to the smooth floor of the lake. + +It was five miles across that lake from rim to rim and taking a straight +line, as Casey did, well above the crevice. In all that distance there is +not a stick, or a stone, or a bush to mark the way. Not even a trail, +since Casey was the only man who traveled it, and Casey never made tracks +twice in the same place, but drove down upon it, picked himself a landmark +on the opposite side and steered for it exactly as one steers a boat. The +marks he left behind him were no more than pencil marks drawn upon a sheet +of buff wrapping paper. Unless the lake was wet with one of those sporadic +desert rains, you couldn't make any impression on the cement-like surface. + +And when the lake was wet, you stuck where you were until wind and sun +dried it for you. Wherefore Casey plunged out upon five miles of blank, +baked clay with neither road, chart nor compass to guide him. It was the +first time he had ever crossed at night, and a blanket of thin, high +clouds hid the stars. + +Casey thought nothing much of that,--being Casey Ryan. He had before him +the dim--very dim--outline of Starvation, and being perfectly sober, he +steered a straight course, and made sure he was well away from the upper +end of the crevice, and pulled the gas lever down another notch. + +The little handful of engine roared beautifully and shook the car with the +vibration. Casey heaved a sigh of weariness mingled with content that the +way was smooth and he need not look for chuck holes for a few minutes, at +any rate. He settled back, and his fingers relaxed on the wheel. I think +he dozed, though Casey swears he did not. + +Suddenly he leaned forward, stared hard, leaned out and stared, listened +with an ear cocked toward the engine. He turned and looked behind, then +stared ahead again. + +"By _gosh_, I bet both hubs is busted!" he ejaculated under his breath,-- +Furnace Lake subdues one somehow. "She's runnin' like a wolf--but she +ain't goin'!" + +He waited for a minute longer, trifling with the gas, staring and +listening. The car was shaking with the throb of the motor, but Casey +could feel no forward motion. "Settin' here burnin' gas like a 'lection +bonfire--she sure _would_ think I'm drunk if she knowed it," Casey +muttered, and straddled over the side of the car to the running board. + +"I wish--to--_hell_ I hadn't promised her not to cuss!" he gritted, and +with one hand still on the wheel, Casey shut off the gas and stepped down. + +He stepped down upon a surface sliding beneath him at the rate of close to +forty miles an hour. The Ford went on, spinning away from him in a wide +circle, since Casey had unconsciously turned the wheel to the left as he +let go. The blow of meeting the hard clay stunned him just at first, and +he had rolled over a couple of times before he began to regain his senses. + +He lifted himself groggily to his knees and looked for the car, saw it +bearing down upon him from the direction whence he had come. Before he had +time to wonder much at the phenomenon, it was upon him, over with a lurch, +and gone again. + +Casey was tough, and he never knew when he was whipped. He crawled up to +his knees again, saw the same Ford coming at him with dimming headlights +from the same direction it had taken before, made a wild grab for it, was +knocked down and run over again. You may not believe that, but Casey had +the bruises to prove it. + +On the third round the Ford had slowed to a walk, figuratively speaking. +Casey was pretty dizzy, and he thought his back was broken, but he was mad +clear through. He caught the Ford by its fender, hung on, clutching +frantically for a better hold, was dragged a little distance so and then, +as its speed slackened to a gentle forward roll, he made shift to get +aboard and give the engine gas before it had quite stopped. Which he told +himself was lucky, because he couldn't have cranked the thing to save his +life. + +By sheer dogged nerve he drove to camp, drank cold coffee left from his +early breakfast, and decided that the bite of a Ford, while it is +poisonous, is not necessarily fatal unless it attacks one in a vital spot. + +Casey could not drill a hole, he could not swing a pick; for two days he +limped groaning around camp and confined his activities to cooking his +meals. Frequently he would look at the Ford and shake his head. There was +something uncanny about it. + +"She sure has got it in for me," he mused. "You can't blame her for +runnin' off when I dropped the reins and stepped out. But that don't +account for the way she come _at_ me, and the way she _got_ me every +circle she made. That's human. It's dog-_gone_ human! I've cussed her a +lot, and I've done things to her--like that syrup I poured into her--and +dog-gone her, she's been layin' low and watchin' her chance all this +while. Fords, I believe, are about as human as horses, and I've knowed +horses I believe coulda talked if their tongues was split. Ask anybody. +That there car _knowed_!" + +The third day after the attack Casey was still too sore to work, but he +managed to crank the Ford--eyeing it curiously the while, and with +respect, too--and started down the mesa and up over the ridge and on down +to the lake. He was still studying the matter incredulously, still +wondering if Fords can think. He wanted to tell the widow about it and get +her opinion. The widow was a smart woman. A little touchy on the liquor +question, maybe, but smart. You ask anybody. + +Lucky Lode greeted him with dropped jaws and wide staring eyes, which +puzzled Casey until the foreman, grasping his shoulder--which made Casey +wince and break a promise--explained their astonishment. They had, as +Casey expected, seen his lights when he came off the summit from Yucca +Pass. By the speed they traveled, Lucky Lode knew that Casey and no other +was at the steering wheel, even before he took to the lake. + +"And then," said the foreman, "we saw your lights go round and round in a +circle, and disappear--" + +"They didn't," Casey cut in trenchantly. "They went dim because I was +taking her slow, being about all in." + +The foreman grinned. "We thought you'd drove into the crevice, and we went +down with lanterns and hunted the full length of it. We never found a sign +of you or the car--" + +"'Cause I was over in camp, or thereabouts," interpolated Casey drily. "I +wish you'd of come on over. I sure needed help." + +"We figured you was pretty well lit up, to circle around like that. I've +been down since, by daylight, and so have some of the boys, looking into +that crevice. But we gave it up, finally." + +Then Casey, because he liked a joke even when it was on himself, told the +foreman and his men what had happened to him. He did not exaggerate the +mishap; the truth was sufficiently wild. + +They whooped with glee. Every one laughs at the unusual misfortunes of +others, and this was unusual. They stood around the Ford and talked to it, +and whooped again. "You sure must have had so-ome jag, Casey," they told +him exuberantly. + +"I was sober," Casey testified earnestly. "I'll swear I hadn't a drop of +anything worse than lemon soda, and that was before I left town." +Whereupon they whooped the louder, bent double, some of them with mirth. + +"Say! If I was drunk that night, I'd say so," Casey exploded finally. +"What the hell--what's the matter with you rabbits? You think Casey Ryan +has got to the point where he's scared to tell what he done and all he +done? Lemme tell yuh, anything Casey does he ain't afraid to _tell_ about! +Lyin' is something I never was scared bad enough to do. You ask anybody." + +"There's the widow," said the foreman, wiping his eyes. + +Casey turned and looked, but the widow was not in sight. The foreman, he +judged, was speaking figuratively. He swung back glaring. + +"You think I'm scared to tell her what happened? She'll know I was sober +if I say I was sober. She ain't as big a fool--" He did not want to fight, +although he was aching to lick every man of them. But for one thing, he +was too sore and lame, and then, the widow would not like it. + +With his neck very stiff, Casey limped down to the house and tried to tell +the widow. But the widow was a woman, and she was hurt because Casey, +since he was alive and not in the crevice, had not come straight to +comfort her, but had lingered up there talking and laughing with the men. +The widow had taken Casey's part when the others said he must have been +drunk. She had maintained, red-lidded and trembly of voice, that something +had gone wrong with Casey's car so that he couldn't steer it. Such things +happened, she knew. + +Well, Casey told the widow the truth, and the widow's face hardened while +she listened. She had permitted him to kiss her when he came in, but now +she moved away from him. She did not call him dear boy, nor even Casey +dear. She waited until he had reached the point that puzzled him, the +point of a Ford's degree of intelligence. Then her lips thinned before she +opened them. + +"And what," she asked coldly, "had you been drinking, Mr. Ryan?" + +"Me? One bottle of lemon soda before I left town, and I left town at three +o'clock in the afternoon. I swear--" + +"You need not swear, Mr. Ryan." The widow folded her hands and regarded +him sternly, though her voice was still politely soft. "After I had told +you repeatedly that my little ones should ever be guarded from a drinking +father; after you had solemnly promised me that you would never again put +glass to your lips, or swallow a drop of whisky; after that very morning +renewing your pledge--" + +"Well, I kept it," Casey said, his face a shade paler under its usual +frank red. "I swear to Gawd I was sober." + +"You need not lie," said the widow, "and add to your misdeeds. You were +drunk. No man in his senses would imagine what you imagine, or do what you +did. I wish you to understand, Mr. Ryan, that I shall not marry you. I +could not trust you out of my sight." + +"I--was--_sober_!" cried Casey, measuring his words. Very nearly shouting +them, in fact. + +The widow turned pointedly away and began to stir something on the stove, +and did not look at him. + +Casey went out, climbed the hill to his Ford, cranked it and went +larruping down the hill, out on the lake and, when he had traversed half +its length, turned and steered a straight course across it. Where tracings +of wheels described a wide circle he stopped and regarded them intently. +Then he began to swear, at nothing in particular, but with a hearty +enjoyment of the phrases he intoned. + +"Casey, you sure as hell have had one close call," he remarked, when he +could think of nothing new and devilish to say. "You mighta run along, and +run along, till you got _married_ to her. Whadda I want a wife for, +anyway? Sour-dough biscuits tastes pretty good, and Casey sure can make +'em!" He got out his pipe, filled it and crammed down the tobacco, found a +match and leaned back, smoking with relish, one leg thrown over the wheel. + +"A man's best friend is his Ford," he exclaimed. "You can ask anybody." He +grinned, and blew a lot of smoke, and gave the wheel an affectionate +little twist. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Some months later Casey waved good-by to the men from Tonopah, squinted up +at the sun and got a coal-oil can of water, with which he filled the +radiator of his Ford. He rolled his bed in the tarp and tied it securely, +put flour, bacon, coffee, salt and various other small necessities of life +into a box, inspected his sour-dough can, and decided to empty it and +start over again if hard fate drove him to sourdough. + +"Might bust down and have to sleep out," he meditated. "Then, agin, I +ain't liable to; and if I do, I'll be goin' so fast I'll git somewhere +before she stops. I'm--sure--goin' to go!" + +He cranked the battered car, straddled in over the edge on the driver's +side and set his feet against the pedals with the air of a man who had +urgent business elsewhere. The men from Tonopah were not yet out of sight +around the butte scarred with rhyolite ledges before Casey was under way, +rattling down the rough trail from Starvation Mountain and bouncing clear +of the seat as the car lurched over certain rough spots. + +Pinned with a safety pin to the inside pocket of the vest he wore only +when he felt need of a safe and secret pocket, Casey Ryan carried a check +for twenty-five thousand dollars, made payable to himself. A check for +twenty-five thousand dollars in Casey's pocket was like a wildcat clawing +at his imagination and spitting at every moment's delay. Casey had endured +solitude and some hardship while he coaxed Starvation Mountain to reveal a +little of its secret treasure. Now he wanted action, light, life and +plenty of it. While he drove he dreamed, and his dreams beckoned, urged +him faster and faster. + +Up over the summit of the ridge that lay between Starvation and Furnace +Lake he surged, with radiator bubbling. Down the long slope to the lake, +lying there smiling sardonically at a world it loved to trick with its +moods, Casey drove as if he were winning a bet. Across that five miles of +baked, yellow-white clay he raced, his Ford a-creak in every joint. + +"Go it, you tin lizard!" chortled Casey. "I'll have me a real wagon when I +git to Los. She'll be white, with red stripes along her sides and red +wheels, and she'll lay 'er belly to the ground and eat up the road and +lick her chops for more. Sixty miles under her belt every time the clock +strikes, or she ain't good enough fer Casey! Mebby they think they got +some drivers in Californy. Mebby they _think_ they have. They ain't, +though, because Casey Ryan ain't there yet. I'll catch that night train. +Oughta be in by morning, and then you keep your eye on Casey. There's +goin' to be a stir around Los, about to-morrow noon. I'll have to buy some +clothes, I guess. And I'll git acquainted with some nice girl with yella +hair that likes pleasure, and take her out ridin'. Yeah, I'll have to git +me a swell outfit uh clothes. I'll look the part, all right---" + +Up a long, winding trail and over another summit to Yucca Pass Casey +dreamed, while the stark, scarred buttes on either side regarded him with +enigmatic calm. Since the first wagon train had worried over the rough +deserts on their way to California, the bleak hills of Nevada had listened +while prospectors dreamed aloud and cackled over their dreaming; had +listened, too, while they raved in thirst and heat and madness. +Inscrutably they watched Casey as he hurried by with his twenty-five +thousand dollars and his pleasant pictures of soft ease. + +At a dim fork in the trail Casey slowed and stopped. A boiling radiator +will not forever brook neglect, and Casey brought his mind down to +practical things for a space. "I can just as well take the train from +Lund," he mused, while he poured in more water. "Then I can leave this +bleatin' burro with Bill. He oughta give me a coupla hundred for her, +anyway. No use wasting money just because you happen to have a few +thousand in your pants." He filled his pipe at that sensible idea and +turned the nose of his Ford down the dim trail to Lund. + +Eighty miles more or less straight away across the mountainous waste lay +Lund, halfway up a canyon that led to higher reaches in the hills, rich in +silver, lead, copper, gold. Silver it was that Casey had found and sold to +the men from Tonopah, and it was a freak of luck, he thought whimsically, +that had led him and his Ford away over to Starvation Mountains to find +their stake when they had probably been driving over millions every day +that they made the stage trip from Pinnacle down to Lund. + +The trail was rutted in places where the sluicing rains had driven hard +across the hills; soft with sand in places where the fierce winds had +swept the open. For awhile the thin, wobbly track of a wagon meandered +along ahead of him, then turned off up a flat-bottomed draw and was lost +in the sagebrush. Some prospector not so lucky as he, thought Casey, with +swift, soon forgotten sympathy. A coyote ran up a slope toward him, halted +with forefeet planted on a rock, and stared at him, ears perked like an +inquisitive dog. Casey stopped, eased his rifle out of the crease in the +back of the seat cushion, chanced a shot,--and his luck held. He climbed +out, picked up the limp gray animal, threw it into the tonneau and went +on. Even with twenty-five thousand dollars in his pocket, Casey told +himself that coyote hides are not to be scorned. He had seen the time when +the price of a good hide meant flour and bacon and tobacco to him. He +would skin it when he stopped to eat. + +Eighty miles with never a soul to call good day to Casey. Nor shack nor +shelter made for man, and only one place where there was water to wet his +lips if they cracked with thirst,--unless, perchance, one of those swift +desert downpours came riding on the wind, lashing the clouds with +lightning. + +Far ahead of Casey such a storm rolled in off the barren hills to the +south. "She's a-wettin' up that red lake a-plenty," observed Casey, +squinting through the dirty windshield. "No trail around, either, on +account of the lava beds. But I guess I can pull acrost, all right." Doubt +was in his voice, however, and he was half minded to turn back and take +the straight road to Vegas, which had been his first objective. But he +discarded the idea. + +"No, sir, Casey Ryan never back-trailed yet. Poor time to commence, now +when I got the world by the tail and a downhill pull. We'll make out, all +right--can't be so terrible boggy with a short rain like that there. I +bet," he continued optimistically to the Ford, which was the nearest he +had to human companionship, "I bet we make it in a long lope. Git along, +there! Shake a wheel--'s the last time you haul Casey around. Casey's +goin' to step high, wide and handsome. Sixty miles _an hour_, or he'll ask +for his money back. They can't step too fast for Casey! Blue--if I get me +a lady friend with yella hair, mebby she'll show up better in a blue car +than she will in a white-and-red. This here turnout has got to be tasty +and have class. If she was dark--" He shook his head at that. "No, sir, +black hair grows too plenty on squaws an' chilli queens. Yella goes with +Casey. Clingin' kinda girl with blue eyes--that's the stuff! An' I'll sure +show her some drivin'!" + +He wondered whether he should try and find the girl first and buy the car +to match her beauty, or buy the car first and with that lure the lady of +his dreams. It was a nice question and it required thought. It was +pleasant to ponder the problem, and Casey became so lost in meditation +that he forgot to eat when the sun flirted with the scurrying clouds over +his wind-torn automobile top. + +So he came bouncing and swaying down the last mesa to the place called Red +Lake. Casey had heard it spoken of with opprobrious epithets by men who +had crossed it in wet weather. In dry weather it was red clay caked and +checked by the sun, and wheels or hoofs stirred clouds of red dust that +followed and choked the traveler. + +Casey was not thinking at all of the lake when he drove down to it. He was +seeing visions, though you would not think it to look at him; a stocky, +middle-aged man who needed a shave and a hair-cut, wearing cheap, +dirt-stained overalls and a blue shirt and square-toed shoes studded +thickly on the soles with hobnails worn shiny; driving a desert-scarred +Ford with most of the paint gone and a front fender cocked up and flapping +crazily, and tires worn down to the fabric in places. But his eyes were +very keen and steady, and there was a humorous twist to his mouth. If he +dreamed incongruously of big, luxurious cars gorgeous in paint and nickel +trim, and of slim young women with yellow hair and blue eyes,--well, +stranger dreams have been hidden away behind exteriors more unsightly than +was the shell which holds the soul of Casey Ryan. + +Presently the practical, everyday side of his nature nudged him into +taking note of his immediate surroundings. Red Lake had received a +wetting. The dark, shiny surface betrayed that fact, and it was surprising +how real water, when you did see it on a lake subject to mirage, was so +unmistakably real. It is like putting flakes of real gold beside flakes of +mica; you are ready to swear that the mica is gold--until you see the real +gold beside it. So Casey knew at a glance that half of Red Lake was wet, +and that the shiny patches here and there were not mirage pictures but +shallow pools of water. Moreover, out in the reddest, wettest part of it +an automobile stood with its back to him, and pigmy figures were moving +slowly upon either side. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +"Stuck," diagnosed Casey in one word, as he caught sight of the group +ahead. He tucked his dream into the back of his mind while he pulled down +the gas lever a couple of notches and lunged along the muddy ruts that +led straight away from the safe line of sagebrush and out upon the +platter-like red expanse. + +The Ford grunted and lugged down to a steady pull, but Casey drove as he +had driven his six horses on a steep grade in the old days, coaxing every +ounce of power into action. He juggled with spark and gas and somehow kept +her going, and finally stopped with nice judgment on a small island of +harder clay within shouting distance of the car ahead. He killed the +engine then and stepped down, and went picking his way carefully out to +it, his heavy shoes speedily collecting great pancakes of mud that clung +like glue. + +"Stuck, hey? You oughta kept in the ruts, no matter if they are +water-logged. You never want to turn outa the road on one of these lake +beds, huntin' dry ground. If it's wet in the road, you can bank on sinkin' +in to the hocks the minute you turn out." He carefully removed the mud +pancakes from his shoes by scraping them across the hub of the stalled car +and edged back to stand with his arms on his hips while he surveyed the +full plight of them. + +"She sure is bogged down a-plenty," he observed, grinning sympathetically. + +"Could you hitch on your car, Mister, and pull us out?" This was a woman's +voice, and it thrilled Casey, woman hungry as he was. + +Casey put up a hand to his mouth and surreptitiously removed a chew of +tobacco almost fresh. With some effort he pulled his feet closer together, +and he lifted his old Stetson and reset it at a consciously rakish angle. +He glanced at the car, behind it and in front, coming back to the +depressed male individual before him. "Yes, ma'am, I'll get you out, all +right. Sure, I will." + +"We've been stalled here for an hour or more," volunteered the depressed +one. "We was right behind the storm. Looked a sorry chance that anybody +would come along for the next week or so." + +"Mister, you're a godsend, if ever there was one. I'd write your name on +the roster of saints in my prayer book, if I ever said prayers and had a +prayer book and a pencil and knew what name to write." + +"Casey Ryan. Don't you worry, ma'am. We'll get you outa here in no time." +Casey grinned and craned his neck. Looking lower this time, he saw a pair +of feet which did not seem to belong to that voice, though they were +undoubtedly feminine. Still, red mud will work miracles of disfigurement, +and Casey was an optimist by nature. + +"My wife is trying out a new comedy line," the man observed unemotionally. +"Trouble is it never gets over, out front. If she ever did get it across +the footlights, I could raise the price of admission and get away with it. +How far is it to Rhyolite?" + +"Rhyolite? Twenty or twenty-five miles, mebby." Casey gave him an +inquiring look. + +"Can we get there in time to paper the town and hire a hall to show in, +Mister?" Casey saw the mud-caked feet move laboriously toward the rear of +the car. + +"Yes, ma'am, I guess you can. There ain't any town, though, and it ain't +got any hall in it, nor anybody to go to a show." + +The woman laughed. "That's like my prayer book. Well, Jack, you certainly +have got a powerful eye, but you've been trying to Svengali this out-fit +out of the mud for an hour, and I haven't seen it move an inch, so far. +Let's just try something else." + +"A prayer outa your prayer book, maybe," her husband retorted, not +troubling to move or turn his head. + +Casey blinked and looked again. The woman who appeared from the farther +side of the car might have been the creature of his dream, so far as her +face, her hair and her voice went. Her hair was yellow, unmistakably +yellow. Her eyes were bluer than Casey's own, and she had nice teeth and +showed them in a red-lipped smile. A more sophisticated man would have +known that the powder on her nose was freshly applied, and that her reason +for remaining so long hidden from his sight while she talked to him was +revealed in the moist color on her lips and the fresh bloom on her cheeks. +Casey was not sophisticated. He thought she was a beautiful woman and +asked no questions of her make-up box. + +"Mister, you certainly are a godsend!" she gushed again when she faced +him. "I'd call you a direct answer to prayer, only I haven't been praying. +I've been trying to tell Jack that the shovel is not packed under the +banjos, as he thinks it was, but was left back at our last camp where he +was trying to dig water out of a wet spot. Jack, dear, perhaps the +gentleman has got a shovel in his car. Ain't it a real gag, Mister, us +being stuck out here in a dry lake?" + +Casey touched his hat and grinned and tried not to look at her too long. +Husbands of beautiful young women are frequently jealous, and Casey knew +his place and meant to keep it. + +All the way back to his car Casey studied the peculiar features of the +meeting. He had been thinking about yellow-haired women--well! But of +course, she was married, and therefore not to be thought of save as a +coincidence; still, Casey rather regretted the existence of Jack dear, and +began to wonder why good-looking women always picked such dried-up little +runts for husbands. "Show actors by the talk," he mused. "I wonder now if +she don't sing, mebby?" + +He started the car and forged out to them, making the last few rods in low +gear and knowing how risky it was to stop. They were rather helpless, he +had to admit, and did all the standing around while Casey did all the +work. But he shoveled the rear wheels out, waded back to the tiny island +of solid ground and gathered an armful of brush, which he crowded in front +of the wheels, covering himself with mud thereby; then he tied the tow +rope he carried for emergencies like this, waded to the Ford, cranked and +trusted the rest to luck. The Ford moved slowly ahead until the rope +between the two cars tightened, then spun her wheels and proceeded to dig +herself in where she stood. The other car, shaking with the tremor of its +own engine, ruthlessly ground the sagebrush into the mud and stood upon it +roaring and spluttering furiously. + +"Nothing like sticking together, Mister," called the lady cheerfully, and +he heard her laughter above the churn of their motors. + +"Say, ain't your carburetor all off?" Casey leaned out to call back to the +husband. "You're smokin' back there like wet wood." + +The man immediately stopped the motor and looked behind him. + +Casey muttered something under his breath when he climbed out. He looked +at his own car standing hub deep in red mud and reached for the solacing +plug of chewing tobacco. Then he thought of the lady and withdrew his hand +empty. + +"We're certainly going to stick together, Mister," she repeated her +witticism, and Casey grinned foolishly. + +"She'll dry up in a few hours, with this hot sun," he observed +hearteningly. "We'll have to pile brush in, I guess." His glance went back +to the tiny island and to his double row of tracks. He looked at the man. + +"Jack, dear, you might go help the gentleman get some brush," the lady +suggested sweetly. + +"This ain't my act," Jack dear objected. "I just about broke my spine +trying to heave the car outa the mud when we first stuck. Say, I wish +there was a beanery of some kind in walking distance. Honest, I'll be dead +of starvation in another hour. What's the chance of a bite, Hon?" + +Contempt surged through Casey. Deep in his soul he pitied her for being +tied to such an insect. Immediately he was glad that she had spirit enough +to put the little runt in his place. + +"You _would_ wait to buy supplies in Rhyolite, remember," she reminded her +husband calmly. "I guess you'll have to wait till you get there. I've got +one piece of bread saved for Junior. You and I go hungry--and cheer up, +old dear; you're used to it!" + +"I've got grub," Casey volunteered hospitably. "Didn't stop to eat yet. +I'll pack the stuff back there to dry ground and boil some coffee and fry +some bacon." He looked at the woman and was rewarded by a smile so +brilliant that Casey was dazzled. + +"You certainly are a godsend," she called after him, as he turned away to +his own car. "It just happens that we're out of everything. It's so hard +to keep anything on hand when you're traveling in this country, with towns +so far apart. You just run short before you know it." + +Casey thought that the very scarcity of towns compelled one to avoid +running short of food, but he did not say anything. He waded back to the +island with a full load of provisions and cooking utensils, and in three +minutes he was squinting against the smoke of a camp-fire while he poured +water from a canteen into his blackened coffee pot. + +"Coffee! Jack, dear, can you believe your nose!" chirped the woman +presently behind Casey. "Junior, darling, just smell the bacon! Isn't he a +nice gentleman? Go give him a kiss like a little man." + +Casey didn't want any kiss--at least from Junior. Junior was six years +old, and his face was dirty and his eyes were old, old eyes, but brown +like his father's. He had the pinched, hungry look which Casey had seen +only amongst starving Indians, and after he had kissed Casey perfunctorily +he snatched the piece of raw bacon which Casey had just sliced off, and +tore at it with his teeth like a hungry pup. + +Casey affected not to notice, and busied himself with the fire while the +woman reproved Junior half-heartedly in an undertone, and laughed stagily +and remarked upon the number of hours since they had breakfasted. + +Casey tried not to watch them eat, but in spite of himself he thought of a +prospector whom he had rescued last summer after a five-day fast. These +people ate more than the prospector had eaten, and their eyes followed +greedily every mouthful which Casey took, as if they grudged him the food. +Wherefore Casey did not take as many mouthfuls as he would have liked. + +"This desert air certainly does put an edge on one's appetite," the woman +smiled, while she blew across her fourth cup of coffee to cool it, and +between breaths bit into a huge bacon sandwich, which Casey could not help +knowing was her third. "Jack, dear, isn't this coffee delicious!" + +"Mah-mal Do we have to p-pay that there g-godsend? C-can you p-pay for +more b-bacon for me, mah-ma?" Junior licked his fingers and twitched a +fold of his mother's soiled skirt. + +"Sure, give him more bacon! All he wants. I'll fry another skillet full," +Casey spoke hurriedly, getting out the piece which he had packed away in +the bag. + +"He's used to these hold-up joints where they charge you forty cents for a +greasy plate," the man explained, speaking with his mouth full. "Eat all +yuh want, Junior. This is a barbecue and no collection took up to pay the +speaker of the day." + +"We certainly appreciate your kindness, Mister," the woman put in +graciously, holding out her cup. "What we'd have done, stuck here in the +mud with no provisions and no town within miles, heaven only knows. Was +you kidding us," she added, with a betrayal of more real anxiety than she +intended, "when you said Rhyolite is a dead one? We looked it up on the +map, and it was marked like a town. We're making all the little towns that +the road shows mostly miss. We give a fine show, Mister. It's been played +on all the best time in the country--we took it abroad before the war and +made real good money with it. But we just wanted to see the country, you +know--after doing the cont'nent and all the like of that. So we thought +we'd travel independent and make all the small towns--" + +"The movie trust is what put vodeville on the bum," the man interrupted. +"We used to play the best time only. We got a first-class act. One that +ought to draw down good money anywhere, and would draw down good money, if +the movie trust--" + +"And then we like to be independent, and go where we like and get off the +railroad for a spell. Freedom is the breath of life to he and I. We'd +rather have it kinda rough now and then to be free and independent--" + +"I've g-got a b-bunny, a-and it f-fell in the g-grease box a-and we +c-can't wash it off, a-and h-he's asleep now. C-can I g-give my b-bunny +some b-bacon, Mister G-godsend?" + +The woman laughed, and Jack dear laughed, and Casey himself grinned +sheepishly. Casey did not want to be called a godsend, and he hated the +term "Mister" when applied to himself. All his life he had been plain +Casey Ryan and proud of it, and his face was very red when he confessed +that there was no more bacon. He had not expected to feed a family when he +left camp that morning, but had taken rations for himself only. + +Junior whined and insisted that he wanted b-bacon for his b-bunny, and the +man hushed him querulously and asked Casey what the chances were for +getting under way. Casey repacked a lightened bag, emptied the coffee +grounds, shouldered his canteen and waded back to the cars and to the +problem of red mud with an unbelievable quality of tenacity. + +The man followed and asked him if he happened to have any smoking tobacco, +afterwards he begged a cigarette paper, and then a match. "The dog-gone +helpless, starved bunch!" Casey muttered, while he dug out the wheels of +his Ford, and knew that his own haste must wait upon the need of these +three human beings whom he had never seen until an hour ago, of whose very +existence he had been in ignorance, and who would probably contribute +nothing whatever to his own welfare or happiness, however much he might +contribute to theirs. + +I do not say that Casey soliloquised in this manner while he was sweating +there in the mud under hot midday. He did think that now he would no doubt +miss the night train to Los Angeles, and that he would not, after all, be +purchasing glad raiment and a luxurious car on the morrow. He regretted +that, but he did not see how he could help it. He was Casey Ryan, and his +heart was soft to suffering even though a little of the spell cast by the +woman's blue eyes and her golden hair had dimmed for him. + +He still thought her a beautiful woman who was terribly mismated, but he +felt vaguely that women with beautiful golden hair should not drink their +coffee aloud, or calmly turn up the bottom of their skirts that they might +use the underside of the hem for a napkin after eating bacon. I do not +like to mention this; Casey did not like to think of it, either. It was +with reluctance that he reflected upon the different standard imposed by +sex. A man, for instance, might wipe his fingers on his pants and look the +world straight in the eye,--but dog-gone it, when a lady's a lady, she +ought to _be_ a lady. + +Later Casey forgot for a time the incident of the luncheon on Red Lake. +With infinite labor and much patience he finally extricated himself and +the show people, with no assistance from them save encouragement. He towed +them to dry land, untied and put away his rope and then discovered that he +had not the heart to drive on at his usual hurtling pace and leave them to +follow. There was an ominous stutter in their motor, for one thing, and +Casey knew of a stiffish hill a few miles this side of Rhyolite, so he +forced himself to set a slow pace which they could easily follow. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was full sundown when they reached Rhyolite, which was not a town but a +camp beside a spring, usually deserted. Three years before, a mine had +built the camp for the accommodation of the truck drivers who hauled ore +to Lund and were sometimes unable to make the trip in one day. Casey, +having adapted his speed to that of the decrepit car of the show people, +was thankful that they arrived at all. He still had a little flour and +coffee and salt, and he hoped there was enough grease left on the bacon +paper to grease the skillet so that bannocks would not stick to the pan. +He also hoped that his flour would hold out under the onslaught of their +appetites. + +But Casey was lucky. A half dozen cowboys were camped there with a pack +outfit, meaning to ride the canyons next day for cattle. They were cooking +supper, and they had "beefed a critter" that had broken a leg that +afternoon running among rocks. Casey shuffled his responsibility and +watched, in complete content, while the show people gorged on broiled +yearling steaks. (I dislike to use the word gorge where a lady's appetite +is involved, but that is the word which Casey thought of first.) + +Later, the show people very amiably consented to entertain their hosts. It +was then that Casey was once more blinded by the brilliance of the lady +and forgot certain little blemishes that had seemed to him quite +pronounced. The cowboys obligingly built a bonfire before the tent, into +which the couple retired to set their stage and tune their instruments. +Casey lay back on a cowboy's rolled bed with his knees crossed, his hands +clasped behind his thinning hair, and smoked and watched the first pale +stars come out while he listened to the pleasant twang of banjos in the +tuning. + +It was great. The sale of his silver claim to the men from Tonopah, the +check safely pinned in his pocket, the future which he had planned for +himself swam hazily through his mind. He was fed to repletion, he was +rich, he had been kind to those in need. He was a man to be envied, and he +told himself so. + +Then the tent flaps were lifted and a dazzling, golden-haired creature in +a filmy white evening gown to which the firelight was kind stood there +smiling, a banjo in her hands. Casey gave a grunt and sat up, blinking. +She sang, looking at him frequently. At the encore, which was livened by a +clog danced to hidden music, she surely blew a kiss in the direction of +Casey, who gulped and looked around at the others self-consciously, and +blushed hotly. + +In truth, it was a very good show which the two gave there in the tent; +much better than the easiest going optimist would expect. When it was over +to the last twang of a banjo string, Casey took off his hat, emptied into +it what silver he had in his pockets and set the hat in the fireglow. +Without a word the cowboys followed his example, turning pockets inside +out to prove they could give no more. + +Casey spread his bed apart from the others that night, and lay for a long +while smoking and looking up at the stars and dreaming again his dream; +only now the golden-haired creature who leaned back upon the deep cushions +of his speedy blue car, was not a vague bloodless vision, but a real +person with nice teeth and a red-lipped smile, who called him Mister in a +tone he thought like music. Now his dream lady sang to him, talked to +him,--I consider it rather pathetic that Casey's dream always halted just +short of meal time, and that he never pictured her sitting across the +table from him in some expensive café, although Casey was rather fond of +café lights and music and service and food. + +Next morning the glamor remained, although the lady was once more the +unkempt woman of yesterday. The three seemed to look upon Casey still as a +godsend. They had talked with some of the men and had decided to turn back +to Vegas, which was a bigger town than Lund and therefore likely to +produce better crowds. They even contemplated a three-night stand, which +would make possible some very urgent repairs to their car. Casey demurred, +although he could not deny the necessity for repairs. It was a longer +trail to Vegas and a rougher trail. Moreover, he himself was on his way to +Lund. + +"You go to Lund," he urged, "and you can stay there four nights if you +want to, and give shows. And I'll take yuh on up to Pinnacle in my car +while yours is gettin' fixed, and you can give a show there. You'd draw a +big crowd. I'd make it a point to tell folks you give a fine show. And +I'll git yuh good rates at the garage where I do business. You don't want +nothin' of Vegas. Lund's the place you want to hit fer." + +"There's a lot to that," the foreman of the cowboys agreed. "If Casey's +willin' to back you up, you better hit straight for Lund. Everybody there +knows Casey Ryan. He drove stage from Pinnacle to Lund for two years and +never killed anybody, though he did come close to it now and again. I've +saw strong men that rode with Casey and said they never felt right +afterwards. Casey, he's a dog-gone good driver, but he used to be kinda +hard on passengers. He done more to promote heart failure in them two +towns than all the altitude they can pile up. But nobody's going to hold +that against a good show that comes there. I heard there ain't been a show +stop off in Lund for over a year. You'll have to beat 'em away from the +door, I bet." Wherefore the Barrymores--that was the name they called +themselves, though I am inclined to doubt their legal right to it--the +Barrymores altered their booking and went with Casey to Lund. + +They were not fools, by the way. Their car was much more disreputable than +you would believe a car could be and turn a wheel, and the Barrymores +recognized the handicap of its appearance. They camped well out of sight +of town, therefore, and let Casey drive in alone. + +Casey found that the westbound train had already gone, which gave him a +full twenty-four hours in Lund, even though he discounted his promise to +see the Barrymores through. There was a train, to be sure, that passed +through Lund in the middle of the night; but that was the De Luxe, +standard and drawing-room sleepers, and disdained stopping to pick up +plebeian local passengers. + +So Casey must spend twenty-four hours in Lund, there to greet men who +hailed him joyously at the top of their voices while they were yet afar +off, and thumped him painfully upon the shoulders when they came within +reach of him. You may not grasp the full significance of this, unless you +have known old and popular stage drivers, soft of heart and hard of fist. +Then remember that Casey had spent months on end alone in the wilderness, +working like a lashed slave from sunrise to dark, trying to wrest a +fortune from a certain mountain side. Remember how an enforced isolation, +coupled with rough fare and hard work, will breed a craving for lights and +laughter and the speech of friends. Remember that, and don't overlook the +twenty-five thousand dollar check that Casey had pinned safe within his +pocket. + +Casey had unthinkingly tossed his last dime into his hat for the show +people at Rhyolite. He had not even skinned the coyote, whose hide would +have been worth ten or fifteen dollars, as hides go. In the stress of +pulling out of the mud at Red Lake, he had forgot all about the dead +animal in his tonneau until his nose reminded him next morning that it was +there. Then he had hauled it out by the tail and thrown it away. He was +broke, except that he had that check in his pocket. + +Of course it was easy enough for Casey to get money. He went to the store +that sold everything from mining tools to green perfume bottles tied with +narrow pink ribbon. The man who owned that store also owned the bank next +door, and a little place down the street which was called laconically The +Club. One way or another, Dwyer managed to feel the money of every man who +came into Lund and stopped there for a space. He was an honest man, too,-- +or as honest as is practicable for a man in business. + +Dwyer was tickled to see Casey again. Casey was a good fellow, and he +never needed his memory jogged when he owed a man. He paid before he was +asked to pay, and that was enough to make any merchant love him. He +watched Casey unpin his vest pocket and remove the check, and he was not +too eager to inspect it. + +"Good? Surest thing you know. Want it cashed, or applied to your old +checking account? It's open yet, with a dollar and sixty-seven cents to +your credit, I believe. I'll take care of it, though it's after banking +hours." + +Casey was foolish. "I'll take a couple of hundred, if it's handy, and a +check book. I guess you can fix it so I can get what money I want in Los. +I'm goin' to have one hell of a time when I git there. I've earned it." + +Dwyer laughed while he inked a pen for Casey's endorsement. "Hop to it, +Casey. Glad you made good. But you'd better let me put part of that in a +savings account, so you can't check it out. You know, Casey--remember your +weak point." + +"Aw--that's all right! Don't you worry none about Casey Ryan! Casey'll +take care of himself--he's had too many jolts to want another one. Say, +gimme a pair of them socks before you go in the bank. I'll pay yuh," he +grinned, "when yuh come back with some money. Ain't got a cent on me, +Dwyer. Give it all away. Twelve dollars and something. Down to twenty-five +thousand dollars and my Ford auty-_mo_-bile--and Bill's goin' to buy that +off me as soon as he looks her over to see what's busted and what ain't." + +Dwyer laughed again as he unlocked the door behind the overalls and +jumpers and disappeared into his bank. Presently he returned with a +receipted duplicate deposit slip for twenty-four thousand eight hundred +dollars, a little, flat check book and two hundred dollars in worn bank +notes. "You ought to be independent for the rest of your life, Casey. This +is a fine start for any man," he said. + +Casey paid for the socks and slid the change for a ten-dollar bill into +his overalls pocket, put the check book and the bank notes away where he +had carried the check, and walked out with his hat very much tilted over +his right eye and his shoulders swaggering a little. You can't blame him +for that, can you? + +As he stepped from the store he met an old acquaintance from Pinnacle. +There was only one thing to do in a case like that, and Casey did it quite +naturally. They came out of The Club wiping their lips, and the swagger in +Casey's shoulders was more pronounced. + +Face to face Casey met the show lady, which was what he called her in his +mind. She had her arms clasped around a large paper sack full of lumpy +things, and her eyes had a strained, anxious look. + +"Oh, Mister! I've been looking all over for you. They say we can't show in +this town. The license for road shows is fifty dollars, to begin with, and +I've been all over and can't find a single place where we could show, even +if we could pay the license. Ain't that the last word in hard luck? Now +what to do beats me, Mister. We've just got to have the old car tinkered +up so it'll carry us on to the next place, wherever that is. Jack says he +must have a new tire by some means or other, and he was counting on what +we'd make here. And up at that other place you've mentioned the mumps have +broke out and they wouldn't let us show for love or money. A man in the +drug store told me, Mister. We certainly are in a hole now, for sure! If +we could give a benefit for something or somebody. Those men back there +said you're so popular in this town, I believe I've got an idea. Mister, +couldn't you have bad luck, or be sick or something, so we could give a +benefit for you? People certainly would turn out good for a man that's +liked the way they say you are. I'd just love to put on a show for you. +Couldn't we fix it up some way?" + +Casey looked up and down the street and found it practically empty. Lund +was dining at that hour. And while Casey expected later the loud +greetings, and the handshakes and all, as a matter of fact he had thus far +talked with Bill, the garage man, with Dwyer, the storekeeper and banker, +and with the man from Pinnacle, who was already making ready to crank his +car and go home. Lund, as a town, was yet unaware of Casey's presence. + +Casey looked at the show lady, found her gazing at his face with eyes that +said please in four languages, and hesitated. + +"You could git up a benefit for the Methodist church, mebby," he +temporized. "There's a church of some kind here--I guess it's a Methodist. +They most generally are." + +"We'd have to split with them if we did," the show lady objected +practically. "Oh, we're stuck worse than when we was back there in the +mud! We'd only have to pay five dollars for a six-months' theater license, +which would let us give all the shows we wanted to. It's a new law that I +guess you didn't know anything about," she added kindly. "You certainly +wouldn't have insisted on us coming if you'd knew about the license." + +"It's a year, almost, since I was here," Casey admitted; "I been out +prospecting." + +"Well, we can just work it fine! Can't we go somewhere and talk it over? +I've got a swell idea, Mister, if you'll just listen to it a minute, and +it'll certainly be a godsend to us to be able to give our show. We've got +some crutches amongst our stage props, and some scar patches, Mister, that +would certainly make you up fine as a cripple. Wouldn't they believe it, +Mister, if it was told that you had been in an accident and got crippled +for life?" + +In spite of his embarrassment, Casey grinned. "Yeah, I guess they'd +believe it, all right," he admitted. "They'd likely be tickled to death to +see me goin' around on crutches." He cast a hasty thought back into his +past, when he had driven a careening stage between Pinnacle and Lund, +strewing the steep trail with wreckage not his own. "Yeah, it'd tickle 'em +to death. Them that's rode with me," he concluded. + +"Oh, you certainly are a godsend! Duck outa sight somewhere while I go +tell Jack dear that we've found a way open for us to show, after all!" +While Casey was pulling the sag out of his jaw so that he could protest, +could offer her money, do anything save what she wanted, the show lady +disappeared. Casey turned and went back into The Club, remained five +minutes perhaps and then walked very circumspectly across the street to +Bill's garage. It was there that the Barrymores found him when they came +seeking with their dilapidated old car, their crutches, their grease paint +and scar patches, to make a cripple of Casey whether he would or no. + +Bill fell uproariously in with the plan, and Dwyer, stopping at the garage +on his way home to dinner, thought it a great joke on Lund and promised to +help the benefit along. Casey, with three drinks under his belt and his +stomach otherwise empty, wanted to sing, + + "Hey, ok Bill! Can-n yuh play the fiddle-o? + Yes, by--" + +and stuck there because of the show lady. Casey wouldn't have recognized +Trouble if it had walked up and banged him in the eye. He said sure, he'd +be a cripple for the lady. He'd be anything once, and some things several +times if they asked him in the right way. And then he gave himself into +the hands of Jack dear. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Casey looked battered and sad when the show people were through with him. +He had expected bandages wound picturesquely around his person, but the +Barrymores were more artistic than that. Casey's right leg was drawn up at +the knee so that he could not put his foot on the ground when he tried, +and he did not know how the straps were fastened. His left shoulder was +higher than his right shoulder, and his eyes were sunken in his head and a +scar ran down along his temple to his left cheek bone. When he looked in +the glass which Bill brought him, Casey actually felt ill. They told him +that he must not wash his face, and that his week's growth of beard was a +blessing from heaven. The show lady begged him, with dew on her lashes, to +play the part faithfully, and they departed, very happy over their +prospects. + +Casey did not know whether he was happy or not. With Bill to encourage him +and give him a lift over the gutters, he crossed the street to a +restaurant and ordered largely of sirloin steak and French fried potatoes. +After supper there was a long evening to spend quietly on crutches, and +The Club was just next door. A man can always spend an evening very +quickly at The Club--or he could in the wet days--if his money held out. +Casey had money enough, and within an hour he didn't care whether he was +crippled or not. There were five besides himself at that table, and they +had unanimously agreed to remove the lid. Moreover, there was a crowd ten +deep around that particular table. For the news had gone out that here was +Casey Ryan back again, a hopeless cripple, playing poker like a drunken +Rockefeller and losing as if he liked to lose. + +At eight o'clock the next morning Bill came in to tell Casey that the show +people had brought up their car to be fixed, and was the pay good? Casey +replied Without looking up from his hand, which held a pair of queens +which interested him. He'd stand good, he said, and Bill gave a grunt and +went off. + +At noon Casey meant to eat something. But another man had come into the +game with a roll of money and a boastful manner. Casey rubbed his cramped +leg and hunched down in his chair again and called for a stack of blues. +Casey, I may as well confess, had been calling for stacks of blues and +reds and whites rather often since midnight. + +At four in the afternoon Casey hobbled into the restaurant and ate another +steak and drank three cups of black coffee. He meant to go across to the +garage and have Bill hunt up the Barrymores and get them to unstrap him +for awhile, but just as he was lifting his left crutch around the edge of +the restaurant door, two women of Lund came up and began to pity him and +ask him how it ever happened. Casey could not remember, just at the +moment, what story he had already told of his accident. He stuttered--a +strange thing for an Irishman to do, by the way--and retreated into The +Club, where they dared not follow. + +"H'lo, Casey! Give yuh a chance to win back some of your losin's, if +you're game to try it again," called a man from the far end of the room. + +Casey swore and hobbled back to him, let himself stiffly down into a chair +and dropped his crutches with a rattle of hard wood. Being a cripple was +growing painful, besides being very inconvenient. The male half of Lund +had practically suspended business that day to hover around him and +exchange comments upon his looks. Casey had received a lot of sympathy +that day, and only the fact that he had remained sequestered behind the +curtained arch that cut across the rear of The Club saved him from +receiving a lot more. But of course there were mitigations. Since walking +was slow and awkward, Casey sat. And since he was not a man to sit and +twiddle thumbs to pass the time, Casey played poker. That is how he +explained it afterwards. He had not intended to play poker for twenty-four +hours, but tie up a man's leg so he can't walk, and he's got to do +_something_. + +Wherefore Casey played,--and did not win back what he had lost earlier in +the day. Daylight grew dim, and some one came over and lighted a hanging +gasoline lamp that threw into tragic relief the painted hollows under +Casey's eyes, which were beginning to look very bloodshot around the blue +of them. + +Once, while the bartender was bringing drinks--you are not to infer that +Casey was drunk; he was merely a bit hazy over details--Casey pulled out +his dollar watch and looked at it. Eight-thirty--the show must be pretty +well started, by now. He thought he might venture to hobble over to Bill's +and have those dog-gone straps taken off before he was crippled for sure. +But he did not want to do anything to embarrass the show lady. Besides, he +had lost a great deal of money, and he wanted to win some of it back. He +still had time to make that train, he remembered. It was reported an hour +late, some one said. + +So Casey rubbed his strapped leg, twisting his face at the cramp in his +knee and letting his companions believe that his accident had given him a +heritage of pain. He hitched his lifted shoulder into an easier position +and picked up another unfortunate assortment of five cards. + +At ten o'clock Bill, the garage man, came and whispered something to +Casey, who growled an oath and reached almost unconsciously for his +crutches before trying to get up; so soon is a habit born in a man. + +"What they raisin' thunder about?" he asked apathetically, when Bill had +helped him across the gutter and into the street. "Didn't the crowd turn +out like they expected?" Casey's tone was dismal. You simply cannot be a +cripple for twenty-four hours, and sit up playing unlucky poker all night +and all day and well into another night, without losing some of your +animation; not even if you are Casey Ryan. "Hell, I missed that train +again," he added heavily, when he heard it whistle into the railroad yard. + +"Too bad. You oughta be on it, Casey," Bill said ominously. + +At the garage the Barrymores were waiting for him in their stage clothes +and make-up. The show lady had wept seams down through her rouge, and the +beads on her lashes had clotted unbecomingly. + +"Mister, you certainly have wished a sorry deal on to us," she exclaimed, +when Casey came hobbling through the doorway. "Fifteen years on the stage +and _this_ never happened to us before. We've took our bad luck with our +good luck and lived honest and respectable and self-respecting, and here, +at last, ill fortune has tied the can on to us. I know you meant well and +all that, Mister, but we certainly have had a raw deal handed out to us in +this town. We--certainly--have!" + +"We got till noon to-morrow to be outa the county," croaked Jack dear, +shifting his Adam's apple rapidly. "And that's real comedy, ain't it, when +your damn county runs clean over to the Utah line, and we can't go back +the way we come, or--and we can't go anywhere till this big slob here puts +our car together. He's got pieces of it strung from here around the block. +Say, what kinda town is this you wished on to us, anyway? Holding night +court, mind you, so they could can us quicker!" + +The show lady must have seen how dazed Casey looked. "Maybe you ain't +heard the horrible deal they handed us, Mister. They stopped our show +before we'd raised the curtain,--and it was a seventy-five dollar house if +it was a cent!" she wailed. "They had a bill as long as my arm for +license--we couldn't get by with the five-dollar one--and for lights and +hall rent and what-all. There wasn't enough money in the house to pay it! +And they was going to send us to jail! The sheriff acted anything but a +gentleman, Mister, and if you ever lived in this town and liked it, I must +say I question your taste!" + +"We wouldn't use a town like this for a garbage dump, back home," cut in +Jack with all the contempt he could master. + +"And they hauled us over to their dirty old Justice of the Peace, and he +told us he'd give us thirty days in jail if we was in the county to-morrow +noon, and we don't know how far this county goes, either way!" + +"Fifty miles to St. Simon," Bill told them comfortingly. "You can make it, +all right--" + +"We can make it, hey? How're we going to make it, with our car layin' +around all over your garage?" Jack's tone was arrogant past belief. + +Casey was fumbling for strap buckles which he could not reach. He was also +groping through his colorful, stage-driver's vocabulary for words which +might be pronounced in the presence of a lady, and finding mighty few that +were of any use to him. The combined effort was turning him a fine purple +when the lady was seized with another brilliant idea. + +"Jack dear, don't be harsh. The gentleman meant well--and I'll tell you, +Mister, what let's do! Let's trade cars till the man has our car repaired. +Your car goes just fine, and we can load our stuff in and get away from +this horrible town. Why, the preacher was there and made a speech and said +the meanest things about you, because you was having a benefit and at the +same identical time you was setting in a saloon gambling. He said it was +an outrage on civilization, Mister, and an insult to the honest, +hard-working people in Lund. Them was his very words." + +"Well, hell!" Casey exploded abruptly. "I'm honest and hard-workin' as any +damn preacher. You can ask anybody!" + +"Well, that's what he said, anyhow. We certainly didn't know you was a +gambler when we offered to give you a benefit. We certainly never dreamed +you'd queer us like that. But you'll do us the favor to lend us your car, +won't you? You wouldn't refuse that, and see me and little Junior +languishin' in jail when you know in your heart--" + +"Aw, take the darn car!" muttered Casey distractedly, and hobbled into the +garage office where he knew Bill kept liniment. + +Five minutes, perhaps, after that, Casey opened the office door wide +enough to fling out an assortment of straps and two crutches. + +The show lady turned and made a motion which Casey mentally called a +pounce. "Oh, thank you, Mister! We certainly wouldn't want to go off and +forget these props. Jack dear has to use them in a comedy sketch we put on +sometimes when we got a good house." + +Casey banged the door and said something exceedingly stage-driverish which +a lady should by no means overhear. + +Sounds from the rear of the garage indicated that Casey's Ford was r'arin' +to go, as Casey frequently expressed it. Voices were jumbled in the tones +of suggestions, commands, protest. Casey heard the show lady's clear +treble berating Jack dear with thin politeness. Then the car came snorting +forward, paused in the wide doorway, and the show lady's voice called out +clearly, untroubled as the voice of a child after it has received that +which it cried for. + +"Well, good-by, Mister! You certainly are a godsend to give us the loan of +your car!" There was a buzz and a splutter, and they were gone--gone clean +out of Casey's life into the unknown whence they had come. + +Bill opened the door gently and eased into the office, sniffing liniment. +The painted hollows under Casey's eyes gave him a ghastly look in the +lamp-light when he lifted his face from examining a chafed and angry knee. +Bill opened his mouth for speech, caught a certain look in Casey's eyes +and did not say what he had intended to say. Instead: + +"You better sleep here in the office, Casey. I've got another bed back of +the machine shop. I'll lock up, and if any one comes and rings the night +bell--well, never mind. I'll plug her so they can't ring her." The world +needs more men like Bill. + + * * * * * + +Even after an avalanche, human nature cannot resist digging in the +melancholy hope of turning up grewsome remains. I know that you are all +itching to put shovel into the debris of Casey's dreams, and to see just +what was left of them. + +There was mighty little, let me tell you. I said in the beginning that +twenty-five thousand dollars was like a wildcat in Casey's pocket. You +can't give a man that much money all in a lump and suddenly, after he has +been content with dollars enough to pay for the food he eats, without +seeing him lose his sense of proportion. Twenty-five dollars he +understands and can spend more prudently than you, perhaps. Twenty-five +thousand he simply cannot gauge. It seems exhaustless. It is as if you +plucked from the night all the stars you can see, knowing that the Milky +Way is still there and unnumbered other stars invisible, even in the +aggregate. + +Casey played poker with an appreciative audience and the lid off. Now and +then he took a drink stronger than root beer. He kept that up for a night +and a day and well into another night. Very well, gather round and look at +the remains, and if there's a moral, you are welcome, I am sure. + +Casey awoke just before noon, and went out and held his head under Bill's +garage hydrant, with the water running full stream. He looked up and found +Bill standing there with his hands in his pockets, gazing at Casey +sorrowfully. Casey grinned. You can't down the Irish for very long. + +"How's she comin', Bill?" + +Bill grunted and spat. "She ain't. Not if you mean that car them folks +wished on to you. Well, the tail light's pretty fair, too. And in their +hurry the lady went off and left a pink silk stockin' in the back seat. +The toe's out of it though. Casey, if you wait till you overhaul 'em with +that thing they wheeled in here under the name of a car--" + +"Oh, that's all right, Bill," Casey grunted gamely. "I was goin' to git me +a new car, anyway. Mine wasn't so much. They're welcome." + +Bill grunted and spat again, but he did not say anything. + +"I'll go see Dwyer and see how much I got left," Casey said presently, and +his voice, whether you believe it or not, was cheerful. "I'm going to +ketch that evenin' train to Los." And he added kindly, "C'm on and eat +with me, Bill. I'm hungry." + +Bill shook his head and gave another grunt, and Casey went off without +him. + +After awhile Casey returned. He was grinning, but the grin was, to a +careful observer, a bit sickish. "Say, Bill, talk about poker--I'm off it +fer life. Now look what it done to me, Bill! I puts twenty-five thousand +dollars into the bank--minus two hundred I took in money--and I takes a +check book, and I goes over to The Club and gits into a game. I wears the +check book down to the stubs. I goes back and asks Dwyer how much I got in +the bank, and he looks me over like I was a sick horse he had doubts about +being worth doctorin', and as if he thought he mebby might better take me +out an' shoot me an' put me outa my misery. + +"'Jest one dollar an' sixty-seven cents, Casey,' he says to me, 'if the +checks is all in, which I trust they air!'" Casey got out his plug of +chewing tobacco and pried off a blunted corner. "An' hell Bill! I had that +much in the bank when I started," he finished plaintively. + +"Hell!" repeated Bill in brief, eloquent sympathy. + +Casey set his teeth together and extracted comfort from the tobacco. He +expectorated ruminatively. + +"Well, anyway, I got me some bran' new socks, an' they're paid for, thank +God!" He tilted his old Stetson down over his right eye at his favorite, +Caseyish angle, stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled out into the +sunshine. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"At that," said Bill, grinning a little, "you'll know as much as the +average garage-man. What ain't reformed livery-stable men are second-hand +blacksmiths, and a feller like you, that has drove stage for fifteen +year--" + +"Twenty," Casey Ryan corrected jealously. "Six years at Cripple Creek, and +then four in Yellowstone, and I was up in Montana for over five years, +driving stage from Dry Lake to Claggett and from there I come to Nevada--" + +"Twenty," Bill conceded without waiting to hear more, "knows as much as a +man that has kept livery stable. Then again you've had two Fords--" + +"Oh, I ain't sayin' I can't _run_ a garage," Casey interrupted. "I don't +back down from runnin' anything. But if you'd grubstake me for a year, +instead of settin' up this here garage at Patmos, I'd feel like I had a +better chance of makin' us both a piece uh money. There's a lost gold mine +I been wantin' fer years to get out and look for. I believe I know now +about where to hit for. It ain't lost, exactly. There's an old Injun been +in the habit of packin' in high grade in a lard bucket, and nobody's been +able to trail him and git back to tell about it. He's an old she-bear to +do anything with, but I got a scheme, Bill--" + +"Ferget it," Bill advised. "Now you listen to me, Casey, and lay off that +prospectin' bug for awhile. Here's this long strip of desert from Needles +to Ludlow, and tourists trailin' through like ants on movin' day. And +here's this garage that I can get at Patmos for about half what the +buildin's worth. You ain't got any competition, none whatever. You've got +a cinch. There'll be cars comin' in from both ways with their tongues +hangin' out, outa gas, outa oil, needin' this and needin' that and looking +on that garage as a godsend--" + +"Say, Bill, if I gotta be a godsend I'll go out somewheres and holler +myself to death. Casey's off that godsend stuff for life; you hear me, +Bill--" + +"Glad to hear it, Casey. If you go down there to Patmos to clean up some +money for you 'n' me, you wanta cut out this soft-hearted stuff. Get the +money, see? Never mind being kind; you can be kind when you've got a stake +to be it with. Charge 'em for everything they git, and see to it that the +money's good. Don't you take no checks. Don't trust nobody for anything +whatever. That's your weakness, Casey, and you know it. You're too +dog-gone trusting. You promise me you'll put a bell on your tire tester +and a log chain and drag on your pump and jack--say, you wouldn't believe +the number of honest men that go off for a vacation and steal everything, +by golly, they can haul away! Pliers, wrenches, oil cans, tire testers-- +say, you sure wanta watch 'em when they ask yuh for a tester! You can lose +more tire testers in the garage business--" + +"Well, now, you watch Casey! When it comes to putting things like that +over, they wanta try somebody besides Casey Ryan. You ask anybody if +Casey's easy fooled. But I'd ruther go hunt the Injun Jim mine, Bill." + +"Say, Casey, in this one summer you can make enough money in Patmos to +_buy_ a gold mine. I've been reading the papers pretty careful. Why, they +say tourist travel is the heaviest that ever was known, and this is early +May and it's only beginning. And lemme tell yuh something, Casey. I'd +ruther have a garage in Patmos than a hotel in Los Angeles, and by all +they say that's puttin' it strong. Ever been over the road west uh +Needles, Casey?" + +Casey never had, and Bill proceeded to describe it so that any tourist who +ever blew out a tire there with the sun at a hundred and twenty and +running in high, would have confessed the limitations of his own +vocabulary. + +"And there you are, high and dry, with fifteen miles of the ungodliest, +tire-chewinest road on either side of yuh that America can show. About +like this stretch down here between Rhyolite and Vegas. And hills and +chucks--say, don't talk to me about any Injun packin' gold in a lard +bucket. Why, lemme tell yuh, Casey, if you work it right and don't be so +dog-gone kind-hearted, you'll want a five-ton truck to haul off your +profits next fall. I'd go myself and let you run this place here, only I +got a lot of credit trade and you'd never git a cent outa the bunch. And +then you're wantin' to leave Lund for awhile, anyway." + +"You could git somebody else," Casey suggested half-heartedly. "I kinda +hate to be hobbled to a place like a garage, Bill. And if there's anything +gits my goat, it's patchin' up old tires. I'll run 'em flat long as +they'll stay on, before I'll git out and mend 'em. I'd about as soon go to +jail, Bill, as patch tires for tourists; I--" + +"You don't have to," said Bill, his grin widening. "You sell 'em new +tires, see. There won't be one in a dozen you can't talk into a new tire +or two. Whichever way they're goin', tell 'em the road's a heap worse from +there on than what it was behind 'em. They'll buy new tires--you take it +from me they will. And," he added virtuously, "you'll do 'em no harm +whatever. If you got a car, you need tires, and a new one'll always come +in handy sometime. You know that yourself, Casey. + +"Now, I'll put in an assortment of tires, and I'll trust you to sell 'em. +You and the road they got to travel. Why, when I was in Ludlow, a feller +blew in there with a big brute of a car--36-6 tires. He'd had a blow-out +down the other side of Patmos and he was sore because they didn't have no +tires he could use down there. He bought three tires--_three,_ mind yuh, +and peeled off the bills to pay for 'em! Sa-ay when yuh figure two hundred +cars a day rollin' through, and half of 'em comin' to yuh with grief of +some kind--" + +"It's darn little I know about any car but a Ford," Casey admitted +plaintively. "When yuh come to them complicated ones that you can crawl +behind the wheel and set your boot on a button and holler giddap and +she'll start off in a lope, I don't know about it. A Ford's like a mule or +a burro. You take a monkey wrench and work 'em over, and cuss, and that's +about all there is to it. But you take them others, and I got to admit I +don't know." + +"Well," said Bill, and spat reflectively, "you roll up your sleeves and +I'll learn yuh. It'll take time for the stuff to be delivered, and you can +learn a lot in two or three weeks, Casey, if you fergit that prospectin' +idea and put your mind to it." + +Casey rolled a cigarette and smoked half of it, his eyes clinging +pensively to the barren hills behind Lund. He hunched his shoulders, +looked at Bill and grinned reluctantly. + +"She's a go with me, Bill, if you can't think of no other way to spend +money. I wisht you took to poker more, or minin', or something that's got +action. Stakin' Casey Ryan to a garage business looks kinda foolish to me. +But if you can stand it, Bill, I can. It's kinda hard on the tourists, +don't yuh think?" + +Thus are garages born,--too many of them, as suffering drivers will +testify. Casey Ryan, known wherever men of the open travel and spin their +yarns, famous for his recklessly efficient driving of lurching +stagecoaches in the old days, and for his soft heart and his +happy-go-lucky ways; famous too as the man who invented ungodly +predicaments from which he could extricate himself and be pleased if he +kept his shirt on his back; Casey Ryan as the owner of a garage might +justly be considered a joke pushed to the very limit of plausibility. Yet +Casey Ryan became just that after two weeks of cramming on mechanics and +the compiling of a reference book which would have made a fortune for +himself and Bill if they had thought to publish it. + +"A quort of oil becomes lubrecant and is worth from five to fifteen cents +more per quort when you put it into a two-thousand dollar car or over," +was one valuable bit of information supplied by Bill. Also: "Never cuss or +fight a man getting work done in your place. Shut up and charge him +according to the way he acts." + +It is safe to assume that Bill would make a fortune in the garage business +anywhere, given normal traffic. + +Patmos consists of a water tank on the railroad, a siding where trains can +pass each other, a ten-by-ten depot, telegraph office and express and +freight office, six sweltering families, one sunbaked lodging place with +tent bedrooms so hot that even the soap melts, and the Casey Ryan garage. +I forgot to mention three trees which stand beside the water tank and try +to grow enough at night to make up for the blistering they get during the +day. The highway (Coast to Coast and signed at every crossroads in red +letters on white metal boards with red arrows pointing to the far skyline) +shies away from the railroad at Patmos so that perspiring travelers look +wistfully across two hundred yards or so of lava rock and sand and wish +that they might lie under those three trees and cool off. They couldn't, +you know. It is no cooler under the trees than elsewhere. It merely looks +cooler. + +Even the water tank is a disappointment to the uninitiated. You cannot +drink the water which the pump draws wheezingly up from some deep +reservoir of bad flavors. It is very clear water and it has a sparkle that +lures the unwary, but it is common knowledge that no man ever drank two +swallows of it if he could help himself. So the water supply of Patmos +lies twelve miles away in the edge of the hills, where there is a very +good spring. One of the six male residents of Patmos hauls water in +barrels, at fifty cents a barrel. He makes a living at it, too. + +One other male resident keeps the lodging place,--I avoid the term lodging +house, because this place is not a house. It is a shack with a sign +straddling out over the hot porch to insult the credulity of the +passers-by. The sign says that this place is "The Oasis,"--and the nearest +trees a long rifleshot away, and the coolest water going warm into parched +mouths! + +The Oasis stands over by the highway, alongside Casey's garage, and the +proprietor spends nine tenths of his waking hours sitting on the front +porch and following the strip of shade from the west end to the east end, +and in watching the trains go by, and counting the cars of tourists and +remarking upon the State license plate. + +"There's an outfit from Ioway, maw," he will call in to his wife. "Wonder +where they're headed fer?" His wife will come to the door and look +apathetically at the receding dust cloud, and go back somewhere,--perhaps +to put fresh soap in the tents to melt. Toward evening the cars are very +likely to slow down and stop reluctantly; sunburned, goggled women and men +looking the place over without enthusiasm. It isn't much of a place, to be +sure, but any place is better than none in the desert, unless you have +your own bed and frying pan with you, roped in dusty canvas to the back of +your car. + +Alongside the Oasis stands the garage, and in the garage swelters Casey,-- +during this episode. Just at first Bill came down from Lund and helped him +to arrange and mark prices on his stock of tires and "parts" and +accessories, and to remember the catalogue names for things so that he +would recognize them when a car owner asked for them. + +Casey, I must explain, had evolved a system of his own while driving his +Ford wickedly here and there to the consternation of his fellow men. +Whatever was not a hootin'-annie was a dingbat, and treated accordingly. +The hootin'-annie appeared to be the thing that went wrong, while the +dingbat was the thing the hootin'-annie was attached to. It was perfectly +simple, to Casey and his Ford, but Bill thought it was a trifle limited +and was apt to confuse customers. So Bill remained three days mopping his +face with his handkerchief and explaining things to Casey. After that +Casey hired a heavy-eyed young Mexican to pump tires and fill radiators +and the like, and settled down to make his fortune. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Cars came and cars went, in heat and dust and some tribulation. In a month +Casey had seen the color of every State license plate in the Union, and +some from Canada and Mexico. From Needles way they came, searching their +souls for words to tell Casey what they thought of it as far as they had +gone. And Casey would squint up at them from under the rim of his greasy +old Stetson and grin his Irish grin. + +"Cheer up, the worst is yet to come," he would chant, with never a qualm +at the staleness of the slogan. "How yuh fixed for water? Better fill up +your canteens--yuh don't wanta git caught out between here and Ludlow with +a boilin' radiator and not water enough. Got oil enough? Juan, you look +and see. Can't afford to run low on oil, stranger. No, ma'am, there ain't +any other road--and if there was another road it'd be worse than what this +one is. No, ma'am, you ain't liable to git off'n the road. You can't. +You'd git stuck in the sand 'fore you'd went the length of your car." + +He would walk around them and look at their tires, his hands on his hips +perhaps and his mouth damped shut in deep cogitation. + +"What kinda shape is your extras in?" he would presently inquire. "She's a +tough one, from here on to the next stop. You got a hind tire here that +ain't goin' to last yuh five miles up the road." He would kick the tire +whose character he was blackening. "Better lay in a supply of blow-out +patches, unless you're a mind to invest in a new casing." Very often he +would sell a tire or two, complete with new tubes, before the car moved +on. + +Casey never did things halfway, and Bill had impressed certain things deep +on his mind. He was working with Bill's money and he obeyed Bill's +commands. He never took a check or a promise for his pay, and he never +once let his Irish temper get beyond his teeth or his blackened finger +tips. Which is doing remarkably well for Casey Ryan, as you would admit if +you knew him. + +At the last moment, when the driver was settling himself behind the wheel, +Casey would square his conscience for whatever strain the demands of +business had put upon it. "Wait and take a good drink uh cold water before +yuh start out," he would say, and disappear. He knew that the car would +wait. The man or woman never lived who refused a drink of cold water on +the desert in summer. Casey would return with a pale green glass water +pitcher and a pale green glass. He would grin at their exclamations, and +pour for them water that was actually cold and came from the coolest water +bag inside. Those of you who have never traveled across the desert will +not really understand the effect this would have. Those who have will know +exactly what was said of Casey as that car moved out once more into the +glaring sun and the hot wind and the choking dust. + +Casey always kept one cold water bag and one in process of cooling, and he +would charge as much as he thought they would pay and be called a fine +fellow afterwards. He knew that. He had lived in dry, hot places before, +and he was conscientiously trying to please the public and also make money +for Bill, who had befriended him. You are not to jump to the conclusion, +however, that Casey systematically robbed the public. He did not. He aided +the public, helped the public across a rather bad stretch of country, and +saw to it that the public paid for the assistance. + +Casey saw all sorts and sizes of cars pass to and fro, and most of them +stopped at his door, for gas or for water or oil, or perhaps merely to +inquire inanely if they were on the right road to Needles or to Los +Angeles, as the case might be. Any fool, thought Casey, would know without +asking, since there was no other road, and since the one road was signed +conscientiously every mile or two. But he always grinned good-naturedly +and told them what they wanted him to tell them, and if they shifted money +into his palm for any reason whatever he brought out his green glass +pitcher and his green glass tumbler and gave them a drink all around and +wished them luck. + +There were strip-down Fords that tried to look like sixes, and there were +six-cylinder cars that labored harder than Fords. There were limousines, +sedans, sport cars,--and they all carried suitcases and canvas rolls and +bundles draped over the hoods, on the fenders and piled high on the +running boards. + +Sometimes he would find it necessary to remove a thousand pounds or so of +ill-wrapped bedding from the back of a tonneau before he could get at the +gas tank to fill it, but Casey never grumbled. He merely retied the +luggage with a packer's hitch that would take the greenhorn through his +whole vocabulary before he untied it that night, and he would add two bits +to the price of the gas because his time belonged to Bill, and Bill +expected Casey's time to be paid for by the public. + +One day when it was so hot that even Casey was limp and pale from the +heat, and the proprietor of the Oasis had forsaken the strip of shade on +his porch and had chased his dog out of the dirt hollow it had scratched +under the house and had crawled under there himself, a party pulled slowly +up to the garage and stopped. Casey was inside sitting on the ground and +letting the most recently filled water bag drip down the back of his neck. +He shouted to Juan, but Juan had gone somewhere to find himself a cool +spot for his siesta, so Casey got slowly to his feet and went out to meet +Trouble, sopping his wet hair against the back of his head with the flat +of his hand before he put on his hat. He squinted into the sunshine and +straightway squared himself for business. + +This was a two-ton truck fitted for camping. A tall, lean man whose +overalls hung wide from his suspenders and did not seem to touch his +person anywhere, climbed out and stood looking at the bare rims of two +wheels, as if he had at that moment discovered them. + +"Thinkin' about the price uh tires, stranger?" Casey grinned cheerfully. +"It's lucky I got your size, at that. Fabrics and cords--and the +difference in price is more'n made up in wear. Run yer car inside outa the +sun whilst I change yer grief into joy." + +"I teen havin' hard luck all along," the man complained listlessly. +"Geewhillikens, but it shore does cost to travel!" + +Casey should have been warned by that. Bill would have smelled a purse +lean as the man himself and would have shied a little. But Casey could +meet Trouble every morning after breakfast and yet fail to recognize her +until she had him by the collar. + +"You ask anybody if it don't!" he agreed sympathetically, mentally going +over his rack of tires, not quite sure that he had four in that size, but +hoping that he had five and that he could persuade the man to invest. He +surely needed rubber, thought Casey, as he scrutinized the two casings on +the car. He stood aside while the man backed, turned a wide half-circle +and drove into the grateful shade of the garage. It seemed cool in there +after the blistering sunlight, unless one glanced at Casey's thermometer +which declared a hundred and nineteen with its inexorable red line. + +"Whatcha got there? Goats?" Casey's eyes had left the wheels of the trucks +and dwelt upon a trailer penned round and filled with uneasy animals. + +"Yeah. Twelve, not countin' the little fellers. And m'wife an' six young +ones all told. Makes quite a drag on the ole boat. Knocks thunder outa +tires, too. You say you got my size? We-ell, I guess I got to have 'em, +cost er no cost." + +"Sure you got to have 'em. It's worse ahead than what you been over, an' +if I was you I'd shoe 'er all round before I hit that lava stretch up +ahead here. You could keep them two fer extras in case of accident. Might +git some wear outa them when yuh strike good roads again, but they shore +won't go far in these rocks. You ask anybody." + +"We-ell--I guess mebby I better--I don't see how I'm goin' to git along +any other way, but--" + +Casey had gone to find where Juan had cached himself and to pluck that +apathetic youth from slumber and set him to work. Four casings and tubes +for a two-ton truck run into money, as Casey was telling himself +complacently. He had not yet sold any tires for a two-ton truck, and he +had just two fabrics and two cords, in trade vernacular. He paid no +further attention to the man, since there would be no bickering. When a +man has only two badly chewed tires, and four wheels, argument is +superfluous. + +So Casey mildly kicked Juan awake and after the garage jack, and himself +wheeled out his four great pneumatic tires, and with his jackknife slit +the wound paper covering, and wondered what it was that smelled so +unpleasant. A goat bleated plaintively to remind him of their presence. +Another goat carried on the theme, and the chorus swelled quaveringly and +held to certain minor notes. Within the closed truck a small child +whimpered and then began to cry definitely at the top of its voice. + +Casey looked up from bending over the fourth tire wrapping. "Better let +your folks git out and rest awhile," he invited hospitably. "It's goin' to +take a little time to put these tires on. I got some cold water back +there--help yourself." + +"Well, I'd kinda like to water them goats," the man observed diffidently. +"They ain't had a drop sence early yest-day mornin'. You got water here, +ain't yuh? An' they might graze around a mite whilst we're here. Travelin' +like this, I try to kinda give 'em a chanct when we stop along the road. +It's been an awful trip. We come clear from Wyoming. How far is it from +here to San Jose, Californy?" + +Casey had in the first week learned that it is not wise for a garage man +to confess that he does not know distances. People always asked him how +far it was to some place of which he had never heard, and he had learned +to name figures at random very convincingly. He named now what seemed to +him a sufficient number, and the man said "Gosh!" and went back to let +down the end gate of the trailer and release the goats. "You said you got +water for 'em?" he asked, his tone putting the question in the form of +both statement and request. + +When you are selling four thirty-six-sixes, two of them cords, to a man, +you can't be stingy with a barrel of water, even if it does cost fifty +cents. Casey told Juan to go borrow a tub next door and show the man where +the water barrel stood. Juan, squatted on his heels while he languidly +pumped the jack handle up and down, and seeming pleased than otherwise +when the jack slipped and tilted so that he must lower it and begin all +over again, got languidly to his bare feet and lounged off obediently. +According to Juan's simple philosophy, to obey was better than to dodge +hammers, pliers or monkey wrenches, since Casey's aim was direct and there +was usually considerable force of hard, prospector's muscle behind it. + +Juan was gone a long while, long enough to walk slowly to the station of +Patmos and back again, but he returned with the tub, and the incessant +bleating of the goats stilled intermittently while they drank. By this +time Casey had forgotten the goats, even with the noise of them filling +his ears. + +Casey was down on his knees hammering dents out of the rim of a front +wheel so that the new tire could go on. Four of the six offspring crowded +around him, getting in the way of Casey's hammer and asking questions +which no man could answer and remain normal. Casey had, while he unwrapped +the casings, made a mental reduction in the price. Even Bill would throw +off a little, he told himself, on a sale like this. Mentally he had +deducted twenty-five dollars from the grand total, but before he had that +rim straightened he said to himself that he'd be darned if he discounted +more than twenty. + +"Humbolt an' Greeley, you git away from there an' git out here an' git +these goats a-grazin'," the lean customer called sharply from the rear of +the garage. Humbolt and Greeley hastily proceeded to git, which left two +unkempt young girls standing there at Casey's elbow so that he could not +expectorate where he pleased, or swear at all. Wherefore Casey was +appreciably handicapped in his work, and he wished that he were away out +in the hills digging into the side of a gulch somewhere, sun-blistered, +broke, more than half starving on short rations and with rheumatism in his +right shoulder and a bunion giving him a limp in the left foot. He could +still be happy-- + +"_What_ yuh doin' that for?" the shrillest voice repeated three times +rapidly, with a sniffle now and then by way of punctuation. + +"To make little girls ask questions," grunted Casey, glancing around him +for the snub-nosed, double-headed, four-pound hammer which he called +affectionately by the name Maud. The biggest girl had Maud. She had turned +it upright on its handle and was sitting on the head of it. When Casey +reached for it and got it, without apology or warning, the girl sprawled +backward and howled. + +"Porshea, you git up from there! _Shame_ on yuh!" A shrill woman voice, +very much like the younger voices except that it was worn rough and +querulous with age and many hardships, called down from the truck. Casey +looked up, startled, and tried to remember just what he had said before +the girls appeared to silence him. The woman was very large both in height +and in bulk, and she was heaving herself out of the truck in a way that +reminded Casey oddly of a disgruntled hippopotamus he had once watched +coming out of its tank at a circus. Casey moved modestly away and did not +look, after that first glance. A truck, you will please understand, is not +a touring car, and ladies who have passed the two-hundred-pound notch on +the scales should remain up there and call for a step-ladder. + +She descended, and the jack slipped and let the car down with a six-inch +lurch. Casey is remarkably quick in his motions. He turned, jumped three +feet and caught the lady's full weight in his arms as she was falling +toward him. Probably he would have caught it anyway, but then there would +have been little left of Casey, and his troubles would have been finished +instead of being just begun. + +He had just straightened the jack and was beginning to lift the bare wheel +off the ground again when the fifth offspring descended. Casey thought +again of the hippopotamus in its infancy. The fifth was perhaps fifteen, +but she had apparently reached her full growth, which was very nearly that +of her mother. She had also reached the age of self-consciousness, and she +simpered at Casey when he assisted her to alight. + +Casey was not bashful, nor was he over-fastidious; men who have lived long +in the wilderness are not, as a rule. Still, he had his little whims, and +he failed to react to the young lady's smile. His pale blue eyes were keen +to observe details and even Casey did not approve of "high-water marks" on +feminine beauty. + +Well, that brought the whole family to view save the youngest who had +evidently dropped asleep and was left in the truck. Casey went to work on +the wheel again, after directing mother and daughter to the desert water +bag which swung suspended from ropes in the rear of the garage. + +Ten minutes later a dusty limousine stopped for gas and oil, and Casey +left his work to wait upon them. There was a very good-looking girl +driving, and the man beside her was undoubtedly only her father, and Casey +was humanly anxious to be remembered pleasantly when they drove on. He +asked them to wait and have a drink of cold water, and was deeply +humiliated to find that both water bags were empty,--the overgrown girl +having used the last to wash her face. Casey didn't like her any the +better for that, or for having accentuated the high-water mark, or for +forcing him to apologize to the pretty driver of the limousine. + +He refilled the water bags and remarked pointedly that it would take an +hour for the water to cool in them and that they must be left alone in the +meantime. He did not look at the girl, but from the tail of his eye he saw +her pull a contemptuous grimace at him when she thought his back safely +turned. + +Wherefore Casey finished the putting on of the fourth tire pretty well up +toward the boiling point in temper and in blood. I have not mentioned half +the disagreeable trifles that nagged at him during the interval,--his +audience, for instance, that hovered so close that he could not get up +without colliding with one of them, so full of aimless talk that he +mislaid tools in his distraction. Juan was a pest and Casey thought +malevolently how he would kill him when the job was finished. Juan went +around like one in a trance, his heavy-lidded, opaque eyes following every +movement of the girl, which kept her younger sisters giggling. But even +with interruptions and practically no assistance the truck stood at last +with four good tires on its wheels, and Casey wiped a perspiring face and +let down the jack, thankful that the job was done; thinking, too, that ten +dollars would be a big reduction on the price. He had to count his time, +you see. + +"Well, how much does it come to, mister?" the lord of the flock asked +dolefully, when Casey called him in and told him that he could go at any +time now. + +Casey told him, and made the price only five dollars lower than the full +amount, just because he hated to see men walk around loose in their pants, +with their stomachs sagged in as though they never were fed a square meal +in their lives. + +"It's a pile uh money to pay out for rubber that's goin' to be chewed off +on these here danged rocks," sighed the man. + +Casey grunted and began collecting his tools, rescuing the best hammer he +had from one of the girls. "I wisht it was all profit," he said. "Or even +a quarter of it. I'm sellin' 'em close as I can an' git paid fer my time +puttin' 'em on." + +"Oh, I ain't kickin' about the price. I'm satisfied with that." Men +usually are, you notice, when they want credit. "Now I tell yuh. I ain't +got that much money with me--" + +Casey spat and pointed his thumb toward a sign which he had nailed up just +the day before, thinking that it would save both himself and his customers +some embarrassment. The sign, except that the letters were not even, was +like this: + + "CHECKS MUST BE CASHED + BY THE ONER + OR THEY AIN'T CASHED" + +The lean man read and looked at Casey humbly. "Well, I ain't never wrote a +check in my life. Now I tell yuh. I ain't got the money to pay for these +tires, but I tell yuh what I'll do; I'm goin' on up to my brother--he's +got a prune orchard a little ways out from San Jose, an' he's well fixed. +Now I'll write out an order on my brother, fer him to send you the money. +He's good fer it, an' he'll do it. I'm goin' on up to help him work his +place on shares, so I c'n straighten up with him when I get--" + +Casey had picked up the jack again and was regretfully but firmly +adjusting it under the front axle. "That ain't the first good prospect I +ever had pinch out on me," he observed, trying to be cheerful over it. He +could even grin while he squinted up at the lean man. + +"Well, now, you can't hardly refuse to trust a man in my fix!" + +"Think I can't?" Casey was working the jack handle rapidly and the words +came in jerks. "You stand there and watch me." He spun the wheel free and +reached for his socket wrench. "I wisht you'd spoke your piece before I +set these dam nuts so tight," he added. + +The lean man turned and looked inquiringly at his wife. "Ain't I honest, +maw, and don't I pay my debts? An' ain't my brother Joe honest, an' don't +he pay _his_ debts? Would you think the man lived, maw, that would set a +man with a fambly afoot out on the desert like this?" + +"Nev' mind, now, paw. Give him time to think what it means, an' he won't. +He's got a heart." + +The baby awoke and cried then, and Casey's heart squirmed in his chest. +But he thought of Bill and stiffened his business nerve. + +"I got a heart; sure I've got a heart. You ask anybody if Casey's got a +heart. But I also got a pardner." + +"Your pardner's likely gen'l'man enough to trust us, if you ain't," maw +said sharply. + +"Yes, ma'am, he is. But he's got these tires to pay fer on the first of +the month. It ain't a case uh not trustin'; it's a case of git the money +or keep the tires. I wisht you had the money--she shore is a good bunch uh +rubber I let yuh try on." + +They wrangled with him while he removed the tires he had so painstakingly +adjusted, but Casey was firm. He had to be. There is no heart in the +rubber trust; merely a business office that employs very efficient +bookkeepers, who are paid to see that others pay. He removed the new +tires; that was his duty to Bill. By then it was five o'clock when all +good mechanics throw down their pliers and begin to shed their coveralls. + +Casey was his own man after five o'clock. He rolled the tattered tires out +into the sunlight, let out the air and yanked them from their rims. "Come +on here and help, and I'll patch up your old tires so you c'n go on," he +offered good-naturedly, in spite of the things the woman had said to him. +"The tire don't live that Casey can't patch if it comes to a showdown." + +Before he was through with them he had donated four blow-out patches to +the cause, and about five hours of hard labor. The Smith family--yes, they +were of the tribe of Smith--were camped outside and quarreling +incessantly. The goats, held in spasmodic restraint by Humbolt and Greeley +and a little spotted dog which Casey had overlooked in his first +inventory, were blatting inconsequently in the sage behind the garage. +Casey cooked a belated supper and hoped that the outfit would get an early +start, and that their tires would hold until they reached Ludlow, at +least. "Though I ain't got nothin' against Ludlow," he added to himself +while he poured his coffee. + +"Maw wants to know if you got any coffee you kin lend," the shrill voice +of Portia sounded unexpectedly at his elbow. Casey jumped,--an indication +that his nerves had been unstrung. + +"Lend? Hunh! Tell 'er I give her a cupful." Then, because Casey had +streaks of wisdom, he closed the doors of the garage and locked them from +the inside. Cars might come and honk as long as they liked; Casey was +going to have his sleep. + +Very early he was awakened by the bleating, the barking, the crying and +the wrangling of the Smiths. He pulled his tarp over his ears, hot as it +was, to shut out the sound. After a long while he heard the stutter of the +truck motor getting warmed up. There was a clamor of voices, a bleating of +goats, the barking of the spotted dog, and the truck moved off. + +"Thank Gawd!" muttered Casey, and went to sleep again. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +At two o'clock the next afternoon, the Smith outfit came back, limping +along on three bare rims. Casey's jaw dropped a little when he saw them +coming, but nature had made him an optimist. Now, perhaps, that +hungry-looking Smith would dig into his pocket and find the price of new +tires. It had been Casey's experience that a man who protested the loudest +that he was broke would, if held rigidly to the no-credit rule, find the +money to pay for what he must have. In his heart he believed that Smith +had money dangling somewhere in close proximity to his lank person. + +But if Smith had any money he did not betray the fact. He asked quite +humbly for the loan of tools, and tube cement, and more blow-out patches, +and set awkwardly to work mending his tattered tires. And once more Casey +sent Juan to borrow the Oasis tub, and watered the goats and picked his +way amongst the Smith offsprings and pretended to be deaf half of the +time, and said he didn't know the other half. His green glass water +pitcher was practically useless to travelers, and Juan was worse. A goat +got away from Humbolt and Greeley and went exploring in the corner of the +garage where Casey lived, and ate three pounds of bacon. You know what +bacon costs. Maw Smith became acquainted with Casey and followed him about +with a detailed recital of her family history, which she thought would +make a real exciting book. What Casey thought I must not tell you. + +That night Casey patched tires and tubes. He had to, you see, or go crazy. +Next morning he listened to the departure of the Smith family and the +Smith goats, and prayed that their tires would hold out even as far as +Bagdad,--though I don't see why, since there was no garage in Bagdad, or +anything else but a flag station. + +That afternoon at three o'clock, they came back again! And Casey neglected +to send Juan after the tub to water the goats. Wherefore paw sent Humbolt, +and watered the goats himself from Casey's barrel and seemed peevish +because he must. Maw Smith came after coffee again, and helped herself +with no more formality than a shrill, "I'm borrying some more coffee!" +sent to Casey out in front. + +That night Casey patched tires and tubes. + +At six o'clock Smith pounded on the back door and called in to Casey that +he would have to have some gas before he started. So Casey pulled on his +pants and gave Smith some gas, and paid the garage out of his own pocket. +He didn't swear, either. He was past that. + +That afternoon Casey watched apprehensively the road that led west. It was +two-thirty when he saw them coming. Casey set his jaw and went in and hid +every blow-out patch he had in stock, and all the cement. + +Smith went into camp, sent Greeley after the Oasis tub and watered the +goats from one of Casey's water barrels. Casey went on with his work, +waiting upon customers who paid, and tried not to think of the Smiths, +although most of them were underfoot or at his elbow. + +"Them tires you mended ain't worth a cuss," Smith came around finally to +complain. "I didn't get ten mile out with 'em before I had another +blowout. I tell yuh what I'll do. I'll trade yuh goats fer tires. I got +two milk goats that's worth a hundred dollars apiece, mebby more, the way +goats is selling on the Coast. I hate to part with 'em, but I gotta do +somethin'. Er else you'll have to trust me till I c'n get to my brother +an' git the money. It ain't," he added grievedly, "as if I wasn't honest +enough to pay my debts." + +"Nope," said Casey wearily, "I don't want yer goats. I've had more goats +a'ready than I want. And tires has gotta roll outa this shop paid for. We +talked that all over, the first night." + +"What am I goin' to do, then?" Smith inquired in exasperation. + +"Hell; I dunno," Casey returned grimly. "I quit guessin' day before +yesterday." + +Smith went off to confer with maw, and Casey overheard some very harsh +statements made concerning himself. Maw Smith was so offended that she +refused to borrow coffee from Casey that night, and she called her +children out of his garage and told them she would warm their ears for +them if they went near him again. Hearing which Casey's features relaxed a +little. He could even meet customers with his accustomed grin when Smith +in his anger sent the goats over to the water tank next day, refusing to +show any friendship for Casey by emptying a water barrel for him. But he +had to fire Juan for pouring gasoline into the radiator of a big sedan, +and later he had to stalk that lovesick youth into the very camp of the +Smiths and lead him back by the collar, and search him for stolen tools. +He recovered twice as many as you would believe a Mexican's few garments +could conceal. + +Casey was harassed for two days by the loud proximity of the Smiths, but +not one of them deigned to speak to him or to show any liking for him +whatever, beyond helping themselves superciliously to the contents of his +water barrel. On the morning of the third day the lean man presented his +thin shadow and then himself at the front door of the garage, with a +letter in his hand and a hopeful look on his face. + +"Well, mebby I c'n talk business to yuh now an' have somethin' to go on," +he began abruptly. "I went an' sent off a telegraft to my brother in San +Jose about you, and he's wrote a letter to yuh. My brother's a business +man. You c'n see that much fer yourself. An' mebby you'll see your way +clear t' help me leave this dod-rotten hole. Here's yer letter." + +Casey held himself neutral while he read the letter. +As it happens that I have a copy, here it is: + + (Printed Letterhead) + + VISTA GRANDE RANCHO + + Smith Bros. + + San Jose, Calif. + +_Garage Owner, Patmos, Calif._ + +Dear Sir: I am informed that my brother Eldreth William Smith, having +suffered the mishap to lose his tires at your place or thereabouts, and +having the misfortune to fall short of immediate funds with which to pay +cash for replacement, has been denied credit at your hands. + +I regret that because of business requirements in my own business it is +impossible for me to place the amount necessary at his immediate disposal. +It is therefore my advise that you lend to my brother Eldreth William +Smith such money or moneys as will be necessary to purchase railroad +tickets for himself and family from Patmos to this place, and + +Furthermore that you take as security for said loan such motor truck and +equipment etc. as he has now stored at your place of business. I am aware +of the fact that a motor truck in any running condition would amply secure +such loans as would purchase tickets from Patmos to San Jose, and I hereby +enclose note for same, duly made out in blank and signed by me, which +signature will be backed by the signature of my brother. Upon receiving +from you such money as he may require he will duly deliver note and +security duly signed and filled with the amount. I trust this will be +perfectly satisfactory to you as amply securing you for the loan of the +desired amount. + + Thanking you in advance, + + Yours very Truly, + + J. Paul Smith. + +In spite of himself, Casey was impressed. The very Spanish name of the +prune orchard impressed him, and so did the formal business terms used by +J. Paul Smith; and that "thanking you in advance" seemed to place him +under a moral obligation too great to shirk. There was the note, too,-- +heavy green paper with a stag's head printed on it, and looking almost +like a check. + +"Well, all right, if it don't cost too much and the time don't run too +long," surrendered Casey reluctantly. "How much--" + +"Fare's a little over twenty-five dollars, an' they'll be four full fares +an' three half. I guess mebby I better have a hundred an' seventy-five +anyway, so'st we kin eat on the way." + +Casey chanced to have almost that much coming to him out of the business, +so that he would not be lending Bill's money. He watched the lean Smith +fill in the amount and sign the note, identifying the truck by its engine +and license numbers, and he went and borrowed fifteen dollars from the +proprietor of the Oasis and made up the amount. There was a train at noon, +and from his garage door he watched the Smith family start off across the +lava rocks to the depot, each one laden with bundles and disreputable +grips, the spotted dog trotting optimistically ahead of the party with his +pink tongue draped over the right side of his mouth. Smith turned, the +baby in his arms, and called back casually to Casey: + +"Yuh better tie up them two milk goats when yuh milk 'em. They won't stand +if yuh don't." + +Casey's jaw sagged. He had not thought of the goats. Indeed, the last two +days they had not troubled him except by their bleating at dawn. Humbolt +and Greeley had grazed them over by the railroad track so that they could +watch the trains go by. Casey looked and saw that the goats were still +over there where they had been driven early. He took off his hat and +rubbed his palm reflectively over the back of his head, set the hat on his +head with a pronounced tilt over one eyebrow, and reached for his plug of +tobacco. + +"Oh, darn the goats! Me milkin' goats! Well, now, Casey Ryan never milked +no goats, an' he ain't goin' to milk no goats! You can ask anybody if they +think't he will." + +Casey was very busy that day, and he had no dull-eyed Juan to do certain +menial tasks about the cars that stopped before his garage. Nevertheless +he kept an eye on the station of Patmos until the westbound train had come +and had departed, and on the rough road between the railroad and the +garage for another half hour, until he was sure that the Smith family were +not coming back. Then he went more cheerfully about his work, now and then +glancing, perhaps, at the truck which had been driven into the rear of the +garage where it was very much in his way, but was safe from pilfering +fingers. It was not such a bad truck, give it new tires. Casey had already +figured the price at which he could probably sell it, on an easy payment +plan, to the man who hauled water for Patmos. It was more than the amount +of his loan, naturally. By noon he was rather hoping the "Smith Bros." +would fail to take up that note. + +Casey, you see, was not counting the goats at all. He had a vague idea +that, while they were nominally a part of the security, they were actually +of no importance whatever. They would run loose until Smith came after +them, he guessed. He did not intend to milk any nanny goats, so that +settled the goat question for Casey. + +Casey simply did not know anything about goats. He ought to have used a +little logic and not so much happy-go-lucky "t'ell with the goats." That +is all very well, so far as it goes, and we all know that everybody says +it and thinks it. But it does, not settle the problem. It never occurred +to Casey, for instance, that the going of Humbolt and Greeley and the +little spotted dog would make any difference. It really did make a great +deal, you see. And it never occurred to Casey that goats are domesticated +animals after they have been hauled around the country for weeks and weeks +in a trailer to a truck, or that they will come back to the only home they +know. + +I don't know how long it takes goats to fill up. I never kept a goat or +goats. And I don't know how long they will stand around and blat before +they start something. I don't know much more about goats than Casey, or +didn't, at least, until he told me. By that time Casey knew a lot more, I +suspect, than he could put into words. + +Casey says that he heard them blatting around outside, but he was busy +trying to straighten a radius rod--Casey _said_ he was taking the kinks +outa that hootin'-annie that goes behind the front ex and turns the +dingbats when you steer--for a man who walked back and forth and slapped +his hands together nervously and kept asking how long it was going to +take, and how far it was to Barstow, and whether the road from there up +across the Mojave was in good condition, and whether the Death Valley road +out from Ludlow went clear through the valley and was a cut-off north, or +whether it just went into the valley and stopped. Casey says that the only +time he ever was in Death Valley it was with a couple of burros and that +he like to have stayed there. He got to telling the man about his trip +into Death Valley and how he just did get out by a scratch. + +So he didn't pay any attention to the goats until he went back after some +cold water for the white little woman in the car, that looked all tuckered +out and scared. It was then he found the whole corner chewed off one water +bag and the other water bag on the ground and a lot more than the corner +gone. And the billy was up on his hind feet with his horns caught in the +fullest barrel, and was snorting and snuffling in a drowning condition and +tilting the barrel perilously. The other goats were acting just like plain +damn goats, said Casey, and merely looking for trouble without having +found any. + +Casey says he had to call the Oasis man to help him get Billy out of the +barrel, and that even then he had to borrow a saw and saw off one horn-- +either that, or cave in the barrel with Maud--and he needed that barrel +worse than the billy goat needed two horns; but he told me that if he'd +had Maud in his two hands just then he sure would have caved in the goat. + +At that, the nervous man got away without paying Casey, which I think +rankled worse than a spoiled barrel of water. + +Casey told me that he aged ten years in the next two weeks, and lost +eighty-nine dollars and a half in damages and wages, not counting the two +water bags he had to replace out of his stock, at nearly four dollars +wholesale price. When he chased the goats out of his back door they went +around and came in at the front, determined, he supposed, to bed down near +the truck. + +It was late before that occurred to him, and when it did he cranked up and +drove the truck a hundred yards down the road that led to the spring. The +goats did not follow as he expected, but stood around the trailer and +blatted. Casey went back and hooked on the trailer and drove again down +the road. The goats would not follow, and he went back to find that Billy +had managed to push open the back door and had led his flock into Casey's +kitchen. There was no kitchen left but the little camp stove, and that was +bent so that it stood skew-gee, Casey said, and developed a habit of +toppling over just when his coffee came to a boil. + +Casey told me that he had to barricade himself in his garage that night, +and he swore that Billy stood on his hind feet and stared at him all night +through the window in spite of wrenches and pliers hailing out upon him. +However that may be, Billy couldn't have stood there all night, unless +Casey got his dates mixed. For at six o'clock the Oasis man came over, +stepping high and swinging his fists, and told Casey that them damn goats +had et all the bedding out of one tent and the soap, towel and one pillow +out of another, and what was Casey going to do about it? + +Casey did not know,--and he was famous for his resourcefulness too. I +think he paid for the bedding before the thing was settled. + +Casey says that after that it was just one thing after another. He told me +that he never would have believed twelve goats could cover so much +cussedness in a day. He said he couldn't fill a radiator but some goat +would be chewing the baggage tied behind the car, or Billy would be +rooting suitcases off the running board. One party fell in love with a +baby goat and Casey in a moment of desperation told them they could have +it. But he was sorry afterward, because the mother stood and blatted at +him reproachfully for four days and nights without stopping. + +Casey swears that he picked up and threw two tons of rocks every day, and +he has no idea how many tons the six families of Patmos heaved at and +after the goats. When they weren't going headfirst into barrels of water +they were chewing something not meant to be chewed. Casey asserts that it +is all a bluff about goats eating tin cans. They don't. He says they never +touched a can all the while he had them. He says devastated Patmos wished +they would, and leave the two-dollar lace curtains alone, and clotheslines +and water barrels and baggage. He says many a party drove off with chewed +bedding rolls and didn't know it, and that he didn't tell them, either. + +You're thinking about Juan, I know. Well, Casey thought of Juan the first +day, and took the trouble to hunt him up and hire him to herd the goats. +But Juan developed a bad case of sleeping sickness, Casey says, which +unfortunately was not contagious to goats. He swears that he never saw one +of those goats lying down, though he had seen pictures of goats lying down +and had a vague idea that they chewed their cuds. Casey tried to be funny, +then. He looked at me and grinned, and observed, "Hunh! Goats don't chew +cuds. That's all wrong. They chew _duds._ You ask anybody in Patmos." So +Juan slept under sagebushes and grease-wood, and the goats did not. + +Casey declares that he stood it for two weeks, and that it took all he +could make in the garage to pay the six families of Patmos for the damage +wrought by his security. He lost fifteen pounds of flesh and every friend +he had made in the place except the man who hauled water, and he liked it +because he was getting rich. Once Casey had a bright idea, and with much +labor and language he loaded the goats into the trailer and had the +water-hauler take them out to the hills. But that didn't work at all. Part +of the flock came back afoot, from sheer homesickness, and the rest were +hauled back because they were ruining the spring which was Patmos' sole +water supply. + +Casey would have shot the goats, but he couldn't bring himself to do +anything that would offend J. Paul Smith of the _Vista Grande Rancho._ +Whenever he read the letter J. Paul Smith had written him he was ashamed +to do anything that would lower him in the estimation of J. Paul Smith, +who trusted him and took it for granted that he would do the right thing +and do it with enthusiasm. + +"If he hadn't wrote so dog-gone polite!" Casey complained to me. "And if +he hadn't went an' took it for granted I'd come through. But a man can't +turn down a feller that wrote the way he done. Look at that letter! A +college perfessor couldn't uh throwed together no better letter than that. +And that there 'Thanking you in advance'--a feller _can't_ throw a man +down when he writes that way. You ask anybody." Casey's tone was one of +reminiscent injury, as if J. Paul Smith had indeed taken a mean advantage +of him. + +One day Casey reached the limit of his endurance,--or perhaps of the +endurance of Patmos. There were not enough male residents to form a mob +strong enough to lynch Casey, but there was one woman who had lost a sofa +pillow and two lace curtains; Casey did not say much about her, but I +gathered that he would as soon be lynched as remonstrated with again by +that woman. "Sufferin' Sunday! I'd shore hate to be her husband. You ask +anybody!" sighed Casey when he was telling me. + +Casey moralized a little. "Folks used to look at the goats that I'd maybe +just hazed off into the brush fifty yards or so with a thousand pounds +mebby of rocks, an' some woman in goggles would say, 'Oh, an' you keep +goats! How nice!' like as if it were something peaceful an' homelike to +keep goats! Hunh! Lemme tell yuh; never drive past a place that _looks_ +peaceful, and jump at the idea it _is_ peaceful. They may be a woman +behind them vines poisinin' 'er husband's father. How could them darn +tourists tell'what was goin' on in Patmos? They seen the goats pertendin' +to graze, an' keepin' an eye peeled till my back was turned, an' they +thought it was _nice_ to keep goats. Hunh!" + +At last Casey could bear no more. He gathered together enough hardwood, +three-inch crate slats to make twelve crates, and he worked for three +nights, making them. And Casey is no carpenter. After that he worked for +three days, with all the men in Patmos to help him, getting the goats into +the crates and loaded on the truck. Then he drove over to the station and +asked for tags, and addressed the crates to J. Paul Smith, _Vista Grande +Rancho,_ San Jose, Calif. Then he discovered that he could not send them +except by express, and that he could not send them by express unless he +prepaid the charges. And the charges on goats sent by express, was, as +Casey put it, a holy fright. + +But he had to do it. Patmos had been led to believe that he would send +those goats off on the train, and Casey did not know what would happen if +he failed. There were the heads of the six families, and all the children +who were of walking age, grouped around the crates and Casey expectantly. +Casey went back to the garage safe and got what money he had, borrowed the +balance from the male citizens of Patmos and prepaid the express. Patmos +helped to load them into the first express car going west, and Casey felt, +he said, as if some one had handed him a million dollars in dimes. + +Casey seemed to think that ended the story, but I am like the rest of you. +I wanted to know what the Smith family did, and J. Paul Smith, and whether +Casey kept the truck and sold it to the man who hauled water. + +"Who? Me? Say! D'you ever know Casey Ryan to ever come out anywheres but +at the little end uh the horn? Ain't I the bag holder pro tem?" I don't +know what he meant by that. I think he was mistaken in the meaning of "pro +tem." + +"You ask anybody. Say, I got a letter sayin' in a gen'ral way that I'm a +thief an' a cutthroat an' a profiteer an' so on, an' that I would have to +pay fer the goat that was missin'--that there was the one I give away--an' +that the damages to the billy goat was worth twenty-five dollars and same +would be deducted from the amount of the loan. _Darn_ these fancy word +slingers!" said Casey. "An' the day before the note come due, here comes +that shoestring in pants with the money to pay the note minus the damages, +and four new tires fer the truck! Yessir, wouldn't buy tires off me, even! +Could yuh beat that fer gall? And he wouldn't hardly speak." + +Casey grinned and got his plug of tobacco and inspected the corners +absently before he bit into it. "But I got even with 'im," he added. "I +laid off till he got his tires on--an' I wouldn't lend him no tools to put +'em on with, neither. And then I looked up an' down the road an' seen +there was no dust comin' an' we wouldn't be interrupted, an' I went up to +the old skunk an' I says, 'I got a bill to colleck off you. _Thankin' you +in advance!'_ an' then I shore collected. You ask anybody in Patmos. Say, +I bet he drove by-guess-an'-by-gosh to the orange belt, anyway, the way +his eyes was swellin' up when he left!" + +I mentioned his promise to Bill, that he would not fight a customer. Casey +spat disgustedly. "Hell! He wasn't no customer! Didn't he ship his rubber +in by express, ruther'n to buy off me?" He grinned retrospectively and +looked at his knuckles, one of which showed a patch of new skin, pink and +yet tender. + +"'Thankin' you in advance!' that's just what I told 'im. An' I shore got +all I thanked 'im for! You ask anybody in Patmos. They seen 'im +afterwards." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +"Look there!" Casey rose from the ground where he had been sitting with +his hands clasped round his drawn-up knees. He pointed with his pipe to a +mountain side twelve miles away but looking five, even in the gloom of +early dusk. "Look at that, will yuh! Whadda yuh say that is, just makin' a +guess? A fire, mebby?" + +"Camp fire. Some prospector boiling coffee in a dirty lard bucket, maybe." + +Casey snorted. "It's a darn big fire to boil a pot uh coffee! Recollect, +it's twelve miles over to that mountain. A bonfire a mile off wouldn't +look any bigger than that. Would it now?" His tone was a challenge to my +truthfulness. + +"Wel-l, I guess it wouldn't, come to think of it." + +"Guess? You know darn well it wouldn't. You watch that there fire. I ain't +over there--but if that ain't the devil's lantern, I'll walk on my hands +from here over there an' find out for yuh." + +"I'd have to go over there myself to discover whether you're right or +wrong. But if a fellow can trust his eyes, Casey--" + +"Well, you can't," Casey said grimly, still standing, his eyes fixed upon +the distant light. "Not here in this country, you can't. You ask anybody. +You don't trust your eyes when yuh come to a dry lake an' you see water, +an' the bushes around the shore reflected in the water, an' mebby a boat +out in the middle. _Do_ yuh? You don't trust your eyes when you look at +them hills. They look close enough to walk over to 'em in half or three +quarters of an hour. _Don't_ they? An' didn't I take yuh in my Ford +auto-_mo_-bile, an' wasn't it twelve? An' d'yuh trust your eyes when yuh +look up, an' it looks like you could knock stars down with a tent pole, +like yuh knock apples off'n trees? Sure, you can't trust your eyes! When +yuh hit the desert, oletimer, yuh pack two of the biggest liars on earth +right under your eyebrows." He chuckled at that. "An' most folks pack +another one under their noses, fer luck. Now lookit over there! Prospector +nothin'. It's the devil out walkin' an' packin' a lantern. He's mebby +found some shin bones an' a rib or two an' mebby a chewed boot, an' he +stopped there to have his little laugh. Lemme tell yuh. You mark where +that fire is. An' t'-morra, if yuh like, I'll take yuh over there. If you +c'n find a track er embers on that slope--Gawsh!" + +We both stood staring; while he talked, the light had blinked out like +snapping an electric switch. And that was strange because camp fires take +a little time in the dying. I stepped inside the tent, fumbled for the +field glasses and came out, adjusting the night focus. Casey's squat, +powerful form stood perfectly still where I had left him, his face turned +toward the mountain. There was no fire on the slope. Beyond, hanging black +in the sky, a thunder cloud pillowed up toward the peak of the mountain, +pushing out now and then to blot a star from the purple. Now and then a +white, ragged gash cut through, but no sound reached up to where we were +camped on the high mesa that was the lap of Starvation Mountain. I will +explain that Casey had come back to Starvation to see if there were not +another good silver claim lying loose and needing a location monument. We +faced Tippipah Range twelve miles away,--and to-night the fire on its +slope. + +"Lightning struck a yucca over there and burned it, probably," I hazarded, +seeking the spot through the glasses. + +"Yeah--only there ain't no yuccas on that slope. That's a limestone ledge +formation an' there ain't enough soil to cover up a t'rantler. And the +storm's over back of the Tippipahs anyhow. It ain't on 'em." + +"It's burning up again--" + +"Hit another yucca, mebby!" + +"It looks--" I adjusted the lenses carefully "--like a fire, all right. +There's a reddish cast. I can't see any flames, exactly, but--" I suppose +I gave a gasp, for Casey laughed outright. + +"No, I guess yuh can't. Flames don't travel like that--huh?" + +The light had moved suddenly, so that it seemed to jump clean away from +the field of vision embraced by the glasses. I had a little trouble in +picking it up again. I had to take down the glasses and look; and then I +left them down and watched the light with my naked, lying eyes. They did +lie; they must have. They said that a camp fire had abruptly picked itself +up bodily and was slipping rapidly as a speeding automobile up a bare +white slide of rock so steep that a mountain goat would give one glance +and hunt up an easier trail. All my life I have had intimate acquaintance +with camp fires; I have eaten with them, slept with them, coaxed them in +storm, watched them from afar. I thought I knew all their tricks, all +their treacheries. I have seen apparently cold ashes blow red quite +unexpectedly and fire grass and bushes and go racing away,--I have fought +them then with whatever came to hand. + +I admit that an odd, prickly sensation at the base of my scalp annoyed me +while I watched this fire race up the slope and leave no red trail behind +it. Then it disappeared, blinked out again. I opened my mouth to call +Casey's attention to it--though I felt that he was watching it with that +steady, squinting stare of his that never seems to wink or waver for a +second--but there it was again, come to a stop just under the crest of the +mountain where the white slide was topped by a black rim capped with +bleak, bare rock like a crude skullcap on Tippipah. The fire flared, +dimmed, burned bright again, as though some one had piled on dry brush. I +caught up the glasses and watched the light for a full minute. They were +good glasses,--I ought to have seen the flicker of flames; but I did not. +Just the reddish yellow glow and no more. + +"Must be fox fire," I said, feeling impatient because that did not satisfy +me at all, but having no other explanation that I could think of handy. +"I've seen wonderful exhibitions of it in low, swampy ground--" + +Casey spat into the dark. "I never heard of nobody boggin' down, up there +on Tippipah." He put his cold pipe in his mouth, removed it and gestured +with it toward the light. "I've seen jack-o'-lanterns myself. You know +darn well that ain't it; not up on them rocks, dry as a bone. A minute ago +you said it was lightnin' burnin' a yucca. Why don't yuh come out in the +open, an' say you don't _know_? Mebby you'll come closer to believin' what +I told yuh about that devil's lantern I follered. He's lit another one-- +kinda hopin' we'll be fool enough to fall for it. You come inside where +yuh can't watch it. That's what does the damage--watchin' and wonderin' +and then goin' to see. I bet you wanta strike out right now and see just +what it is." + +I didn't admit it, but Casey had guessed exactly what was in my mind. I +was itching with curiosity and trying to ignore the creepiness of it. +Casey went into the tent and lighted the candle and proceeded to unlace +his high hiking boots. "You come on in and go to bed. Don't yuh pay no +attention to that light--that's what the Old Boy plays for first, every +time; workin' your curiosity up. You ask anybody. He played me fer a +sucker and I told yuh about it, and yuh thought Casey was stringin' yuh. +Well, I can take a joke from the devil himself and never let out a yip-- +but once is enough for Casey! I'm goin' to bed. Let him set out there and +hold his darn lantern and be damned; he ain't going to make nothin' off'n +Casey Ryan this time. You can ask anybody if Casey Ryan bites twice on the +same hook." + +He got into bed and turned his face to the wall with a finality I could +not ignore. I let it go at that, but twice I got up and went outside to +look. There burned the light, diabolically like a signal fire on the peak, +where no fire should be. I began to seek explanations, but the best of +them were vague. Electricity playing a prank of some obscure kind,--that +was as close as I could get to it, and even that did not satisfy as it +should have done, perhaps because the high, barren mesas and the mountains +of bare rocks are in themselves weird and sinister, and commonplace +explanations of their phenomena seem out of place. + +The land is empty of men, emptier still of habitations. There are not many +animals, even. A few coyotes, all of them under suspicion of having +rabies; venomous things such as tarantulas and centipedes, scorpions, +rattlers, hydrophobia skunks. Not so many of them that they are a constant +menace, but occasionally to be reckoned with. Great sprawling dry lakes +ominous in their very placidity; dust dry, with little whirlwinds +scurrying over them and mirages that lie to you most convincingly, +painting water where there is only clay dust. Water that is hidden deep in +forbidding canyons, water that you must hunt for blindly unless you have +been told where it comes stealthily out from some crevice in the rocks. +Indians know the water holes, and have told the white men with whom they +made friends after a fashion--for Casey tells me he never knew a red man +who was essentially noble--and these have told others; and men have named +the springs and have indicated their location on maps. Otherwise the land +is dry, parched and deadly and beautiful, and men have died terrible, +picturesque deaths within its borders. + +I was thinking of that, and it seemed not too incongruous that the devil +should now and then walk abroad with a lantern of his own devising to make +men shrink from his path. But Casey says, and I think he means it, that +the light is a lure. He told me a weird adventure of his own to back his +argument, but I thought he was inventing most of it as he went along. +Until I saw that light on Tippipah I had determined to let his romancing +go in at one ear if it must, and stop there without running out at the +tips of my fingers. Casey has enough ungodly adventures that are true. I +didn't feel called upon to repeat his Irish inventions. + +But now I'm going to tell you. If you can't believe it I shall not blame +you; but Casey swears that it is all true. It's worth beginning where +Casey did, at the beginning. And that goes back to when he was driving +stage in the Yellowstone. + +Casey was making the trip out, one time, and he had just one passenger +because it was at the end of the season and there had been a week of nasty +weather that had driven out most of the sightseers and no new ones were +coming in. This man was a peevish, egotistical sort, I imagine; at any +rate he did a lot of talking about himself and his ill luck, and he told +Casey of his misfortunes by the hour. + +Casey did not mind that much. He says he didn't listen half the time. But +finally the fellow began talking of the wealth that is wasted on folks who +can't use it properly or even appreciate the good fortune. + +To illustrate that point he told a story that set Casey's mind to seeing +visions. The man told about an old Indian who lived in dirt and a +government blanket and drank bad whisky when he could get it, and whipped +his squaw and behaved exactly like other Indians. Yet that old Indian knew +where gold lay so thick that he could pick out pieces of crumbly rock all +plastered with free gold. He was too lazy to dig out enough to do him any +good. He would come into the nearest town with a rusty old lard bucket +full of high grade so rich that the storekeeper once got five hundred +dollars from the bucketful. He gave the Indian about twenty dollars' worth +of grub and made him a present of two yards of bright blue ribbon, which +tickled the old buck so much that in two weeks he was back with more high +grade knotted in the bottom of a gunny sack. + +Casey asked the man why some one didn't trail the Injun. Casey knew that +an Indian is not permitted to file a claim to mineral land. He could not +hold it, under the law, if some white man discovered it and located the +ground, but Casey thought that some white-hearted fellow might take the +claim and pay the buck a certain percentage of the profits. + +The man said that couldn't be done. The old buck--Injun Jim, they called +him--was an old she-bear. All the Indians were afraid of him and would +hide their faces in their blankets when he passed them on his way to the +gold, rather than be suspected by Injun Jim of any unwarranted interest in +his destination. Casey knew enough about Indians to accept that statement. +And white men, it would seem, were either not nervy enough or else they +were not cunning enough. A few had attempted to trail Injun Jim, but no +one had ever succeeded, because that part of Nevada had not had any gold +stampede, which the man declared would have come sure as fate if Injun +Jim's mine were ever uncovered. + +Casey asked certain questions and learned all that the man could tell +him,--or would tell him. He said that Injun Jim lived mostly in the +Tippipah district. No free gold had ever been discovered there, nor much +gold of any kind; but Injun Jim certainly brought free gold into Round +Butte whenever he wanted grub. It must have been ungodly rich,--five +hundred dollars' worth in a ten-pound lard bucket! + +The tale held Casey's imagination. He dreamed nights of trailing Injun +Jim, and if he'd had any money to outfit for the venture he surely would +have gone straight to Nevada and to Round Butte. He told himself that it +would take an outsider to furnish the energy for the search. Men who live +in a country are the last to see the possibilities lying all around them, +Casey said. It was true; he had seen it work out even in himself. Hadn't +he driven stage in Cripple Creek country and carried out gold by the +hundred-thousand,--gold that might have been his had he not been content +to drive stage? Hadn't he lived in gold country all his life, almost, and +didn't he know mineral formations as well as many a school--trained +expert? + +But even dreams of gold fluctuate and grow vague before the small +interests of everyday living. Casey hadn't the money just then to quit his +job of stage driving and go Indian stalking. It would take money,--a few +hundred at least. Casey at that time lacked the price of a ticket to Round +Butte. So he had to drive and dream, and his first spurt of saving grew +half--hearted as the weeks passed; and then he lost all he had saved in a +poker game because he wanted to win enough in one night to make the trip. + +However, he went among men with his ears wide open for gossip concerning +Injun Jim, and he gleaned bits of information that seemed to confirm what +his passenger up in the Yellowstone had told him. He even met a man who +knew Injun Jim. + +Injun Jim, he was told, had one eye and a bad temper. He had lost his +right eye in a fight with soldiers, in the days when Indian fighting was +part of a soldier's training. Injun Jim nursed a grudge against the whites +because of that eye, and while he behaved himself nowadays, being old and +not very popular amongst his own people, it was taken for granted that his +trigger finger would never be paralyzed, and that a white man need only +furnish him a thin excuse and a fair chance to cover all traces of the +killing. Injun Jim would attend to the rest with great zeal. + +Stranger still, Casey found that the tale of the lard bucket and the gold +was true. This man had once been in the store when Jim arrived for grub. +He had taken a piece of the ore in his hands. It was free gold, all right, +and it must have come from a district where free gold was scarce as women. + +"We've got it figured down to a spot about fifty miles square," the man +told Casey. "That old Injun don't travel long trails. He's old. And all +Injuns are lazy. They won't go hunting mineral like a white man. They know +mineral when they see it and they have good memories and can go to the +spot afterwards. Injun Jim prob-ly run across a pocket somewheres when he +was hunting. Can't be much of it--he'd bring in more at a time if there +was, and be Injun-rich. He's just figurin' on making it hold out long as +he lives. 'Tain't worth while trying to find it; there's too much mineral +laying around loose in these hills." + +Casey stored all that gossip away in the back of his head and through all +the ups and downs of the years he never quite forgot it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Casey earned a good deal of money, but there are men who are very good at +finding original ways of losing money, too. Casey was one. (You should +hear Casey unburden himself sometime upon the subject of garages and the +tourist trade!) He saved money enough in Patmos to buy two burros and a +mule, and what grub and tools the burros could carry. There were no poker +games in Patmos, and a discouraged prospector happened along at the right +moment, which accounts for it. + +In this speed-hungry age Casey had not escaped the warped viewpoint which +others assume toward travel. Casey always had craved the sensation of +swift moving through space. His old stage horses could tell you tales of +that! It was a distinct comedown, buying burros for his venture. That took +straight, native optimism and the courage to make the best of things. But +he hadn't the price of a Ford, and Casey abhors debt; so he reminded +himself cheerfully that many a millionaire would still be poor if he had +turned up his nose at burros, sour-dough cans and the business end of pick +and shovel, and made the deal. + +At that, he was better off than most prospectors, he told himself on the +night of his purchase. He had the mule, William, to ride. The prospector +had assured Casey over and over that William was saddle broke. Casey is +too happy-go-lucky, I think. He took the man's word for it and waited +until the night before he intended beginning his journey before he gave +William a try-out, down in a sandy swale back of the garage. He returned +after dark, leading William. Casey had a pronounced limp and an eyetooth +was broken short off, about halfway to the gums, and his lip was cut. + +"William's saddle broke, all right," he told his neighbor, the proprietor +of the Oasis. "I've saw horses broke like that; cow-punchers have fun in +the c'rall with 'em Sundays, seein' which one can stay with the saddle +three jumps. William don't mind the saddle at all. All he hates is anybody +in it." Then he grinned wryly because of his hurt. "No use arguin' with a +mule--I used to be too good a walker." + +Casey therefore traded his riding saddle for another packsaddle, and +collected six coal-oil cans which he cleaned carefully. William was loaded +with cans of water, which he seemed to prefer to Casey, though they +probably weighed more. The burros waddled off under their loads of beans, +flour, bacon, coffee, lard, and a full set of prospector's tools. Casey +set his course by the stars and fared forth across the desert, meaning to +pass through the lower end of Death Valley by night, on a trail he knew, +and so plod up toward the Tippipah country. + +He was happy. He owed no man a nickel, he had grub enough to last him +three months if he were careful, he had a body tough as seasoned hickory, +and he was headed for that great no-man's-land which is the desert. More, +he was actually upon the trail of his dream that he had dreamed years +before up in the Yellowstone. An old, secretive Indian was going to find +his match when Casey Ryan plodded over his horizon and halted beside his +fire. + +By the way, don't blame me for showing a fondness for gloom and gore when +you read the names Casey carried in his mind the next few weeks. Casey +crossed Death Valley and the Funeral Mountains--or a spur of them--and +headed up toward Spectre Range, going by way of Deadman's Spring, where he +filled his water cans. That does not sound cheerful, but Casey was still +fairly happy,--though there were moments when he thought seriously of +killing William with a rock. + +Every morning, without fail, he and William fought every minute from +breakfast to starting time. From his actions you would think that William +had never seen a pack before, and expected it to bite him fatally if he +came within twenty feet of it. You could tell Casey's camp by the manner +in which the sagebrush was trampled and the sand scored with small +hoofprints in a wide circle around it. But once the battle was lost to +William for that day, and Casey had rested and mopped the perspiration off +his face and taken a comforting chew of tobacco and relapsed into silence +simply because he could think of nothing more to say, William became a pet +dog that hazed the two lazy burros along with little nippings on their +rumps, and saw to it that they did not stray too far from camp. + +Casey strung into Searchlight one evening at dusk and camped on a little +knoll behind the town hall, which was open beyond for grazing, and the +village dogs were less likely to bother. Searchlight was not on his way, +but miles off to one side. Casey made the detour because he had heard a +good deal about the place and knew it as a favorite stamping ground of +miners and prospectors who sought free gold. Searchlight is primarily a +gold camp, you see. He wanted to hear a little more about Injun Jim. + +But there had been a murder in Searchlight a dark night or so before his +coming, and three suspects were being discussed and championed by their +friends. Searchlight was not in the mood for aimless gossip of Indians. +Killings had been monotonously frequent, but they usually had daylight and +an audience to rob them of mystery. A murder done on a dark night, in the +black shadow of an empty dance hall, and accompanied by a piercing scream +and the sound of running feet was vastly different. + +Casey lingered half a day, bought a few more pounds of bacon and some +matches and ten yards of satin ribbon in assorted colors and went his way. + +I mention his stop at Searchlight so that those who demand exact geography +will understand why Casey journeyed on to Vegas, tramped its hot sidewalks +for half a day and then went on by way of Indian Spring to the Tippipah +country and his destination. He was following the beaten trail of miners, +now that he was in Jim's country, and he was gleaning a little information +from every man he met. Not altogether concerning Injun Jim, understand,-- +but local tidbits that might make him a welcome companion to the old buck +when he met him. Casey says you are not to believe story-writers who +assume that an Indian is wrapped always in a blanket and inscrutable +dignity. He says an Indian is as great a gossip as any old woman, once you +get him thawed to the talking point. So he was filling his bag of tricks +as he went along. + +From Vegas there is what purports to be an automobile road across the +desert to Round Butte, and Casey as he walked cursed his burros and +William and sighed for his Ford. He was four days traveling to Furnace +Lake, which he had made in a matter of hours with his Ford when he first +came to Starvation. + +He struck Furnace Lake just before dusk one night and pushed the burros +out upon it, thinking he would have cool crossing and would start in the +morning with the lake behind him, which would be something of a load off +his mind. In his heart Casey hated Furnace Lake, and he had good reason. +It was a place of ill fortune for him, especially after the sun had left +it. He wanted it behind him where he need think no more about it and the +grewsome crevice that cut a deep, wide gash two thirds of the way across +it through the middle. Casey is not a coward, and he takes most things as +a matter of course, but he admits that he has always hated and distrusted +Furnace Lake beyond all the dry lakes in Nevada,--and there are many. + +He yelled to William, and William nipped the nearest burro into a +shambling half trot, and then went out upon the lake, Casey heading across +at the widest part so that he would strike his old trail to Starvation +Mountain on the other side. From there to the summit he could make it by +noon on the morrow, he planned. Which would be the end of his preliminary +journey and the beginning of Casey's last drive toward his goal; for from +the top of the divide between Starvation Mountain country and that +forbidding waste which lies under the calm scrutiny of Furnace Peak he +could see the far-off range of the Tippipahs. + +He was a mile out on the Lake when he first glimpsed the light. Casey +studied it while he walked ahead, leaving no footprints on the hard-baked +clay. He had not known that any road followed just under the crest of the +ridge that hid Crazy Woman lake, yet the light was plainly that of an +automobile moving with speed across the face of the ridge just under the +summit. + +Away out in the empty land like that you notice little things and think +about them and try to understand just what they mean, unless they are +perfectly familiar to you. One print of a foot on the trail may betray the +lurking presence of a madman, a murderer, a traveling, friendly, desert +dweller or the wandering of some one who is lost and dying of thirst and +hunger. You like to know which, and you are not satisfied until you do +know. + +A light moving swiftly along Crazy Woman ridge meant a car, and a car up +there meant a road. If there were a road it would probably lead Casey by a +shorter route to the Tippipahs. While he looked there came to his ears a +roaring, as of some high-powered car traveling under full pressure of +gas. The burros followed him, but William lifted his head and brayed +tremulously three times in the dark. Casey had never heard him bray +before, and the sudden rasping outcry startled him. + +He went back and stood for a minute looking at William, who turned tail +and started back toward the shore they had left behind them. Casey ran to +head him off, yelling threats, and William, in spite of his six water +cans--two of them empty--broke into a lope. Casey glanced over his +shoulder as he ran and saw dimly that the burros had turned and were +coming after him, their ears flapping loosely on their bobbing heads as +they trotted. Beyond him, the light still traveled towards the Tippipahs. + +Then, with an abruptness that cannot be pictured, everything was blotted +out in a great, blinding swirl of dust as the wind came whooping down upon +them. It threw Casey as though some one had tripped him. It spun him round +and round on his back like an overturned beetle, and then scooted him +across the lake's surface flat as a floor. He thought of the Crevice, but +there was nothing he could do save hold his head off the ground and his +two palms over his face, shielding his nostrils a little from the smother +of dust. + +Sometimes he was lifted inches from the surface and borne with incredible +swiftness. More than once he was spun round and round until his senses +reeled. But all the time he was going somewhere, and I suspect that for +once in his life Casey Ryan went fast enough to satisfy him. At last he +felt brush sweep past his body, and he knew that he must have been swept +to the edge of the lake. He clutched, scratched his hands bloody on the +straggly thorns of greasewood, caught in the dark at a more friendly sage +and gripped it next the roots. The wind tore at him, howling. Casey +flattened his abused body to the hummocky sand and hung on. + +Hours later, by the pale stars that peered out breathlessly when the fury +of the gale was gone, Casey pulled himself painfully to his feet and +looked for the burros and William. Judging by his own experience, they had +had a rough time of it and would not go far after the wind permitted them +to stop. But as to guessing how far they had been impelled, or in what +direction, Casey knew that was impossible. Still, he tried. When the air +grew clearer and the surrounding hills bulked like huge shadows against +the sky, he saw that he had been blown toward the ridge that guards Crazy +Woman lake. His pack animals should be somewhere ahead of him, he thought +groggily, and began stumbling along through the brush-covered sand dunes +that bordered Furnace Lake for miles. + +And then he saw again the light, shining up there just under the crest of +the ridge. He was glad the car had escaped, but he reflected that the +tricky winds of the desert seldom sweep a large area. Their diabolic fury +implies a concentration of force that must of necessity weaken as it flows +out away from the center. Up there on the ridge they may not have +experienced more than a steady blow. + +He walked slowly because of his bruises, and many times he made small +detours, thinking that a blotch of shadow off to one side might be his +pack train. But always a greasewood mocked him, waving stiff arms at him +derisively. In the sage-land distances deceive. A man may walk unseen +before your eyes, and a bush afar off may trick you with its semblance to +man or beast. Casey finally gave up the hopeless search and headed +straight for the light. + +It was standing still,--a car facing him with its headlights burning, the +distance so great that the two lights glowed as one. "An' it ain't no +Ford," Casey decided. "They wouldn't keep the engine runnin' all this +time, standin' still. Unless it's one of them old kind with lamps." + +I don't suppose you realize, many of you, just what that would mean to a +man in the desert country. It is rather hard to define, but the +significance would be felt, even by Casey in his present plight. You see, +small cars, of the make too famous to be hurt or helped by having its name +mentioned in a simple yarn like this, have long been recognized as the +proper car for rough trails and no trails. Those who travel the desert +most have come to the point of counting "Lizzie" almost as necessary as +beans. Wherefore a larger car is nearly always brought in by strangers to +the country, who swear solemnly, never to repeat the imprudence. A large +car, driven by strangers in the land, means hunters, prospectors from the +outside brought in by some special tale of hidden wealth,--or just plain +simpletons who only want to see what lies over the mountain. There aren't +many of the last-named variety up in the Nevada wastes. Even your +nature-loving rovers oddly keep pretty much to the beaten trails of other +nature lovers, where gas stations and new tires may be found at regular +intervals. The Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, the National Old +Trails they explore,--but not the high, wind-swept mesas of Nevada's +barren land. + +A fear that was not altogether strange to him crept over Casey. It would +be just his grinning enemy Ill-luck on his trail again, if that light +should prove to be made by men hunting for Injun Jim and his mine. Casey +used to feel a sickness in his middle when that thought nagged him, and he +felt a growing anger now when he looked at the twinkling glow. He walked a +little faster. Now that the fear had come to him, Casey wanted to come up +with the men, talk with them, learn their business if they were truthful, +or sense their lying if they tried to hide their purpose from him. He must +know. If they were seeking Injun Jim, then he must find some way to head +them off, circumvent their plans with strategy of his own. He had dreamed +too long and too ardently to submit now to interlopers. + +So he walked, limping and cursing a little now and then because of his +aches. Up a steep slope made heavy with loose sand that dragged at his +feet; over the crest and down the other side among rocks and gravel that +made harder walking than the sand. Up another steep slope: it was +heartbreaking, unending as the toils of a nightmare, but Casey kept on. He +was not worried over his own plight; not yet. He believed that William and +his burros were somewhere ahead of him, since they could not cling to a +bush as he had done and so resist the impetus of that terrific wind. There +was a car standing on the ridge toward which he was laboriously making his +way. It did not occur to Casey that morning might show him a rather +desperate plight. + +Yet the morning did just that. Hours before dawn the light had disappeared +abruptly, but Casey had no uneasiness over that. It was foolish for them +to run down their battery burning lights when they were standing still, he +thought. They had not moved off, and he had well in mind the contour of +the ridge where they were standing. He would have bet good money that he +could walk straight to the car even though darkness hid it from him until +he came within hailing distance. + +But daylight found him still below the higher slope of the ridge, and +Casey was very tired. He had been walking all day, remember, and he had +missed his supper because he wanted to eat it with the lake behind him. He +did not walk in a straight line. He was too near exhaustion to forge ahead +as was his custom. Now he was picking his way carefully so as to shun the +washes out of which he must climb, and the rock patches where he would +stumble, and the thick brush that would claw at him. He would have given +five dollars for a drink of water, but there would be water at the car, he +told himself. People were rather particular about carrying plenty of water +when they traveled these wastes. + +And then he was on the ridge, and his keen eyes were squinted half-shut +while he gazed here and there, no foot of exposed land surface escaping +that unwinking stare. He took off his hat and wiped his face, and reached +mechanically for a chew of tobacco which he always took when perplexed, as +if it stimulated thought. + +There was no car. There was no road. There was not even a burro trail +along that ridge. Yet there had been the lights of a car, and after the +lights had been extinguished Casey had listened rather anxiously for +sound of the motor and had heard nothing at all. The most powerful, +silent-running car on the market would have made some noise in traveling +through that sand and up and down the washes that seamed the mountain +side. Casey would have heard it--he had remarkably keen hearing. + +"And that's darn funny," he muttered, when he was perfectly sure that +there was no car, that there could never have been a car on that trackless +ridge. "That's mighty damn funny! You can ask anybody." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Other things, however, were not so funny to Casey as he stood staring down +over the vast emptiness. There was no sign of his pack train, and without +it he would be in sorry case indeed. He thought of the manner in which the +tornado had whirled him round and round. Caught in a different set of +gyrations and then borne out from the center--flung out would come nearer +it--the burros and William might have been carried in any direction save +his own. Into that gruesome Crevice, for instance. They had not been more +than a mile from the Crevice when the storm struck. + +He glanced across to Barren Butte, rising steeply from the farther end of +the lake. But he did not think of going to the mine up there, except to +tell himself that he'd rot on the desert before he ever asked there for +help. He had his reasons, you remember. A man like Casey can face +humiliation from men much easier than he can face a woman who had +misjudged him and scorned him. Unless, of course, he has a million dollars +in his pocket and knows that she knows it. + +Having discarded Barren Butte from his plans--rather, having declined to +consider it at all--he knew that he must find his supplies, or he must +find water somewhere in the Crazy Woman hills. The prospect was not +bright, for he had never heard any one mention water there. + +He rested where he was for awhile and watched the slope for the pack +animals; more particularly for William and the water cans. He could shoot +rabbits and live for days, if he had a little water, but he had once tried +living on rabbit meat broiled without salt, and he called it dry eating, +even with water to wash it down. Without water he would as soon fast and +let the rabbits live. + +A dark speck moving in the sage far down the slope caught his eyes, and he +got up and peered that way eagerly. He started down to meet it hopefully, +feeling certain that his present plight would soon merge into a mere +incident of the trail. Sure enough, when he had walked for half an hour he +saw that it was William, browsing toward him and limping when he moved. + +But William was bare as the back of Casey's hand. There was no pack, no +coal-oil cans of water; only the halter and lead rope, that dangled and +caught on brush and impeded William's limping progress. I suppose even +miserable mules like company, for William permitted Casey to walk up and +take him by the halter rope. William had a badly skinned knee which gave +him the limp, and his right ear was broken close to his head so that the +structure which had been his pride dropped over his eye like a wet +sunbonnet. + +Casey swore a little and started back along William's tracks to find the +water cans. He followed a winding, purposeless trail that never showed the +track of burros, and after an hour or so he came upon the pack and the +cans. Evidently the water supply had suffered in the wind, for only four +cans were with the blankets and pack saddle. + +William had felt his pack slipping, Casey surmised, and had proceeded to +divest himself of the incumbrance in the manner best known to mules. +Having kicked himself out of it, he had undoubtedly discovered a leaking +can--supposing the cans had escaped thus far--and had battered them with +his heels until they were all leaking copiously. William had saved what he +could. + +Casey read the whole story in the sand. The four cans were bent with +gaping seams, and their sides were scored with the prints of William's +hoofs. In a corner of one of them Casey found a scant half-cup of water, +which he drank greedily. It could no more than ease for a moment his +parched throat; it could not satisfy his thirst. + +After that he led William back along the trail until the mounting sun +warned him that he was making no headway on his journey to the Tippipahs, +and that with no tracks in sight he had small hope of tracing the burros. + +It was sundown again before he gave up hope, and Casey's thirst was a +demon within him. He had wasted a day, he told himself grimly. Now it was +going to be a fight. + +Through the day he had mechanically studied the geologic formation of +those hills before him, and he had decided that the chance for water there +was too slight to make a search worth while. He would push on toward the +Tippipahs. _Pah_, he knew, meant water in the Indian tongue. He did not +know what _Tippi_ signified, but since Indians lived in the Tippipah range +he was assured that the water was drinkable. So he got stiffly to his +feet, studied again the darkling skyline, sent a glance up at the first +stars, and turned his face and William's resolutely toward the Tippipahs. + +He had applied first aid to William's knee in the form of chewed tobacco, +which if it did no more at least discouraged the pestering flies. Now he +collected a ride for his pay. He had reasoned that William was probably +subdued to the point of permitting the liberty, and that he had other +things to think of more important than protecting his mulish dignity. +Casey guessed right. William merely switched his tail pettishly, as mules +will, and went on picking his way through brush and rocks along the ridge. + +It was perhaps nine o'clock when Casey saw the light. William also spied +it and stopped still, his long left ear pointed that way, his broken right +ear dropping over his eye. William lifted his nose and brayed as if he +were tearing loose all his vitals and the operation hurt like the +mischief. Casey kicked him in the flanks and urged him on. It must be a +camp fire, Casey thought. He did not connect it with that moving light he +had seen the night before; that phantom car was a mystery which he would +probably never solve, and in Casey's opinion it had nothing to do with a +camp fire that twinkled upon a distant hilltop. + +From the look of it, Casey judged that it was perhaps eight miles off,-- +possibly less. But there was a rocky canyon or two between them, and +William was lame and Casey was too exhausted to walk more than half a mile +before he must lie down and own himself whipped. Casey Ryan had never done +that for a man, and he did not propose to do it for Nature. He thought +that William ought to have enough stamina to make the trip if he were +given time enough. And at the last, if William gave out, then Casey would +manage somehow to walk the rest of the way. It all depended upon giving +William time enough. + +You know, mules are the greatest mind readers in the world. I have always +heard that, and now Casey swears that it is so. William immediately began +taking his time. Casey told me that a turtle starting nose to nose with +William would have had to pull in his feet and wait for him every half +mile or so. William must have been very thirsty, too. + +The light burned steadily, hearteningly. Whenever they crawled to high +ground where a view was possible, Casey saw it there, just under a certain +star which he had used for a marker at first. And whenever William saw the +light he brayed and tried to swing around and go the other way. But Casey +would not permit that, naturally. Nor did he wonder why William acted so +queerly. You never wonder why a mule does things; you just fight it out +and are satisfied if you win, and let it go at that. + +Casey does not remember clearly the details of that night. He knows that +during the long hours William balked at a particularly steep climb, and +that Casey was finally obliged to get off and lead the Way. It established +an unfortunate precedent, for William refused to let Casey on again, and +Casey was too weak to mount in spite of William. They compromised at last; +that is, they both walked. + +The light went out. Moreover, Casey's star that he had used to mark the +spot moved over to the west and finally slid out of sight altogether. But +Casey felt sure of the direction and he kept going doggedly toward the +point where the light had been. He says there wasn't a rod where a snail +couldn't have outrun him, and when the sky streaked red and orange and the +sun came up, he stood still and looked for a camp, and when he saw nothing +at all but bare rock and bushes of the kind that love barrenness, he +crawled under the nearest shade, tied William fast to the bush and slept. +You don't realize your thirst so much when you are asleep, and you are +saving your strength instead of wearing it out in the hot sun. He remained +there until the sun was almost out of sight behind a high peak. Then he +got up, untied William, mounted him without argument from either, and went +on, keeping to the direction in which he had seen the light. + +Even the little brown mule was having trouble now. He wavered, he picked +his footing with great care when a declivity dipped before him; he stopped +every few yards and rested when he was making a climb. As for Casey, he +managed to hold himself on the narrow back of William, but that was all. +He understood perfectly that the next twenty-four hours would tell the +story for him and for William. He had a sturdy body however and a sturdy +brain that had never weakened its hold on facts. So he clung to his reason +and pushed fear away from him and said doggedly that he would go forward +as long as he could crawl or William could carry him, and he would die or +he would not die, as Fate decided for him. He wondered, too, about the +camp whose fire he had seen. + +Then he saw the light. This time it burned suddenly clear and large and +very bright, away off to the left of him where he had by daylight noticed +a bare shale slide. The light seemed to stand in the very center of the +slide, no more than a mile away. + +William stopped when Casey pulled on the reins he had fashioned from the +lead rope, and turned stiffly so that he faced the light. Casey kicked him +gently with his heels to urge him forward, for in spite of what his reason +told him about the shale slide his instinct was to go straight to the +light. But William began to shiver and tremble, and to swing slowly away. +Casey tried to prevent it, but the mule came out in William. He laid his +good ear flat along his neck as far as it would go, and took little, +nipping steps until he had turned with his tail to the light. Then he +thrust his fawn-colored muzzle to the stars and brayed and brayed, his +good ear working like a pump handle as he tore the sounds loose from his +vitals. + +Casey cursed him in a whisper, having no voice left. He kicked William in +the flanks, having no other means of coercion at hand. But kicking never +yet altered the determination of a mule, and cursing a mule in a whisper +is like blowing your breath against the sail of a becalmed sloop. William +kept his tail toward the light, and furthermore he momentarily drew his +tail farther and farther from that spot. Now and then he would turn his +head and glance back, and immediately increase his pace a little. He was +long past the point where he had strength to trot, but he could walk, and +he did walk and carry Casey on his back, still whispering condemnation. + +They did not travel all night. Casey looked at the Big Dipper and judged +it was midnight when they stopped on the brink of a deep canyon, halted +there in William's sheer despair because the light appeared suddenly on +the high point of a hill directly ahead of them. William's voice was gone +like Casey's, so that he, too, cursed in a whisper with a spasmodic +indrawing of ribs and a wheezing in his throat. + +When it was plain that the mule had stopped permanently, Casey slid off +William's back and lay down without knowing or caring much whether he +would ever get up again. He said he wasn't hungry--much; but his mouth was +too full of tongue, he added grimly. + +He lay and watched through half-closed, staring eyes the light that mocked +him so. His dulling senses told him that it was no camp fire, nor any +light made by human hands. He did not know what it was. He didn't care any +more. William crumpled up and lay down beside him, breathing heavily. It +was getting close to the end of things. Casey knew it, and he thinks +William knew it too. + +The sun found them there and forced Casey to move. He sat up painfully, +the fight to live not yet burned out of him, and gazed dully at the +forbidding hills that closed around him like great, naked rock demons +watching to see him die for want of the things they withheld. Where he +remembered the light to have been when last he saw it was bleak, bare +rock. It was a devil's light and there was nothing friendly or human about +it. + +He looked down into the canyon which William had refused to enter. A faint +interest revived within him because of a patch of green. Trees,--but they +might easily be junipers which will grow in dry canyons as readily, it +would seem, as in any other. He kept looking, because green was a great +relief from the monotonous gray and black and brown of the hills. It +seemed to him after awhile that he saw a small splotch of dead white. + +In the barren lands two things will show white in the distance; a white +horse and a tent of white canvas. Casey shifted his position and squinted +long at the spot, then got up slowly with the help of a bush and took +William by the rope. William was on his feet, standing with head dropped, +apparently half asleep. Casey knew that William was simply waiting until +he could no longer stand. + +Together they wabbled down the sloping canyon side and over a grassy +bottom to the trees, which were indeed juniper trees, but thriftier +looking than their brethren of the dry places. There was water, for +William smelled it at last and hurried forward with more briskness than +Casey could muster, eager though he was to reach the tent he saw standing +there under the biggest juniper. + +Beside the tent was a water bucket of bright, new tin. A white granite +dipper stood in it. Casey drank sparingly and stopped when he would have +given all he ever possessed in the world to have gone on drinking until he +could hold no more. But he was not yet crazy with the thirst. So he +stopped drinking, filled a white granite basin and soused his head again +and again, sighing with sheer ecstasy at the drip of water down his back +and chest. After a little he drank two swallows more, put down the dipper +and went into the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +We can all remember certain experiences that fill us with incredulity even +while we admit that the facts could be proved before a jury of twelve men. +So Casey Ryan, having lost his outfit and come so near to death that he +could barely keep his feet under him, walked into a tent and stood there +thinking it couldn't be true. + +A folding camp chair stood near the opening, and Casey sat down from sheer +weakness while he looked about him. The tent was a twelve-by-fourteen, +which is a bit larger than one usually carries in a pack outfit. It had a +canvas floor soiled in strips where the most walking had been done, but +white under table and beds, which proved its newness. Casey was not +accustomed to seeing tents floored with canvas, and he stared at it for a +full half-minute before his eyes went to other things. + +There was a folding camp table of the kind shown in the window display of +sporting-goods stores, but which seasoned campers find too wobbly for +actual comfort. The varnish still shone on legs and braces, which helped +to prove its newness. There was a two-burner oil stove with an +enamel-rimmed oven that was distinctly out of place in that country and +yet harmonized perfectly with the tent and furnishings. The dishes were +white enamel of aluminum, and there were boxes piled upon boxes, the +labels proclaiming canned things too expensive for ordinary eating. Two +spring cots with new blankets and white-cased pillows stood against the +tent wall, and beneath each cot sat two yellow pigskin suitcases with +straps and brass buckles. They would have been perfectly natural in a +Pullman sleeper, but even in his present stress Casey snorted disdainfully +at sight of them here. + +Things were tumbled about in the disorder of inexperienced campers, but +everything was very new and clean except an array of dishes on the table, +which told Casey that one man had eaten at least three meals without +washing his dishes or putting away his surplus of food. Casey had eaten +nothing at all after that one toasted rabbit which he had choked down on +the evening when he gave up hope of finding the burros. He got up and +staggered stiffly to the table and picked up a piece of burned biscuit, +hard as flint. + +While he mumbled a fragment of that he looked into various half-filled +cans, setting them one by one in a compact group on the table corner; +which was habit rather than conscious thought. Poisonous ptomaine lurked +in every one of them, which was a shame, since he had to discard half a +can of preserved peaches, half a can of roast beef, half a can of +asparagus tips, a can of chicken soup scarcely touched and two thirds of a +can of sweet potatoes. He salvaged a can of ripe olives which he thought +was good, a can of India relish and a can of sweet gherkins (both of the +fifty-seven varieties). You will see what I meant when I spoke of +expensive camp food. + +There was cold coffee in a nickel percolater, and Casey poured himself a +cup, knowing well the risk of eating much just at first. It was while he +was unscrewing the top of the glass jar that held the sugar that he first +noticed the paper. It was folded and thrust into the sugar jar, and Casey +pulled it out and held it crumpled in his hand while he sweetened and +drank the coffee, forcing himself to take it slowly. When the cup was +empty to the last drop he went over and sat down on the edge of a spring +cot and unfolded the note. What he read surprised him a great deal and +puzzled him more. I leave it to you to judge why. + + "I saw it again last night in a different place. The last horse died + yesterday down the canyon. You can have the outfit. I'm going to beat + it out of here while the going's good. Fred." + +"That's mighty damn funny," Casey muttered thickly. "You can--ask--" He +lay back luxuriously, with his head on the white pillow and closed his +eyes. The reaction from struggling to live had set in with the assurance +of his safety. He slept heavily, refreshingly. + +He awoke to the craving for food, and immediately started a small fire +outside and boiled coffee in a nice new aluminum pail that held two quarts +and had an ornamental cover. The oil stove he dismissed from his mind with +a snort of contempt. And because nearly everything he saw was catalogued +in his mind as a luxury, he opened cans somewhat extravagantly and dined +off strange, delectable foods to which his palate was unaccustomed. He +still thought it was mighty queer, but that did not impair his appetite. + +Afterwards he went out to look after William, remembering that horses were +said to have died in this place. William was almost within kicking +distance of the spring, as if he meant to keep an eye upon the water +supply even though that involved browsing off brush instead of wandering +down to good grass below the camp. + +Casey knelt stiffly and drank from the spring, laving his face and head +afterward as if he never would get enough of the luxury of being wet and +cool. He rose and stood looking at William for a few minutes, then took +the lead rope and tied him to a juniper that stood near the spring. The +note had said that the last horse died down the canyon, the implication of +mystery lying heavy behind the words. + +Casey went back to the tent and read the note through again twice, +studying each word as if he hoped to twist some added information out of +it. It sounded as though the writer had expected his partner back from +some trip and had left the note for him, since he had not considered it +necessary to explain what it was that he had seen again in a different +place. Casey wondered if it might not have been that strange light which +he himself had followed. Whatever it was, the fellow had not liked it. His +going had all the earmarks of flight. + +Well, then, why had the last horse died down the canyon? Casey decided +that he would go and see, though he was not hankering for exercise that +day. He took a long drink of water, somewhat shamefacedly filled a new +canteen that lay on a pile of odds and ends near the tent door, and +started down the canyon. It couldn't be far, but he might want a drink +before he got back, and Casey had had enough of thirst. + +He was not long in finding the horse that had died, and in fact all the +horses that had died. There had been four, and the manner of their death +was not in the least mysterious. They had been staked out to graze in a +luxurious patch of loco weed, which is reason enough why any horse should +die. + +Of course, no man save an unmitigated tenderfoot would picket a horse on +loco, which looks very much like wild peavine and is known the West over +as the deadliest weed that grows. A little of it mixed with a diet of +grass will drive horses and cattle insane, and there is no authentic case +of recovery, that I ever heard, once the infection is complete. A lot of +it will kill,--and these poor beasts had actually been staked out to graze +upon it, I suppose because it looked nice and green, and the horses +liked it. + +The performance matched very well the enamel-trimmed oil stove and the +tinned dainties and the expensive suitcases. Casey went back to camp +feeling as though he had stumbled upon a picnic of feeble-minded persons. +He wondered what in hell two men of such a type could be doing out there, +a hundred miles and more from an ice-cream soda and a barber's chair. He +wondered too how "Fred" had expected to get himself across that hundred +miles and more of dry desert country. He must certainly be afoot, and the +camp itself showed no sign of an emergency outfit having been assembled +from its furnishings. + +Casey made sure of that, inspecting first the bedding and food and then +the cooking utensils. Everything was complete--lavishly so--for two men +who loved comfort. Even their sweaters were there; and Casey knew they +must have discovered that the nights can be cool even though the days are +hot, in that altitude. And there were two canteens of the size usually +carried by hikers. + +Casey was so worried that he could not properly enjoy his supper of pâté +de foi gras and crackers, with pork and beans, plum pudding--eaten as +cake--and spiced figs and coffee. That night he turned over on his +spring-cot bed as often as if he had been lying on nettles, and when he +did sleep he dreamed horribly. + +Next morning he set out with William and an emergency camp outfit to trace +if he could the missing men. The great outdoors of Nevada is not kind to +such as these, and Casey had too lately suffered to think with easy-going +optimism that they would manage somehow. They would die if they were left +to shift for themselves, and Casey could not pretend that he did not know +it. + +But there was a difficulty in rescuing them, just as there had been in +rescuing the burros. Casey could not find their tracks, and so could not +follow them. He and William hunted the canyon from top to bottom and +ranged far out on the valley floor without discovering anything that could +be called the track of a man. Which was strange, too, in a country where +footprints are held for a long, long while by the soil,--as souvenirs of +man's passing, perhaps. + +So it transpired that Casey at length returned to the new tent just below +the spring in the nameless canyon beyond Crazy Woman Lake. Chipmunks had +invaded the place and feasted upon an opened package of sweet crackers, +but otherwise the tent had been left inviolate. Neither Fred nor his +partner had returned. Wherefore Casey opened more cans and "made himself +to home," as he naively put it. + +He was impatient to continue his journey, but since he had nothing of his +own except William, he meant to beg or buy a few things from this camp, if +either of the owners showed up. Meantime he could be comfortable, since it +is tacitly understood in the open land that a wayfarer may claim +hospitality of any man, with or without that man's knowledge. He is +expected to keep the camp clean, to leave firewood and to take nothing +away with him except what is absolutely necessary to insure his getting +safely to the next stopping place. Casey knew well the law, and he busied +himself in setting the camp in order while he waited. + +But when five days and nights had slipped into history and he and William +were still in sole possession, Casey began to take another viewpoint. Fred +might possibly have left in a flying machine. The partner might have +decamped permanently before Fred lost his nerve. Several things might have +happened which would leave this particular camp and contents without a +claimant. Casey studied the matter for awhile and then pulled the four +suitcases from beneath the cots and proceeded to investigate. The first +one that he opened had a note folded and addressed to Fred. Casey read it +through without the slightest compunction. The handwriting was different +from that of the first note, hurried and scrawly, the words connected with +faint lines. Here is what Fred's partner had written: + + "Dear Fred: Don't blame me for leaving you. A man that carries the +grouch you do don't need company. I'm fed up on solitude, and I don't like +the feel of things here. My staying won't help your lung a damn bit and if +you want anything you can hunt up the men that carry the light. Maybe they +are the ones that are killing off the horses. Any way, you can wash your +own dishes from now on. It will do you good. If I had of known you were +the crab you are I'll say I would never have come. You are welcome to my +share of the outfit. I hope some one shoots me and puts me out of my +misery quick if I ever show symptoms of wanting to camp out again. I am +going now because if I stayed I'd change your map for you so your own +looking glass wouldn't know you. I'll say you are some nut. + Art." + +Casey had to take a fresh chew of tobacco before his brain would settle +down and he could think clearly. Then he observed that it was a damn funny +combination and you could ask anybody. After that he began to realize that +he was heir to a fine assortment of canned delicacies and an oil stove and +four suitcases filled, he hoped, with good clothes. Not omitting +possession of two spring cots and several pairs of high-grade blankets, +and two sweaters and Lord knows what all. + +Those suitcases were enough to make any man sit and bite his nails, +wondering if he were crazy. Fred and Art had evidently fitted their +wardrobe to their ideas of a summer camp with dancing pavilion and plenty +of hammocks in the immediate neighborhood. There were white flannel +trousers and white canvas shoes and white silk socks, and fine ties and +handkerchiefs and things. There were striped silk shirts which made Casey +grin and think how tickled Injun Jim would be with them,--or one or two of +them; Casey had no intention of laying them all on the altar of diplomacy. +There was an assortment of apparel in those suitcases that would qualify +any man as porch hound at Del Monte. And Casey Ryan, if you please, had +fallen heir to the lot! + +He dressed himself in white flannels with a silk shirt of delf blue and +pale green stripes, and wished that there was a looking-glass in camp +large enough to reflect all of him at once. Then, because his beard +stubble did not harmonize, he shaved with one of the safety razors he +found. + +After that he sorted and packed a careful wardrobe, and stored strange +food into two canvas kyacks. And the next evening he tied the tent flaps +carefully and fared forth with William to find the camp of Injun Jim and +see if his dream would come true. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +You may not believe this next incident. I know I did not, when Casey told +me about it,--but now I am not so sure. Casey said that the light appeared +again, that night, moving slowly along the lip of the canyon like a man +with a large lantern. There was a full moon, which had made him decide to +travel at night on account of the heat while the sun was up. But the moon +did not reveal the cause of the light, though the canyon crest was plainly +visible to him. + +William swung away from that light and walked rather briskly in the other +direction, and Casey did not argue with him. So they headed almost due +west and kept going. It seemed to Casey once or twice that the light +followed them; but he could not be sure. + +Two full nights he journeyed, and on both nights he had the light behind +him. Once it came up swiftly to within a mile or so of him and William, +and stopped there for awhile and then disappeared. Casey camped rather +early and slept, and took the trail again in the morning. Night travel was +getting on his nerves. + +All that day he walked and toward evening, with thunder heads piling high +above the Tippipahs, he came upon a small herd of Indian ponies feeding +out from the mouth of a wide gulch. He knew they were Indian ponies by +their size, their variegated colors, and their general unkemptness. They +presently spied him and went galloping off up the gulch, and Casey +followed until he spied a thin bluish ribbon of smoke wavering up toward +the slate-black clouds. + +He made camp just out of sight around a point of rocks from the smoke, +stretching the canvas tarp which had floored the tent to make shelter +between boulders. He changed his clothes, dressing himself carefully in +the white flannel trousers, blue-and-green striped silk shirt, tan belt, +white shoes and his old Stetson tilted over his right eye at the +characteristic Casey angle. He was taking it for granted that an Indian +camp lay under that smoke, and he knew Indians. Inquisitiveness would shut +them up as effectively as poking a stick at a clam; but there were ways of +coaxing their interest, nevertheless, and when an Indian is curious you +have the trumps in your own hand and it will be your own fault if you +lose. + +Casey's manner therefore was extremely preoccupied when he led a suddenly +limping William up the gulch and past a stone hut with a patched tepee +alongside it. A lean squaw stood erect before the tepee and regarded him +fixedly from under the shade of a mahogany-colored hand, and when Casey +came closer she stooped and ducked out of sight like a prairie dog diving +into its burrow. Casey paid no attention to that. He knew without being +told that he was under close scrutiny from eyes unseen; which was what he +desired and had prepared for. + +The spring, as he had guessed, was above the camp. He threw a rock at two +yammering curs that rushed out at him, and drove them back with Caseyish +curses. Then he watered William at the trampled spring, made himself a +smoke, and went back down the gulch. Opposite the tepee the squaw stood +beside the trial. Casey grinned amiably and said hello. + +"Yo' ketchum 'bacco? My man, him heap sick. Mebby die. Likeum 'bacco, +him." The squaw muttered it as if she would rather not speak, but had been +commanded to beg tobacco from the stranger. + +"Sure, I got tobacco!" Casey's tone was a bit more friendly than before. +He pulled a small red can from his shirt pocket, hesitated and then tied +William to a bush. "Too bad your man sick. Mebby I can help him. He in +here?" + +The squaw gestured dumbly, and Casey stooped and went into the tepee. + +Inside it was so dark that he stood still just within the opening to get +his bearings. This happened to be very good form in Indian society, and we +will assume that Casey lost nothing by the pause. He dimly saw that a few +blankets lay untidily against the tepee wall and that an old Indian was +stretched upon them, watching Casey with one black eye, the other lid +lying in sunken folds across the socket. Casey was for once in his life +speechless. He had not expected to walk straight into the camp of Injun +Jim. He had thought that of course he would have to go on to Round Butte +and glean information there, perhaps; if he were exceptionally lucky he +would meet Indians who would tell him what he wanted to know. But here was +a one-eyed buck, and he was old, and he lived in the Tippipahs,--Injun Jim +by all description. + +"Your squaw says you want tobacco." Casey advanced and held out the red +can. He knew better than to waste words, especially in the beginning. +Indians are peculiar; you must approach them by not seeming to approach at +all. + +The old fellow grunted and turned the can over and over in clawlike hands, +and said he wanted a match and a paper. Casey went farther; he rolled a +cigarette and gave it to him and then rolled one for himself. They smoked, +there in that unsavoury tepee, saying nothing at all. Casey had achieved +the first part of his dream; he was making friends with Injun Jim. + +Later he went down to his own camp, leading William. It was hard to wait +and watch for the proper moment to broach the subject that filled his +mind, and then induce the old Indian to talk. Casey was beginning to +understand why no one had wormed the secret from Jim. When you are +hundreds of miles and many months distant from a problem, it is easy to +decide that you will do so and so, and handle the matter differently from +the bungling men you have heard about. To find Injun Jim and get him to +tell where his gold mine was had seemed fairly easy to Casey when he was +driving stage elsewhere, and could only think about it. But when he +sat on his haunches in the tepee, smoking with Injun Jim and conversing +intermittently of such vital things as the prospect of rain that night, +and the enforced delay in his journey because his pack mule was lame, +speaking of gold mines in a properly disinterested and casual manner was +not at all easy. + +However, Casey ate a very hearty supper and went to bed studying the +problem of somehow winning the old fellow's gratitude. Morning did not +bring a solution, as it properly should have done, but he ransacked his +pack, chose a small glass jar of blackberry jam and a little can of maple +syrup, fortified himself with another red can of tobacco and went up to +the camp, hoping for a streak of good luck. As for medicine, he hadn't a +drop, and if he had he did not know for certain what ailed Injun Jim. He +thought it was just old age and general cussedness. + +Injun Jim ate the jam, using a deadly looking knife and later his fingers, +when the jam got low in the jar. When he had finished that he opened the +can and drank the maple syrup just as he would have drunk whisky,--with a +relish. He smoked Casey's tobacco in the stone pipe which the squaw +brought him and appeared fairly well satisfied with life. But he did not +talk much, and what he did say was of no importance whatever. Not once did +he mention gold mines. + +Casey went back to camp and swore at William as he counted his cans of +luxuries. He did not realize that he had established a dangerous +precedent, but when he led William up to water, meaning to pass by the +camp without stopping, the squaw halted him on his way back and told him +briefly that her man wanted him. + +Injun Jim did not want Casey; he wanted more jam. Casey went back to camp +and got another can, this time of strawberry, and in a spirit of +peevishness added a small tin of the liver paste that had caused him a +night's discomfort. He took them to the tepee, and Injun Jim ate the +complete contents of both cans and seemed disgruntled afterwards; so much +so that he would not talk at all but smoked in brooding silence, staring +with his one malevolent eye at the stained wall of the tepee. + +An hour later he began to move himself restlessly in the blanket and to +mutter Piute words, the full meaning of which Casey did not grasp. But he +would not answer when he was spoken to, so Casey went back to his camp. +And that night Injun Jim was very sick. + +Next day however he was sufficiently recovered to want more jam. Casey +filled his pockets with small cans and doled them out one by one and +gossipped artfully while he watched Injun Jim eat pickles, India relish +and jelly with absolute, inscrutable impartiality. Casey felt sympathetic +qualms in his own stomach just from watching the performance, but he was +talking for a gold mine and he did not stop. + +"You know Willow Pete?" he asked garrulously. "Big, tall man. Drinks +whisky all the time. Willow Pete found a gold mine two moons ago. He's +rich now. Got a big barrel of whisky. Got silk shirts like this--" he +plucked at his own silken sleeve "--got lots of jam all the time. Every +day drinks whisky and eats jam." + +"Hunh!" Injun Jim ran his forefinger dexterously around the inside of a +jelly glass and licked the finger with the nonchalance of a two-year-old. +"Hunh. Got heap big gol' mine, me. No can go ketchum two year, mebby. I +dunno. Feet no damn good for walk. Back no damn good for ride. No ketchum +gol' long time now." + +Casey took a chew of tobacco. This was getting to the point he had been +aiming for, and he needed his wits working at top speed. + +"Well, if you got a gold mine, you can eat jam all the time. Drink whisky, +too," he added, hushing his conscience peremptorily. "If you've got a +white man that's your friend, he might take your gold to town and buy +whisky and jam." + +Injun Jim considered, his finger searching for more jelly. "White man no +good for Injun, mebby. I dunno. Ketchum gol', mebby no givum. Tell all +white mans. Heap mans come. White man horses eat grass. Drink all water. +Shootum deer, shootum rabbit, shootum all damn time. Make big house. Heap +noise all time. No place for Injuns no more. No good." + +"White man not all same, Jim. One white man maybe good friend. Help get +gold, give you half. You buy lots of jam, lots of whisky, lots of silk +shirts, have good time." Casey looked at him straight. He could do it, +because he meant what he said; even the whisky, I regret to say. + +Injun Jim accepted a cigarette and smoked it, saying never a word. Casey +smoked the mate to it and waited, trying to hide how his fingers trembled. +Injun Jim turned himself painfully on the blankets and regarded Casey +steadily with his one suspicious eye. Casey met the look squarely. + +"You got more shirt?" Jim's finger pointed at the blue and green stripes. +"Yo' got more jam? You bringum. Heap sick, me, mebby die. Me no takeum +gol' me die. No wantum, me die. Yo' mebby good man. I dunno. Me ketchum +heap jam, ketchum heap silk shirt, ketchum heap 'bacco, heap whisky, mebby +me tellum you where ketchum gol' mine. Me die, yo' heap rich--" + +He turned suddenly, lifted his right arm and sent his knife swishing +through the air. It sliced its way through the tepee wall and hung there +quivering, Caught by the hilt. Injun Jim called out vicious, Piute words. +"Hahnaga!" he commanded fiercely. "Hahnaga!" + +The lean old squaw came meekly, stood just within the tepee while her lord +spat words at her. She answered apathetically in Piute and backed out. +Presently she returned, driving before her a young squaw whom Casey had +not before seen. The young squaw was holding a hand upon her other arm, +and Casey saw blood between her fingers. The young squaw was not +particularly meek. She stood there sullenly while Injun Jim berated her in +the Indian tongue, and once she muttered a retort that made the old man's +fingers go groping over the blankets for a weapon; whereat the young squaw +laughed contemptuously and went out, sending Casey a side glance and a +fleeting smile as full of coquetry as ever white woman could employ. + +The interruption silenced the old buck upon the subject of gold. Casey sat +there and chewed tobacco and waited, schooling his impatience as best he +could. Injun Jim muttered in Piute, or lay with his one eye closed. But +Casey knew that he did not sleep; his thin lips were drawn too tense for +slumber. So he waited. + +Injun Jim opened his eye suddenly, looked all around the tepee and then +stared fixedly at Casey. "Young squaw no good. Heap much white talk. +Stealum gol' mine, mebby. I dunno." He gestured for his knife, and Casey +got it for him. Injun Jim fondled it evilly. + +"Bimeby killum. Mebby. I dunno. Yo' ketchum jam, ketchum shirt--how many +jam yo' ketchum?" + +Casey meditated awhile. He had not planned an exclusive jam diet for Injun +Jim, therefore his supply was getting low. But at the tenderfoot camp was +much more, enough to last Injun Jim to the border of the happy hunting +grounds,--if he did not loiter too long upon the way. There was no telling +how long Injun Jim would be able to eat jam, but Casey was a good gambler. + +"If I go get a lot more, and get silk shirts--six," he counted with his +fingers, "you tell me where your gold mine is." + +"Yo' bringum heap jam, bringum shirt. Me tellum." His one eye was bright. +"Yo' bringum jam. Yo' bringum shirt. Yol giveum me." He patted the bare +dirt beside the blankets, signifying that he wanted the jam and shirts +there, within reach of his hand. He even twisted his cruel old lips into a +smile. "Me tellum. Me shakeum hand." + +He held out his left hand and Casey clasped it soberly, though he wanted +to jump up and crack his heels together,--as he confided afterwards. Injun +Jim laid the blade of his knife across the clasped hands. + +"Yo' lie me, yo' die quick. Injun god biteum. Mebby snake. I dunno. How +long yo' ketchum heap jam, heap shirt?" + +Now that he knew the way, Casey had in mind a certain short-cut that would +subtract two days from the round trip. He held up his hand, fingers +spread, and got up. Then he thought of the threat and added one of his +own. + +"I've got a God myself, Jim. You lie about that gold mine and the jam'll +choke yuh to death. You can ask anybody." + +Casey went out and straightway packed for the journey. Fate, he told +himself, was playing partners with him. I don't suppose Casey, even in his +most happy-go-lucky mood, had ever been quite so content with life as when +he returned to the camp of the tenderfeet for a mule load of jam and silk +shirts. Trading an old muzzle-loading shotgun to an Indian chief for the +future site of a great city could not have seemed more of a bargain in the +days of our forefathers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +He made the trip almost half a day sooner than he had promised and went +straight up to Injun Jim's camp with his load. He was whistling all the +way up the canyon to the tepee; but then he stopped. + +Inside the hut was the sound of wailing. Casey tried not to guess what +that meant. He tied William and went to the door of the tepee. + +The young squaw came from within and stood just before the opening, +regarding Casey with that maddening, Indian immobility so characteristic +of the race. She did not speak, though Casey waited for fully two minutes; +nor did she move aside to let him go in. Casey grinned disarmingly. + +"Me ketchum heap jam for Injun Jim. Heap silk shirts. Me go tellum," he +said. + +"Are those they?" the young squaw inquired calmly, and pointed to William. +Casey jumped. Any man would, hearing that impeccable sentence issue from +the lips of a squaw with a blanket over her head. + +"Uh-huh," he gulped. + +"My father is dead. He died yesterday from eating too much pickles that +you gave him. I should like to have what you have brought to give him. I +should thank you for the silk shirts. I can fix them so that I can wear +them. I will talk to you pretty soon about that gold mine. I know where it +is. I have helped my father bring the gold away. My father would not tell +you if you gave him all the jam and all the silk in the world. My father +was awful mean. I thought he would maybe kill you and that is why I +listened beside the tepee. I wished to protect you because I know that you +are a good man. Will you give me the silk shirts and the jam?" + +She smiled then, and Casey saw that she had a gold tooth in front, which +further demonstrated how civilized she was. + +"You will excuse the way I am dressed. I have to dress so that I would +please my father. He was very mean with me all the time. He did not like +me because I have gone to school and got a fine educating. He wanted me to +be Indian. But I knew that my father is a chief and that makes me just +what you would say a princess, and I wished to learn how to be educate +like all white ladies. So I took some gold from my father's mine and I +spent the money for going to school. My name," she added impressively, "is +Lucy Lily. What is your name?" + +"Mr.--Casey Ryan," he stuttered, floundering in the mental backwash left +by this flood of amazing eloquence. + +"I like that name. I think I will have you for my friend. Do not talk to +my mother, Hahnaga. She is crazy. She tells lies all the time about me. +She does not like me because I have went to school and got a fine +educating. She is mad all the time when she sees that I am not like her. +Now you give me the silks. I will put on a pretty dress. My father is dead +now and I can do what I wish to do; I am not afraid of my mother. My +mother does not know where to find the gold mine. I am the only one who +knows." + +Casey is a simple soul, too trustful by far. He was embarrassed by the +arch smile which Lucy Lily gave him, and he wished vaguely that she was +the blanket squaw she looked to be. But it never occurred to Casey that +there might be a wily purpose behind her words. He unpacked William and +gave her the things he had brought for Injun Jim, and returned with his +camp outfit to the spring to think things over while he boiled himself a +pot of coffee and fried bacon. + +Lucy Lily appeared like an unwarranted vision before him. Indeed, Casey +likened her coming to a nightmare. Casey no longer wondered why Injun Jim +insisted upon Indian dress for Lucy Lily. + +Now she wore a red silk skirt much spotted with camp grease. A +three-cornered tear in the side had been sewed with long stitches and +coarse white thread, and even Casey was outraged by the un-workmanlike +job. She had on one of the silk shirts, which happened to be striped in +many shades, none of which harmonized with the basic color of the skirt. +She also wore two cheap necklaces whose luster had long since faded, and +her hair was coiled on top of her head and adorned with three combs +containing many white glass settings. Her face was powdered thickly to the +point of her jaws, with very red cheekbones and very red lips. She wore +once-white slippers with French heels much run over at the side and dirty +white silk stockings with great holes in the heels. I must add that the +shirt was too narrow in the bust, so that her arms bulged and there were +gaping spaces between the buttons. And for a belt she wore a wide blue +ribbon very much creased and soiled, as if she had used it for a long +while as a hair bow. + +She sat down upon a rock and watched Casey distractedly bungle his +cooking. She must have had a great deal of initiative for a squaw, for she +plunged straight into the subject which most nearly concerned Casey, and +she was frank to the point of appalling him with her bluntness. Casey is a +rather case-hardened bachelor, but I suspect that Lucy Lily scared him +from the beginning. + +"Do you like me when I have pretty dress on?" she inquired, smoothing the +red silk complacently over her knees. + +Casey swears that he told her it didn't make a darn bit of difference to +him what she wore. If that is the truth, Lucy Lily must have been very +stupid or very persistent, for she went on blandly stating her plans and +her dearest wish. + +"That gold mine I am keeping for my husband," she announced. "It is a +present for a wedding gift for my man. I shall not marry an Indian man. I +am too pretty and I have a gold mine, and I will marry a white man. +Indians don't know what money is good for. I want to live in a town and +wear silk dresses all the time every day and ride in a red automobile and +have lots of rings and go to shows. Have you got lots of money?" + +I don't know what Casey told her. He says he swore he hadn't a nickel to +his name. + +"I think you have got lots of money. I think perhaps you are rich. I don't +see white men walk in the desert with silk shirts and have lots of jam and +pickles if they are not rich. I think you want that gold mine awful bad. +You gave Jim lots of jam so he would tell you. White men want lots of more +money when they have got lots of money. It is like that in shows. If a man +is poor he don't care. If a man is rich he is hunting all the time for +more money and killing people. So I think you are like them rich mans in +shows." + +Casey told her again that he was poor; but she couldn't have believed +him,--not in the face of all the silk and sweets he had displayed. + +"I am awful glad Jim is dead. Now you have gave me the things. We will go +to Tonopah and you will buy a red automobile and we will ride in it. And +you will buy me lots of silk and rings. I shall be a lady like a princess +in a show." + +"Your mother has got something to say about that gold mine," Casey blurted +desperately. "It's hers by rights. She'd have to go fifty-fifty on it. +She's got it coming, and I never cheated anybody yet. I ain't going to +commence on an old squaw." + +"She is a big fool. What you think Hahnaga want of money? The agent he +gives her blankets and tea and flour. If you give Hahnaga silk, I will be +awful mad. She is old. She will die pretty quick." + +"Well," said Casey, "I dunno as any of us has got any cinch on living. +And if there's a gold mine in the family, she sure has got to have an even +break. What about old Jim? Buried him yet?" + +"He is in the tepee. I think Hahnaga will dig a grave. I don't care. I +will go with you, and we will find the gold mine. Then you will buy me--" + +"I'll buy you nothin'!" Casey's tone was emphatic. + +Lucy Lily looked at him steadily. "Before we go for the gold mine we will +go to Tonopah and get marriage, and you will give me a gold ring on my +finger. Then I will show you where is gold so much you will have money to +buy the world full of things." She smiled at him, showing her gold tooth. +"I like you for my man," she said. "I am awful pretty. I have lots of +fellows. I could marry lots of other white mans, but I will marry you." + +"Like hell you will!" snorted Casey, and began to wipe out his frying pan +and empty his coffeepot and make other preparations for instant packing. +"Like hell you'll marry me! Think I'd marry a squaw--?" + +"Then I will not tell you where is the gold! Then I hate you and I will +fix you good! You want that gold mine awful bad. You will have to marry me +before I tell you." + +Casey straightened and looked at her, his frying pan in one hand, his +coffeepot in the other. "Say, I never asked you about the darn mine, did +I? I done my talkin' to Injun Jim. It's you that butted in here on this +deal. Seein' he's dead, I'll talk to his squaw and make a deal with her, +mebby." He looked her over measuringly. "Princess--hunh! I'll tell yuh in +plain American what you are, if yuh don't git outa here. I may want a gold +mine, all right, but I sure don't want it that bad. Git when I tell yuh to +git!" + +A squaw with no education would have got forthwith. But Lucy Lily had +learned to be like white ladies,--or so she said. She screamed at him in +English, in Piute, and chose words in each that no princess should employ +to express her emotions. Her loud denunciations followed Casey to the +tepee, where he stopped and offered his services to Hahnaga as undertaker. + +She accepted stolidly and together they buried Injun Jim, using his best +blanket and not much ceremony. Casey did not know the Piute customs well +enough to follow them, and his version of the white man's funeral service +was simple in the extreme. Hahnaga, however, brought two bottles of +pickles and one jar of preserves which had outlasted Injun Jim's appetite, +and put them in the grave with him, together with his knife and an old +rifle and his pipe. + +To dig a grave and afterwards heap the dirt symmetrically over a discarded +body takes a little time, no matter how cursory is the proceeding. Casey +ceased to hear Lucy Lily's raucous voice and so thought that she had +settled down. He misjudged the red princess. He discovered that when he +went back to where William had stood. + +He no longer stood there. He was gone, pack and all, and once more Casey +stood equipped for desert journeying with shirt, overalls, shoes and +socks, and his old Stetson, and with half a plug of tobacco, a pipe and a +few matches in his pocket. On the bush where William had been tied a piece +of paper was impaled and fluttered in the wind. Casey jerked it off and +read the even, carefully formed script,--and swore. + + "_Dear Sir:_ I am going to Tonopah. If you try to come I will tell the +sherf to coming and see Jim and put you in jail. I will tell the judge you +killed him and the sherf will put you in jail and hung you. Those are fine +shirts. I will wear them silk. As ever your friend, + Yours truly, + LUCY LILY." + +Casey sat down on a rock to think it over. The squaw was moving about +within the hut, collecting the pitifully few belongings which Lucy Lily +had disdained to steal. An Indian does not like to stay where one has +died. + +Casey could overtake Lucy Lily, if he walked fast and did not stop when +dark fell, but he did not want to overtake her. He was not alarmed at her +threat of the sheriff, but he did not want to see her again or hear her or +think of her. + +So Casey tore up the note and went and begged a little food from Hahnaga; +then he broached the subject of the gold mine. The squaw listened, looking +at him with dull black eyes and a face like a stamped-leather portrait of +an Indian. She shook her head and pointed down the gulch. + +"No find gol', bad girl. I think killum my mans. I dunno. No fin' gol'-- +Jim he no tellum. No tellum me, no tellum Lucy, no tellum nobody. I think, +all time Jim hide." She made a gesture as of one covering something with +dirt. "Lucy all time try for fin' gol'. Jim he no likeum. Lucy my sister +girl. Bad. No good. All time heap mean. All time tellum heap big lie so +Indian no likeum. One time take monee, go 'way off. School for write. Come +back for fin' gol', make Jim tellum. Jim sick long time. Jim no tellum. +Jim all time mad for Lucy. Las' night--talk mean--mebby fight--Jim he die +quick. Lucy say killum me, I tell. + +"Now me go my brother. Walk two day. Give you grub--no got many grub. You +takeum gol' you fin'. Me no care. No want. You don' give Lucy. Lucy bad +girl all time. No fin' gol'--Jim he no tellum. I dunno." + +That left Casey exactly where he had been before he found Injun Jim. There +was no getting around it; the squaw repeated her statements twice, which +Casey thought was probably more talking that she had done before in the +course of six months. She impressed Casey as being truthful. She really +did not know any more about Injun Jim's mine than did Casey. Or perhaps a +little more, because she knew, poor thing, just how drunk Jim could get on +the whisky they gave him for the gold. He used to beat her terribly when +he came to camp drunk. Casey learned that much, though it didn't help him +any. + +Hahnaga did not seem to think that anything need be done about the manner +of Jim's death. She said he was heap sick and would die anyway, or words-- +not many--to that effect. Casey decided to go on and mind his own +business. He did not see why, he said, the county of Nye should be let in +for a lot of expense on Injun Jim's account, even if Jim had been killed. +And as for punishing Lucy Lily, he was perfectly willing that it should be +done, only he did not want to do it. I have always believed that Casey was +afraid she might possibly marry him in spite of himself if she were in his +immediate neighborhood long enough. + +They made themselves each a small pack of food and what was more vital, +water, and went their different ways. Hahnaga struck off to the west, to +her brother at the end of Forty-Mile Canyon. At least, that was where she +said her brother mostly camped. Casey retraced his steps for the second +time to the camp of the tenderfeet. Loco Canyon, Casey calls the place, +claiming it by right of discovery. + +Now I don't see, and possibly you won't see, either, what the devil's +lantern had to do with Casey's bad luck. Casey maintains rather stubbornly +that it had a great deal to do with it. First, he says, it got him all off +the trail following it, and was almost the death of him and William. Next, +he declares that it drove him to Lucy Lily and had fully intended that he +should be tied up to her. Then he suspects that it had something to do +with Injun Jim's dying just when he did, and he has another count or two +against the lantern and will tell you them, and back them with much +argument, if you nag him into it. + +It taught him things, he says. And once, after we had talked the matter +over and had fallen into silence, he broke out with a sentence I have +never forgotten, nor the tone in which he said it, nor the way he glared +into the fire, his pipe in his hand where he always had it when he was +extremely in earnest. + +"The three darndest, orneriest, damndest things on earth," said Casey, as +if he were intoning a text, "is a Ford, or a goat, or an Injun. You can +ask anybody yuh like if that ain't so." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Casey was restless, and his restlessness manifested itself in a most +unusual pessimism. Twice he picked up "float" that showed the clean indigo +stain of silver bromyrite in spots the size of a split pea, and cast the +piece from him as if it were so much barren limestone, without ever +investigating to see where it had come from. Little as I know about +mineral, I am sure that one piece at least was rich; high-grade, if ever I +saw any. But Casey merely grunted when I spoke to him about it. + +"Maybe it is. A coupla hundred ounces, say. What's that, even with silver +at a dollar an ounce? It ain't good enough for Casey, and what I'm wastin' +my time for, wearing the heels off'n my shoes prospectin' Starvation, is +somethin' I can't tell yuh." He looked at me with his pale-blue, unwinking +stare for a minute. + +"Er--I can--and I guess the quicker it's out the better I'll feel." + +He took out his familiar plug of tobacco, always nibbled around the edges, +always half the size of his four fingers. I never saw Casey with a fresh +plug in his pocket, and I never saw him down to one chew; it is one of the +little mysteries in his life that I never quite solved. + +"I been thinkin' about that devil's lantern we seen the other night," he +said, when he had returned to his pocket the plug with a corner gone. +"They's something funny about that--the way it went over there and stood +on the Tippipahs again. I ain't sooperstitious. But I can't git things +outa my head. I want to go hunt fer that mine of Injun Jim's. This here is +just foolin' around--huntin' silver. I want to see where that free gold +comes from that he used to peddle. It's mine--by rights. He was goin' to +tell me where it was, you recollect, and he woulda if I hadn't overfed him +on jam--or if that damn squaw hadn't took a notion for marryin'. I let her +stampede me--and that's where I was wrong. I shoulda stayed." + +I was foolish enough to argue with him. I had talked with others about the +mine of Injun Jim, and one man (who owned cattle and called mines a +gamble) told me that he doubted the whole story. A prospectors' bubble, he +called it. Free gold, he insisted, did not belong in this particular +formation; it ran in porphyry, he said,--and then he ran into mineralogy +too technical for me now. I repeated his statement, however, and saw Casey +grin tolerantly. + +"Gold is where yuh find it," he retorted, and spat after a hurrying +lizard. "They said gold couldn't be found in that formation around +Goldfield. But they found it, didn't they?" + +Casey looked at me steadily for a minute and then came out with what was +really in his mind. "You stake me to grub and a couple of burros an' let +me go hunt the Injun Jim, and I'll locate yuh in on it when I find it. And +if I don't find it, I'll pay yuh back for the outfit. And, anyway, you're +makin' money off'n my bad luck right along, ain't yuh? Wasn't it me you +was writin' up, these last few days?" + +"I was--er--reconsidering that devil's lantern yarn you told me, Casey. +But the thing doesn't work out right. It sounds unfinished, as you told +it. I don't know that I can do anything with it, after all." I was +truthful with him; you all remember that I was dissatisfied with the way +Casey ended it. Just walking back across the desert and quitting the +search,--it lacked, somehow, the dramatic climax. I could have built one, +of course. But I wanted to test out my theory that a man like Casey will +live a complete drama if he is left alone. Casey is absolutely natural; he +goes out after life without waiting for it to come to him, and he will +forget all about his own interests to help a stranger,--and above all, he +builds his castles hopefully as a child and seeks always to make them +substantial structures afterwards. If any man can prove my theory, that +man is Casey Ryan. So I led him along to say what dream held him now. + +"Unfinished? Sure it's unfinished! I quit, didn't I tell yuh? It ain't +goin' to be finished till I git out and find that mine. I been studyin' +things over. I never seen one of them lights till I started out to find +Injun Jim's mine. If I'd a-gone along with no bad luck, I wouldn't never +a-found that tenderfoot camp, would I? It was keepin' the light at my back +done that--and William not likin' the look of it, either. And you gotta +admit it was the light mostly that scared them young dudes off and left me +the things. And if you'd of saw Injun Jim, you'd of known same as I that +it was the jam and the silk shirts that loosened him up. Nothin' in my +own pack coulda won him over,--" + +"It's all right that far," I cut in. "But then he died, and you were set +afoot and all but married by as venomous a creature as I ever heard of, +and the thing stops right there, Casey, where it shouldn't." + +"And that's what I'm kickin' about! Casey Ryan ain't the man to let it +stop there. I been thinkin' it over sence that devil's lantern showed up +again, and went and set over there on Tippipah. Mebby I misjudged the +dog-gone thing. Mebby it's settin' somewheres around that gold mine. Funny +it never showed up no other time and no other place. I been travelin' the +desert off'n on all my life, and I never seen anything like it before. +And I can tell yuh this much: I been wanting that mine too darn long to +give up now. If you don't feel like stakin' me for the trip, I'll go back +to Lund and have a talk with Bill. Bill's a good old scout and he'll +stake me to an outfit, anyway." + +That was merely Casey's inborn optimism speaking. Bill was a good old +scout, all right, but if he would grubstake Casey to go hunting the Injun +Jim mine, then Bill had changed considerably. + +The upshot of it was that we left Starvation the next morning, headed for +town. And two days after that I had pulled myself out of bed at daybreak +to walk down to his camp under the mesquite grove just outside of town. I +drank a cup of coffee with him and wished him luck. Casey did not talk +much. His mind was all taken up with the details of his starting,--whether +to trust his water cans on the brown burro or the gray, and whether he had +taken enough "cold" shoes along for the mule. And he set down his cup of +coffee to go rummaging in a kyack just to make sure that he had the hoof +rasp and shoeing hammer safe. + +He was packed and moving up the little hill out of the grove before the +sun had more than painted a cloud or two in the east. A dreamer once more +gone to find the end of his particular rainbow, I told myself, as I +watched him out of sight. I must admit that I hoped, down deep in the +heart of me, that Casey would fall into some other unheard-of experience +such as had been his portion in the past. I felt much more certain that he +would get into some scrape than I did that he would find the Injun Jim, +and I was grinning inside when I went back to town; though there was a bit +of envy in the smile,--one must always envy the man who keeps his dreams +through all the years and banks on them to the end. For myself, I hadn't +chased a rainbow for thirty years, and I could not call myself the better +for it, either. + + * * * * * + +In September the lower desert does not seem to realize that summer is +going. The wind blows a little harder, perhaps, and frequently a little +hotter; the nights are not quite so sweltering, and the very sheets on +one's bed do not feel so freshly baked. But up on the higher mesas there +is a heady quality to the wind that blows fresh in your face. There is an +Indian-summery haze like a thin veil over the farthest mountain ranges. +Summer is with you yet; but somehow you feel that winter is coming. + +In a country all gray and dull yellow and brown, you find strange, +beautiful tints no artist has yet prisoned with his paints. You dream in +spite of yourself, and walk through a world no more than half real, a +world peopled with your thoughts. + +Casey did, when the burros left him in peace long enough. They were +misleading, pot-bellied animals that Casey hazed before him toward the +Tippipahs. They never showed more than slits of eyes beneath their +drooping lids, yet they never missed seeing whatever there was to see, and +taking advantage of every absent-minded moment when Casey was thinking of +the Injun Jim, perhaps. They were fast-walking burros when they were +following a beaten trail and Casey was hard upon their heels, but when his +attention wandered they showed a remarkable amount of energy in finding +blind trails and following them into some impracticable wash where Casey +wasted a good deal of time in extricating them. He said he never saw +burros that hated so to turn around and go back into the road, and he +never saw two burros get out of sight as quickly as they could when they +thought he wasn't watching. They would choose different directions and +hide from him separately,--but once was enough for Casey. He lost them +both for an hour in the sand pits twelve miles out of town, and after that +he tied them nose to tail and himself held a rope attached to the +hindmost, and so made fair time with them, after all. + +The mule, Casey said, was just plain damn mule, sloughed off from the +army, blasé beyond words,--any words at Casey's command, at least. A +lopeared buckskin mule with a hanging lower lip and a chronic +tail-switching, that shacked along hour after hour and saved Casey's legs +and, more particularly, a bunion that had developed in the past year. + +Casey knew the country better than he had known it on his first +unprofitable trip into the Tippipahs. He avoided Furnace Lake, keeping +well around the Southern rim of it and making straight for Loco Canyon and +the spring there while his water cans still had a pleasant slosh. There he +rested his longears for a day, and disinterred certain tenderfoot luxuries +which he had cached when he was there last time. And when he set out again +he went straight on to the old stone hut where Injun Jim had camped. The +tepee was gone, burned down according to Indian custom after a death, as +he had expected. The herd of Indian ponies were nowhere in sight. +Hahnaga's brother, he guessed, had driven them off long ago. + +Casey had worked out a theory, bit by bit, and with characteristic +optimism he had full faith that it would prove a fact later on. He wanted +to start his search from the point where Injun Jim had started, and he had +rather a plausible reason for doing so. + +Injun Jim was an Indian of the old school, and the old school did a great +deal of its talking by signs. Casey had watched Jim with that pale, +unwinking stare that misses nothing within range, and he had read the +significance of Jim's unconscious gestures while he talked. It had been +purely subconscious; Casey had expected the exact location of the mine in +words, and perhaps with a crudely accurate map of Jim's making. But now he +remembered Jim's words, certain motions made by the skinny hands, and from +them he laid his course. + +"He was layin' right here--facin' south," Casey told himself, squatting on +his heels within the rock circle that marked the walls of the tepee. "He +said, 'Got heap big gol' mine, me--' and he turned his hand that way." +Casey squinted at the distant blue ridge that was an unnamed spur of the +Tippipahs. "It's far enough so an old buck like him couldn't make it very +well. Fifteen mile, anyway--mebby twenty or twenty-five. And from the sign +talk he made whilst he was talkin', I'd guess it's nearer twenty than +fifteen. There's that two-peak butte--looks like that would be about right +for distance. And it's dead in line--them old bucks don't waggle their +hands permiskus when they talk. Old Jim woulda laid on his hands if he'd +knovved what they was tellin' me; but even an ornery old devil like him +gits careless when they git old. Casey hits straight fer Two Peak." + +That's the way he got his bearings; just remembering the unguarded motion +of Injun Jim's grimy hand and adding thereto his superficial knowledge of +the country and his own estimate of what an old fellow like Jim could call +a long journey. With this and the unquestioning faith in his dream that +was a part of him, Casey threw his favorite "packer's hitch" across the +packed burros at dawn next morning, boarded his buckskin mule and set off +hopefully across the barren valley, heading straight for the distant butte +he called Two Peak. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +I don't suppose Casey Ryan ever started out to do something for himself-- +something he considered important to his own personal welfare and +happiness--without running straight into some other fellow's business and +stopping to lend a hand. He says he can't remember being left alone at any +time in his life to follow the beckoning finger of his own particular +destiny. + +Casey had made camp that night in one of several deep gulches that ridged +the butte with two peaks. We had been lucky in our burro buying, and he +had two of the fastest walking jacks in the country, so that he was able +to give them a good long nooning and still reach the foot of the butte and +make camp well before sundown. For the first time since he first heard of +the Injun Jim gold mine, Casey felt that he was really "squared away" to +the search. As he sat there blowing his unhurried breath upon a blue +granite cup of coffee to cool it, his memory slanted back along the years +when he had said that some day he would go and hunt for the Injun Jim mine +that was so rich a ten-pound lard bucket full of the ore had been known to +yield five hundred dollars' worth of gold. Well, it had been a long time +since he first said that to himself, but here he was, and to-morrow he +would begin his search with daylight, starting with this gulch he was in +and working methodically over every foot of Two Peak. + +He took two long, satisfying swallows of coffee and poised the cup and +listened. After a minute had gone in that way, he finished the coffee in +gulps and stood up, dangling the empty cup with a finger crooked in the +handle. From somewhere not more than a long rifle-shot away, a Ford was +coughing under full pressure of gas and with at least one dirty spark plug +to give it a spasmodic stutter. While Casey stood there listening, the +stutter slowed and stopped with one wheezy cough. That was all. + +"They'll have to clean up her hootin'-annies before they git outa here," +Casey observed shrewdly, having intimate and sometimes unpleasant +knowledge of Fords and their peculiar ailments. "And I wonder what the +sufferin' Chris'mas they're doin' here, anyway. If it's huntin' the Injun +Jim they're after, the quicker they scrape the sut off them dingbats and +git outa here, the healthier they'll ride. You ask anybody if Casey Ryan's +liable to back up now he's on the ground and squared away!" + +He stood there uneasily for a minute or two longer, caught a whiff of his +bacon scorching and stooped to its rescue. Then he fried a bannock hastily +in the bacon grease, folded two slices of bacon within it and ate in a +hurry, keeping an ear cocked for any further sounds from the concealed +car. + +He finished eating without having heard more and piled his dishes without +washing them. I don't suppose he had used more than ten minutes at the +longest in eating his supper. That was about the limit of Casey's inaction +when he smelled a mystery or a scrap. This had the elements of both, and +he started out forthwith to trail down the Ford, wiping crumbs from his +mouth and getting out his plug of tobacco as he went. + +In broken country sounds are deceptive as to direction, but Casey was +lucky enough to walk straight toward the spot, which was over a hump in +the gulch, a sort of backbone dividing it in two narrow branches there at +its mouth. He had noticed when he rode toward it that it was ridged in the +middle, and had chosen the left-hand branch for no reason at all except +that it happened to be a little smoother traveling for his animals. + +He topped the ridge and came full upon a camp below, almost within calling +distance from where he first sighted it. There was a stone hut that could +not possibly contain more than two small rooms, and there was a tent +pitched not far away. There seemed to be a spring just beyond the cabin. +Casey saw the silver gleam of water there, and a strip of green grass, and +a juniper bush or two. + +But these details were not important at the moment. What sent him down the +hill in an uneven trot was a group of three that stood beside a car. From +their voices, and the gestures that were being made, here was a quarrel +building rapidly into a fight. To prove it the smallest person in the +group suddenly whipped out a revolver and pointed it at the two. Casey saw +the reddening sunlight strike upon the barrel with a brief shine, +instantly quenched when the gun was thrust forward toward the other two +whom it threatened. + +"You get out of my camp and out of my sight just as fast as your legs can +take you. This car belongs to me, and you're not going to touch it. You've +got your wages--more than your wages, you great hulking shirks! A fine +exhibition you're making of yourselves, I must say! You thought you could +bluff me--that I'd stand meekly by and let you two bullies have your own +way about it, did you? You even waited until you had gorged yourselves on +food you've never earned, before you started your highwaymen performance. +You made sure of one more good meal, you--you _hogs._ Now go, before I +empty this gun into the two of you!" + +Casey stopped, puffing a little, I suppose. He is not so young as when +they called him the Fightin' Stagedriver, and he had done his long day of +travel. The three did not know that he was there, they were so busy with +their quarrel. The woman's voice was sharp with contempt, but it was not +loud and there was not a tremble in any tone of it. The gun she held was +steady in her hand, but one man snarled at her and one man laughed. It was +the kind of laugh a woman would hate to hear from a man she was defying. + +"Aw, puddown the popgun! Nobody's scared of it--er you. It ain't loaded, +and if it was loaded you couldn't hit nothin'. No need to be scared +'long's a woman's pointing a gun at yuh. Crank 'er up, agin, Ole. Don't +worry none about _her._ She can't stop nothin', not even her jawin'. Go +awn, start the damn Lizzie an' let's go." + +Ole bent to the cranking, then complained that the switch must be off. His +companion growled that it was nothing of the kind and kept his narrowed +gaze fixed upon the woman. + +She spied Casey standing there, a few rods beyond the car. The gun dropped +in her hand so that its aim was no longer direct. The man who faced her +jumped and caught her wrist, and the gun went off, the bullet singing ten +feet above Casey's head. + +A little girl with flaxen curls and patched overalls on screamed and +rushed up to the man, gripping him furiously around the legs just above +the knees and trying her little best to shake him. "You leave my mamma +alone!" she cried shrilly. + +Casey took a hand then,--a hand with a rock in it, I must explain. He +managed to kick Ole harshly in the ribs, sending him doubled sidewise and +yelping, as he passed him. He laid the other man out senseless with the +rock which landed precisely on the back of the head just under his hat. + +The woman--Casey had mistaken her for a man at first, because she wore bib +overalls and had her hair bobbed and a man's hat on--dropped the gun and +held her wrist that showed angry red finger prints. She smiled at Casey +exactly as if nothing much had happened. + +"Thank you very much indeed. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to +manage the situation. It was growing rather awkward, because I should have +been compelled to shoot them both, I expect, before I was through. And I +dreaded a mess. Wounded, I should have had them on my hands to take care +of--their great hulks!--and dead I should have had to bury them, and I +detest digging in this rocky soil. You really did me a very great--" + +Her eyes ranged to something behind Casey and widened at what they saw. +Casey whirled about, ducked a hurtling monkey wrench and rushed Ole, who +was getting up awkwardly, his eyes malevolent. He made a very thorough job +of thrashing Ole, and finished by knocking him belly down over the +un-hooded engine of the Ford. + +"I hope Jawn doesn't suffer from that," the little woman commented +whimsically. "Babe, run and get that rope over there and take it to the +gentleman so he can tie Ole's hands together. Then he can't be naughty any +more. Hurry, Baby Girl." + +Baby Girl hurried, her curls whipping around her face as she ran. She +brought a coil of cotton clothesline to Casey, looking up at him with +wide, measuring eyes of a tawny shade like sunlight shining through thin +brown silk. "I wish you'd give Joe a beating too," she said with grave +earnestness. "He's a badder man than Ole. He hurt my mamma. Will you give +Joe a beating and tie his naughty hands jus' like that when he wakes up?" +She lifted her plump little body on her scuffed toes, her brown, dimpled +fingers clutching the radiator to hold her steady while she watched Casey +tie Ole's naughty hands behind his back. + +"Now will you tie Joe's naughty hands jus' like that? Don't use up all the +rope! My mamma hasn't got any more rope, and you have to tie--" + +"Babe! Come over here and don't bother the gentleman. Stand away over +there so you can't hear the naughty words Ole is saying." The little woman +smiled, but not much. Casey, glancing up from the last efficient knot, +felt suddenly sorry that he had not first gagged Ole. Casey had not +thought of it before; mere cussing was natural to him as breathing, and he +had scarcely been aware of the fact that Ole was speaking. Now he cuffed +the Swede soundly and told him to shut up, and yanked him off the car. + +"Joe is regaining consciousness. He'll be nasty to handle as a rabid +coyote if you wait much longer. Just cut the rope. It's my clothesline, +but we must not balk at trifles in a crisis like this." The little woman +had recovered her gun and was holding it ready for Joe in case the +predicted rabidness became manifest. + +Casey tied Joe very thoroughly while consciousness was slowly returning. +The situation ceased to be menacing; it became safe and puzzling and even +a bit mysterious. Casey reached for his plug, remembered his manners and +took away his hand. Robbed of his customary inspiration he stood +undecided, scowling at the feebly blinking ruffian called Joe. + +"It's very good of you not to ask what it's all about," said the little +woman, taking off the man's hat and shaking back her hair like a +schoolgirl. "I have some mining claims here--four of them. My husband left +them to me, and since that's all he did leave I have been keeping up the +assessment work every year. Last year I had enough money to buy Jawn." She +nodded toward the Ford. "I outfitted and came out here with an old fellow +I'd known for years, kept camp until he'd done the assessment work, and +paid him off and that was all there was to it. + +"This summer the old man is prospecting the New Jerusalem, I expect. He +died in April. I hired these two scoundrels. I was foolish enough to pay +half their wages in advance, because they told me a tale of owing money to +a widow for board and wanting to pay her. I have," she observed, "a +weakness for widows. And they have just pretended to be working the +claims. I hurt my ankle so that I haven't been able to walk far for a +month, and they took advantage of it and have been prospecting around on +their own account, at my expense, while I religiously marked down their +time and fed them. They have located four claims adjoining mine, and put +up their monuments and done their location work in the past month, if you +please, while I supposed they were working for me." + +"D'they locate you in on 'em?" + +"Locate me--in? You mean, as a partner? They emphatically did not! I went +up to the claims to-day, saw that they had not done a thing since the last +time I was there; they had even taken away my tools. So we tracked them, +Baby and I, and found their location monuments just over the hill, and saw +where they had been working. So to-night I asked them about it, and they +were very defiant and very cool and decided that they were through out +here and would go to town. They were _borrowing_ Jawn--so they said. I was +objecting, naturally. I was quite against being left alone out here, +afoot, with Babe on my hands. It will soon be coming on cold," she said. +"I'd have been in a fine predicament, with supplies for only about a month +longer. And I must get the assessment work done, too, you know." + +"D'you want 'em to stay and finish your work?" Casey reached out with his +foot and pushed Joe down upon his back again. + +The little woman looked down at Joe and across at Ole by the car. "No, +thank you. I should undoubtedly put strychnine in their coffee if they +stayed, I should hate the sight of them so. I have some that I brought for +the pack rats. No, I don't want them--" + +She had sounded very cool and calm, and she had impressed Casey as being +quite as fearless as himself. But now he caught a trembling in her voice, +and he distinctly saw her lip quiver. He was so disturbed that he went +over and slapped Ole again and told him to shut up, though Ole was not +saying a word. + +"Where's their bed-rolls?" Casey asked, when he turned toward her again. +She pointed to the tent, and Casey went and dragged forth the packed +belongings of the two. It was perfectly plain that they had deliberately +planned their desertion, for everything was ready to load into the car. + +Casey went staggering to the Ford, dumped the canvas rolls in and yanked +Ole up by the collar, propelling him into the tonneau. Then he came after +Joe. + +"If you can drive, you'll mebby feel better if yuh go along," he said to +the woman. "I'm goin' to haul 'em far enough sos't they won't feel like +walkin' back to bother yuh, and seein' you don't know me, mebby you better +do the drivin'. Then you'll know I ain't figurin' on stealin' your car and +makin' a getaway." + +"I can drive, of course," she acquiesced. "Not that I'd be afraid to trust +Jawn with you, but they're treacherous devils, those two, and they might +manage somehow to make you trouble if you go alone. Jawn is a +temperamental car, and he demands all of one's attention at times." + +She walked over to the car, reached out in the gathering dusk and fingered +the carburetor adjustment. "When they first revealed their plan of making +away with Jawn," she drawled, "I came up like this and remonstrated. And +while I did so I reached over and turned the screw and shut off the gas +feed. Jawn balked with them, of course--but they never guessed why!" + +The two in the tonneau muttered something in undertones while the little +woman smiled at them contemptuously. Casey thought that was pretty smart-- +to stall the car so they couldn't get away with it--but he did not tell +her so. There was something about the little woman which restrained him +from talking freely and speaking his mind bluntly as was his habit. + +He cranked the car, waited until she had the adjustment correct, and then +went back and stood on the running board, holding with his left hand to a +brace of the top and keeping his right free in case he should need it. The +little woman helped the little girl into the front seat, slid her own +small person behind the wheel and glanced round inquiringly, with a +flattering recognition of his masculine right to command. + +"Just head towards town and keep a-going till I say when," he told her, +and she nodded and sent Jawn careening down over the rough tracks which +Casey had missed by a quarter of a mile or less. + +She could drive, Casey admitted, almost as recklessly as he could. He had +all he wanted to do, hanging on without being snapped off at some of the +sharp turns she made. The road wandered down the valley for ten miles, +crept over a ridge, then dove headlong into another wide, shallow valley +seamed with washes and deep cuts. The little woman never eased her pace +except when there was imminent danger of turning Jawn bottomside up in a +wash. So in a comparatively short time they were over two summits and +facing the distant outline of Crazy Woman Hills. They had come, Casey +judged, about twenty miles, and they had been away from camp less than an +hour. + +Casey leaned forward and spoke to the woman, and she stopped the car +obediently. Casey pulled open the door and motioned, and the Swede came +stumbling out, sullenly followed by Joe, who muttered thickly that he was +sick and that the back of his head was caved in. Casey did not reply, but +heaved their bedding out after them. With the little woman holding her gun +at full aim, he untied the two and frugally stowed the rope away in the +car. + +"Now, you git," he ordered them sternly. "There's four of us camped just +acrost the ridge from this lady's place, and we'll sure keep plenty of +eyes out. If you got any ideas about taking the back trail, you better +think agin, both of yuh. You'd never git within shootin' distance of this +lady's camp. I'm Casey Ryan that's speakin' to yuh. You ask anybody about +me. Git!" + +Sourly they shouldered their bed-rolls and went limping down the trail, +and when their forms were only blurs beyond the shine of the headlights, +the little woman churned Jawn around somehow in the sand and drove back +quite as recklessly as she had come. Casey, bouncing alone in the rear +seat, did a great deal of thinking, but I don't believe he spoke once. + +"Casey Ryan, I have never had much reason for feeling gratitude toward a +man, but I am truly grateful to you. You are a man and a gentleman." The +little woman had driven close to the stone cabin and had turned and rested +her arm along the back of the front seat, half supporting the sleeping +child while she looked full at Casey. She had left the engine running, +probably for sake of the headlights, and her eyes shone dark and bright in +the crisp starlight. + +"'Tain't worth mentionin'," Casey protested awkwardly, and got out. + +"I've been wondering if I could get a couple of you men to do the work on +my claims," she went on. "I'm paying four dollars and board, and it would +be a great nuisance to make the long trip to town and find a couple of men +I would dare trust. In fact, it's going to be pretty hard for me to trust +any one, after this experience. If you men can take the time from your own +business--" + +"I don't know about the rest," Casey hedged uncomfortably. "They was +figurin' on doing something else. But I guess I could finish up the work +for yuh, all right. How deep is your shaft?" + +"It's a tunnel," she corrected. "My husband started four years ago to +drift in to the contact. He'd gone fifty feet when he died. I don't know +that I'll strike the body of ore when I do reach the contact, but it's the +only hope. I'm working the four claims as a group, and the tunnel is now +eighty feet. Those two brigands have wasted a month for me, or it would be +a hundred. One man can manage, though of course it's slower and harder. I +have powder enough, unless they stole it from me. They did about five feet +all told, and tore down part of my wall, I discovered to-day, chasing a +stringer of fairly rich ore, thinking, I suppose, that it would lead to a +pocket. The old man I had last year found a pocket of high grade that +netted me a thousand dollars." + +Casey threw up his head. "Gold?" he asked. + +"Mostly silver. I sent a truck out from town after the ore, shipped it by +express and still made a thousand dollars clear. There wasn't quite a ton +and a half of it, though. You'll come, then, and work for me? I wish you +could persuade one of your partners to help. It's getting well into +September already." + +"I wouldn't depend on 'em," Casey demurred uncomfortably. "I can do it +alone. And I'll board m'self, if you'd ruther. I've got grub enough. I +guess I better be gittin' along back to camp--if you ain't afraid to stay +alone. Them two couldn't git back much b'fore daylight, if they run all +the way; and by that time I'll be up and on the lookout," and Casey swung +off without waiting for an answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Casey was out of his blankets long before daylight the next morning and +sitting behind a bush on the ridge just back of the cabin, his rifle +across his knees. He hoped that his mention of three other men would +discourage those two from the attempt to revenge themselves, much as a +lone woman would tempt them. But he was not going to take any risk +whatever. + +At sunrise he went back to his camp--which he had moved closer to the +cabin, by the way, just barely keeping it out of sight--and cooked a hasty +breakfast. When he returned the little woman was ready to show him her +claims, and she seemed to have forgotten those two who had been so +ignominiously hauled away and dropped like unwanted cats beside the road. +She inquired again about Casey's partners, and Casey lied once more and +said that they had gone on over the range, prospecting. + +I don't know why he did not tell the little woman that he had lied to Ole +and Joe and let it go at that. But he seemed to dread having her discover +that he had lied at all, and so he kept on lying about those three +imaginary men. Perhaps he had a chivalrous instinct that she would feel +safer, more at ease, if she thought that others were somewhere near. At +any rate he did not tell her that his only partners were two burros and a +mule. + +I don't know what the little woman's opinion of Casey was, except that in +the first enthusiasm of her gratitude to him she had called him a man and +a gentleman. She drove a bargain with him, as she supposed. She would pay +him so much more per day if he preferred to board himself, and having +named the amount, Casey waited two minutes, as if he were meditating upon +the matter, and then replied that it suited him all right. + +Casey did not think much of her claims, though he did not tell her so. In +his opinion that tunnel should have been driven into the hill at a +different point, where the indications of mineral were much stronger and +the distance to the contact much less. A light, varying vein had been +followed at an incline, and Casey, working alone, was obliged to wheel +every pound of dirt up a rather steep grade to the dump outside. The rock +was hard to work in, so that it took him a full half a day to put in four +shots, and then he would be likely to find that they had "bootlegged." The +tunnel also faced the south, from where the wind nearly always blew, so +that the gas and smoke from his shots would hang in there sometimes for a +full twenty-four hours, making it impossible for him to work. + +The little woman seemed slightly surprised when Casey told her, at the end +of the first week, to knock off three days on account of gas. She and the +little girl came to his camp next day and brought Casey a loaf of light +bread and interrupted him in the act of shaving. The little woman looked +at the two burros and at the mule, measured the camp outfit with her keen +gray eyes, looked at Casey who had nicked his chin, and became thoughtful. + +After that she stopped calling him Mr. Ryan and addressed him as Casey +Ryan instead, with a little teasing inflection in her voice. Once Casey +happened to mention Lund, and when he saw her look of surprise he +explained that he drove a stage out of Lund, for awhile. + +"Oh! So you _are_ that Casey Ryan!" she said. "I might have known it." She +laughed to herself, but she did not say why, and Casey was afraid to ask. +He could remember so many incidents in his past that he would not want the +little woman to know about, and he was afraid that it might be one of them +at which she was laughing. + +She formed the habit of coming up to the tunnel every day, with Babe +chattering along beside her, swinging herself on her mother's hand. At +first she said whimsically that she had found it best to keep an eye on +her miners, as if that explained her coming. But she always had something +good to eat or drink. Once she brought a small bucket of hot chocolate, +which Casey gulped down heroically and smacked his lips afterwards. Casey +hated chocolate, too, so I think you may take it for granted that by then +he was a goner. + +He used to smoke his pipe and watch the little woman and Babe go +"high-grading" along the tunnel wall. That was what she called it and +pretended that she expected to find very rich ore concealed somewhere. It +struck him one day, quite suddenly, that the Little Woman (I may as well +begin to use capitals, because Casey always called her that in his mind, +and the capitals were growing bigger every day) the Little Woman never +seemed to notice his smoking, or to realize that it is a filthy habit and +immoral and degrading, as that other woman had done. + +He began to notice other things, too; that the Little Woman helped him a +lot, on afternoons when help was most likely to be appreciated. She +sometimes "put down a hole" all by herself, skinning a knuckle now and +then with the lightest "single-jack" and saying _"darn!"_ quite as a +matter of course. + +And once, when the rock was particularly hard, she happened along and +volunteered to turn the drill while Casey used the "double-jack", which I +suppose you know is the big hammer that requires two hands to pound the +drill while another turns it slightly after each blow, so that the bitted +end will chew its way into hard rock. + +You aren't all of you miners, so I will explain further that to drill into +rock with a double-jack and steel drill is not sport for greenhorns +exactly. The drill-turner needs a lot of faith and a little nerve, because +one blow of the double-jack may break a hand clasped just below the head +of the drill. And the man with the double-jack needs a steady nerve, too, +and some experience in swinging the big hammer true to the head of the +drill,--unless he enjoys cracking another man's bones. + +Casey Ryan prides himself upon being able to swing a double-jack as well +as any man in the country. It is his boast that he never yet broke the +skin on the hand of his drill-turner. So I shall have to let you take it +for granted that the Little Woman's presence and help was more unnerving +than a wildcat on Casey's back. For, while the first, second and third +blows fell true on the drill, the fourth went wild. Casey owns that he was +in a cold sweat for fear he might hit her. So he did. She was squatted on +her heels, steadying one elbow on her knee. The double-jack struck her +hand, glanced and landed another blow on her knee; one of those terribly +painful blows that take your breath and make you see stars without +crippling you permanently. + +Casey doesn't like to talk about it, but once he growled that he did about +every damn-fool thing he could with a double-jack, except brain her. The +Little Woman gave one small scream and went over backward in a faint, and +Casey was just about ready to go off and shoot himself. + +He took her up in his arms and carried her down to the cabin before she +came to. And when she did come to her senses, Babe immediately made +matters worse. She was whimpering beside her mother, and when she saw that +mamma had waked up, she shrilled consolingly: "It's going to be all well +in a minute. Casey Ryan kissed it des like _that!_ So now it'll get all +well!" + +If the Little Woman had wanted to tell Casey what she thought of him, she +couldn't just then, for Casey was halfway to his own camp by the time she +glanced around the room, looking for him. + +Common humanity drove him back, of course. He couldn't let a woman and a +child starve to death just because he was a damned idiot and had +half-killed the woman. But if there had been another person within calling +distance, the Little Woman would probably never have seen Casey Ryan +again. + +Necessity has a bland way of ignoring such things as conventions and the +human emotions. Casey cooked supper for Babe and the Little Woman, and +washed the dishes, and wrung out cloths from hot vinegar and salt so that +the Little Woman could bathe her knee--she had to do it left-handed, at +that--and unbuttoned Babe's clothes and helped her on with her pyjamas and +let her kneel on his lap while she said her prayers. Because, as Babe +painstakingly explained, she always kneeled on a lap so ants couldn't run +over her toes and tickle her and make her laugh, which would make God +think she was a bad, naughty girl. + +Can you picture Casey Ryan rocking that child to sleep? I can't--yes, I +can too, and there's something in the picture that holds back the laugh +you think will come. + +Before she gave her final wriggle and cheeped her last little cheep, Babe +had to be carried over and held down where she could kiss mamma good +night. Casey got rather white around the mouth, then. But he didn't say a +word. Indeed, he had said mighty little since that fourth blow of the +double-jack; just enough to get along intelligently, with what he had to +do. He hadn't even told the Little Woman he was sorry. + +So Babe was asleep and tucked in her bed, and Casey turned down the light +and asked perfunctorily if there was anything else he could do, and had +started for the door. And then-- + +"Casey Ryan," called the Little Woman, with the teasing note in her voice. +"Casey Ryan, come back here and listen to me. You are not going off like +that to swear at yourself all night. Sit down in that chair and listen to +me!" + +Casey sat down, swallowing hard. All the Casey Ryan nonchalance was +gone,--never had been with him, in fact, while he faced that Little Woman. +Somehow she had struck him humble and dumb, from the very beginning. I +wish I knew how she did it; I'd like to try it sometime myself. + +"Casey Ryan, it's hard for a woman to own herself in the wrong, especially +to a man," she said, when he had begun to squirm and wonder what biting +words she would say. "I've always thought that I had as good nerve as any +one. I have, usually. But that double-jack scared the life out of me after +the first blow, and I thought I wouldn't let on. I couldn't admit I was +afraid. I was terribly ashamed. I knew you'd never miss, but I was scared, +just the same. And like a darn fool I pushed the drill away from me just +as you struck. It was coming down--you couldn't change it, man alive. +You'd aimed true at the drill, and--the drill wasn't just there at the +moment. Serves me right. But it's tough on you, old boy--having to do the +cooking for three of us while I'm laid up!" + +I'm sure I can't see how Casey Ryan ever got the name of being a devil +with the ladies. He certainly behaved like a yap then, if you get my +meaning. He gave the Little Woman a quick, unwinking stare, looked away +from her shamedly, reached for his plug of tobacco, took away his hand, +swallowed twice, shuffled his feet and then grunted--I can use no other +word for it: + +"Aw, I guess I c'n stand it if you can!" + +He made a motion then to rise up and go to his own camp where he would +undoubtedly think of many tender, witty things that he would like to have +spoken to the Little Woman. But she was watching him. She saw him move and +stopped him with a question. + +"Casey Ryan, tell me the truth about that tunnel. Do you think it's ever +going to strike the ore body at all?" + +Start Casey off on the subject of mining and you have him anchored and +interested for an hour, at least. The Little Woman had brains, you must +see that. + +"Well, I don't want to discourage you, ma'am," Casey said reluctantly, the +truth crowding against his teeth. "But I'd 'a' gone in under that iron +capping, if I'd been doing it. The outcropping you followed in from the +surface never has been in place, ma'am. It's what I'd call a wild +stringer. It pinched out forty foot back of where we're diggin' now. +That's just an iron stain we're following, and the pocket of high grade +don't mean nothin'. You went in on the strength of indications--" He +stopped there and chuckled to himself, in a way that I'd come to know as +the "indications" of a story,--which usually followed. + +The Little Woman probably guessed. I suppose she was lonely, too, and the +pain of her hurts made her want entertainment. "What are you laughing at, +Casey Ryan?" she demanded. "If it's funny, tell _me."_ + +Casey blushed, though she couldn't have seen him in the dusky light of the +cabin. "Aw, it ain't anything much," he protested bashfully. "I just +happened to think about a little ol' Frenchman I knowed once, over in +Cripple Creek, ma'am." He stopped. + +"Well? Tell me about the little ol' Frenchman. It made you laugh, Casey +Ryan, and it's about the first time I've seen you do that. Tell me." + +"Well, it ain't nothin' very funny to tell about," Casey hedged like a +bashful boy; which was mighty queer for Casey Ryan, I assure you. For if +there was anything Casey liked better than a funny story, it was some one +to listen while he told it. "You won't git the kick, mebby. It's knowin' +the Frenchman makes it seem kinda funny when I think about it. He was a +good little man and he kept a little hotel and was an awful good cook. And +he wanted a gold mine worse than anybody I ever seen. He didn't know a +da--nothin' at all about minin' ma'am, but every ol' soak of a prospector +could git a meal off him by tellin' him about some wildcat bonanza or +other. He'd forgit to charge 'em, he'd be so busy listenin'. + +"Well, there was two ol' soaks that got around him to grubstake 'em. They +worked it all one year. They'd git a burro load of grub and go out +somewheres and peck around till it was all et up, and then they'd come +back an' tell Frenchy some wild tale about runnin' acrost what looked like +the richest prospect in the country. They'd go on about havin' all the +indications of a big body uh rich ore. He'd soak it in, an' they'd hang +around town--one had a sore foot one time, I remember, that lasted 'em a +month of good board at Frenchy's hotel before he drove 'em out agin to his +mine, as he called it. + +"They worked that scheme on him for a long time--and it was the only da-- +scheme they wasn't too lazy to work. They'd git money to buy powder an' +fuse an' caps, ma'am, an' blow it on booze, y'see. An' they'd hang in +town, boardin' off Frenchy, jest as long as they c'ld think of an excuse +fer stayin'. + +"So somebody tipped Frenchy off that he was bein' worked for grub an' +booze money, an' Frenchy done a lot uh thinkin'. Next time them two come +in, he was mighty nice to 'em. An' when he finally got 'em pried loose +an' headed out, he appeared suddenly and says he's goin along to take a +look at his mine. They couldn't do nothin' but take him, uh course. So +they led him out to an old location hole somebody else had dug, an' they +showed him iron cappin' an' granite contact an' so on--just talkin' wild, +an' every few minutes comin' in with the 'strong indications of a rich ore +body.' That was their trump suit, y'see, ma'am. + +"Frenchy listened, an' his eyes commenced to snap, but he never said +nothin' for awhile. Then all at once he pulled one uh these ol'-style +revolvers an' points it at 'em, an' yells: _'Indicaziones! Indicaziones!_ +T'ell weez your _indicaziones!_ Now you show me zee me-_tall_!'" Casey +stopped, reached for his plug and remembered that he mustn't. The Little +Woman laughed. She didn't seem to need the tapering off of the story, as +most women demand. + +"And so you think I have plenty of _indicaziones_, but mighty little +chance of getting the me-_tall_," she pointed the moral. "Well, then tell +me what to do." + +It was in the telling, I think, that Casey for the first time forgot to be +shy and became his real, Casey Ryan best. The Little Woman saw at once, +when he pointed it out to her, that she ought to drift and cut under the +iron capping instead of tunnelling away from it as they had been doing. + +But she was not altogether engrossed in that tunnel. I think her +prospecting into the soul of Casey Ryan interested her much more; and +being a woman she followed the small outcropping of his Irish humor and +opened up a distinct vein of it before the evening was over. Just to +convince you, she led him on until Casey told her all about feeding his +Ford syrup instead of oil, and all about how it ran over him a few times +on the dry lake,--Casey was secretly made happy because she saw at once +how easily that could happen, and never once doubted that he was sober! +He told her about the goats in Patmos and made her laugh so hard that Babe +woke and whimpered a little, and insisted that Casey take her up and rock +her again in the old homemade chair with crooked juniper branches hewn for +rockers. + +With Babe in his arms he told her, too, about his coming out to hunt the +Injun Jim mine. He must have felt pretty well acquainted, by then, because +he regaled her with a painstaking, Caseyish description of Lucy Lily and +her educated wardrobe, and--because she was a murderous kind of squaw and +entitled to no particular chivalry--even repeated her manner of proposing +to a white man, and her avowed reason and all. That was going pretty far, +I think, for one evening, but we must keep in mind the fact that Casey and +the Little Woman had met almost a month before this, and that Casey had +merely thrown wide open the little door to his real self. + +At any rate it was after ten o'clock by Casey's Ingersoll when he tucked +Babe into her little bed, brought a jelly glass of cold water for the +Little Woman to drink in the night, and started for the door. + +There he stopped for a minute, debated with his shyness and turned back. + +"You mebby moved that steel at the wrong time," he said abruptly, "I guess +you musta, the way it happened. But I was so scared I'd hit yuh, my teeth +was playin' the dance to _La Paloma_. I was in a cold sweat. I never did +hit a man with a double-jack in my life, and I guess I've put down ten +miles uh holes, ma'am, if you placed 'em end to end. I always made it my +brag I never scraped a knuckle at that game. But--them little hands of +yours on the drill--I was shakin' all over for fear I might--hurt yuh. I-- +I never hated anything so bad in my life--I'd ruther kill a dozen men than +hurt you--" + +"Man alive," the Little Woman exclaimed softly from her dusky corner, +"you'd never have hurt me in the world, if I'd had the nerve to trust +you." And she added softly, "I'll trust you, from now on, Casey Ryan. +Always." + +I think Casey was an awful fool to walk out and never let her know that he +heard that "Always." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +"Casey Ryan," the Little Woman began with her usual abruptness one +evening, when she was able to walk as far as the mine and back without +feeling; the effect of the exercise, but was still nursing a bandaged +right hand; "Casey Ryan, tell me again just what old Injun Jim looked +like." + +Casey laughed and shifted Babe to a more secure perch on his shoulder, and +drew his head to one side in an effort to slacken Babe's terrific pull on +his hair. "Him? Mean an' ornery as the meanest thing you can think of. +Sour as a dough can you've went off an' left for a coupla weeks in July." + +"Oh, yes; very explicit, I admit. But just what did he look like? Height, +weight, age and chief characteristics. I have," she explained, "a +very-good reason for wanting a description of him." + +"What yuh want a description of him for? He's good an' dead now." You see, +Casey had reached the point of intimacy where he could argue with the +Little Woman quite in his everyday Irish spirit of contention. + +The Little Woman had spirit of her own, but she was surprisingly meek with +Casey at times. "It struck me quite suddenly, to-day, that I may know +where that gold mine is; or about where it is," she said, with a hidden +excitement in her voice. "I've been thinking all day about it, and putting +two and two together. I merely need a fair description now of Injun Jim, +to feel tolerably certain that I do or do not know something about the +location of that mine." + +"How'd _you_ come to know anything about it?" Casey stopped to move Babe +to his other shoulder. He had put in a long hard day in the tunnel, and +Babe was a husky youngster for four-and-a-half. Also she had developed a +burr-like quality toward Casey, and she liked so well to be carried home +from the mine that she would sit flat on the ground and rock her small +body and weep until she was picked, up and placed on Casey's shoulder. +"Set still, now, Babe, or Casey'll have to put yuh down an' make yuh walk +home. Le'go my ear! Yuh want Casey to go around lop-sided, with only one +ear?" + +"Yes!" assented Babe eagerly, kicking Casey in the stomach. "Give me your +knife, Casey Wyan, so I can cut off one ear an' _make_ you lop-sided!" + +"An' you'd do it, too!" Casey exclaimed admiringly. + +"Baby Girl, you interrupted mother when mother was speaking of something +important. You make mother very sad." + +Babe's mouth puckered, her eyelids puckered, and she give a small wail. +"Now Baby's sad! You hurt--my--_feelin's_ when you speak to me cross!" +She shook her yellow curls into her eyes and wept against them. + +There was no hope of grown-ups talking about anything so foolish as a gold +mine when Babe was in that mood. So Casey cooked supper, washed the dishes +and helped Babe into her pyjamas; then he let her kneel restively in his +lap while she said her prayers, and told her a story while he rocked her +to sleep--it was a funny, Caseyish story about a bear, but we haven't time +for it now--before he attempted to ask the Little Woman again what she +meant by her mysterious curiosity concerning Injun Jim. Then, when he had +his pipe going and the stove filled with piñon wood, he turned to her with +the question in his eyes. + +The Little Woman laughed. "Now, if that terrible child will kindly consent +to sleep for fifteen minutes, _I'll_ tell you what I meant," she said. "It +had slipped my mind altogether, and it was only to-day, when Babe was +scratching out a snake's track--so the snake couldn't find the way back +home, she said--that I chanced to remember. Just a small thing, you know, +that may or may not mean _something_ very large and _important_--like a +gold mine, for instance." + +"I don't have to go to work 'til sunup," Casey hinted broadly, "and I've +set up many a night when I wasn't havin' half as much fun as I git +listenin' to you talk." + +Again the Little Woman laughed. I think she had been rambling along just +to bait Casey into something like that." + +"Very well, then, I'll come to the point. Though it is such a luxury to +talk, sometimes! For a woman, that is. + +"Three years ago we had two burros to pack water from your gulch, where +there were too many snakes, to this gulch where there never seemed to be +so many. We hadn't developed this spring then. One night something or +other frightened the burros and they disappeared, and I started out to +find them, leaving Babe of course with her father at the tunnel. + +"I trailed those burros along the mountain for about four miles, I should +think. And by that time I was wishing I had taken a canteen with me, +though when I started out from camp I hated the thought of being burdened +with the weight of it. I thought I could find water in some of the +gulches, however, so I climbed a certain ridge and sat down to rest and +examine the canyon beneath with that old telescope Babe plays with. It has +been dropped so many times it's worthless now, but three years ago you +could see a lizard run across a rock a mile away. Don't you believe that?" +she stopped to demand sternly. + +"Say! You couldn't tell me nothin' I wouldn't believe!" Casey retorted, +fussing with his pipe to hide the grin on his face. + +"This is the truth, as it happens. I merely speak of the lizard to +convince you that a man's features would show very distinctly in the +telescope. And please observe, Casey Ryan, that I am very serious at the +moment. This may be important to you, remember. + +"I was sitting among a heap of boulders that capped the ridge, and it +happened that I was pretty well concealed from view because I was keeping +in the shade of a huge rock and had crouched down so that I could steady +the telescope across a flat rock in front of me. So I was not discovered +by a man down in the canyon whom I picked up with the telescope while I +was searching the canyon side for a spring. + +"The man was suddenly revealed to me as he parted the branches of a large +greasewood and peered out. I think it was the stealthiness of his manner +that impressed me most. He looked up and down and across, but he did not +see me. After a short wait, while he seemed to be listening, he crept out +from behind the bush, turned and lifted forward a bag which hadn't much in +it, yet appeared quite heavy. He went down into the canyon, picking his +way carefully and stepping on rocks, mostly. But in one place where he +must cross a wash of deep sand, he went backward and with a dead branch he +had picked up among the rocks he scratched out each track as he made it. +Babe reminded me of that to-day when she scratched out the snake's track +in the sand up by the mine." + +Casey was leaning toward her, listening avidly, his pipe going cold in his +hand. "Was he--?" + +"He was an Indian, and very old, and he walked with that bent, tottery +walk of old age. He had one eye and--" + +"Injun Jim, that was--couldn't be anybody else!" Casey knocked his pipe +against the front of the little cookstove, emptying the half-burned +tobacco into the hearth. The Little Woman probably wondered why he seemed +so unexcited, but she did not know all of Casey's traits. He put away his +pipe and almost immediately reached for his plug of tobacco, taking a chew +without remembering where he was. "If you feel able to ride," he said, +"I'll ketch up the mule in the morning, and we'll go over there." + +"So your heart is really set on finding it, after all. I've been wondering +about that. You haven't seemed to be thinking much about it, lately." + +"A feller can prospect," Casey declared, "when he can't do nothin' else." +And he added rather convincingly, "Good jobs is scarce, out this way. I'd +be a fool to pass up this one, when I'd have the hull winter left fer +prospectin'." + +"And what about those partners of yours?" + +"Oh, them?" Casey hesitated, tempted perhaps to tell the truth. "Oh, +they've quit on me. They quit right away after I went to work. We--we had +a kinda fuss, and they've went back to town." He stopped and added with a +sigh of relief, "We can just as well count them out, fr'm now on--an' +fergit about 'em." + +"Oh," said the Little Woman, and smiled to herself. "Well, if you are +anxious about that patch of brush in the canyon, we'll go and see what's +behind it. To-morrow is Sunday, anyway." + +"I'd a made up the time, if it wasn't," Casey assured her with dignity. +"I've been waitin' a good many years for a look at that Injun Jim gold." + +"And it's just possible that I have been almost within reach of it for the +past four years and didn't know it! Well, I always have believed that Fate +weaves our destinies for us; and a curious pattern is the weaving, +sometimes! I'll go with you, Casey Ryan, and I hope, for your sake, that +Indian Jim's mine is behind that clump of bushes. And I hope," she added, +with a little laugh whose meaning was not clear to Casey, "I hope you get +a million dollars out of it! I should like to point to Casey Ryan, the +mining millionaire and say, 'That plutocratic gentleman over there once +knocked me down with a hammer, and washed my dishes for two weeks, and +really, my dears, you should taste his sour-dough biscuits!'" + +Casey went away to his camp and lay awake a long time, not thinking about +the Injun Jim mine, if you please, but wondering what he had done to make +the Little Woman give him hell about his biscuits. Good Lord! Did she +still blame him for hitting her with that double-jack?--when he knew and +she knew that she had made him do it!--and if she didn't like his +sour-dough biscuits, why in thunder had she kept telling him she did? + +He tucked the incident away in the back of his mind, meaning to watch her +and find out just what she did mean, anyway. Her opinion of him had become +vital to Casey; more vital than the Injun Jim mine, even. + +He saddled the buckskin mule next morning and after breakfast the three +set out, with a lunch and two canteens of water. The Little Woman was in a +very good humor and kept Casey "jumpin' sideways," as he afterwards +confessed to me, wondering just what she meant or whether she meant +nothing at all by her remarks concerning his future wealth and dignity and +how he would forget old friends. + +She even pretended she had forgotten the place, and was not at all sure +that this was the right canyon, when they came to it. She studied +landmarks and then said they were all wrong and that the place was marked +in her mind by something entirely different and not what she first named. +She deviled Casey all she could, and led him straight to the spot and +suggested that they eat their lunch there, within twenty feet of the +bushes from which she had seen the Indian creep with the sack on his back. + +She underrated Casey's knowledge of minerals; or perhaps she wanted to +test it,--you never can tell what a woman really has in the back of her +mind. Casey sat there eating a sour-dough biscuit of his own making, and +staring at the steep wall of the canyon because he was afraid to stare at +the Little Woman, and so his uncannily keen eye saw a bit of rock no +larger than Babe's fist. It lay just under that particular clump of +bushes, in the shade. And in the shade he saw a yellow gleam on the rock. + +He looked at the Little Woman then and grinned, but he didn't say anything +until he had taken the coffeepot off the fire, and had filled her cup. + +"This ain't a bad canyon to prospect in. You can brush up your memory +whilst I take a look around. Mebby I can find Jim's mine myself," he said +impudently. Then he got up and went poking here and there with his +prospector's pick, and finally worked up to the brush and disappeared +behind it. In five minutes or less he came back to her with a little +nugget the size of Babe's thumb. + +"If yuh want to see something pretty, come on up where I got this here," +he told her. "I'll show yuh what drives prospectors crazy. This ain't no +free gold country, but there's a pile uh gold in a dirt bank I can show +yuh. Mebby you forgot the place, and mebby yuh didn't. I've quit guessin' +at what yuh really do mean an' what yuh don't mean. Anyway, this is where +we headed for." + +"Well, you really are a prospector, after all. I just wondered." The +Little Woman did not seem in the least embarrassed. She just laughed and +took Babe by the hand, and they went up beyond the clump of bushes to what +lay hidden so cunningly behind it. + +Cunning--that was the mood Nature must have been in when she planted free +gold in that little wrinkle on the side of Two Peak, and set the bushes in +the mouth of the draw, and piled an iron ledge across the top and spread +barren mountainside all around it. In the hiding Injun Jim had done his +share, too. He had pulled rubble down over the face of the bank of +richness, and eyes less keen than Casey's would have passed it by without +a second glance. + +The Little Woman knelt and picked out half a dozen small nuggets and stood +up, holding them out to Casey, her eyes shining. "Casey Ryan, here's the +end of your rainbow! And you're luckier than most of us; you've got your +pot o' gold." + +Casey looked down at her oddly. "It's mebby the end of one," he said. "But +they's another one, now, 't I can see plainer than this one. I dunno's +I'll ever git to where that one points." + +"A man's never satisfied," scoffed the Little Woman, turning the precious +little yellow fragments over thoughtfully in her palm. "I should think +this ought to be enough for you, man alive." + +"Mebby it had. But it ain't." He looked at her, hesitating,--and I think +the Little Woman waited and held her breath for what he might say next. +But Casey was scarcely himself in her presence. He turned away without +another glance at the nuggets. + +"You'n the kid can gopher around there whilst I go step off the lines of a +claim an' put up the location notice," he said, and left her standing +there with the gold in her palm. + +That night it was the Little Woman who planned great things for Casey, and +it was Casey who smoked and said little about it. But once he shook his +head when she described the gilded future she saw for him. + +"Money in great gobs like that ain't much use to me," he demurred. "Once I +blew into Lund, over here, with twenty-five thousand dollars in my pocket +that I got outa silver claims. All I ever saved outa that chunk was two +pairs of socks. No need of you makin' plans on my being a millionaire. It +ain't in me. I guess I'm nothin' but a rough-neck stagedriver an' +prospector, clear into the middle of my bones. If I had the sense of a +rabbit I never'd gone hellin' through life the way I've done. I'd amount +to somethin' by now. As it is I ain't nothin' and I ain't nobody--" + +"You're Casey Wyan! You make me sad when you say that!" Babe protested +sleepily, lifting her head from his shoulder and spatting him reprovingly +on the cheek. "You're my bes' friend and you've got a lots more sense than +a wabbit!" + +"And your rainbow, Casey Ryan?" the Little Woman asked softly. "What about +this other, new rainbow?" + +"It's there," said Casey gloomily. "It'll always be there--jest over the +ridge ahead uh me. I c'n see it, plain enough, but I got more sense 'n to +think I'll ever git m'hands on it." + +"I'll go catch your wainbow, Casey Wyan. I'll run fas' as I can, an' I'll +catch it for you!" + +"Will yuh, Babe?" Casey bent his head until his lips touched her curls. +And neither Casey nor the Little Woman spoke of it again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +Oddly enough, it was Lucy Lily who unconsciously brought Casey to his +rainbow. Lucy Lily did not mean to do Casey any favor, I can assure you, +but Fate just took her and used her for the moment, and Lucy Lily had +nothing to say about it. + +Don't think that a squaw who wants to live like a white princess will +forget to go hunting a gold mine whose richness she had seen,--in a lard +bucket, perhaps. Lucy Lily did not abandon her bait. She used it again, +and a renegade white man snapped at it, worse luck. So they went hunting +through the Tippipahs for the mine of Injun Jim. What excuses the squaw +made for not being able to lead the man directly to the spot, I can't say, +of course; but I suppose she invented plenty. + +She did one clever thing, at least. In their wanderings she led the way +into the old camp of Injun Jim. There had been no storm to dim the tracks +Casey had made, and Lucy Lily, Indian that she was, knew that these were +the tracks of Casey Ryan and guessed what was his errand there. So she and +her white man trailed him across the valley to Two Peak. + +They came first to the camp, and there the Little Woman met them, and by +some canny intuition knew who they were and what they wanted,--thanks to +Casey's garrulous mood when he told her of Lucy Lily. They said that they +were hunting horses, and presently went on over the ridge; not following +Casey's plain trail to the tunnel, but riding off at an angle so that they +could come into the trail once they were hidden from the house. + +Casey, as it happened, was not at the tunnel at all, but over at the gold +mine, doing the location work. Doing it in the side hill a good two +hundred feet away from the gold streak, too, I will add. + +The Little Woman watched until the squaw and her man were out of sight, +and then she took a small canteen and filled it, got her rifle, pocketed +her automatic revolver, and tied Babe's sunbonnet firmly under Babe's +double chin. She could not take the mule, because Casey had ridden him, so +she walked, and carried Babe most of the way on her back. She kept to the +gulches until she was too far away to be seen in the sage, even when a +squaw was squinting sharp-eyed after her. + +She came, in the course of two hours or so, to the lip of the canyon, and +who-whooed to Casey, mucking out after a shot he had put down in the +location hole. Casey looked up, waved his hand and then came running. No +whim would send the Little Woman on a four-mile walk with a heavy child +like Babe to carry, and Casey was as white as he'll ever get when he met +her halfway to the bottom of the canyon. + +"Take Babe and let's get back to the claim," she panted. "I came to tell +you that squaw is on your trail with a white man in tow, and it'll be a +case of claim-jumping if they can see their way tolerably clear. He's a +mate for the two you helped me haul out of camp, and I think, Casey Ryan, +the squaw would kill you in a minute if she gets the chance." + +Casey did rather a funny thing, considering how scared he was usually of +the Little Woman. "You pack that kid all the way over here?" he grunted, +and picked up the Little Woman and carried her, and left Babe to walk. Of +course he helped Babe, holding her hand over the roughest spots, but it +was the Little Woman whom he carried the rest of the way. And Babe, if you +please, was quite calm about it and never once became "sad" so that she +must sit down and cry. + +"All the claim-jumpin' they'll do won't hurt nobody," Casey observed +unexcitedly, when he had set the Little Woman down on a rock beside his +location "cut" in the canyon's side. "She likely picked on a white man +so's he could locate under the law, but this claim's located a'ready." He +waved a hand toward the monument, a few rods up the canyon. "And Casey +Ryan ain't spreadin' no rich gold vein wide open for every prowlin' desert +rat to pack off all he kin stagger under. I'm callin' it the Devil's +Lantern. You c'n call a mine any name yuh darn want to. And if it wasn't +fer the Devil's Lantern, I wouldn't be here. That name won't mean nothin' +to 'em. Let 'em come." His eyes turned toward the hidden richness and +dwelt there, studying the tracks, big and little, that led up to it, and +deciding that tracks do not necessarily mean a gold mine, and that it +would be better to leave them as they were and not attempt to cover them. + +"You just say it's your claim, if they come snoopin' around here. I'm +supposed to be workin' for yuh," he said abruptly, giving her one of his +quick, steady glances. + +"They can go and read the location notice," the Little Woman pointed out. +Casey did not make any reply to that, but picked up his shovel and went to +work again, mucking out the dirt and broken rocks which the dynamite had +loosened in the cut. + +"She's a bird, ain't she?" he grinned over his shoulder, his mind +reverting to Lucy Lily. "Did she have on her war paint?" + +"She will have, when she sees you," the Little Woman retorted, watching +the farther rim of the canyon. Then she remembered Babe and called to her. +That youngster was always prospecting around on her own initiative, and +she answered shrilly now from up the canyon. The Little Woman stood up, +looking that way, never dreaming how wishfully Casey was watching her,-- +and how reverently. + +"Baby Girl, you must not run off like that! Mother will be compelled to +tie a rope on you." + +"I was jes' getting--Casey Wyan's--'bacco. Poor Casey Wyan forgot--his +'bacco! He's my frien'. I have to give him his 'bacco," Babe defended +herself, coming down from the location monument in small jumps and +scrambles. Close to her importantly heaving chest she clutched a small, +red tobacco can of the kind which smokers carelessly call "P.A." "Casey +Wyan lost it up in the wocks," Babe explained, when her mother met her +disapprovingly and caught her by the hand. + +"Why, Babe! You've been naughty. This must be Casey Ryan's location +notice. It must be left in the rocks, Baby Girl, so people will know that +Casey Ryan owns this claim." + +"It's his 'bacco!" Babe insisted stubbornly. "Casey Wyan needs his +'bacco." + +The Little Woman knew that streak of stubbornness of old. There was just +one way to deal with it, and that was to prove to Babe that she was +mistaken. So she opened the red can and pulled out a folded paper, +unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud. Not that Babe would +understand it all, but to make it seem very convincing and important,--and +I think partly to enjoy for herself the sense of Casey's potential wealth. + +"'Notice of Location--Quartz,'" she read, and glanced over the paper at +her listening small daughter. "'To Whom it May Concern: Please take +notice that: The name of this claim is the Devil's Lantern Quartz Mining +Claim. Said Claim is situated in the--Unsurveyed--Mining District, County +of Nye, State of Nevada. Located this twenty-fifth day of September, 19--. +This discovery is made and this notice is posted this twenty-fifth day of +September,19--. + +"'2. That the undersigned locators are citizens of he United States or have +declared their intention to become such, and have discovered +mineral-bearing rock--!'" + +"What's mineral-bearing wock, mother?" + +"That's the gold, Baby Girl. '--in place thereon and do locate and claim +same for mining purposes. + +"'3. That the number of linear feet in length along the course of the vein +each way from the point of discovery whereon we have erected a monument--' +That's the monument, up there, and Babe must not touch it-- '--is +Easterly 950 feet; Westerly 550 feet; that the total length does not +exceed 1500 feet. That the width on the Southerly side is 300 feet; that +the width on the Northerly side is 300 feet; that the end lines are +parallel; that the general course of the vein or lode as near as may be is +in an Easterly and Westerly direction; that the boundaries of this claim +may be readily traced and are defined as follows, to-wit:--!'" + +She skipped a lot of easterly and westerly technique in Casey's clear, +uncompromising handwriting--done in an indelible pencil--and came down to +the last paragraph: + +"'That all the dips, variations, spurs, angles and all veins, ledges, or +deposits within the lines of said claim, together with all water and +timber and any other rights appurtenant, allowed by the law of this State +or of the United States are hereby claimed. + + "'Locators + Jack I. Gleason, + Margaret Sutten.' + +"Why--why-y--Good Lord!" + +"Here they come," Casey called at that moment. "Put 'er back in the +monument and don't let on like we think they're after this claim at all. +It's a darn sight harder to start a fuss when the other fellow don't act +like he knows there's any fuss comin'. You ask anybody that ever had a +fight." + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12495 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64b058d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12495 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12495) diff --git a/old/12495-8.txt b/old/12495-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b963ad5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12495-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6397 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Casey Ryan, by B. M. Bower + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Casey Ryan + +Author: B. M. Bower + +Release Date: June 2, 2004 [eBook #12495] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASEY RYAN*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects, +Charles M. Bidwell, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + +CASEY RYAN + +BY + +B. M. BOWER + +Author of "Chip of the Flying U", "Rim O' the World", "Cow-Country", etc. + +1921 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Casey reached for his pocket, and the white man also +reached for his. FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 237.] + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +From Denver to Spokane, from El Paso to Fort Benton, men talk of Casey +Ryan and smile when they speak his name. Old men with the flat tone of +coming senility in their voices will suck at their pipes and cackle +reminiscently while they tell you of Casey's tumultuous youth--when he +drove the six fastest horses in Colorado on the stage out from Cripple +Creek, and whooped past would-be holdups with a grin of derision on his +face and bullets whining after him and passengers praying disjointed +prayers and clinging white-knuckled to the seats. + +They say that once a flat, lanky man climbed bareheaded out at the stage +station below the mountain and met Casey coming springily off the box with +whip and six reins in his hand. The lanky man was still pale from his +ride, and he spluttered when he spoke: + +"Sa-ay! N-next time you're held up and I'm r-ridin' with yuh, b-by gosh, +you s-_stop_. I-I'd ruther be shot t-than p-pitched off into a +c-canyon, s-somewhere a-and busted up!" + +Casey is a little man. When he was young he was slim, but he always has +owned a pale blue, unwinking squint which he uses with effect. He halted +where he was and squinted up at the man, and spat fluid tobacco and +grinned. + +"You're here, and you're able to kick about my drivin'. That's purty good +luck, I'd say. You _ain't_ shot, an' you ain't layin' busted in no canyon. +Any time a man gits shot outa Casey Ryan's stage, he'll have to jump out +an' wait for the bullet to ketch up. And there ain't any passengers offn' +this stage layin' busted in no canyon, neither. I bring in what I start +out with." + +The other man snorted and reached under his coat tail for the solacing +plug of chewing tobacco. Opposition and ridicule had brought a little +color into his face. + +"Why, hell, man! You--you come around that ha-hairpin turn up there on two +wheels! It's a miracle we wasn't--" + +"Miracles is what happens once and lets it go at that. Say! Casey Ryan +_always_ saves wear on a coupla wheels, on that turn. I've made it on one; +but the leaders wasn't runnin' right to-day. That nigh one's cast a shoe. +I gotta have that looked after." He gave up the reins to the waiting +hostler and went off, heading straight for the station porch where waited +a red-haired girl with freckles and a warm smile for Casey. + +That was Casey's youth; part of it. The rest was made up of fighting, +gambling, drinking hilariously with the crowd and always with his temper +on hair trigger. Along the years behind him he left a straggling +procession of men, women and events. The men and women would always know +the color of his eyes and would recognize the Casey laugh in a crowd, +years after they had last heard it; the events were full of the true Casey +flavor,--and as I say, when men told of them and mentioned Casey, they +laughed. + +From the time when his daily drives were likely to be interrupted by +holdups, and once by a grizzly that reared up in the road fairly under the +nose of his leaders and sent the stage off at an acute angle, blazing a +trail by itself amongst the timber, Casey drifted from mountain to desert, +from desert to plain and back again, blithely meeting hard luck face to +face and giving it good day as if it were a friend. For Casey was born an +optimist, and misfortune never quite got him down and kept him there, +though it tried hard and often, as you will presently see. Some called him +gritty. Some said he hadn't the sense to know when he was licked. Either +way, it made a rare little Irishman of Casey Ryan, and kept his name from +becoming blurred in the memories of those who once knew him. + +So in time it happened that Casey was driving a stage of his own from +Pinnacle down to Lund, in Nevada, and making boast that his four horses +could beat the record--the month's record, mind--of any dog-gone +auty-_mo_-bile that ever infested the trail. Infest is a word that Casey +would have used often had he known its dictionary reputation. Having been +deprived of close acquaintance with dictionaries, but having a facile +imagination and some creative ability, Casey kept pace with progress and +invented words of his own which he applied lavishly to all automobiles; +but particularly and emphatically he applied the spiciest, most colorful +ones to Fords. + +Put yourself in Casey's place, and you will understand. Imagine yourself +with a thirty-mile trip to make down a twisty, rough mountain road built +in the days when men hauled ore down the mountain on wagons built to bump +over rocks without damage to anything but human bones. You are Casey Ryan, +remember; you never stopped for stage robbers or grizzlies in the past, +and you have your record to maintain as the hardest driver in the West. +You are proud of that record, because you know how you have driven to earn +it. + +You pop the lash over the ears of your leaders and go whooping down a +long, straight bit of road where you count on making time. When you are +about halfway down and the four horses are running even and tugging +pleasantly at the reins, and you are happy enough to sing your favorite +song, which begins, + + "Hey, ole Bill! Can-n yuh play the fiddle-o? + Yes, by gosh! I--I--kin play a liddle-o--" + +and never gets beyond that one flat statement, around the turn below you +comes a Ford, rattling all its joints trying to make the hill on "high." +The driver honks wildly at you to give him the road--you, Casey Ryan! +Wouldn't you writhe and invent words and apply them viciously to all Fords +and the man who invented them? But the driver comes at you honking, +squawking,--and you turn out. + +You have to, unless the Ford does; and Fords don't. A Ford will send a +twin-six swerving sharply to the edge of a ditch, and even Casey Ryan must +swing his leaders to the right in obedience to that raucous command. + +Once Casey didn't. He had the patience of the good-natured, and for awhile +he had contented himself with his vocabulary and his reputation as a +driver and a fighter, and the record he held of making the thirty miles +from Pinnacle to Lund in an hour and thirty-five minutes, twenty-six days +in the month. (He did not publish his running expenses, by the way, nor +did he mention the fact that his passengers were mostly strangers picked +up at the railway station at Lund because they liked the look of the +picturesque four-horses-and-Casey stagecoach.) + +Once Casey refused to turn out. That morning he had been compelled to wait +and whip a heavy man who berated Casey because the heavy man's wife had +ridden from Pinnacle to Lund the day before and had fainted at the last +sharp turn in the road and had not revived in time to board the train for +Salt Lake which she had been anxious to catch. Casey had known she was +anxious to catch the train, and he had made the trip in an hour and +twenty-nine minutes in spite of the fact that he had driven the last mile +with a completely unconscious lady leaning heavily against his left +shoulder. She made much better time with Casey than she would have made on +the narrow-gauge train which carried ore and passengers and mail to Lund, +arriving when most convenient to the train crew. That it took half an hour +to restore her to consciousness was not Casey's fault. + +Casey had succeeded in whipping the heavy man till he hollered, but the +effort had been noticeable. Casey wondered uneasily whether by any chance +he, Casey Ryan, was growing old with the rest of the world. That +possibility had never before occurred to him, and the thought was +disquieting. Casey Ryan too old to lick any man who gave him cause, too +old to hold the fickle esteem of those who met him in the road? Casey +squinted belligerently at the Old-man-with-the-scythe and snorted. "I +licked him good. You ask anybody. And he's twice as big as I am. I guess +they's a good many years left in Casey Ryan yet! Giddap, you--thus-and-so! +We're ten minutes late and we got our record!" + +At that moment a Ford touring car popped around the turn below him and +squawked presumptuously for a clear passage ahead. Casey pulled his lash +off the nigh leader, yelled and charged straight down the road. Did they +think they could honk him off the road? Hunh! Casey Ryan was still Casey +Ryan. Never again would he turn out for man or devil. + +Wherefore Casey was presently extricating his leaders from the harness of +his wheelers ten feet below the grade. On the road above him the driver of +the Ford inspected bent parts and a smashed headlight and cranked and +cranked ineffectively, and swore down at Casey Ryan, who squinted +unblinkingly up under his hatbrim at the man he likewise cussed. + +They were a long while there exchanging disagreeable opinions of one +another, and Casey was even obliged to climb the steep bank and whip the +driver of the Ford because he had applied a word to Casey which had never +failed as automatic prelude to a Casey Ryan combat. Casey was frankly +winded when he finally mounted one of his horses and led the other three, +and so proceeded to Lund as mad as he had ever been in his life. + +"That there settles it final," he snorted, when the town came into view in +the flat below. "They've pushed Casey off'n the grade for the first time +and the last time. What pushin' and crowdin' and squawkin' is done from +now on, it'll be Casey Ryan doin' it! Faint! I'll learn 'em something to +faint about. If it's Fords goin' to run horses off'n the trail, you watch +how Casey Ryan'll drive the livin' tar outa one. Dog-gone 'em, there ain't +no Ford livin' that can drive Casey off'n the road. I'll drive 'em till +their tongues hang out. I'll make 'em bawl like a calf, and I'll pound 'em +on the back and make 'em fan it faster." + +So talking to himself and his team he rode into town and up to one of +those ubiquitous Ford agencies that write their curly-tailed blue +lettering across the continent from the high nose of Maine to the shoulder +of Cape Flattery. + +"Gimme one of them dog-goned blankety bing-bing Ford auty-_mo_-biles," he +commanded the garage owner who came to meet Casey amiably in his shirt +sleeves. "Here's four horses I'll trade yuh, with what's left of the +harness. And up at the third turn you'll find a good wheel off'n the +stage." He slid down from the sweaty back of his nigh leader and stood +slightly bow-legged and very determined before the garage owner, Bill +Masters. + +"Wel-l--there ain't much sale for horses, Casey. I ain't got any place to +keep 'em, nor any feed. I'll sell yuh a Ford on time, and--" + +Casey glanced over his shoulder to make sure the horses were standing +quiet, dropped the reins and advanced upon Bill. + +"You _trade_," he stated flatly. + +Bill backed a little. "Oh, all right, if that's the way yuh feel. What yuh +askin' for the four just as they stand?" + +"Me? A Ford auty-_mo_-bile. I told yuh that, Bill. And I want you to put +on the biggest horn that's made; one that can be heard from here to +Pinnacle and back when I turn 'er loose. And run the damn thing out here +right away and show me how it works, and how often you gotta wind it and +when. Lucky I didn't bring no passengers down--I was runnin' empty. But I +gotta take back a load of Bohunks to the Bluebird this afternoon, and my +stage, she's a total wreck. I'll sign papers to-night if you got any to +sign." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Thus was the trade effected with much speed and few preliminaries, because +Bill knew Casey Ryan very intimately and had seen him in action when his +temper was up. Bill adjusted an extra horn which he happened to have in +stock. One of those terrific things that go far toward making the life of +a pedestrian a nerve-racking succession of startles. Casey tried it out on +himself before he would accept it. He walked several doors down the street +with the understanding that Bill would honk at him when he was some little +distance away. Bill waited until Casey's attention was drawn to a lady +with thick ankles who was crossing the street in a hurry and a stiff +breeze. Bill came down on the metal plunger of the horn with all his +might, and Casey jumped perceptibly and came back grinning. + +"She'll do. What'll put a crimp in Casey Ryan's spine is good enough for +anybody. Bring her out here and show me how yuh work the damn thing. Guess +she'll hold six Bohunks, won't she--with sideboards on? I'll run 'er +around a coupla times b'fore I start out--and that's all I will do." + +Naturally the garage man was somewhat perturbed at this nonchalant manner +of getting acquainted with a Ford. He knew the road from Lund to Pinnacle. +He had driven it himself, with a conscious sigh of relief when he had +safely negotiated the last hair-pin curve; and Bill was counted a good +driver. He suggested an insurance policy to Casey, not half so jokingly as +he tried to sound. + +Casey turned and gave him a pale blue, unwinking stare. "Say! Never you +mind gettin' out insurance on _this_ auty-_mo_-bile. What you wanta do is +insure the cars that's liable to meet up with me in the trail." + +Bill saw the sense of that, too, and said no more about insuring Casey. He +drove down the canyon where the road is walled in on both sides by cliffs, +and proceeded to give Casey a lesson in driving. Casey did not think that +he needed to be taught how to drive. All he wanted to know, he said, was +how to stop 'er and how to start 'er. Bill needn't worry about the rest of +it. + +"She's darn tender-bitted," he commented, after two round trips over the +straight half-mile stretch,--and fourteen narrow escapes. "And the man +that made 'er sure oughta known better than to make 'er neck rein in +harness. And I don't like this windin' 'er up every time you wanta start. +But she can sure _go_--and that's what Casey Ryan's after every day in the +week. + +"All right, Bill. I'll go gather up the Bohunks and start. You better +'phone up to Pinnacle that Casey's on the road--and tell 'em he says it's +his road's long's he's on it. They'll know what I mean." + +Pinnacle did know, and waited on the sidewalk that afforded a view of the +long hill where the road curled down around the head of the gulch and into +town. Much sooner than his most optimistic backers had a right to expect-- +for there were bets laid on the outcome there in Pinnacle--on the brow of +the hill a swirl of red dust grew rapidly to a cloud. Like a desert +whirlwind it swept down the road, crossed the narrow bridge over the deep +cut at the head of the gulch where the famous Youbet mine belched black +smoke, and rolled on down the steep, narrow little street. + +Out of the whirlwind poked the pugnacious little brass-rimmed nose of a +new Ford, and behind the windshield Casey Ryan grinned widely as he swung +up to the postoffice and stopped as he had always stopped his four-horse +stage,--with a flourish. Stopping with a flourish is fine and spectacular +when you are driving horses accustomed to that method and on the lookout +for it. Horses have a way of stiffening their forelegs and sliding their +hind feet and giving a lot of dramatic finish to the performance. But +there is no dramatic sense at all in the tin brain of a Ford. It just +stopped. And the insecure fourth Bohunk in the tonneau went hurtling +forward into the front seat straight on his way through the windshield. +Casey threw up an elbow instinctively and caught him in the collar button +and so avoided breakage and blood spattered around. Three other foreigners +were scrambling to get out when Casey stopped them with a yell that froze +them quiet where they were. + +"Hey! You stay right where y'are! I gotta deliver yuh up to the Bluebird +in a minute." + +There were chatterings and gesticulations in the tonneau. Out of the +gabble a shrill voice rose be-seechingly in English. "We will _walk_, +meester'. If you _pleese_, meester! We are 'fraid for ride wit' dees +may_chine_, meester!" + +Casey was nettled by the cackling and the thigh-slapping of the audience +on the sidewalk. He reached for his stage whip, and missing it used his +ready Irish fists. So the Bohunks crawled unhappily back into the car and +subsided shivering and with tears in their eyes. + +"Dammit, when I take on passengers to ride, they're goin' to _ride_ till +they git there. You shut up, back there!" + +A friend of Casey's stepped forward and cranked the machine, and Casey +pulled down the gas lever until the motor howled, turned in the shortest +possible radius and went lunging up the crooked steep trail to the +Bluebird mine on top of the hill, his engine racing and screaming in low. + +Thereafter Pinnacle and Lund had a new standard by which to measure the +courage of a man. Had he made the trip with Casey Ryan and his new Ford? +He _had_? By golly, he sure had nerve. One man passed the peak for sheer +bravery and rode twice with Casey, but certain others were inclined to +disparage the feat, on the ground that on the second trip he was drunk. + +Casey did not like that. He admitted that he was a hard driver; he had +always been proud because men called him the hardest driver in the West. +But he argued that he was also a safe driver, and that they had no +business to make such a fuss over riding with him. Didn't he ride after +his own driving every day of his life? Had he ever got killed? Had he ever +killed anybody else? Well! What were they all yawping about, then? +Pinnacle and Lund made him tired. + +"If you fellers think I can't bounce that there tin can down the road fast +as any man in the country, why don't yuh pass me on the road? You're +welcome. Just try it." + +No one cared to try, however. Meeting him was sufficiently hazardous. +There were those who secretly timed their traveling so that they would not +see Casey Ryan at all, and I don't think you can really call them cowards, +either. A good many had families, you know. + +Casey had an accident now and then; and his tire expense was such as to +keep him up nights playing poker for money to support his Ford. You simply +can't whirl into town at a thirty-mile gait--I am speaking now of +Pinnacle, whose street was a gravelly creek bed quite dry and ridgy +between rains--and stop in twice the car's length without scouring more +rubber off your tires than a capacity load of passengers will pay for. +Besides, you run short of passengers if you persist in doing it. Even the +strangers who came in on the Salt Lake line were quite likely to look once +at the cute little narrow-gauge train with its cunning little day coach +hitched behind a string of ore cars, glance at Casey's Ford stage with +indifference and climb into the cunning day coach for the trip to +Pinnacle. The psychology of it passed quite over Casey's head, but his +pocket felt the change. + +In two weeks--perhaps it was less, though I want to be perfectly just-- +Casey was back, afoot and standing bow-legged in the doorway of Bill +Master's garage at Lund. + +"Gimme another one of them Ford auty-_mo_-biles," he requested, grinning a +little. "I guess mebby I oughta take two or three--but I'm a little short +right now, Bill. I ain't been gitting any good luck at poker, lately." + +Bill asked a question or two while he led Casey to the latest model of +Fords, just in from the factory. + +Casey took a chew of tobacco and explained. "Well, I had a bet up, y'see. +That red-headed bartender in Pinnacle bet me a hundred dollars I couldn't +beat my own record ten minutes on the trip down. I knowed I could, so I +took him up on it. A man would be a fool if he didn't grab any easy money +like that. And so I pounded 'er on the tail, coming down. And I had eight +minutes peeled off my best time, and then Jim Black he had to go git in +the road on that last turn up there. We rammed our noses together and I +pushed him on ahead of me for fifty rods, Bill--and him yelling at me to +quit--but something busted in the insides of my car, I guess. She give a +grunt and quit. All right, I'll take this one. Grease her up, Bill. I'll +eat a bite before I take her up." + +You've no doubt suspected before now that not even poker, played +industriously o' nights, could keep Casey's head above the financial +waters that threatened to drown him and his Ford and his reputation. Casey +did not mind repair bills, so long as he achieved the speed he wanted. But +he did mind not being able to pay the repair bills when they were +presented to him. Whatever else were his faults, Casey Ryan had always +gone cheerfully into his pocket and paid what he owed. Now he was haunted +by a growing fear that an unlucky game or two would send him under, and +that he might not come up again. + +He began to think seriously of selling his car and going back to horses +which, in spite of the high cost of feeding them, had paid their way and +his, and left him a pleasant jingle in his pockets. But then he bumped +hard into one of those queer little psychological facts which men never +take into account until it is too late. Casey Ryan, who had driven horses +since he could stand on his toes and fling harness on their backs, could +not go back to driving horses. The speed fiend of progress had him by the +neck. Horses were too slow for Casey. Moreover, when he began to think +about it, he knew that the thirty-mile stretch between Pinnacle and Lund +had become too tame for him, too monotonous. He knew in the dark every +twist in the road, every sharp turn, and he could tell you offhand what +every sharp turn had cost him in the past month, either in repairs to his +own car or to the car that had unluckily met him without warning. For +Casey, I must tell you, habitually forgot all about that earsplitting +klaxon at his left elbow. He was always in too much of a hurry to blow it; +and anyway, by the time he reached a turn, he was around it; there either +was no car in the road or Casey had scraped paint off it or worse and gone +on. So why honk? + +Far distances called Casey. In one day, he meditated, he could cover more +desert with his Ford than horses could travel in a week. An old, +half-buried passion stirred, lifted its head and smiled at him +seductively,--a dream he had dreamed of finding some of that wealth which +Nature holds so miser-like in her hills. A gold mine, or perhaps silver or +copper,--what matter which mineral he found, so long as it spelled wealth +for him? Then he would buy a bigger car and a faster car, and he would +bore farther and farther into yonder. In his past were tucked away months +on end of tramping across deserts and up mountain defiles with a packed +burro nipping patiently along in front of him and this same, seductive +dream beckoning him over the next horizon. Burros had been slow. While he +hurtled down the road from Pinnacle to Lund, Casey pictured himself +plodding through sand and sage and over malapai and up dry canyons, hazing +a burro before him. + +"No, sir, the time for that is gone by. I could do in a week now what it +took me a month to do then. I could get into country a man'd hate to +tackle afoot, not knowing the water holes. I'll git me a radiator that +don't boil like a teakettle over a pitch fire, and load up with water and +grub and gas, and I'll find the Injun Jim mine, mebby. Or some other darn +mine that'll put me in the clear the rest of my life. Couldn't before, +because I had to travel too slow. But shucks! A Ford can go anywhere a +mountain goat can go. You ask anybody." + +So Casey sold his stage line and the hypothetical good will that went with +it, and Pinnacle and Lund breathed long and deep and planned trips they +had refrained from taking heretofore, and wished Casey luck. Bill Masters +laid a friendly hand on his shoulder and made a suggestion so wise that +not even Casey could shut his mind against it. + +"You're starting out where there won't be no Bill handy to fix what you +bust," he pointed out. "You wait over a day or two, Casey, and let me show +yuh a few things about that car. If you bust down on the desert you'll +want to know what's wrong, and how to fix it. It's easy, but you got to +know where to look for the trouble." + +"Me? Say, Bill, I never had to go lookin' for trouble," Casey grinned. +"What do I need to learn how for?" + +Nevertheless he remained all of that day with Bill and crammed on +mechanics. He was amazed to discover how many and how different were the +ailments that might afflict a Ford. That he had boldly--albeit +unconsciously--driven a thing filled with timers, high-tension plugs that +may become fouled and fail to "spark," carburetors that could get out of +adjustment (whatever that was) spark plugs that burned out and had to be +replaced, a transmission that absolutely _must_ have grease or something +happened, bearings that were prone to burn out if they went dry of oil, +and a multitude of other mishaps that could happen and did happen if one +did not watch out, would have filled Casey with foreboding if that were +possible. Being an optimist to the middle of his bones, he merely felt a +growing pride in himself. He had actually driven all this aggregation of +potential internal grief! Whenever anything had happened to his Ford +auty-_mo_-bile between Pinnacle and Lund, Casey never failed to trace the +direct cause, which had always been external rather than internal, save +that time when he had walked in and bought a new car without out probing +into the vitals of the other. + +"I'd ruther have a horse down with glanders," he sighed, when Bill finally +washed the grease off his hands and forearms and rolled down his sleeves. +"But Casey Ryan's game to try anything once, and most things the second +and third time. You ask anybody. Gimme all the hootin'-annies that's +liable to wear out, Bill, and a load uh tires and patches, and Casey'll +come back and hand yuh a diamond big as your fist, some day. Ole Lady +Trouble's always tryin' to take a fall outa me, but she's never got me +down so't I had to holler 'nough. You ask anybody. Casey Ryan's goin' out +to see what he can see. If he meets up with Miss Fortune, he'll tame her, +Bill. And this little Ford auty-_mo_-bile is goin' to eat outa my hand. I +don't give a cuss if she does git sore and ram her spark plugs into her +carburetor now and agin. She'll know who's boss, Bill. I learnt it to the +burros, and what you can learn a burro you can learn a Ford, take time +enough." + +Taking that point of view and keeping it, Casey managed very well. +Whenever anything went wrong that his vocabulary and a monkey wrench could +not mend, Casey sat down on the shadiest running board and conned the +Instruction Book which Bill handed him at the last minute. Other times he +treated the Ford exactly as he would treat a burro, with satisfactory +results. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Away out on the high mesas that are much like the desert below, except +that the nights are cool and the wind is not fanned out of a furnace, +Casey fought sand and brush and rocks and found a trail now and then which +he followed thankfully, and so came at last to a short range of mountains +whose name matched well their inhospitable stare. The Starvation Mountains +had always been reputed rich in mineral and malevolent in their attitude +toward man and beast. Even the Joshua trees stood afar off and lifted +grotesque arms defensively against them. But Casey was not easily daunted, +and eerie places held for him no meaning save the purely material one. If +he could find water and the rich vein of ore some one had told him was +there, then Casey would be happy in spite of snakes, tarantulas and +sinister stories of the place. + +Water he found, not too far up a gulch. So he pitched his tent within +carrying distance from the spring, thanked the god of mechanics that an +automobile neither eats nor drinks when it does not work, and set out to +find his fortune. + +Casey knew there was a mining camp on the high slope of Barren Butte. He +knew the name of the camp, which was Lucky Lode, and he knew the foreman +there--knew him from long ago in the days when Casey was what he himself +confessed to be wild. In reaching Starvation Mountains, Casey had driven +for fifteen miles within plain sight of Lucky Lode. But gas is precious +when you are a hundred miles from a garage, and since business did not +take him there Casey did not drive up the five-mile hill to the Lucky Lode +just to shake hands with the foreman and swap a yarn or two. Instead, he +headed down on to the bleached, bleak oval of Furnace Lake and forged +across it as straight as he could drive toward Starvation Mountains. + +But the next time Casey made the trip--needing supplies, powder, fuse, +caps and so on--Fate took him by the ear and led him to a lady. This is +how Fate did it,--and I will say it was an original idea: + +Casey had a gallon syrup can in the car which he used for extra oil for +the engine. Having an appetite for sour-dough biscuits and syrup, he had +also a gallon can of syrup in the car. It was a terrifically hot day, and +the wind that blew full against Casey's left cheek as he drove burned even +his leather skin where it struck. Casey was afraid he was running short of +water, and a Ford's comfort comes first,--as every man knows; so that +Casey was parched pretty thoroughly, inside and out. Within a mile of +Furnace Lake he stopped, took an unsatisfying sip from his big canteen and +emptied the rest of the water into the radiator. Then he replenished the +oil in the motor generously, cranked and went bumping along down the trail +worn rough with the trucks from Lucky Lode. + +For a little way he jounced along the trail; then the motor began to +labor; and although Casey pulled the gas lever down as far as it would go, +the car slowed and stopped dead in the road. After an hour of fruitless +monkey-wrenching and swearing and sweating, Casey began to suspect +something. He examined both cans, "hefted" them, smelt and even tasted the +one half-empty, and decided that Ford auty-_mo_-biles do not require two +quarts of syrup at one dose. He thought that a little syrup ought not to +make much difference, but half a gallon was probably too much. + +He put in more oil on top of the syrup, but he could not even move the +crank, much less "turn 'er over." So long as a man can wind the crank of a +Ford he seems able to keep alive his hopes. Casey could not crank, +wherefore he knew himself beaten even while he heaved and lifted and +swore, and strained every muscle in his back lifting again. He got so +desperately wrathful that he lifted the car perceptibly off its right +front wheel with every heave, but he felt as if he were trying to lift a +boulder. + +It was past supper time at Lucky Lode when Casey arrived, staggering a +little with exhaustion, both mental and physical. His eyes were bloodshot +with the hot wind, his face was purple from the same wind, his lips were +dry and rough. I cannot blame the men at Lucky Lode for a sudden thirst +when they saw him coming, and a hope that he still had a little left. And +when he told them that he had filled his engine with syrup instead of oil, +what would any one think? + +Their unjust suspicions would not have worried Casey in the least, had +Lucky Lode not possessed a lady cook who was a lady. She was a widow with +two children, and she had the children with her and held herself aloof +from the men in a manner befitting a lady. Casey was hungry and thirsty +and tired, and, as much as was possible to his nature, disgusted, with +life in general. The widow gave him a smile of sympathy which went +straight to his heart, and hot biscuits and coffee and beans cooked the +way he liked them best. These went straight to ease the gnawing emptiness +of his stomach, and being a man who took his emotions at their face value, +he jumped to the conclusion that it was the lady whose presence gave him +the glow. + +Casey stayed that night and the next day and the next at Lucky Lode. The +foreman helped him tow the syruppy car up the hill to the machine shop +where he could get at it, and Casey worked until night trying to remove +the dingbats from the hootin'annies,--otherwise, the pistons from the +cylinders. The foreman showed him what to do, and Casey did it, using a +"double-jack" and a lot of energy. + +Before he left the Lucky Lode, Casey knew exactly what syrup will do to a +Ford if applied internally, and the widow had promised to marry him if he +would stop drinking and smoking and swearing. Since Casey had not been +drunk in ten years on account of having seen a big yellow snake with a +green head on the occasion of his last carouse, he took the drinking +pledge quite cheerfully for her sake. He promised to stop smoking, glad +that the widow neglected to mention chewing tobacco, which was his +everyday comfort. As for the swearing, he told her he would do his best +under the circumstances, and that he would taste the oil hereafter, and +try and think up some new names for the Ford. + +"But Casey, if you leave whisky alone, you won't need to taste the oil," +the widow told him. Whereat Casey grinned feebly and explained for the +tenth time that he had not been drinking. She did not contradict him. She +seemed a wise woman, after a fashion. + +Casey drove back to his camp at Starvation Mountain happy and a little +scared. Why, after all these years of careless freedom, he should +precipitate himself into matrimony with a woman he had known casually for +two days puzzled him a little. + +"Well, a man gits to feelin' like he wants to settle down when he's +crowdin' fifty," he explained his recklessness to the Ford as it hummed +away over Furnace Lake which was flat as a floor and dry as a bleached +bone,--and much the same color. "Any man feels the want of a home as he +gits older. And Casey's the man that will try anything once, you ask +anybody." He took out his pipe, looked at it, bethought himself of his +promise and put it away again, substituting a chew of tobacco as large as +his cheek would hold without prying his mouth open. "G'long, there--can't +you? You got your belly full of oil--shake a wheel and show you're alive." + +After that, Casey spent every Sunday at Lucky Lode. He liked the widow +better and better. Especially after dinner, with the delicious flavor of +pie still caressing his palate. Only he wished she would take it for +granted that when Casey Ryan made a promise, Casey Ryan would keep it. + +"I've got so now I can bark a knuckle with m'single-jack when I'm puttin' +down a hole, and say, 'Oh, dear!' and let it go at that," he boasted to +her on the second Sunday. "I'll bet there ain't another man in the state +of Nevada could do that." + +"Yes. But Casey dear, if _only_ you will never touch another drop of +liquor. You'll keep your promise, won't you, dear boy?" + +"Hell, yes!" Casey assured her headily. It had been close to twenty years +since he had been called dear boy, at least to his face. He kissed the +widow full on the lips before he saw that a frown sat upon her forehead +like a section of that ridgy cardboard they wrap bottles in. + +"Casey, you swore!" + +"Swore? Me?" + +"I only hope," sighed the widow, "that your other promise won't be broken +as easily as that one. Remember, Casey, I cannot and I will not marry a +drinking man!" + +Casey looked at her dubiously. "If you mean that syrup--" + +"Oh, I've heard awful tales of you, Casey dear! The boys talk at the +table, and they seem to think it's awful funny to tell about your fighting +and drinking and playing cards for money. But I think it's perfectly +awful. You _must_ stop drinking, Casey dear. I could never forgive myself +if I set before my innocent little ones the example of a husband who +drank." + +"You won't," said Casey. "Not if you marry me, you won't." Then he changed +the subject, beginning to talk of his prospect over on Starvation. The +widow liked to hear him tell about finding a pocket of ore that went +seventy ounces in silver and one and seven tenths ounces in gold, and how +he expected any day to get down into the main body of ore and find it a +"contact" vein. It all sounded very convincing and as if Casey Ryan were +in a fair way to become a rich man. + +The next time Casey saw the widow he was on his way to town for more +powder, his whole box of "giant" having gone off with a tremendous bang +the night before in one of those abrupt hailstorms that come so +unexpectedly in the mountain country. Casey had worked until dark, and was +dog-tired and had left the box standing uncovered beside the dugout where +he kept it. He suspected that a hailstone had played a joke on him, but +his chief emotion was one of self-congratulation because he had prudently +stored the dynamite around a shoulder of the canyon from where he camped. + +When he told the widow about it as one relates the details of a narrow +escape, and pointed out how lucky he was, she looked very grave. It was a +very careless thing to do, she said. Casey admitted it was. A man who +handled dynamite ought to shun liquor above all things, she went on; and +Casey agreed restively. He had not felt any inclination, to imbibe until +that minute, when the Irish rose up hotly within him. + +"Casey dear, are you _sure_ you have nothing in camp?" + +Casey assured her solemnly that he had not and drove off down the hill, +vaguely aware that he was not so content with life as he had been. + +"Damn that syrup!" he exploded once, quite as abruptly as had the giant +powder. After that he chewed tobacco and drove in broody silence. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Being Casey Ryan, tough as hickory and wont to drive headlong to his +destination, Casey did not remain in town to loiter a half a day and sleep +a night and drive back the next day, as most desert dwellers did. He +hurried through with his business, filled up with gas and oil, loaded on +an extra can of each, strapped his box of dynamite upon the seat beside +him where he could keep an eye on it--just as if that would do any good if +the tricky stuff meant to blow up!--and started back at three in the +afternoon. He would be half the night getting to camp, even though he was +Casey Ryan and drove a mean Ford. But he would be there, ready to start +work at sunrise. A man who is going to marry a widow with two children had +best hurry up and strike every streak of rich ore he has in his claim, +thought Casey. + +All that afternoon, though the wind blew hot in his face, Casey drilled +across the desert, meeting never a living thing, overtaking none. All that +afternoon a yellow dust cloud swirled rapidly along the rough desert road, +vainly trying to keep up with Casey who made it. In Yucca Pass he had to +stop and fill motor and radiator with oil and water, and just as he topped +the summit a front tire popped like a pistol. + +Casey killed the engine and got out a bit stiffly, pried off a chew of +tobacco and gazed pensively at Barren Butte that held Lucky Lode, where +the widow was cooking supper at that moment. Casey wished practically that +he was there and could sit down to some of her culinary achievements. + +"I sure would like to flop m'lip over one of her biscuits right now," he +said aloud. "If I do strike it, I wonder will she git too high-toned to +cook?" + +His eyes went to Furnace Lake, lying smooth and pale yellow in the +saucerlike basin between Barren Butte and the foothills of Starvation. In +the soft light of the afterglow it seemed to smile at him with a glint of +malice, like the treacherous thing it was. For Furnace Lake is +treacherous. The Big Earthquake (America knows only one Big Earthquake, +that which rocked San Francisco so disastrously) had split Furnace Lake +halfway across, leaving an ugly crevice ten feet wide at the narrowest +point and eighty feet deep, men said. Time and passing storms had partly +filled the gash, but it was there, ugly, ominous, a warning to all men to +trust the lake not at all. Little cracks radiated from the big gash here +and there, and the cattle men rode often that way, though not often enough +to save their cattle from falling in. + +By day the lake shimmered deceptively with mirages that painted it blue +with the likeness of water, Then a lone clump of greasewood stood up tall +and proclaimed itself a ship lying idle on a glassy expanse of water so +blue, so cool, so clear, one could not wonder that thirsty travelers went +mad sometimes with the false lure of it. + +Just now the lake looked exactly like any lake at dusk, with the far shore +line reflected along its edge; and Casey's thought went beyond, to his +claim on Starvation. Being tired and hungry, he pictured wistfully a cabin +there, and a light in the window when he went chuckling up the long mesa +in the dark, and the widow inside with hot coffee and supper waiting for +him. Just as soon as he struck "shipping values" that picture would be +real, said Casey to himself; and he opened his tool box and set to work +changing the tire. + +By the time he had finished it was dark, and Casey had yet a long forty +miles between himself and his sour-dough can. He cranked the engine, +switched on the electric headlights, and went tearing down the +fifteen-mile incline to the lake. + +"She c'n see the lights, and she'll know I ain't hangin' out in town +lappin' up whisky," he told himself as he drove. "She'll know it's Casey +Ryan comin' home--know it the way them lights are slippin' over the +country. Ain't another man on the desert can put a car over the trail like +this! You ask anybody." + +Pleased with himself and his reputation, urged by hunger and the desire to +make good on his claim so that he might have the little home he +instinctively craved, Casey pulled the gas lever down another eighth of an +inch--when he was already using more than he should--and nearly bounced +his dynamite off the seat when he lurched over a sandy hummock and down on +to the smooth floor of the lake. + +It was five miles across that lake from rim to rim and taking a straight +line, as Casey did, well above the crevice. In all that distance there is +not a stick, or a stone, or a bush to mark the way. Not even a trail, +since Casey was the only man who traveled it, and Casey never made tracks +twice in the same place, but drove down upon it, picked himself a landmark +on the opposite side and steered for it exactly as one steers a boat. The +marks he left behind him were no more than pencil marks drawn upon a sheet +of buff wrapping paper. Unless the lake was wet with one of those sporadic +desert rains, you couldn't make any impression on the cement-like surface. + +And when the lake was wet, you stuck where you were until wind and sun +dried it for you. Wherefore Casey plunged out upon five miles of blank, +baked clay with neither road, chart nor compass to guide him. It was the +first time he had ever crossed at night, and a blanket of thin, high +clouds hid the stars. + +Casey thought nothing much of that,--being Casey Ryan. He had before him +the dim--very dim--outline of Starvation, and being perfectly sober, he +steered a straight course, and made sure he was well away from the upper +end of the crevice, and pulled the gas lever down another notch. + +The little handful of engine roared beautifully and shook the car with the +vibration. Casey heaved a sigh of weariness mingled with content that the +way was smooth and he need not look for chuck holes for a few minutes, at +any rate. He settled back, and his fingers relaxed on the wheel. I think +he dozed, though Casey swears he did not. + +Suddenly he leaned forward, stared hard, leaned out and stared, listened +with an ear cocked toward the engine. He turned and looked behind, then +stared ahead again. + +"By _gosh_, I bet both hubs is busted!" he ejaculated under his breath,-- +Furnace Lake subdues one somehow. "She's runnin' like a wolf--but she +ain't goin'!" + +He waited for a minute longer, trifling with the gas, staring and +listening. The car was shaking with the throb of the motor, but Casey +could feel no forward motion. "Settin' here burnin' gas like a 'lection +bonfire--she sure _would_ think I'm drunk if she knowed it," Casey +muttered, and straddled over the side of the car to the running board. + +"I wish--to--_hell_ I hadn't promised her not to cuss!" he gritted, and +with one hand still on the wheel, Casey shut off the gas and stepped down. + +He stepped down upon a surface sliding beneath him at the rate of close to +forty miles an hour. The Ford went on, spinning away from him in a wide +circle, since Casey had unconsciously turned the wheel to the left as he +let go. The blow of meeting the hard clay stunned him just at first, and +he had rolled over a couple of times before he began to regain his senses. + +He lifted himself groggily to his knees and looked for the car, saw it +bearing down upon him from the direction whence he had come. Before he had +time to wonder much at the phenomenon, it was upon him, over with a lurch, +and gone again. + +Casey was tough, and he never knew when he was whipped. He crawled up to +his knees again, saw the same Ford coming at him with dimming headlights +from the same direction it had taken before, made a wild grab for it, was +knocked down and run over again. You may not believe that, but Casey had +the bruises to prove it. + +On the third round the Ford had slowed to a walk, figuratively speaking. +Casey was pretty dizzy, and he thought his back was broken, but he was mad +clear through. He caught the Ford by its fender, hung on, clutching +frantically for a better hold, was dragged a little distance so and then, +as its speed slackened to a gentle forward roll, he made shift to get +aboard and give the engine gas before it had quite stopped. Which he told +himself was lucky, because he couldn't have cranked the thing to save his +life. + +By sheer dogged nerve he drove to camp, drank cold coffee left from his +early breakfast, and decided that the bite of a Ford, while it is +poisonous, is not necessarily fatal unless it attacks one in a vital spot. + +Casey could not drill a hole, he could not swing a pick; for two days he +limped groaning around camp and confined his activities to cooking his +meals. Frequently he would look at the Ford and shake his head. There was +something uncanny about it. + +"She sure has got it in for me," he mused. "You can't blame her for +runnin' off when I dropped the reins and stepped out. But that don't +account for the way she come _at_ me, and the way she _got_ me every +circle she made. That's human. It's dog-_gone_ human! I've cussed her a +lot, and I've done things to her--like that syrup I poured into her--and +dog-gone her, she's been layin' low and watchin' her chance all this +while. Fords, I believe, are about as human as horses, and I've knowed +horses I believe coulda talked if their tongues was split. Ask anybody. +That there car _knowed_!" + +The third day after the attack Casey was still too sore to work, but he +managed to crank the Ford--eyeing it curiously the while, and with +respect, too--and started down the mesa and up over the ridge and on down +to the lake. He was still studying the matter incredulously, still +wondering if Fords can think. He wanted to tell the widow about it and get +her opinion. The widow was a smart woman. A little touchy on the liquor +question, maybe, but smart. You ask anybody. + +Lucky Lode greeted him with dropped jaws and wide staring eyes, which +puzzled Casey until the foreman, grasping his shoulder--which made Casey +wince and break a promise--explained their astonishment. They had, as +Casey expected, seen his lights when he came off the summit from Yucca +Pass. By the speed they traveled, Lucky Lode knew that Casey and no other +was at the steering wheel, even before he took to the lake. + +"And then," said the foreman, "we saw your lights go round and round in a +circle, and disappear--" + +"They didn't," Casey cut in trenchantly. "They went dim because I was +taking her slow, being about all in." + +The foreman grinned. "We thought you'd drove into the crevice, and we went +down with lanterns and hunted the full length of it. We never found a sign +of you or the car--" + +"'Cause I was over in camp, or thereabouts," interpolated Casey drily. "I +wish you'd of come on over. I sure needed help." + +"We figured you was pretty well lit up, to circle around like that. I've +been down since, by daylight, and so have some of the boys, looking into +that crevice. But we gave it up, finally." + +Then Casey, because he liked a joke even when it was on himself, told the +foreman and his men what had happened to him. He did not exaggerate the +mishap; the truth was sufficiently wild. + +They whooped with glee. Every one laughs at the unusual misfortunes of +others, and this was unusual. They stood around the Ford and talked to it, +and whooped again. "You sure must have had so-ome jag, Casey," they told +him exuberantly. + +"I was sober," Casey testified earnestly. "I'll swear I hadn't a drop of +anything worse than lemon soda, and that was before I left town." +Whereupon they whooped the louder, bent double, some of them with mirth. + +"Say! If I was drunk that night, I'd say so," Casey exploded finally. +"What the hell--what's the matter with you rabbits? You think Casey Ryan +has got to the point where he's scared to tell what he done and all he +done? Lemme tell yuh, anything Casey does he ain't afraid to _tell_ about! +Lyin' is something I never was scared bad enough to do. You ask anybody." + +"There's the widow," said the foreman, wiping his eyes. + +Casey turned and looked, but the widow was not in sight. The foreman, he +judged, was speaking figuratively. He swung back glaring. + +"You think I'm scared to tell her what happened? She'll know I was sober +if I say I was sober. She ain't as big a fool--" He did not want to fight, +although he was aching to lick every man of them. But for one thing, he +was too sore and lame, and then, the widow would not like it. + +With his neck very stiff, Casey limped down to the house and tried to tell +the widow. But the widow was a woman, and she was hurt because Casey, +since he was alive and not in the crevice, had not come straight to +comfort her, but had lingered up there talking and laughing with the men. +The widow had taken Casey's part when the others said he must have been +drunk. She had maintained, red-lidded and trembly of voice, that something +had gone wrong with Casey's car so that he couldn't steer it. Such things +happened, she knew. + +Well, Casey told the widow the truth, and the widow's face hardened while +she listened. She had permitted him to kiss her when he came in, but now +she moved away from him. She did not call him dear boy, nor even Casey +dear. She waited until he had reached the point that puzzled him, the +point of a Ford's degree of intelligence. Then her lips thinned before she +opened them. + +"And what," she asked coldly, "had you been drinking, Mr. Ryan?" + +"Me? One bottle of lemon soda before I left town, and I left town at three +o'clock in the afternoon. I swear--" + +"You need not swear, Mr. Ryan." The widow folded her hands and regarded +him sternly, though her voice was still politely soft. "After I had told +you repeatedly that my little ones should ever be guarded from a drinking +father; after you had solemnly promised me that you would never again put +glass to your lips, or swallow a drop of whisky; after that very morning +renewing your pledge--" + +"Well, I kept it," Casey said, his face a shade paler under its usual +frank red. "I swear to Gawd I was sober." + +"You need not lie," said the widow, "and add to your misdeeds. You were +drunk. No man in his senses would imagine what you imagine, or do what you +did. I wish you to understand, Mr. Ryan, that I shall not marry you. I +could not trust you out of my sight." + +"I--was--_sober_!" cried Casey, measuring his words. Very nearly shouting +them, in fact. + +The widow turned pointedly away and began to stir something on the stove, +and did not look at him. + +Casey went out, climbed the hill to his Ford, cranked it and went +larruping down the hill, out on the lake and, when he had traversed half +its length, turned and steered a straight course across it. Where tracings +of wheels described a wide circle he stopped and regarded them intently. +Then he began to swear, at nothing in particular, but with a hearty +enjoyment of the phrases he intoned. + +"Casey, you sure as hell have had one close call," he remarked, when he +could think of nothing new and devilish to say. "You mighta run along, and +run along, till you got _married_ to her. Whadda I want a wife for, +anyway? Sour-dough biscuits tastes pretty good, and Casey sure can make +'em!" He got out his pipe, filled it and crammed down the tobacco, found a +match and leaned back, smoking with relish, one leg thrown over the wheel. + +"A man's best friend is his Ford," he exclaimed. "You can ask anybody." He +grinned, and blew a lot of smoke, and gave the wheel an affectionate +little twist. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Some months later Casey waved good-by to the men from Tonopah, squinted up +at the sun and got a coal-oil can of water, with which he filled the +radiator of his Ford. He rolled his bed in the tarp and tied it securely, +put flour, bacon, coffee, salt and various other small necessities of life +into a box, inspected his sour-dough can, and decided to empty it and +start over again if hard fate drove him to sourdough. + +"Might bust down and have to sleep out," he meditated. "Then, agin, I +ain't liable to; and if I do, I'll be goin' so fast I'll git somewhere +before she stops. I'm--sure--goin' to go!" + +He cranked the battered car, straddled in over the edge on the driver's +side and set his feet against the pedals with the air of a man who had +urgent business elsewhere. The men from Tonopah were not yet out of sight +around the butte scarred with rhyolite ledges before Casey was under way, +rattling down the rough trail from Starvation Mountain and bouncing clear +of the seat as the car lurched over certain rough spots. + +Pinned with a safety pin to the inside pocket of the vest he wore only +when he felt need of a safe and secret pocket, Casey Ryan carried a check +for twenty-five thousand dollars, made payable to himself. A check for +twenty-five thousand dollars in Casey's pocket was like a wildcat clawing +at his imagination and spitting at every moment's delay. Casey had endured +solitude and some hardship while he coaxed Starvation Mountain to reveal a +little of its secret treasure. Now he wanted action, light, life and +plenty of it. While he drove he dreamed, and his dreams beckoned, urged +him faster and faster. + +Up over the summit of the ridge that lay between Starvation and Furnace +Lake he surged, with radiator bubbling. Down the long slope to the lake, +lying there smiling sardonically at a world it loved to trick with its +moods, Casey drove as if he were winning a bet. Across that five miles of +baked, yellow-white clay he raced, his Ford a-creak in every joint. + +"Go it, you tin lizard!" chortled Casey. "I'll have me a real wagon when I +git to Los. She'll be white, with red stripes along her sides and red +wheels, and she'll lay 'er belly to the ground and eat up the road and +lick her chops for more. Sixty miles under her belt every time the clock +strikes, or she ain't good enough fer Casey! Mebby they think they got +some drivers in Californy. Mebby they _think_ they have. They ain't, +though, because Casey Ryan ain't there yet. I'll catch that night train. +Oughta be in by morning, and then you keep your eye on Casey. There's +goin' to be a stir around Los, about to-morrow noon. I'll have to buy some +clothes, I guess. And I'll git acquainted with some nice girl with yella +hair that likes pleasure, and take her out ridin'. Yeah, I'll have to git +me a swell outfit uh clothes. I'll look the part, all right---" + +Up a long, winding trail and over another summit to Yucca Pass Casey +dreamed, while the stark, scarred buttes on either side regarded him with +enigmatic calm. Since the first wagon train had worried over the rough +deserts on their way to California, the bleak hills of Nevada had listened +while prospectors dreamed aloud and cackled over their dreaming; had +listened, too, while they raved in thirst and heat and madness. +Inscrutably they watched Casey as he hurried by with his twenty-five +thousand dollars and his pleasant pictures of soft ease. + +At a dim fork in the trail Casey slowed and stopped. A boiling radiator +will not forever brook neglect, and Casey brought his mind down to +practical things for a space. "I can just as well take the train from +Lund," he mused, while he poured in more water. "Then I can leave this +bleatin' burro with Bill. He oughta give me a coupla hundred for her, +anyway. No use wasting money just because you happen to have a few +thousand in your pants." He filled his pipe at that sensible idea and +turned the nose of his Ford down the dim trail to Lund. + +Eighty miles more or less straight away across the mountainous waste lay +Lund, halfway up a canyon that led to higher reaches in the hills, rich in +silver, lead, copper, gold. Silver it was that Casey had found and sold to +the men from Tonopah, and it was a freak of luck, he thought whimsically, +that had led him and his Ford away over to Starvation Mountains to find +their stake when they had probably been driving over millions every day +that they made the stage trip from Pinnacle down to Lund. + +The trail was rutted in places where the sluicing rains had driven hard +across the hills; soft with sand in places where the fierce winds had +swept the open. For awhile the thin, wobbly track of a wagon meandered +along ahead of him, then turned off up a flat-bottomed draw and was lost +in the sagebrush. Some prospector not so lucky as he, thought Casey, with +swift, soon forgotten sympathy. A coyote ran up a slope toward him, halted +with forefeet planted on a rock, and stared at him, ears perked like an +inquisitive dog. Casey stopped, eased his rifle out of the crease in the +back of the seat cushion, chanced a shot,--and his luck held. He climbed +out, picked up the limp gray animal, threw it into the tonneau and went +on. Even with twenty-five thousand dollars in his pocket, Casey told +himself that coyote hides are not to be scorned. He had seen the time when +the price of a good hide meant flour and bacon and tobacco to him. He +would skin it when he stopped to eat. + +Eighty miles with never a soul to call good day to Casey. Nor shack nor +shelter made for man, and only one place where there was water to wet his +lips if they cracked with thirst,--unless, perchance, one of those swift +desert downpours came riding on the wind, lashing the clouds with +lightning. + +Far ahead of Casey such a storm rolled in off the barren hills to the +south. "She's a-wettin' up that red lake a-plenty," observed Casey, +squinting through the dirty windshield. "No trail around, either, on +account of the lava beds. But I guess I can pull acrost, all right." Doubt +was in his voice, however, and he was half minded to turn back and take +the straight road to Vegas, which had been his first objective. But he +discarded the idea. + +"No, sir, Casey Ryan never back-trailed yet. Poor time to commence, now +when I got the world by the tail and a downhill pull. We'll make out, all +right--can't be so terrible boggy with a short rain like that there. I +bet," he continued optimistically to the Ford, which was the nearest he +had to human companionship, "I bet we make it in a long lope. Git along, +there! Shake a wheel--'s the last time you haul Casey around. Casey's +goin' to step high, wide and handsome. Sixty miles _an hour_, or he'll ask +for his money back. They can't step too fast for Casey! Blue--if I get me +a lady friend with yella hair, mebby she'll show up better in a blue car +than she will in a white-and-red. This here turnout has got to be tasty +and have class. If she was dark--" He shook his head at that. "No, sir, +black hair grows too plenty on squaws an' chilli queens. Yella goes with +Casey. Clingin' kinda girl with blue eyes--that's the stuff! An' I'll sure +show her some drivin'!" + +He wondered whether he should try and find the girl first and buy the car +to match her beauty, or buy the car first and with that lure the lady of +his dreams. It was a nice question and it required thought. It was +pleasant to ponder the problem, and Casey became so lost in meditation +that he forgot to eat when the sun flirted with the scurrying clouds over +his wind-torn automobile top. + +So he came bouncing and swaying down the last mesa to the place called Red +Lake. Casey had heard it spoken of with opprobrious epithets by men who +had crossed it in wet weather. In dry weather it was red clay caked and +checked by the sun, and wheels or hoofs stirred clouds of red dust that +followed and choked the traveler. + +Casey was not thinking at all of the lake when he drove down to it. He was +seeing visions, though you would not think it to look at him; a stocky, +middle-aged man who needed a shave and a hair-cut, wearing cheap, +dirt-stained overalls and a blue shirt and square-toed shoes studded +thickly on the soles with hobnails worn shiny; driving a desert-scarred +Ford with most of the paint gone and a front fender cocked up and flapping +crazily, and tires worn down to the fabric in places. But his eyes were +very keen and steady, and there was a humorous twist to his mouth. If he +dreamed incongruously of big, luxurious cars gorgeous in paint and nickel +trim, and of slim young women with yellow hair and blue eyes,--well, +stranger dreams have been hidden away behind exteriors more unsightly than +was the shell which holds the soul of Casey Ryan. + +Presently the practical, everyday side of his nature nudged him into +taking note of his immediate surroundings. Red Lake had received a +wetting. The dark, shiny surface betrayed that fact, and it was surprising +how real water, when you did see it on a lake subject to mirage, was so +unmistakably real. It is like putting flakes of real gold beside flakes of +mica; you are ready to swear that the mica is gold--until you see the real +gold beside it. So Casey knew at a glance that half of Red Lake was wet, +and that the shiny patches here and there were not mirage pictures but +shallow pools of water. Moreover, out in the reddest, wettest part of it +an automobile stood with its back to him, and pigmy figures were moving +slowly upon either side. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +"Stuck," diagnosed Casey in one word, as he caught sight of the group +ahead. He tucked his dream into the back of his mind while he pulled down +the gas lever a couple of notches and lunged along the muddy ruts that +led straight away from the safe line of sagebrush and out upon the +platter-like red expanse. + +The Ford grunted and lugged down to a steady pull, but Casey drove as he +had driven his six horses on a steep grade in the old days, coaxing every +ounce of power into action. He juggled with spark and gas and somehow kept +her going, and finally stopped with nice judgment on a small island of +harder clay within shouting distance of the car ahead. He killed the +engine then and stepped down, and went picking his way carefully out to +it, his heavy shoes speedily collecting great pancakes of mud that clung +like glue. + +"Stuck, hey? You oughta kept in the ruts, no matter if they are +water-logged. You never want to turn outa the road on one of these lake +beds, huntin' dry ground. If it's wet in the road, you can bank on sinkin' +in to the hocks the minute you turn out." He carefully removed the mud +pancakes from his shoes by scraping them across the hub of the stalled car +and edged back to stand with his arms on his hips while he surveyed the +full plight of them. + +"She sure is bogged down a-plenty," he observed, grinning sympathetically. + +"Could you hitch on your car, Mister, and pull us out?" This was a woman's +voice, and it thrilled Casey, woman hungry as he was. + +Casey put up a hand to his mouth and surreptitiously removed a chew of +tobacco almost fresh. With some effort he pulled his feet closer together, +and he lifted his old Stetson and reset it at a consciously rakish angle. +He glanced at the car, behind it and in front, coming back to the +depressed male individual before him. "Yes, ma'am, I'll get you out, all +right. Sure, I will." + +"We've been stalled here for an hour or more," volunteered the depressed +one. "We was right behind the storm. Looked a sorry chance that anybody +would come along for the next week or so." + +"Mister, you're a godsend, if ever there was one. I'd write your name on +the roster of saints in my prayer book, if I ever said prayers and had a +prayer book and a pencil and knew what name to write." + +"Casey Ryan. Don't you worry, ma'am. We'll get you outa here in no time." +Casey grinned and craned his neck. Looking lower this time, he saw a pair +of feet which did not seem to belong to that voice, though they were +undoubtedly feminine. Still, red mud will work miracles of disfigurement, +and Casey was an optimist by nature. + +"My wife is trying out a new comedy line," the man observed unemotionally. +"Trouble is it never gets over, out front. If she ever did get it across +the footlights, I could raise the price of admission and get away with it. +How far is it to Rhyolite?" + +"Rhyolite? Twenty or twenty-five miles, mebby." Casey gave him an +inquiring look. + +"Can we get there in time to paper the town and hire a hall to show in, +Mister?" Casey saw the mud-caked feet move laboriously toward the rear of +the car. + +"Yes, ma'am, I guess you can. There ain't any town, though, and it ain't +got any hall in it, nor anybody to go to a show." + +The woman laughed. "That's like my prayer book. Well, Jack, you certainly +have got a powerful eye, but you've been trying to Svengali this out-fit +out of the mud for an hour, and I haven't seen it move an inch, so far. +Let's just try something else." + +"A prayer outa your prayer book, maybe," her husband retorted, not +troubling to move or turn his head. + +Casey blinked and looked again. The woman who appeared from the farther +side of the car might have been the creature of his dream, so far as her +face, her hair and her voice went. Her hair was yellow, unmistakably +yellow. Her eyes were bluer than Casey's own, and she had nice teeth and +showed them in a red-lipped smile. A more sophisticated man would have +known that the powder on her nose was freshly applied, and that her reason +for remaining so long hidden from his sight while she talked to him was +revealed in the moist color on her lips and the fresh bloom on her cheeks. +Casey was not sophisticated. He thought she was a beautiful woman and +asked no questions of her make-up box. + +"Mister, you certainly are a godsend!" she gushed again when she faced +him. "I'd call you a direct answer to prayer, only I haven't been praying. +I've been trying to tell Jack that the shovel is not packed under the +banjos, as he thinks it was, but was left back at our last camp where he +was trying to dig water out of a wet spot. Jack, dear, perhaps the +gentleman has got a shovel in his car. Ain't it a real gag, Mister, us +being stuck out here in a dry lake?" + +Casey touched his hat and grinned and tried not to look at her too long. +Husbands of beautiful young women are frequently jealous, and Casey knew +his place and meant to keep it. + +All the way back to his car Casey studied the peculiar features of the +meeting. He had been thinking about yellow-haired women--well! But of +course, she was married, and therefore not to be thought of save as a +coincidence; still, Casey rather regretted the existence of Jack dear, and +began to wonder why good-looking women always picked such dried-up little +runts for husbands. "Show actors by the talk," he mused. "I wonder now if +she don't sing, mebby?" + +He started the car and forged out to them, making the last few rods in low +gear and knowing how risky it was to stop. They were rather helpless, he +had to admit, and did all the standing around while Casey did all the +work. But he shoveled the rear wheels out, waded back to the tiny island +of solid ground and gathered an armful of brush, which he crowded in front +of the wheels, covering himself with mud thereby; then he tied the tow +rope he carried for emergencies like this, waded to the Ford, cranked and +trusted the rest to luck. The Ford moved slowly ahead until the rope +between the two cars tightened, then spun her wheels and proceeded to dig +herself in where she stood. The other car, shaking with the tremor of its +own engine, ruthlessly ground the sagebrush into the mud and stood upon it +roaring and spluttering furiously. + +"Nothing like sticking together, Mister," called the lady cheerfully, and +he heard her laughter above the churn of their motors. + +"Say, ain't your carburetor all off?" Casey leaned out to call back to the +husband. "You're smokin' back there like wet wood." + +The man immediately stopped the motor and looked behind him. + +Casey muttered something under his breath when he climbed out. He looked +at his own car standing hub deep in red mud and reached for the solacing +plug of chewing tobacco. Then he thought of the lady and withdrew his hand +empty. + +"We're certainly going to stick together, Mister," she repeated her +witticism, and Casey grinned foolishly. + +"She'll dry up in a few hours, with this hot sun," he observed +hearteningly. "We'll have to pile brush in, I guess." His glance went back +to the tiny island and to his double row of tracks. He looked at the man. + +"Jack, dear, you might go help the gentleman get some brush," the lady +suggested sweetly. + +"This ain't my act," Jack dear objected. "I just about broke my spine +trying to heave the car outa the mud when we first stuck. Say, I wish +there was a beanery of some kind in walking distance. Honest, I'll be dead +of starvation in another hour. What's the chance of a bite, Hon?" + +Contempt surged through Casey. Deep in his soul he pitied her for being +tied to such an insect. Immediately he was glad that she had spirit enough +to put the little runt in his place. + +"You _would_ wait to buy supplies in Rhyolite, remember," she reminded her +husband calmly. "I guess you'll have to wait till you get there. I've got +one piece of bread saved for Junior. You and I go hungry--and cheer up, +old dear; you're used to it!" + +"I've got grub," Casey volunteered hospitably. "Didn't stop to eat yet. +I'll pack the stuff back there to dry ground and boil some coffee and fry +some bacon." He looked at the woman and was rewarded by a smile so +brilliant that Casey was dazzled. + +"You certainly are a godsend," she called after him, as he turned away to +his own car. "It just happens that we're out of everything. It's so hard +to keep anything on hand when you're traveling in this country, with towns +so far apart. You just run short before you know it." + +Casey thought that the very scarcity of towns compelled one to avoid +running short of food, but he did not say anything. He waded back to the +island with a full load of provisions and cooking utensils, and in three +minutes he was squinting against the smoke of a camp-fire while he poured +water from a canteen into his blackened coffee pot. + +"Coffee! Jack, dear, can you believe your nose!" chirped the woman +presently behind Casey. "Junior, darling, just smell the bacon! Isn't he a +nice gentleman? Go give him a kiss like a little man." + +Casey didn't want any kiss--at least from Junior. Junior was six years +old, and his face was dirty and his eyes were old, old eyes, but brown +like his father's. He had the pinched, hungry look which Casey had seen +only amongst starving Indians, and after he had kissed Casey perfunctorily +he snatched the piece of raw bacon which Casey had just sliced off, and +tore at it with his teeth like a hungry pup. + +Casey affected not to notice, and busied himself with the fire while the +woman reproved Junior half-heartedly in an undertone, and laughed stagily +and remarked upon the number of hours since they had breakfasted. + +Casey tried not to watch them eat, but in spite of himself he thought of a +prospector whom he had rescued last summer after a five-day fast. These +people ate more than the prospector had eaten, and their eyes followed +greedily every mouthful which Casey took, as if they grudged him the food. +Wherefore Casey did not take as many mouthfuls as he would have liked. + +"This desert air certainly does put an edge on one's appetite," the woman +smiled, while she blew across her fourth cup of coffee to cool it, and +between breaths bit into a huge bacon sandwich, which Casey could not help +knowing was her third. "Jack, dear, isn't this coffee delicious!" + +"Mah-mal Do we have to p-pay that there g-godsend? C-can you p-pay for +more b-bacon for me, mah-ma?" Junior licked his fingers and twitched a +fold of his mother's soiled skirt. + +"Sure, give him more bacon! All he wants. I'll fry another skillet full," +Casey spoke hurriedly, getting out the piece which he had packed away in +the bag. + +"He's used to these hold-up joints where they charge you forty cents for a +greasy plate," the man explained, speaking with his mouth full. "Eat all +yuh want, Junior. This is a barbecue and no collection took up to pay the +speaker of the day." + +"We certainly appreciate your kindness, Mister," the woman put in +graciously, holding out her cup. "What we'd have done, stuck here in the +mud with no provisions and no town within miles, heaven only knows. Was +you kidding us," she added, with a betrayal of more real anxiety than she +intended, "when you said Rhyolite is a dead one? We looked it up on the +map, and it was marked like a town. We're making all the little towns that +the road shows mostly miss. We give a fine show, Mister. It's been played +on all the best time in the country--we took it abroad before the war and +made real good money with it. But we just wanted to see the country, you +know--after doing the cont'nent and all the like of that. So we thought +we'd travel independent and make all the small towns--" + +"The movie trust is what put vodeville on the bum," the man interrupted. +"We used to play the best time only. We got a first-class act. One that +ought to draw down good money anywhere, and would draw down good money, if +the movie trust--" + +"And then we like to be independent, and go where we like and get off the +railroad for a spell. Freedom is the breath of life to he and I. We'd +rather have it kinda rough now and then to be free and independent--" + +"I've g-got a b-bunny, a-and it f-fell in the g-grease box a-and we +c-can't wash it off, a-and h-he's asleep now. C-can I g-give my b-bunny +some b-bacon, Mister G-godsend?" + +The woman laughed, and Jack dear laughed, and Casey himself grinned +sheepishly. Casey did not want to be called a godsend, and he hated the +term "Mister" when applied to himself. All his life he had been plain +Casey Ryan and proud of it, and his face was very red when he confessed +that there was no more bacon. He had not expected to feed a family when he +left camp that morning, but had taken rations for himself only. + +Junior whined and insisted that he wanted b-bacon for his b-bunny, and the +man hushed him querulously and asked Casey what the chances were for +getting under way. Casey repacked a lightened bag, emptied the coffee +grounds, shouldered his canteen and waded back to the cars and to the +problem of red mud with an unbelievable quality of tenacity. + +The man followed and asked him if he happened to have any smoking tobacco, +afterwards he begged a cigarette paper, and then a match. "The dog-gone +helpless, starved bunch!" Casey muttered, while he dug out the wheels of +his Ford, and knew that his own haste must wait upon the need of these +three human beings whom he had never seen until an hour ago, of whose very +existence he had been in ignorance, and who would probably contribute +nothing whatever to his own welfare or happiness, however much he might +contribute to theirs. + +I do not say that Casey soliloquised in this manner while he was sweating +there in the mud under hot midday. He did think that now he would no doubt +miss the night train to Los Angeles, and that he would not, after all, be +purchasing glad raiment and a luxurious car on the morrow. He regretted +that, but he did not see how he could help it. He was Casey Ryan, and his +heart was soft to suffering even though a little of the spell cast by the +woman's blue eyes and her golden hair had dimmed for him. + +He still thought her a beautiful woman who was terribly mismated, but he +felt vaguely that women with beautiful golden hair should not drink their +coffee aloud, or calmly turn up the bottom of their skirts that they might +use the underside of the hem for a napkin after eating bacon. I do not +like to mention this; Casey did not like to think of it, either. It was +with reluctance that he reflected upon the different standard imposed by +sex. A man, for instance, might wipe his fingers on his pants and look the +world straight in the eye,--but dog-gone it, when a lady's a lady, she +ought to _be_ a lady. + +Later Casey forgot for a time the incident of the luncheon on Red Lake. +With infinite labor and much patience he finally extricated himself and +the show people, with no assistance from them save encouragement. He towed +them to dry land, untied and put away his rope and then discovered that he +had not the heart to drive on at his usual hurtling pace and leave them to +follow. There was an ominous stutter in their motor, for one thing, and +Casey knew of a stiffish hill a few miles this side of Rhyolite, so he +forced himself to set a slow pace which they could easily follow. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was full sundown when they reached Rhyolite, which was not a town but a +camp beside a spring, usually deserted. Three years before, a mine had +built the camp for the accommodation of the truck drivers who hauled ore +to Lund and were sometimes unable to make the trip in one day. Casey, +having adapted his speed to that of the decrepit car of the show people, +was thankful that they arrived at all. He still had a little flour and +coffee and salt, and he hoped there was enough grease left on the bacon +paper to grease the skillet so that bannocks would not stick to the pan. +He also hoped that his flour would hold out under the onslaught of their +appetites. + +But Casey was lucky. A half dozen cowboys were camped there with a pack +outfit, meaning to ride the canyons next day for cattle. They were cooking +supper, and they had "beefed a critter" that had broken a leg that +afternoon running among rocks. Casey shuffled his responsibility and +watched, in complete content, while the show people gorged on broiled +yearling steaks. (I dislike to use the word gorge where a lady's appetite +is involved, but that is the word which Casey thought of first.) + +Later, the show people very amiably consented to entertain their hosts. It +was then that Casey was once more blinded by the brilliance of the lady +and forgot certain little blemishes that had seemed to him quite +pronounced. The cowboys obligingly built a bonfire before the tent, into +which the couple retired to set their stage and tune their instruments. +Casey lay back on a cowboy's rolled bed with his knees crossed, his hands +clasped behind his thinning hair, and smoked and watched the first pale +stars come out while he listened to the pleasant twang of banjos in the +tuning. + +It was great. The sale of his silver claim to the men from Tonopah, the +check safely pinned in his pocket, the future which he had planned for +himself swam hazily through his mind. He was fed to repletion, he was +rich, he had been kind to those in need. He was a man to be envied, and he +told himself so. + +Then the tent flaps were lifted and a dazzling, golden-haired creature in +a filmy white evening gown to which the firelight was kind stood there +smiling, a banjo in her hands. Casey gave a grunt and sat up, blinking. +She sang, looking at him frequently. At the encore, which was livened by a +clog danced to hidden music, she surely blew a kiss in the direction of +Casey, who gulped and looked around at the others self-consciously, and +blushed hotly. + +In truth, it was a very good show which the two gave there in the tent; +much better than the easiest going optimist would expect. When it was over +to the last twang of a banjo string, Casey took off his hat, emptied into +it what silver he had in his pockets and set the hat in the fireglow. +Without a word the cowboys followed his example, turning pockets inside +out to prove they could give no more. + +Casey spread his bed apart from the others that night, and lay for a long +while smoking and looking up at the stars and dreaming again his dream; +only now the golden-haired creature who leaned back upon the deep cushions +of his speedy blue car, was not a vague bloodless vision, but a real +person with nice teeth and a red-lipped smile, who called him Mister in a +tone he thought like music. Now his dream lady sang to him, talked to +him,--I consider it rather pathetic that Casey's dream always halted just +short of meal time, and that he never pictured her sitting across the +table from him in some expensive café, although Casey was rather fond of +café lights and music and service and food. + +Next morning the glamor remained, although the lady was once more the +unkempt woman of yesterday. The three seemed to look upon Casey still as a +godsend. They had talked with some of the men and had decided to turn back +to Vegas, which was a bigger town than Lund and therefore likely to +produce better crowds. They even contemplated a three-night stand, which +would make possible some very urgent repairs to their car. Casey demurred, +although he could not deny the necessity for repairs. It was a longer +trail to Vegas and a rougher trail. Moreover, he himself was on his way to +Lund. + +"You go to Lund," he urged, "and you can stay there four nights if you +want to, and give shows. And I'll take yuh on up to Pinnacle in my car +while yours is gettin' fixed, and you can give a show there. You'd draw a +big crowd. I'd make it a point to tell folks you give a fine show. And +I'll git yuh good rates at the garage where I do business. You don't want +nothin' of Vegas. Lund's the place you want to hit fer." + +"There's a lot to that," the foreman of the cowboys agreed. "If Casey's +willin' to back you up, you better hit straight for Lund. Everybody there +knows Casey Ryan. He drove stage from Pinnacle to Lund for two years and +never killed anybody, though he did come close to it now and again. I've +saw strong men that rode with Casey and said they never felt right +afterwards. Casey, he's a dog-gone good driver, but he used to be kinda +hard on passengers. He done more to promote heart failure in them two +towns than all the altitude they can pile up. But nobody's going to hold +that against a good show that comes there. I heard there ain't been a show +stop off in Lund for over a year. You'll have to beat 'em away from the +door, I bet." Wherefore the Barrymores--that was the name they called +themselves, though I am inclined to doubt their legal right to it--the +Barrymores altered their booking and went with Casey to Lund. + +They were not fools, by the way. Their car was much more disreputable than +you would believe a car could be and turn a wheel, and the Barrymores +recognized the handicap of its appearance. They camped well out of sight +of town, therefore, and let Casey drive in alone. + +Casey found that the westbound train had already gone, which gave him a +full twenty-four hours in Lund, even though he discounted his promise to +see the Barrymores through. There was a train, to be sure, that passed +through Lund in the middle of the night; but that was the De Luxe, +standard and drawing-room sleepers, and disdained stopping to pick up +plebeian local passengers. + +So Casey must spend twenty-four hours in Lund, there to greet men who +hailed him joyously at the top of their voices while they were yet afar +off, and thumped him painfully upon the shoulders when they came within +reach of him. You may not grasp the full significance of this, unless you +have known old and popular stage drivers, soft of heart and hard of fist. +Then remember that Casey had spent months on end alone in the wilderness, +working like a lashed slave from sunrise to dark, trying to wrest a +fortune from a certain mountain side. Remember how an enforced isolation, +coupled with rough fare and hard work, will breed a craving for lights and +laughter and the speech of friends. Remember that, and don't overlook the +twenty-five thousand dollar check that Casey had pinned safe within his +pocket. + +Casey had unthinkingly tossed his last dime into his hat for the show +people at Rhyolite. He had not even skinned the coyote, whose hide would +have been worth ten or fifteen dollars, as hides go. In the stress of +pulling out of the mud at Red Lake, he had forgot all about the dead +animal in his tonneau until his nose reminded him next morning that it was +there. Then he had hauled it out by the tail and thrown it away. He was +broke, except that he had that check in his pocket. + +Of course it was easy enough for Casey to get money. He went to the store +that sold everything from mining tools to green perfume bottles tied with +narrow pink ribbon. The man who owned that store also owned the bank next +door, and a little place down the street which was called laconically The +Club. One way or another, Dwyer managed to feel the money of every man who +came into Lund and stopped there for a space. He was an honest man, too,-- +or as honest as is practicable for a man in business. + +Dwyer was tickled to see Casey again. Casey was a good fellow, and he +never needed his memory jogged when he owed a man. He paid before he was +asked to pay, and that was enough to make any merchant love him. He +watched Casey unpin his vest pocket and remove the check, and he was not +too eager to inspect it. + +"Good? Surest thing you know. Want it cashed, or applied to your old +checking account? It's open yet, with a dollar and sixty-seven cents to +your credit, I believe. I'll take care of it, though it's after banking +hours." + +Casey was foolish. "I'll take a couple of hundred, if it's handy, and a +check book. I guess you can fix it so I can get what money I want in Los. +I'm goin' to have one hell of a time when I git there. I've earned it." + +Dwyer laughed while he inked a pen for Casey's endorsement. "Hop to it, +Casey. Glad you made good. But you'd better let me put part of that in a +savings account, so you can't check it out. You know, Casey--remember your +weak point." + +"Aw--that's all right! Don't you worry none about Casey Ryan! Casey'll +take care of himself--he's had too many jolts to want another one. Say, +gimme a pair of them socks before you go in the bank. I'll pay yuh," he +grinned, "when yuh come back with some money. Ain't got a cent on me, +Dwyer. Give it all away. Twelve dollars and something. Down to twenty-five +thousand dollars and my Ford auty-_mo_-bile--and Bill's goin' to buy that +off me as soon as he looks her over to see what's busted and what ain't." + +Dwyer laughed again as he unlocked the door behind the overalls and +jumpers and disappeared into his bank. Presently he returned with a +receipted duplicate deposit slip for twenty-four thousand eight hundred +dollars, a little, flat check book and two hundred dollars in worn bank +notes. "You ought to be independent for the rest of your life, Casey. This +is a fine start for any man," he said. + +Casey paid for the socks and slid the change for a ten-dollar bill into +his overalls pocket, put the check book and the bank notes away where he +had carried the check, and walked out with his hat very much tilted over +his right eye and his shoulders swaggering a little. You can't blame him +for that, can you? + +As he stepped from the store he met an old acquaintance from Pinnacle. +There was only one thing to do in a case like that, and Casey did it quite +naturally. They came out of The Club wiping their lips, and the swagger in +Casey's shoulders was more pronounced. + +Face to face Casey met the show lady, which was what he called her in his +mind. She had her arms clasped around a large paper sack full of lumpy +things, and her eyes had a strained, anxious look. + +"Oh, Mister! I've been looking all over for you. They say we can't show in +this town. The license for road shows is fifty dollars, to begin with, and +I've been all over and can't find a single place where we could show, even +if we could pay the license. Ain't that the last word in hard luck? Now +what to do beats me, Mister. We've just got to have the old car tinkered +up so it'll carry us on to the next place, wherever that is. Jack says he +must have a new tire by some means or other, and he was counting on what +we'd make here. And up at that other place you've mentioned the mumps have +broke out and they wouldn't let us show for love or money. A man in the +drug store told me, Mister. We certainly are in a hole now, for sure! If +we could give a benefit for something or somebody. Those men back there +said you're so popular in this town, I believe I've got an idea. Mister, +couldn't you have bad luck, or be sick or something, so we could give a +benefit for you? People certainly would turn out good for a man that's +liked the way they say you are. I'd just love to put on a show for you. +Couldn't we fix it up some way?" + +Casey looked up and down the street and found it practically empty. Lund +was dining at that hour. And while Casey expected later the loud +greetings, and the handshakes and all, as a matter of fact he had thus far +talked with Bill, the garage man, with Dwyer, the storekeeper and banker, +and with the man from Pinnacle, who was already making ready to crank his +car and go home. Lund, as a town, was yet unaware of Casey's presence. + +Casey looked at the show lady, found her gazing at his face with eyes that +said please in four languages, and hesitated. + +"You could git up a benefit for the Methodist church, mebby," he +temporized. "There's a church of some kind here--I guess it's a Methodist. +They most generally are." + +"We'd have to split with them if we did," the show lady objected +practically. "Oh, we're stuck worse than when we was back there in the +mud! We'd only have to pay five dollars for a six-months' theater license, +which would let us give all the shows we wanted to. It's a new law that I +guess you didn't know anything about," she added kindly. "You certainly +wouldn't have insisted on us coming if you'd knew about the license." + +"It's a year, almost, since I was here," Casey admitted; "I been out +prospecting." + +"Well, we can just work it fine! Can't we go somewhere and talk it over? +I've got a swell idea, Mister, if you'll just listen to it a minute, and +it'll certainly be a godsend to us to be able to give our show. We've got +some crutches amongst our stage props, and some scar patches, Mister, that +would certainly make you up fine as a cripple. Wouldn't they believe it, +Mister, if it was told that you had been in an accident and got crippled +for life?" + +In spite of his embarrassment, Casey grinned. "Yeah, I guess they'd +believe it, all right," he admitted. "They'd likely be tickled to death to +see me goin' around on crutches." He cast a hasty thought back into his +past, when he had driven a careening stage between Pinnacle and Lund, +strewing the steep trail with wreckage not his own. "Yeah, it'd tickle 'em +to death. Them that's rode with me," he concluded. + +"Oh, you certainly are a godsend! Duck outa sight somewhere while I go +tell Jack dear that we've found a way open for us to show, after all!" +While Casey was pulling the sag out of his jaw so that he could protest, +could offer her money, do anything save what she wanted, the show lady +disappeared. Casey turned and went back into The Club, remained five +minutes perhaps and then walked very circumspectly across the street to +Bill's garage. It was there that the Barrymores found him when they came +seeking with their dilapidated old car, their crutches, their grease paint +and scar patches, to make a cripple of Casey whether he would or no. + +Bill fell uproariously in with the plan, and Dwyer, stopping at the garage +on his way home to dinner, thought it a great joke on Lund and promised to +help the benefit along. Casey, with three drinks under his belt and his +stomach otherwise empty, wanted to sing, + + "Hey, ok Bill! Can-n yuh play the fiddle-o? + Yes, by--" + +and stuck there because of the show lady. Casey wouldn't have recognized +Trouble if it had walked up and banged him in the eye. He said sure, he'd +be a cripple for the lady. He'd be anything once, and some things several +times if they asked him in the right way. And then he gave himself into +the hands of Jack dear. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Casey looked battered and sad when the show people were through with him. +He had expected bandages wound picturesquely around his person, but the +Barrymores were more artistic than that. Casey's right leg was drawn up at +the knee so that he could not put his foot on the ground when he tried, +and he did not know how the straps were fastened. His left shoulder was +higher than his right shoulder, and his eyes were sunken in his head and a +scar ran down along his temple to his left cheek bone. When he looked in +the glass which Bill brought him, Casey actually felt ill. They told him +that he must not wash his face, and that his week's growth of beard was a +blessing from heaven. The show lady begged him, with dew on her lashes, to +play the part faithfully, and they departed, very happy over their +prospects. + +Casey did not know whether he was happy or not. With Bill to encourage him +and give him a lift over the gutters, he crossed the street to a +restaurant and ordered largely of sirloin steak and French fried potatoes. +After supper there was a long evening to spend quietly on crutches, and +The Club was just next door. A man can always spend an evening very +quickly at The Club--or he could in the wet days--if his money held out. +Casey had money enough, and within an hour he didn't care whether he was +crippled or not. There were five besides himself at that table, and they +had unanimously agreed to remove the lid. Moreover, there was a crowd ten +deep around that particular table. For the news had gone out that here was +Casey Ryan back again, a hopeless cripple, playing poker like a drunken +Rockefeller and losing as if he liked to lose. + +At eight o'clock the next morning Bill came in to tell Casey that the show +people had brought up their car to be fixed, and was the pay good? Casey +replied Without looking up from his hand, which held a pair of queens +which interested him. He'd stand good, he said, and Bill gave a grunt and +went off. + +At noon Casey meant to eat something. But another man had come into the +game with a roll of money and a boastful manner. Casey rubbed his cramped +leg and hunched down in his chair again and called for a stack of blues. +Casey, I may as well confess, had been calling for stacks of blues and +reds and whites rather often since midnight. + +At four in the afternoon Casey hobbled into the restaurant and ate another +steak and drank three cups of black coffee. He meant to go across to the +garage and have Bill hunt up the Barrymores and get them to unstrap him +for awhile, but just as he was lifting his left crutch around the edge of +the restaurant door, two women of Lund came up and began to pity him and +ask him how it ever happened. Casey could not remember, just at the +moment, what story he had already told of his accident. He stuttered--a +strange thing for an Irishman to do, by the way--and retreated into The +Club, where they dared not follow. + +"H'lo, Casey! Give yuh a chance to win back some of your losin's, if +you're game to try it again," called a man from the far end of the room. + +Casey swore and hobbled back to him, let himself stiffly down into a chair +and dropped his crutches with a rattle of hard wood. Being a cripple was +growing painful, besides being very inconvenient. The male half of Lund +had practically suspended business that day to hover around him and +exchange comments upon his looks. Casey had received a lot of sympathy +that day, and only the fact that he had remained sequestered behind the +curtained arch that cut across the rear of The Club saved him from +receiving a lot more. But of course there were mitigations. Since walking +was slow and awkward, Casey sat. And since he was not a man to sit and +twiddle thumbs to pass the time, Casey played poker. That is how he +explained it afterwards. He had not intended to play poker for twenty-four +hours, but tie up a man's leg so he can't walk, and he's got to do +_something_. + +Wherefore Casey played,--and did not win back what he had lost earlier in +the day. Daylight grew dim, and some one came over and lighted a hanging +gasoline lamp that threw into tragic relief the painted hollows under +Casey's eyes, which were beginning to look very bloodshot around the blue +of them. + +Once, while the bartender was bringing drinks--you are not to infer that +Casey was drunk; he was merely a bit hazy over details--Casey pulled out +his dollar watch and looked at it. Eight-thirty--the show must be pretty +well started, by now. He thought he might venture to hobble over to Bill's +and have those dog-gone straps taken off before he was crippled for sure. +But he did not want to do anything to embarrass the show lady. Besides, he +had lost a great deal of money, and he wanted to win some of it back. He +still had time to make that train, he remembered. It was reported an hour +late, some one said. + +So Casey rubbed his strapped leg, twisting his face at the cramp in his +knee and letting his companions believe that his accident had given him a +heritage of pain. He hitched his lifted shoulder into an easier position +and picked up another unfortunate assortment of five cards. + +At ten o'clock Bill, the garage man, came and whispered something to +Casey, who growled an oath and reached almost unconsciously for his +crutches before trying to get up; so soon is a habit born in a man. + +"What they raisin' thunder about?" he asked apathetically, when Bill had +helped him across the gutter and into the street. "Didn't the crowd turn +out like they expected?" Casey's tone was dismal. You simply cannot be a +cripple for twenty-four hours, and sit up playing unlucky poker all night +and all day and well into another night, without losing some of your +animation; not even if you are Casey Ryan. "Hell, I missed that train +again," he added heavily, when he heard it whistle into the railroad yard. + +"Too bad. You oughta be on it, Casey," Bill said ominously. + +At the garage the Barrymores were waiting for him in their stage clothes +and make-up. The show lady had wept seams down through her rouge, and the +beads on her lashes had clotted unbecomingly. + +"Mister, you certainly have wished a sorry deal on to us," she exclaimed, +when Casey came hobbling through the doorway. "Fifteen years on the stage +and _this_ never happened to us before. We've took our bad luck with our +good luck and lived honest and respectable and self-respecting, and here, +at last, ill fortune has tied the can on to us. I know you meant well and +all that, Mister, but we certainly have had a raw deal handed out to us in +this town. We--certainly--have!" + +"We got till noon to-morrow to be outa the county," croaked Jack dear, +shifting his Adam's apple rapidly. "And that's real comedy, ain't it, when +your damn county runs clean over to the Utah line, and we can't go back +the way we come, or--and we can't go anywhere till this big slob here puts +our car together. He's got pieces of it strung from here around the block. +Say, what kinda town is this you wished on to us, anyway? Holding night +court, mind you, so they could can us quicker!" + +The show lady must have seen how dazed Casey looked. "Maybe you ain't +heard the horrible deal they handed us, Mister. They stopped our show +before we'd raised the curtain,--and it was a seventy-five dollar house if +it was a cent!" she wailed. "They had a bill as long as my arm for +license--we couldn't get by with the five-dollar one--and for lights and +hall rent and what-all. There wasn't enough money in the house to pay it! +And they was going to send us to jail! The sheriff acted anything but a +gentleman, Mister, and if you ever lived in this town and liked it, I must +say I question your taste!" + +"We wouldn't use a town like this for a garbage dump, back home," cut in +Jack with all the contempt he could master. + +"And they hauled us over to their dirty old Justice of the Peace, and he +told us he'd give us thirty days in jail if we was in the county to-morrow +noon, and we don't know how far this county goes, either way!" + +"Fifty miles to St. Simon," Bill told them comfortingly. "You can make it, +all right--" + +"We can make it, hey? How're we going to make it, with our car layin' +around all over your garage?" Jack's tone was arrogant past belief. + +Casey was fumbling for strap buckles which he could not reach. He was also +groping through his colorful, stage-driver's vocabulary for words which +might be pronounced in the presence of a lady, and finding mighty few that +were of any use to him. The combined effort was turning him a fine purple +when the lady was seized with another brilliant idea. + +"Jack dear, don't be harsh. The gentleman meant well--and I'll tell you, +Mister, what let's do! Let's trade cars till the man has our car repaired. +Your car goes just fine, and we can load our stuff in and get away from +this horrible town. Why, the preacher was there and made a speech and said +the meanest things about you, because you was having a benefit and at the +same identical time you was setting in a saloon gambling. He said it was +an outrage on civilization, Mister, and an insult to the honest, +hard-working people in Lund. Them was his very words." + +"Well, hell!" Casey exploded abruptly. "I'm honest and hard-workin' as any +damn preacher. You can ask anybody!" + +"Well, that's what he said, anyhow. We certainly didn't know you was a +gambler when we offered to give you a benefit. We certainly never dreamed +you'd queer us like that. But you'll do us the favor to lend us your car, +won't you? You wouldn't refuse that, and see me and little Junior +languishin' in jail when you know in your heart--" + +"Aw, take the darn car!" muttered Casey distractedly, and hobbled into the +garage office where he knew Bill kept liniment. + +Five minutes, perhaps, after that, Casey opened the office door wide +enough to fling out an assortment of straps and two crutches. + +The show lady turned and made a motion which Casey mentally called a +pounce. "Oh, thank you, Mister! We certainly wouldn't want to go off and +forget these props. Jack dear has to use them in a comedy sketch we put on +sometimes when we got a good house." + +Casey banged the door and said something exceedingly stage-driverish which +a lady should by no means overhear. + +Sounds from the rear of the garage indicated that Casey's Ford was r'arin' +to go, as Casey frequently expressed it. Voices were jumbled in the tones +of suggestions, commands, protest. Casey heard the show lady's clear +treble berating Jack dear with thin politeness. Then the car came snorting +forward, paused in the wide doorway, and the show lady's voice called out +clearly, untroubled as the voice of a child after it has received that +which it cried for. + +"Well, good-by, Mister! You certainly are a godsend to give us the loan of +your car!" There was a buzz and a splutter, and they were gone--gone clean +out of Casey's life into the unknown whence they had come. + +Bill opened the door gently and eased into the office, sniffing liniment. +The painted hollows under Casey's eyes gave him a ghastly look in the +lamp-light when he lifted his face from examining a chafed and angry knee. +Bill opened his mouth for speech, caught a certain look in Casey's eyes +and did not say what he had intended to say. Instead: + +"You better sleep here in the office, Casey. I've got another bed back of +the machine shop. I'll lock up, and if any one comes and rings the night +bell--well, never mind. I'll plug her so they can't ring her." The world +needs more men like Bill. + + * * * * * + +Even after an avalanche, human nature cannot resist digging in the +melancholy hope of turning up grewsome remains. I know that you are all +itching to put shovel into the debris of Casey's dreams, and to see just +what was left of them. + +There was mighty little, let me tell you. I said in the beginning that +twenty-five thousand dollars was like a wildcat in Casey's pocket. You +can't give a man that much money all in a lump and suddenly, after he has +been content with dollars enough to pay for the food he eats, without +seeing him lose his sense of proportion. Twenty-five dollars he +understands and can spend more prudently than you, perhaps. Twenty-five +thousand he simply cannot gauge. It seems exhaustless. It is as if you +plucked from the night all the stars you can see, knowing that the Milky +Way is still there and unnumbered other stars invisible, even in the +aggregate. + +Casey played poker with an appreciative audience and the lid off. Now and +then he took a drink stronger than root beer. He kept that up for a night +and a day and well into another night. Very well, gather round and look at +the remains, and if there's a moral, you are welcome, I am sure. + +Casey awoke just before noon, and went out and held his head under Bill's +garage hydrant, with the water running full stream. He looked up and found +Bill standing there with his hands in his pockets, gazing at Casey +sorrowfully. Casey grinned. You can't down the Irish for very long. + +"How's she comin', Bill?" + +Bill grunted and spat. "She ain't. Not if you mean that car them folks +wished on to you. Well, the tail light's pretty fair, too. And in their +hurry the lady went off and left a pink silk stockin' in the back seat. +The toe's out of it though. Casey, if you wait till you overhaul 'em with +that thing they wheeled in here under the name of a car--" + +"Oh, that's all right, Bill," Casey grunted gamely. "I was goin' to git me +a new car, anyway. Mine wasn't so much. They're welcome." + +Bill grunted and spat again, but he did not say anything. + +"I'll go see Dwyer and see how much I got left," Casey said presently, and +his voice, whether you believe it or not, was cheerful. "I'm going to +ketch that evenin' train to Los." And he added kindly, "C'm on and eat +with me, Bill. I'm hungry." + +Bill shook his head and gave another grunt, and Casey went off without +him. + +After awhile Casey returned. He was grinning, but the grin was, to a +careful observer, a bit sickish. "Say, Bill, talk about poker--I'm off it +fer life. Now look what it done to me, Bill! I puts twenty-five thousand +dollars into the bank--minus two hundred I took in money--and I takes a +check book, and I goes over to The Club and gits into a game. I wears the +check book down to the stubs. I goes back and asks Dwyer how much I got in +the bank, and he looks me over like I was a sick horse he had doubts about +being worth doctorin', and as if he thought he mebby might better take me +out an' shoot me an' put me outa my misery. + +"'Jest one dollar an' sixty-seven cents, Casey,' he says to me, 'if the +checks is all in, which I trust they air!'" Casey got out his plug of +chewing tobacco and pried off a blunted corner. "An' hell Bill! I had that +much in the bank when I started," he finished plaintively. + +"Hell!" repeated Bill in brief, eloquent sympathy. + +Casey set his teeth together and extracted comfort from the tobacco. He +expectorated ruminatively. + +"Well, anyway, I got me some bran' new socks, an' they're paid for, thank +God!" He tilted his old Stetson down over his right eye at his favorite, +Caseyish angle, stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled out into the +sunshine. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"At that," said Bill, grinning a little, "you'll know as much as the +average garage-man. What ain't reformed livery-stable men are second-hand +blacksmiths, and a feller like you, that has drove stage for fifteen +year--" + +"Twenty," Casey Ryan corrected jealously. "Six years at Cripple Creek, and +then four in Yellowstone, and I was up in Montana for over five years, +driving stage from Dry Lake to Claggett and from there I come to Nevada--" + +"Twenty," Bill conceded without waiting to hear more, "knows as much as a +man that has kept livery stable. Then again you've had two Fords--" + +"Oh, I ain't sayin' I can't _run_ a garage," Casey interrupted. "I don't +back down from runnin' anything. But if you'd grubstake me for a year, +instead of settin' up this here garage at Patmos, I'd feel like I had a +better chance of makin' us both a piece uh money. There's a lost gold mine +I been wantin' fer years to get out and look for. I believe I know now +about where to hit for. It ain't lost, exactly. There's an old Injun been +in the habit of packin' in high grade in a lard bucket, and nobody's been +able to trail him and git back to tell about it. He's an old she-bear to +do anything with, but I got a scheme, Bill--" + +"Ferget it," Bill advised. "Now you listen to me, Casey, and lay off that +prospectin' bug for awhile. Here's this long strip of desert from Needles +to Ludlow, and tourists trailin' through like ants on movin' day. And +here's this garage that I can get at Patmos for about half what the +buildin's worth. You ain't got any competition, none whatever. You've got +a cinch. There'll be cars comin' in from both ways with their tongues +hangin' out, outa gas, outa oil, needin' this and needin' that and looking +on that garage as a godsend--" + +"Say, Bill, if I gotta be a godsend I'll go out somewheres and holler +myself to death. Casey's off that godsend stuff for life; you hear me, +Bill--" + +"Glad to hear it, Casey. If you go down there to Patmos to clean up some +money for you 'n' me, you wanta cut out this soft-hearted stuff. Get the +money, see? Never mind being kind; you can be kind when you've got a stake +to be it with. Charge 'em for everything they git, and see to it that the +money's good. Don't you take no checks. Don't trust nobody for anything +whatever. That's your weakness, Casey, and you know it. You're too +dog-gone trusting. You promise me you'll put a bell on your tire tester +and a log chain and drag on your pump and jack--say, you wouldn't believe +the number of honest men that go off for a vacation and steal everything, +by golly, they can haul away! Pliers, wrenches, oil cans, tire testers-- +say, you sure wanta watch 'em when they ask yuh for a tester! You can lose +more tire testers in the garage business--" + +"Well, now, you watch Casey! When it comes to putting things like that +over, they wanta try somebody besides Casey Ryan. You ask anybody if +Casey's easy fooled. But I'd ruther go hunt the Injun Jim mine, Bill." + +"Say, Casey, in this one summer you can make enough money in Patmos to +_buy_ a gold mine. I've been reading the papers pretty careful. Why, they +say tourist travel is the heaviest that ever was known, and this is early +May and it's only beginning. And lemme tell yuh something, Casey. I'd +ruther have a garage in Patmos than a hotel in Los Angeles, and by all +they say that's puttin' it strong. Ever been over the road west uh +Needles, Casey?" + +Casey never had, and Bill proceeded to describe it so that any tourist who +ever blew out a tire there with the sun at a hundred and twenty and +running in high, would have confessed the limitations of his own +vocabulary. + +"And there you are, high and dry, with fifteen miles of the ungodliest, +tire-chewinest road on either side of yuh that America can show. About +like this stretch down here between Rhyolite and Vegas. And hills and +chucks--say, don't talk to me about any Injun packin' gold in a lard +bucket. Why, lemme tell yuh, Casey, if you work it right and don't be so +dog-gone kind-hearted, you'll want a five-ton truck to haul off your +profits next fall. I'd go myself and let you run this place here, only I +got a lot of credit trade and you'd never git a cent outa the bunch. And +then you're wantin' to leave Lund for awhile, anyway." + +"You could git somebody else," Casey suggested half-heartedly. "I kinda +hate to be hobbled to a place like a garage, Bill. And if there's anything +gits my goat, it's patchin' up old tires. I'll run 'em flat long as +they'll stay on, before I'll git out and mend 'em. I'd about as soon go to +jail, Bill, as patch tires for tourists; I--" + +"You don't have to," said Bill, his grin widening. "You sell 'em new +tires, see. There won't be one in a dozen you can't talk into a new tire +or two. Whichever way they're goin', tell 'em the road's a heap worse from +there on than what it was behind 'em. They'll buy new tires--you take it +from me they will. And," he added virtuously, "you'll do 'em no harm +whatever. If you got a car, you need tires, and a new one'll always come +in handy sometime. You know that yourself, Casey. + +"Now, I'll put in an assortment of tires, and I'll trust you to sell 'em. +You and the road they got to travel. Why, when I was in Ludlow, a feller +blew in there with a big brute of a car--36-6 tires. He'd had a blow-out +down the other side of Patmos and he was sore because they didn't have no +tires he could use down there. He bought three tires--_three,_ mind yuh, +and peeled off the bills to pay for 'em! Sa-ay when yuh figure two hundred +cars a day rollin' through, and half of 'em comin' to yuh with grief of +some kind--" + +"It's darn little I know about any car but a Ford," Casey admitted +plaintively. "When yuh come to them complicated ones that you can crawl +behind the wheel and set your boot on a button and holler giddap and +she'll start off in a lope, I don't know about it. A Ford's like a mule or +a burro. You take a monkey wrench and work 'em over, and cuss, and that's +about all there is to it. But you take them others, and I got to admit I +don't know." + +"Well," said Bill, and spat reflectively, "you roll up your sleeves and +I'll learn yuh. It'll take time for the stuff to be delivered, and you can +learn a lot in two or three weeks, Casey, if you fergit that prospectin' +idea and put your mind to it." + +Casey rolled a cigarette and smoked half of it, his eyes clinging +pensively to the barren hills behind Lund. He hunched his shoulders, +looked at Bill and grinned reluctantly. + +"She's a go with me, Bill, if you can't think of no other way to spend +money. I wisht you took to poker more, or minin', or something that's got +action. Stakin' Casey Ryan to a garage business looks kinda foolish to me. +But if you can stand it, Bill, I can. It's kinda hard on the tourists, +don't yuh think?" + +Thus are garages born,--too many of them, as suffering drivers will +testify. Casey Ryan, known wherever men of the open travel and spin their +yarns, famous for his recklessly efficient driving of lurching +stagecoaches in the old days, and for his soft heart and his +happy-go-lucky ways; famous too as the man who invented ungodly +predicaments from which he could extricate himself and be pleased if he +kept his shirt on his back; Casey Ryan as the owner of a garage might +justly be considered a joke pushed to the very limit of plausibility. Yet +Casey Ryan became just that after two weeks of cramming on mechanics and +the compiling of a reference book which would have made a fortune for +himself and Bill if they had thought to publish it. + +"A quort of oil becomes lubrecant and is worth from five to fifteen cents +more per quort when you put it into a two-thousand dollar car or over," +was one valuable bit of information supplied by Bill. Also: "Never cuss or +fight a man getting work done in your place. Shut up and charge him +according to the way he acts." + +It is safe to assume that Bill would make a fortune in the garage business +anywhere, given normal traffic. + +Patmos consists of a water tank on the railroad, a siding where trains can +pass each other, a ten-by-ten depot, telegraph office and express and +freight office, six sweltering families, one sunbaked lodging place with +tent bedrooms so hot that even the soap melts, and the Casey Ryan garage. +I forgot to mention three trees which stand beside the water tank and try +to grow enough at night to make up for the blistering they get during the +day. The highway (Coast to Coast and signed at every crossroads in red +letters on white metal boards with red arrows pointing to the far skyline) +shies away from the railroad at Patmos so that perspiring travelers look +wistfully across two hundred yards or so of lava rock and sand and wish +that they might lie under those three trees and cool off. They couldn't, +you know. It is no cooler under the trees than elsewhere. It merely looks +cooler. + +Even the water tank is a disappointment to the uninitiated. You cannot +drink the water which the pump draws wheezingly up from some deep +reservoir of bad flavors. It is very clear water and it has a sparkle that +lures the unwary, but it is common knowledge that no man ever drank two +swallows of it if he could help himself. So the water supply of Patmos +lies twelve miles away in the edge of the hills, where there is a very +good spring. One of the six male residents of Patmos hauls water in +barrels, at fifty cents a barrel. He makes a living at it, too. + +One other male resident keeps the lodging place,--I avoid the term lodging +house, because this place is not a house. It is a shack with a sign +straddling out over the hot porch to insult the credulity of the +passers-by. The sign says that this place is "The Oasis,"--and the nearest +trees a long rifleshot away, and the coolest water going warm into parched +mouths! + +The Oasis stands over by the highway, alongside Casey's garage, and the +proprietor spends nine tenths of his waking hours sitting on the front +porch and following the strip of shade from the west end to the east end, +and in watching the trains go by, and counting the cars of tourists and +remarking upon the State license plate. + +"There's an outfit from Ioway, maw," he will call in to his wife. "Wonder +where they're headed fer?" His wife will come to the door and look +apathetically at the receding dust cloud, and go back somewhere,--perhaps +to put fresh soap in the tents to melt. Toward evening the cars are very +likely to slow down and stop reluctantly; sunburned, goggled women and men +looking the place over without enthusiasm. It isn't much of a place, to be +sure, but any place is better than none in the desert, unless you have +your own bed and frying pan with you, roped in dusty canvas to the back of +your car. + +Alongside the Oasis stands the garage, and in the garage swelters Casey,-- +during this episode. Just at first Bill came down from Lund and helped him +to arrange and mark prices on his stock of tires and "parts" and +accessories, and to remember the catalogue names for things so that he +would recognize them when a car owner asked for them. + +Casey, I must explain, had evolved a system of his own while driving his +Ford wickedly here and there to the consternation of his fellow men. +Whatever was not a hootin'-annie was a dingbat, and treated accordingly. +The hootin'-annie appeared to be the thing that went wrong, while the +dingbat was the thing the hootin'-annie was attached to. It was perfectly +simple, to Casey and his Ford, but Bill thought it was a trifle limited +and was apt to confuse customers. So Bill remained three days mopping his +face with his handkerchief and explaining things to Casey. After that +Casey hired a heavy-eyed young Mexican to pump tires and fill radiators +and the like, and settled down to make his fortune. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Cars came and cars went, in heat and dust and some tribulation. In a month +Casey had seen the color of every State license plate in the Union, and +some from Canada and Mexico. From Needles way they came, searching their +souls for words to tell Casey what they thought of it as far as they had +gone. And Casey would squint up at them from under the rim of his greasy +old Stetson and grin his Irish grin. + +"Cheer up, the worst is yet to come," he would chant, with never a qualm +at the staleness of the slogan. "How yuh fixed for water? Better fill up +your canteens--yuh don't wanta git caught out between here and Ludlow with +a boilin' radiator and not water enough. Got oil enough? Juan, you look +and see. Can't afford to run low on oil, stranger. No, ma'am, there ain't +any other road--and if there was another road it'd be worse than what this +one is. No, ma'am, you ain't liable to git off'n the road. You can't. +You'd git stuck in the sand 'fore you'd went the length of your car." + +He would walk around them and look at their tires, his hands on his hips +perhaps and his mouth damped shut in deep cogitation. + +"What kinda shape is your extras in?" he would presently inquire. "She's a +tough one, from here on to the next stop. You got a hind tire here that +ain't goin' to last yuh five miles up the road." He would kick the tire +whose character he was blackening. "Better lay in a supply of blow-out +patches, unless you're a mind to invest in a new casing." Very often he +would sell a tire or two, complete with new tubes, before the car moved +on. + +Casey never did things halfway, and Bill had impressed certain things deep +on his mind. He was working with Bill's money and he obeyed Bill's +commands. He never took a check or a promise for his pay, and he never +once let his Irish temper get beyond his teeth or his blackened finger +tips. Which is doing remarkably well for Casey Ryan, as you would admit if +you knew him. + +At the last moment, when the driver was settling himself behind the wheel, +Casey would square his conscience for whatever strain the demands of +business had put upon it. "Wait and take a good drink uh cold water before +yuh start out," he would say, and disappear. He knew that the car would +wait. The man or woman never lived who refused a drink of cold water on +the desert in summer. Casey would return with a pale green glass water +pitcher and a pale green glass. He would grin at their exclamations, and +pour for them water that was actually cold and came from the coolest water +bag inside. Those of you who have never traveled across the desert will +not really understand the effect this would have. Those who have will know +exactly what was said of Casey as that car moved out once more into the +glaring sun and the hot wind and the choking dust. + +Casey always kept one cold water bag and one in process of cooling, and he +would charge as much as he thought they would pay and be called a fine +fellow afterwards. He knew that. He had lived in dry, hot places before, +and he was conscientiously trying to please the public and also make money +for Bill, who had befriended him. You are not to jump to the conclusion, +however, that Casey systematically robbed the public. He did not. He aided +the public, helped the public across a rather bad stretch of country, and +saw to it that the public paid for the assistance. + +Casey saw all sorts and sizes of cars pass to and fro, and most of them +stopped at his door, for gas or for water or oil, or perhaps merely to +inquire inanely if they were on the right road to Needles or to Los +Angeles, as the case might be. Any fool, thought Casey, would know without +asking, since there was no other road, and since the one road was signed +conscientiously every mile or two. But he always grinned good-naturedly +and told them what they wanted him to tell them, and if they shifted money +into his palm for any reason whatever he brought out his green glass +pitcher and his green glass tumbler and gave them a drink all around and +wished them luck. + +There were strip-down Fords that tried to look like sixes, and there were +six-cylinder cars that labored harder than Fords. There were limousines, +sedans, sport cars,--and they all carried suitcases and canvas rolls and +bundles draped over the hoods, on the fenders and piled high on the +running boards. + +Sometimes he would find it necessary to remove a thousand pounds or so of +ill-wrapped bedding from the back of a tonneau before he could get at the +gas tank to fill it, but Casey never grumbled. He merely retied the +luggage with a packer's hitch that would take the greenhorn through his +whole vocabulary before he untied it that night, and he would add two bits +to the price of the gas because his time belonged to Bill, and Bill +expected Casey's time to be paid for by the public. + +One day when it was so hot that even Casey was limp and pale from the +heat, and the proprietor of the Oasis had forsaken the strip of shade on +his porch and had chased his dog out of the dirt hollow it had scratched +under the house and had crawled under there himself, a party pulled slowly +up to the garage and stopped. Casey was inside sitting on the ground and +letting the most recently filled water bag drip down the back of his neck. +He shouted to Juan, but Juan had gone somewhere to find himself a cool +spot for his siesta, so Casey got slowly to his feet and went out to meet +Trouble, sopping his wet hair against the back of his head with the flat +of his hand before he put on his hat. He squinted into the sunshine and +straightway squared himself for business. + +This was a two-ton truck fitted for camping. A tall, lean man whose +overalls hung wide from his suspenders and did not seem to touch his +person anywhere, climbed out and stood looking at the bare rims of two +wheels, as if he had at that moment discovered them. + +"Thinkin' about the price uh tires, stranger?" Casey grinned cheerfully. +"It's lucky I got your size, at that. Fabrics and cords--and the +difference in price is more'n made up in wear. Run yer car inside outa the +sun whilst I change yer grief into joy." + +"I teen havin' hard luck all along," the man complained listlessly. +"Geewhillikens, but it shore does cost to travel!" + +Casey should have been warned by that. Bill would have smelled a purse +lean as the man himself and would have shied a little. But Casey could +meet Trouble every morning after breakfast and yet fail to recognize her +until she had him by the collar. + +"You ask anybody if it don't!" he agreed sympathetically, mentally going +over his rack of tires, not quite sure that he had four in that size, but +hoping that he had five and that he could persuade the man to invest. He +surely needed rubber, thought Casey, as he scrutinized the two casings on +the car. He stood aside while the man backed, turned a wide half-circle +and drove into the grateful shade of the garage. It seemed cool in there +after the blistering sunlight, unless one glanced at Casey's thermometer +which declared a hundred and nineteen with its inexorable red line. + +"Whatcha got there? Goats?" Casey's eyes had left the wheels of the trucks +and dwelt upon a trailer penned round and filled with uneasy animals. + +"Yeah. Twelve, not countin' the little fellers. And m'wife an' six young +ones all told. Makes quite a drag on the ole boat. Knocks thunder outa +tires, too. You say you got my size? We-ell, I guess I got to have 'em, +cost er no cost." + +"Sure you got to have 'em. It's worse ahead than what you been over, an' +if I was you I'd shoe 'er all round before I hit that lava stretch up +ahead here. You could keep them two fer extras in case of accident. Might +git some wear outa them when yuh strike good roads again, but they shore +won't go far in these rocks. You ask anybody." + +"We-ell--I guess mebby I better--I don't see how I'm goin' to git along +any other way, but--" + +Casey had gone to find where Juan had cached himself and to pluck that +apathetic youth from slumber and set him to work. Four casings and tubes +for a two-ton truck run into money, as Casey was telling himself +complacently. He had not yet sold any tires for a two-ton truck, and he +had just two fabrics and two cords, in trade vernacular. He paid no +further attention to the man, since there would be no bickering. When a +man has only two badly chewed tires, and four wheels, argument is +superfluous. + +So Casey mildly kicked Juan awake and after the garage jack, and himself +wheeled out his four great pneumatic tires, and with his jackknife slit +the wound paper covering, and wondered what it was that smelled so +unpleasant. A goat bleated plaintively to remind him of their presence. +Another goat carried on the theme, and the chorus swelled quaveringly and +held to certain minor notes. Within the closed truck a small child +whimpered and then began to cry definitely at the top of its voice. + +Casey looked up from bending over the fourth tire wrapping. "Better let +your folks git out and rest awhile," he invited hospitably. "It's goin' to +take a little time to put these tires on. I got some cold water back +there--help yourself." + +"Well, I'd kinda like to water them goats," the man observed diffidently. +"They ain't had a drop sence early yest-day mornin'. You got water here, +ain't yuh? An' they might graze around a mite whilst we're here. Travelin' +like this, I try to kinda give 'em a chanct when we stop along the road. +It's been an awful trip. We come clear from Wyoming. How far is it from +here to San Jose, Californy?" + +Casey had in the first week learned that it is not wise for a garage man +to confess that he does not know distances. People always asked him how +far it was to some place of which he had never heard, and he had learned +to name figures at random very convincingly. He named now what seemed to +him a sufficient number, and the man said "Gosh!" and went back to let +down the end gate of the trailer and release the goats. "You said you got +water for 'em?" he asked, his tone putting the question in the form of +both statement and request. + +When you are selling four thirty-six-sixes, two of them cords, to a man, +you can't be stingy with a barrel of water, even if it does cost fifty +cents. Casey told Juan to go borrow a tub next door and show the man where +the water barrel stood. Juan, squatted on his heels while he languidly +pumped the jack handle up and down, and seeming pleased than otherwise +when the jack slipped and tilted so that he must lower it and begin all +over again, got languidly to his bare feet and lounged off obediently. +According to Juan's simple philosophy, to obey was better than to dodge +hammers, pliers or monkey wrenches, since Casey's aim was direct and there +was usually considerable force of hard, prospector's muscle behind it. + +Juan was gone a long while, long enough to walk slowly to the station of +Patmos and back again, but he returned with the tub, and the incessant +bleating of the goats stilled intermittently while they drank. By this +time Casey had forgotten the goats, even with the noise of them filling +his ears. + +Casey was down on his knees hammering dents out of the rim of a front +wheel so that the new tire could go on. Four of the six offspring crowded +around him, getting in the way of Casey's hammer and asking questions +which no man could answer and remain normal. Casey had, while he unwrapped +the casings, made a mental reduction in the price. Even Bill would throw +off a little, he told himself, on a sale like this. Mentally he had +deducted twenty-five dollars from the grand total, but before he had that +rim straightened he said to himself that he'd be darned if he discounted +more than twenty. + +"Humbolt an' Greeley, you git away from there an' git out here an' git +these goats a-grazin'," the lean customer called sharply from the rear of +the garage. Humbolt and Greeley hastily proceeded to git, which left two +unkempt young girls standing there at Casey's elbow so that he could not +expectorate where he pleased, or swear at all. Wherefore Casey was +appreciably handicapped in his work, and he wished that he were away out +in the hills digging into the side of a gulch somewhere, sun-blistered, +broke, more than half starving on short rations and with rheumatism in his +right shoulder and a bunion giving him a limp in the left foot. He could +still be happy-- + +"_What_ yuh doin' that for?" the shrillest voice repeated three times +rapidly, with a sniffle now and then by way of punctuation. + +"To make little girls ask questions," grunted Casey, glancing around him +for the snub-nosed, double-headed, four-pound hammer which he called +affectionately by the name Maud. The biggest girl had Maud. She had turned +it upright on its handle and was sitting on the head of it. When Casey +reached for it and got it, without apology or warning, the girl sprawled +backward and howled. + +"Porshea, you git up from there! _Shame_ on yuh!" A shrill woman voice, +very much like the younger voices except that it was worn rough and +querulous with age and many hardships, called down from the truck. Casey +looked up, startled, and tried to remember just what he had said before +the girls appeared to silence him. The woman was very large both in height +and in bulk, and she was heaving herself out of the truck in a way that +reminded Casey oddly of a disgruntled hippopotamus he had once watched +coming out of its tank at a circus. Casey moved modestly away and did not +look, after that first glance. A truck, you will please understand, is not +a touring car, and ladies who have passed the two-hundred-pound notch on +the scales should remain up there and call for a step-ladder. + +She descended, and the jack slipped and let the car down with a six-inch +lurch. Casey is remarkably quick in his motions. He turned, jumped three +feet and caught the lady's full weight in his arms as she was falling +toward him. Probably he would have caught it anyway, but then there would +have been little left of Casey, and his troubles would have been finished +instead of being just begun. + +He had just straightened the jack and was beginning to lift the bare wheel +off the ground again when the fifth offspring descended. Casey thought +again of the hippopotamus in its infancy. The fifth was perhaps fifteen, +but she had apparently reached her full growth, which was very nearly that +of her mother. She had also reached the age of self-consciousness, and she +simpered at Casey when he assisted her to alight. + +Casey was not bashful, nor was he over-fastidious; men who have lived long +in the wilderness are not, as a rule. Still, he had his little whims, and +he failed to react to the young lady's smile. His pale blue eyes were keen +to observe details and even Casey did not approve of "high-water marks" on +feminine beauty. + +Well, that brought the whole family to view save the youngest who had +evidently dropped asleep and was left in the truck. Casey went to work on +the wheel again, after directing mother and daughter to the desert water +bag which swung suspended from ropes in the rear of the garage. + +Ten minutes later a dusty limousine stopped for gas and oil, and Casey +left his work to wait upon them. There was a very good-looking girl +driving, and the man beside her was undoubtedly only her father, and Casey +was humanly anxious to be remembered pleasantly when they drove on. He +asked them to wait and have a drink of cold water, and was deeply +humiliated to find that both water bags were empty,--the overgrown girl +having used the last to wash her face. Casey didn't like her any the +better for that, or for having accentuated the high-water mark, or for +forcing him to apologize to the pretty driver of the limousine. + +He refilled the water bags and remarked pointedly that it would take an +hour for the water to cool in them and that they must be left alone in the +meantime. He did not look at the girl, but from the tail of his eye he saw +her pull a contemptuous grimace at him when she thought his back safely +turned. + +Wherefore Casey finished the putting on of the fourth tire pretty well up +toward the boiling point in temper and in blood. I have not mentioned half +the disagreeable trifles that nagged at him during the interval,--his +audience, for instance, that hovered so close that he could not get up +without colliding with one of them, so full of aimless talk that he +mislaid tools in his distraction. Juan was a pest and Casey thought +malevolently how he would kill him when the job was finished. Juan went +around like one in a trance, his heavy-lidded, opaque eyes following every +movement of the girl, which kept her younger sisters giggling. But even +with interruptions and practically no assistance the truck stood at last +with four good tires on its wheels, and Casey wiped a perspiring face and +let down the jack, thankful that the job was done; thinking, too, that ten +dollars would be a big reduction on the price. He had to count his time, +you see. + +"Well, how much does it come to, mister?" the lord of the flock asked +dolefully, when Casey called him in and told him that he could go at any +time now. + +Casey told him, and made the price only five dollars lower than the full +amount, just because he hated to see men walk around loose in their pants, +with their stomachs sagged in as though they never were fed a square meal +in their lives. + +"It's a pile uh money to pay out for rubber that's goin' to be chewed off +on these here danged rocks," sighed the man. + +Casey grunted and began collecting his tools, rescuing the best hammer he +had from one of the girls. "I wisht it was all profit," he said. "Or even +a quarter of it. I'm sellin' 'em close as I can an' git paid fer my time +puttin' 'em on." + +"Oh, I ain't kickin' about the price. I'm satisfied with that." Men +usually are, you notice, when they want credit. "Now I tell yuh. I ain't +got that much money with me--" + +Casey spat and pointed his thumb toward a sign which he had nailed up just +the day before, thinking that it would save both himself and his customers +some embarrassment. The sign, except that the letters were not even, was +like this: + + "CHECKS MUST BE CASHED + BY THE ONER + OR THEY AIN'T CASHED" + +The lean man read and looked at Casey humbly. "Well, I ain't never wrote a +check in my life. Now I tell yuh. I ain't got the money to pay for these +tires, but I tell yuh what I'll do; I'm goin' on up to my brother--he's +got a prune orchard a little ways out from San Jose, an' he's well fixed. +Now I'll write out an order on my brother, fer him to send you the money. +He's good fer it, an' he'll do it. I'm goin' on up to help him work his +place on shares, so I c'n straighten up with him when I get--" + +Casey had picked up the jack again and was regretfully but firmly +adjusting it under the front axle. "That ain't the first good prospect I +ever had pinch out on me," he observed, trying to be cheerful over it. He +could even grin while he squinted up at the lean man. + +"Well, now, you can't hardly refuse to trust a man in my fix!" + +"Think I can't?" Casey was working the jack handle rapidly and the words +came in jerks. "You stand there and watch me." He spun the wheel free and +reached for his socket wrench. "I wisht you'd spoke your piece before I +set these dam nuts so tight," he added. + +The lean man turned and looked inquiringly at his wife. "Ain't I honest, +maw, and don't I pay my debts? An' ain't my brother Joe honest, an' don't +he pay _his_ debts? Would you think the man lived, maw, that would set a +man with a fambly afoot out on the desert like this?" + +"Nev' mind, now, paw. Give him time to think what it means, an' he won't. +He's got a heart." + +The baby awoke and cried then, and Casey's heart squirmed in his chest. +But he thought of Bill and stiffened his business nerve. + +"I got a heart; sure I've got a heart. You ask anybody if Casey's got a +heart. But I also got a pardner." + +"Your pardner's likely gen'l'man enough to trust us, if you ain't," maw +said sharply. + +"Yes, ma'am, he is. But he's got these tires to pay fer on the first of +the month. It ain't a case uh not trustin'; it's a case of git the money +or keep the tires. I wisht you had the money--she shore is a good bunch uh +rubber I let yuh try on." + +They wrangled with him while he removed the tires he had so painstakingly +adjusted, but Casey was firm. He had to be. There is no heart in the +rubber trust; merely a business office that employs very efficient +bookkeepers, who are paid to see that others pay. He removed the new +tires; that was his duty to Bill. By then it was five o'clock when all +good mechanics throw down their pliers and begin to shed their coveralls. + +Casey was his own man after five o'clock. He rolled the tattered tires out +into the sunlight, let out the air and yanked them from their rims. "Come +on here and help, and I'll patch up your old tires so you c'n go on," he +offered good-naturedly, in spite of the things the woman had said to him. +"The tire don't live that Casey can't patch if it comes to a showdown." + +Before he was through with them he had donated four blow-out patches to +the cause, and about five hours of hard labor. The Smith family--yes, they +were of the tribe of Smith--were camped outside and quarreling +incessantly. The goats, held in spasmodic restraint by Humbolt and Greeley +and a little spotted dog which Casey had overlooked in his first +inventory, were blatting inconsequently in the sage behind the garage. +Casey cooked a belated supper and hoped that the outfit would get an early +start, and that their tires would hold until they reached Ludlow, at +least. "Though I ain't got nothin' against Ludlow," he added to himself +while he poured his coffee. + +"Maw wants to know if you got any coffee you kin lend," the shrill voice +of Portia sounded unexpectedly at his elbow. Casey jumped,--an indication +that his nerves had been unstrung. + +"Lend? Hunh! Tell 'er I give her a cupful." Then, because Casey had +streaks of wisdom, he closed the doors of the garage and locked them from +the inside. Cars might come and honk as long as they liked; Casey was +going to have his sleep. + +Very early he was awakened by the bleating, the barking, the crying and +the wrangling of the Smiths. He pulled his tarp over his ears, hot as it +was, to shut out the sound. After a long while he heard the stutter of the +truck motor getting warmed up. There was a clamor of voices, a bleating of +goats, the barking of the spotted dog, and the truck moved off. + +"Thank Gawd!" muttered Casey, and went to sleep again. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +At two o'clock the next afternoon, the Smith outfit came back, limping +along on three bare rims. Casey's jaw dropped a little when he saw them +coming, but nature had made him an optimist. Now, perhaps, that +hungry-looking Smith would dig into his pocket and find the price of new +tires. It had been Casey's experience that a man who protested the loudest +that he was broke would, if held rigidly to the no-credit rule, find the +money to pay for what he must have. In his heart he believed that Smith +had money dangling somewhere in close proximity to his lank person. + +But if Smith had any money he did not betray the fact. He asked quite +humbly for the loan of tools, and tube cement, and more blow-out patches, +and set awkwardly to work mending his tattered tires. And once more Casey +sent Juan to borrow the Oasis tub, and watered the goats and picked his +way amongst the Smith offsprings and pretended to be deaf half of the +time, and said he didn't know the other half. His green glass water +pitcher was practically useless to travelers, and Juan was worse. A goat +got away from Humbolt and Greeley and went exploring in the corner of the +garage where Casey lived, and ate three pounds of bacon. You know what +bacon costs. Maw Smith became acquainted with Casey and followed him about +with a detailed recital of her family history, which she thought would +make a real exciting book. What Casey thought I must not tell you. + +That night Casey patched tires and tubes. He had to, you see, or go crazy. +Next morning he listened to the departure of the Smith family and the +Smith goats, and prayed that their tires would hold out even as far as +Bagdad,--though I don't see why, since there was no garage in Bagdad, or +anything else but a flag station. + +That afternoon at three o'clock, they came back again! And Casey neglected +to send Juan after the tub to water the goats. Wherefore paw sent Humbolt, +and watered the goats himself from Casey's barrel and seemed peevish +because he must. Maw Smith came after coffee again, and helped herself +with no more formality than a shrill, "I'm borrying some more coffee!" +sent to Casey out in front. + +That night Casey patched tires and tubes. + +At six o'clock Smith pounded on the back door and called in to Casey that +he would have to have some gas before he started. So Casey pulled on his +pants and gave Smith some gas, and paid the garage out of his own pocket. +He didn't swear, either. He was past that. + +That afternoon Casey watched apprehensively the road that led west. It was +two-thirty when he saw them coming. Casey set his jaw and went in and hid +every blow-out patch he had in stock, and all the cement. + +Smith went into camp, sent Greeley after the Oasis tub and watered the +goats from one of Casey's water barrels. Casey went on with his work, +waiting upon customers who paid, and tried not to think of the Smiths, +although most of them were underfoot or at his elbow. + +"Them tires you mended ain't worth a cuss," Smith came around finally to +complain. "I didn't get ten mile out with 'em before I had another +blowout. I tell yuh what I'll do. I'll trade yuh goats fer tires. I got +two milk goats that's worth a hundred dollars apiece, mebby more, the way +goats is selling on the Coast. I hate to part with 'em, but I gotta do +somethin'. Er else you'll have to trust me till I c'n get to my brother +an' git the money. It ain't," he added grievedly, "as if I wasn't honest +enough to pay my debts." + +"Nope," said Casey wearily, "I don't want yer goats. I've had more goats +a'ready than I want. And tires has gotta roll outa this shop paid for. We +talked that all over, the first night." + +"What am I goin' to do, then?" Smith inquired in exasperation. + +"Hell; I dunno," Casey returned grimly. "I quit guessin' day before +yesterday." + +Smith went off to confer with maw, and Casey overheard some very harsh +statements made concerning himself. Maw Smith was so offended that she +refused to borrow coffee from Casey that night, and she called her +children out of his garage and told them she would warm their ears for +them if they went near him again. Hearing which Casey's features relaxed a +little. He could even meet customers with his accustomed grin when Smith +in his anger sent the goats over to the water tank next day, refusing to +show any friendship for Casey by emptying a water barrel for him. But he +had to fire Juan for pouring gasoline into the radiator of a big sedan, +and later he had to stalk that lovesick youth into the very camp of the +Smiths and lead him back by the collar, and search him for stolen tools. +He recovered twice as many as you would believe a Mexican's few garments +could conceal. + +Casey was harassed for two days by the loud proximity of the Smiths, but +not one of them deigned to speak to him or to show any liking for him +whatever, beyond helping themselves superciliously to the contents of his +water barrel. On the morning of the third day the lean man presented his +thin shadow and then himself at the front door of the garage, with a +letter in his hand and a hopeful look on his face. + +"Well, mebby I c'n talk business to yuh now an' have somethin' to go on," +he began abruptly. "I went an' sent off a telegraft to my brother in San +Jose about you, and he's wrote a letter to yuh. My brother's a business +man. You c'n see that much fer yourself. An' mebby you'll see your way +clear t' help me leave this dod-rotten hole. Here's yer letter." + +Casey held himself neutral while he read the letter. +As it happens that I have a copy, here it is: + + (Printed Letterhead) + + VISTA GRANDE RANCHO + + Smith Bros. + + San Jose, Calif. + +_Garage Owner, Patmos, Calif._ + +Dear Sir: I am informed that my brother Eldreth William Smith, having +suffered the mishap to lose his tires at your place or thereabouts, and +having the misfortune to fall short of immediate funds with which to pay +cash for replacement, has been denied credit at your hands. + +I regret that because of business requirements in my own business it is +impossible for me to place the amount necessary at his immediate disposal. +It is therefore my advise that you lend to my brother Eldreth William +Smith such money or moneys as will be necessary to purchase railroad +tickets for himself and family from Patmos to this place, and + +Furthermore that you take as security for said loan such motor truck and +equipment etc. as he has now stored at your place of business. I am aware +of the fact that a motor truck in any running condition would amply secure +such loans as would purchase tickets from Patmos to San Jose, and I hereby +enclose note for same, duly made out in blank and signed by me, which +signature will be backed by the signature of my brother. Upon receiving +from you such money as he may require he will duly deliver note and +security duly signed and filled with the amount. I trust this will be +perfectly satisfactory to you as amply securing you for the loan of the +desired amount. + + Thanking you in advance, + + Yours very Truly, + + J. Paul Smith. + +In spite of himself, Casey was impressed. The very Spanish name of the +prune orchard impressed him, and so did the formal business terms used by +J. Paul Smith; and that "thanking you in advance" seemed to place him +under a moral obligation too great to shirk. There was the note, too,-- +heavy green paper with a stag's head printed on it, and looking almost +like a check. + +"Well, all right, if it don't cost too much and the time don't run too +long," surrendered Casey reluctantly. "How much--" + +"Fare's a little over twenty-five dollars, an' they'll be four full fares +an' three half. I guess mebby I better have a hundred an' seventy-five +anyway, so'st we kin eat on the way." + +Casey chanced to have almost that much coming to him out of the business, +so that he would not be lending Bill's money. He watched the lean Smith +fill in the amount and sign the note, identifying the truck by its engine +and license numbers, and he went and borrowed fifteen dollars from the +proprietor of the Oasis and made up the amount. There was a train at noon, +and from his garage door he watched the Smith family start off across the +lava rocks to the depot, each one laden with bundles and disreputable +grips, the spotted dog trotting optimistically ahead of the party with his +pink tongue draped over the right side of his mouth. Smith turned, the +baby in his arms, and called back casually to Casey: + +"Yuh better tie up them two milk goats when yuh milk 'em. They won't stand +if yuh don't." + +Casey's jaw sagged. He had not thought of the goats. Indeed, the last two +days they had not troubled him except by their bleating at dawn. Humbolt +and Greeley had grazed them over by the railroad track so that they could +watch the trains go by. Casey looked and saw that the goats were still +over there where they had been driven early. He took off his hat and +rubbed his palm reflectively over the back of his head, set the hat on his +head with a pronounced tilt over one eyebrow, and reached for his plug of +tobacco. + +"Oh, darn the goats! Me milkin' goats! Well, now, Casey Ryan never milked +no goats, an' he ain't goin' to milk no goats! You can ask anybody if they +think't he will." + +Casey was very busy that day, and he had no dull-eyed Juan to do certain +menial tasks about the cars that stopped before his garage. Nevertheless +he kept an eye on the station of Patmos until the westbound train had come +and had departed, and on the rough road between the railroad and the +garage for another half hour, until he was sure that the Smith family were +not coming back. Then he went more cheerfully about his work, now and then +glancing, perhaps, at the truck which had been driven into the rear of the +garage where it was very much in his way, but was safe from pilfering +fingers. It was not such a bad truck, give it new tires. Casey had already +figured the price at which he could probably sell it, on an easy payment +plan, to the man who hauled water for Patmos. It was more than the amount +of his loan, naturally. By noon he was rather hoping the "Smith Bros." +would fail to take up that note. + +Casey, you see, was not counting the goats at all. He had a vague idea +that, while they were nominally a part of the security, they were actually +of no importance whatever. They would run loose until Smith came after +them, he guessed. He did not intend to milk any nanny goats, so that +settled the goat question for Casey. + +Casey simply did not know anything about goats. He ought to have used a +little logic and not so much happy-go-lucky "t'ell with the goats." That +is all very well, so far as it goes, and we all know that everybody says +it and thinks it. But it does, not settle the problem. It never occurred +to Casey, for instance, that the going of Humbolt and Greeley and the +little spotted dog would make any difference. It really did make a great +deal, you see. And it never occurred to Casey that goats are domesticated +animals after they have been hauled around the country for weeks and weeks +in a trailer to a truck, or that they will come back to the only home they +know. + +I don't know how long it takes goats to fill up. I never kept a goat or +goats. And I don't know how long they will stand around and blat before +they start something. I don't know much more about goats than Casey, or +didn't, at least, until he told me. By that time Casey knew a lot more, I +suspect, than he could put into words. + +Casey says that he heard them blatting around outside, but he was busy +trying to straighten a radius rod--Casey _said_ he was taking the kinks +outa that hootin'-annie that goes behind the front ex and turns the +dingbats when you steer--for a man who walked back and forth and slapped +his hands together nervously and kept asking how long it was going to +take, and how far it was to Barstow, and whether the road from there up +across the Mojave was in good condition, and whether the Death Valley road +out from Ludlow went clear through the valley and was a cut-off north, or +whether it just went into the valley and stopped. Casey says that the only +time he ever was in Death Valley it was with a couple of burros and that +he like to have stayed there. He got to telling the man about his trip +into Death Valley and how he just did get out by a scratch. + +So he didn't pay any attention to the goats until he went back after some +cold water for the white little woman in the car, that looked all tuckered +out and scared. It was then he found the whole corner chewed off one water +bag and the other water bag on the ground and a lot more than the corner +gone. And the billy was up on his hind feet with his horns caught in the +fullest barrel, and was snorting and snuffling in a drowning condition and +tilting the barrel perilously. The other goats were acting just like plain +damn goats, said Casey, and merely looking for trouble without having +found any. + +Casey says he had to call the Oasis man to help him get Billy out of the +barrel, and that even then he had to borrow a saw and saw off one horn-- +either that, or cave in the barrel with Maud--and he needed that barrel +worse than the billy goat needed two horns; but he told me that if he'd +had Maud in his two hands just then he sure would have caved in the goat. + +At that, the nervous man got away without paying Casey, which I think +rankled worse than a spoiled barrel of water. + +Casey told me that he aged ten years in the next two weeks, and lost +eighty-nine dollars and a half in damages and wages, not counting the two +water bags he had to replace out of his stock, at nearly four dollars +wholesale price. When he chased the goats out of his back door they went +around and came in at the front, determined, he supposed, to bed down near +the truck. + +It was late before that occurred to him, and when it did he cranked up and +drove the truck a hundred yards down the road that led to the spring. The +goats did not follow as he expected, but stood around the trailer and +blatted. Casey went back and hooked on the trailer and drove again down +the road. The goats would not follow, and he went back to find that Billy +had managed to push open the back door and had led his flock into Casey's +kitchen. There was no kitchen left but the little camp stove, and that was +bent so that it stood skew-gee, Casey said, and developed a habit of +toppling over just when his coffee came to a boil. + +Casey told me that he had to barricade himself in his garage that night, +and he swore that Billy stood on his hind feet and stared at him all night +through the window in spite of wrenches and pliers hailing out upon him. +However that may be, Billy couldn't have stood there all night, unless +Casey got his dates mixed. For at six o'clock the Oasis man came over, +stepping high and swinging his fists, and told Casey that them damn goats +had et all the bedding out of one tent and the soap, towel and one pillow +out of another, and what was Casey going to do about it? + +Casey did not know,--and he was famous for his resourcefulness too. I +think he paid for the bedding before the thing was settled. + +Casey says that after that it was just one thing after another. He told me +that he never would have believed twelve goats could cover so much +cussedness in a day. He said he couldn't fill a radiator but some goat +would be chewing the baggage tied behind the car, or Billy would be +rooting suitcases off the running board. One party fell in love with a +baby goat and Casey in a moment of desperation told them they could have +it. But he was sorry afterward, because the mother stood and blatted at +him reproachfully for four days and nights without stopping. + +Casey swears that he picked up and threw two tons of rocks every day, and +he has no idea how many tons the six families of Patmos heaved at and +after the goats. When they weren't going headfirst into barrels of water +they were chewing something not meant to be chewed. Casey asserts that it +is all a bluff about goats eating tin cans. They don't. He says they never +touched a can all the while he had them. He says devastated Patmos wished +they would, and leave the two-dollar lace curtains alone, and clotheslines +and water barrels and baggage. He says many a party drove off with chewed +bedding rolls and didn't know it, and that he didn't tell them, either. + +You're thinking about Juan, I know. Well, Casey thought of Juan the first +day, and took the trouble to hunt him up and hire him to herd the goats. +But Juan developed a bad case of sleeping sickness, Casey says, which +unfortunately was not contagious to goats. He swears that he never saw one +of those goats lying down, though he had seen pictures of goats lying down +and had a vague idea that they chewed their cuds. Casey tried to be funny, +then. He looked at me and grinned, and observed, "Hunh! Goats don't chew +cuds. That's all wrong. They chew _duds._ You ask anybody in Patmos." So +Juan slept under sagebushes and grease-wood, and the goats did not. + +Casey declares that he stood it for two weeks, and that it took all he +could make in the garage to pay the six families of Patmos for the damage +wrought by his security. He lost fifteen pounds of flesh and every friend +he had made in the place except the man who hauled water, and he liked it +because he was getting rich. Once Casey had a bright idea, and with much +labor and language he loaded the goats into the trailer and had the +water-hauler take them out to the hills. But that didn't work at all. Part +of the flock came back afoot, from sheer homesickness, and the rest were +hauled back because they were ruining the spring which was Patmos' sole +water supply. + +Casey would have shot the goats, but he couldn't bring himself to do +anything that would offend J. Paul Smith of the _Vista Grande Rancho._ +Whenever he read the letter J. Paul Smith had written him he was ashamed +to do anything that would lower him in the estimation of J. Paul Smith, +who trusted him and took it for granted that he would do the right thing +and do it with enthusiasm. + +"If he hadn't wrote so dog-gone polite!" Casey complained to me. "And if +he hadn't went an' took it for granted I'd come through. But a man can't +turn down a feller that wrote the way he done. Look at that letter! A +college perfessor couldn't uh throwed together no better letter than that. +And that there 'Thanking you in advance'--a feller _can't_ throw a man +down when he writes that way. You ask anybody." Casey's tone was one of +reminiscent injury, as if J. Paul Smith had indeed taken a mean advantage +of him. + +One day Casey reached the limit of his endurance,--or perhaps of the +endurance of Patmos. There were not enough male residents to form a mob +strong enough to lynch Casey, but there was one woman who had lost a sofa +pillow and two lace curtains; Casey did not say much about her, but I +gathered that he would as soon be lynched as remonstrated with again by +that woman. "Sufferin' Sunday! I'd shore hate to be her husband. You ask +anybody!" sighed Casey when he was telling me. + +Casey moralized a little. "Folks used to look at the goats that I'd maybe +just hazed off into the brush fifty yards or so with a thousand pounds +mebby of rocks, an' some woman in goggles would say, 'Oh, an' you keep +goats! How nice!' like as if it were something peaceful an' homelike to +keep goats! Hunh! Lemme tell yuh; never drive past a place that _looks_ +peaceful, and jump at the idea it _is_ peaceful. They may be a woman +behind them vines poisinin' 'er husband's father. How could them darn +tourists tell'what was goin' on in Patmos? They seen the goats pertendin' +to graze, an' keepin' an eye peeled till my back was turned, an' they +thought it was _nice_ to keep goats. Hunh!" + +At last Casey could bear no more. He gathered together enough hardwood, +three-inch crate slats to make twelve crates, and he worked for three +nights, making them. And Casey is no carpenter. After that he worked for +three days, with all the men in Patmos to help him, getting the goats into +the crates and loaded on the truck. Then he drove over to the station and +asked for tags, and addressed the crates to J. Paul Smith, _Vista Grande +Rancho,_ San Jose, Calif. Then he discovered that he could not send them +except by express, and that he could not send them by express unless he +prepaid the charges. And the charges on goats sent by express, was, as +Casey put it, a holy fright. + +But he had to do it. Patmos had been led to believe that he would send +those goats off on the train, and Casey did not know what would happen if +he failed. There were the heads of the six families, and all the children +who were of walking age, grouped around the crates and Casey expectantly. +Casey went back to the garage safe and got what money he had, borrowed the +balance from the male citizens of Patmos and prepaid the express. Patmos +helped to load them into the first express car going west, and Casey felt, +he said, as if some one had handed him a million dollars in dimes. + +Casey seemed to think that ended the story, but I am like the rest of you. +I wanted to know what the Smith family did, and J. Paul Smith, and whether +Casey kept the truck and sold it to the man who hauled water. + +"Who? Me? Say! D'you ever know Casey Ryan to ever come out anywheres but +at the little end uh the horn? Ain't I the bag holder pro tem?" I don't +know what he meant by that. I think he was mistaken in the meaning of "pro +tem." + +"You ask anybody. Say, I got a letter sayin' in a gen'ral way that I'm a +thief an' a cutthroat an' a profiteer an' so on, an' that I would have to +pay fer the goat that was missin'--that there was the one I give away--an' +that the damages to the billy goat was worth twenty-five dollars and same +would be deducted from the amount of the loan. _Darn_ these fancy word +slingers!" said Casey. "An' the day before the note come due, here comes +that shoestring in pants with the money to pay the note minus the damages, +and four new tires fer the truck! Yessir, wouldn't buy tires off me, even! +Could yuh beat that fer gall? And he wouldn't hardly speak." + +Casey grinned and got his plug of tobacco and inspected the corners +absently before he bit into it. "But I got even with 'im," he added. "I +laid off till he got his tires on--an' I wouldn't lend him no tools to put +'em on with, neither. And then I looked up an' down the road an' seen +there was no dust comin' an' we wouldn't be interrupted, an' I went up to +the old skunk an' I says, 'I got a bill to colleck off you. _Thankin' you +in advance!'_ an' then I shore collected. You ask anybody in Patmos. Say, +I bet he drove by-guess-an'-by-gosh to the orange belt, anyway, the way +his eyes was swellin' up when he left!" + +I mentioned his promise to Bill, that he would not fight a customer. Casey +spat disgustedly. "Hell! He wasn't no customer! Didn't he ship his rubber +in by express, ruther'n to buy off me?" He grinned retrospectively and +looked at his knuckles, one of which showed a patch of new skin, pink and +yet tender. + +"'Thankin' you in advance!' that's just what I told 'im. An' I shore got +all I thanked 'im for! You ask anybody in Patmos. They seen 'im +afterwards." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +"Look there!" Casey rose from the ground where he had been sitting with +his hands clasped round his drawn-up knees. He pointed with his pipe to a +mountain side twelve miles away but looking five, even in the gloom of +early dusk. "Look at that, will yuh! Whadda yuh say that is, just makin' a +guess? A fire, mebby?" + +"Camp fire. Some prospector boiling coffee in a dirty lard bucket, maybe." + +Casey snorted. "It's a darn big fire to boil a pot uh coffee! Recollect, +it's twelve miles over to that mountain. A bonfire a mile off wouldn't +look any bigger than that. Would it now?" His tone was a challenge to my +truthfulness. + +"Wel-l, I guess it wouldn't, come to think of it." + +"Guess? You know darn well it wouldn't. You watch that there fire. I ain't +over there--but if that ain't the devil's lantern, I'll walk on my hands +from here over there an' find out for yuh." + +"I'd have to go over there myself to discover whether you're right or +wrong. But if a fellow can trust his eyes, Casey--" + +"Well, you can't," Casey said grimly, still standing, his eyes fixed upon +the distant light. "Not here in this country, you can't. You ask anybody. +You don't trust your eyes when yuh come to a dry lake an' you see water, +an' the bushes around the shore reflected in the water, an' mebby a boat +out in the middle. _Do_ yuh? You don't trust your eyes when you look at +them hills. They look close enough to walk over to 'em in half or three +quarters of an hour. _Don't_ they? An' didn't I take yuh in my Ford +auto-_mo_-bile, an' wasn't it twelve? An' d'yuh trust your eyes when yuh +look up, an' it looks like you could knock stars down with a tent pole, +like yuh knock apples off'n trees? Sure, you can't trust your eyes! When +yuh hit the desert, oletimer, yuh pack two of the biggest liars on earth +right under your eyebrows." He chuckled at that. "An' most folks pack +another one under their noses, fer luck. Now lookit over there! Prospector +nothin'. It's the devil out walkin' an' packin' a lantern. He's mebby +found some shin bones an' a rib or two an' mebby a chewed boot, an' he +stopped there to have his little laugh. Lemme tell yuh. You mark where +that fire is. An' t'-morra, if yuh like, I'll take yuh over there. If you +c'n find a track er embers on that slope--Gawsh!" + +We both stood staring; while he talked, the light had blinked out like +snapping an electric switch. And that was strange because camp fires take +a little time in the dying. I stepped inside the tent, fumbled for the +field glasses and came out, adjusting the night focus. Casey's squat, +powerful form stood perfectly still where I had left him, his face turned +toward the mountain. There was no fire on the slope. Beyond, hanging black +in the sky, a thunder cloud pillowed up toward the peak of the mountain, +pushing out now and then to blot a star from the purple. Now and then a +white, ragged gash cut through, but no sound reached up to where we were +camped on the high mesa that was the lap of Starvation Mountain. I will +explain that Casey had come back to Starvation to see if there were not +another good silver claim lying loose and needing a location monument. We +faced Tippipah Range twelve miles away,--and to-night the fire on its +slope. + +"Lightning struck a yucca over there and burned it, probably," I hazarded, +seeking the spot through the glasses. + +"Yeah--only there ain't no yuccas on that slope. That's a limestone ledge +formation an' there ain't enough soil to cover up a t'rantler. And the +storm's over back of the Tippipahs anyhow. It ain't on 'em." + +"It's burning up again--" + +"Hit another yucca, mebby!" + +"It looks--" I adjusted the lenses carefully "--like a fire, all right. +There's a reddish cast. I can't see any flames, exactly, but--" I suppose +I gave a gasp, for Casey laughed outright. + +"No, I guess yuh can't. Flames don't travel like that--huh?" + +The light had moved suddenly, so that it seemed to jump clean away from +the field of vision embraced by the glasses. I had a little trouble in +picking it up again. I had to take down the glasses and look; and then I +left them down and watched the light with my naked, lying eyes. They did +lie; they must have. They said that a camp fire had abruptly picked itself +up bodily and was slipping rapidly as a speeding automobile up a bare +white slide of rock so steep that a mountain goat would give one glance +and hunt up an easier trail. All my life I have had intimate acquaintance +with camp fires; I have eaten with them, slept with them, coaxed them in +storm, watched them from afar. I thought I knew all their tricks, all +their treacheries. I have seen apparently cold ashes blow red quite +unexpectedly and fire grass and bushes and go racing away,--I have fought +them then with whatever came to hand. + +I admit that an odd, prickly sensation at the base of my scalp annoyed me +while I watched this fire race up the slope and leave no red trail behind +it. Then it disappeared, blinked out again. I opened my mouth to call +Casey's attention to it--though I felt that he was watching it with that +steady, squinting stare of his that never seems to wink or waver for a +second--but there it was again, come to a stop just under the crest of the +mountain where the white slide was topped by a black rim capped with +bleak, bare rock like a crude skullcap on Tippipah. The fire flared, +dimmed, burned bright again, as though some one had piled on dry brush. I +caught up the glasses and watched the light for a full minute. They were +good glasses,--I ought to have seen the flicker of flames; but I did not. +Just the reddish yellow glow and no more. + +"Must be fox fire," I said, feeling impatient because that did not satisfy +me at all, but having no other explanation that I could think of handy. +"I've seen wonderful exhibitions of it in low, swampy ground--" + +Casey spat into the dark. "I never heard of nobody boggin' down, up there +on Tippipah." He put his cold pipe in his mouth, removed it and gestured +with it toward the light. "I've seen jack-o'-lanterns myself. You know +darn well that ain't it; not up on them rocks, dry as a bone. A minute ago +you said it was lightnin' burnin' a yucca. Why don't yuh come out in the +open, an' say you don't _know_? Mebby you'll come closer to believin' what +I told yuh about that devil's lantern I follered. He's lit another one-- +kinda hopin' we'll be fool enough to fall for it. You come inside where +yuh can't watch it. That's what does the damage--watchin' and wonderin' +and then goin' to see. I bet you wanta strike out right now and see just +what it is." + +I didn't admit it, but Casey had guessed exactly what was in my mind. I +was itching with curiosity and trying to ignore the creepiness of it. +Casey went into the tent and lighted the candle and proceeded to unlace +his high hiking boots. "You come on in and go to bed. Don't yuh pay no +attention to that light--that's what the Old Boy plays for first, every +time; workin' your curiosity up. You ask anybody. He played me fer a +sucker and I told yuh about it, and yuh thought Casey was stringin' yuh. +Well, I can take a joke from the devil himself and never let out a yip-- +but once is enough for Casey! I'm goin' to bed. Let him set out there and +hold his darn lantern and be damned; he ain't going to make nothin' off'n +Casey Ryan this time. You can ask anybody if Casey Ryan bites twice on the +same hook." + +He got into bed and turned his face to the wall with a finality I could +not ignore. I let it go at that, but twice I got up and went outside to +look. There burned the light, diabolically like a signal fire on the peak, +where no fire should be. I began to seek explanations, but the best of +them were vague. Electricity playing a prank of some obscure kind,--that +was as close as I could get to it, and even that did not satisfy as it +should have done, perhaps because the high, barren mesas and the mountains +of bare rocks are in themselves weird and sinister, and commonplace +explanations of their phenomena seem out of place. + +The land is empty of men, emptier still of habitations. There are not many +animals, even. A few coyotes, all of them under suspicion of having +rabies; venomous things such as tarantulas and centipedes, scorpions, +rattlers, hydrophobia skunks. Not so many of them that they are a constant +menace, but occasionally to be reckoned with. Great sprawling dry lakes +ominous in their very placidity; dust dry, with little whirlwinds +scurrying over them and mirages that lie to you most convincingly, +painting water where there is only clay dust. Water that is hidden deep in +forbidding canyons, water that you must hunt for blindly unless you have +been told where it comes stealthily out from some crevice in the rocks. +Indians know the water holes, and have told the white men with whom they +made friends after a fashion--for Casey tells me he never knew a red man +who was essentially noble--and these have told others; and men have named +the springs and have indicated their location on maps. Otherwise the land +is dry, parched and deadly and beautiful, and men have died terrible, +picturesque deaths within its borders. + +I was thinking of that, and it seemed not too incongruous that the devil +should now and then walk abroad with a lantern of his own devising to make +men shrink from his path. But Casey says, and I think he means it, that +the light is a lure. He told me a weird adventure of his own to back his +argument, but I thought he was inventing most of it as he went along. +Until I saw that light on Tippipah I had determined to let his romancing +go in at one ear if it must, and stop there without running out at the +tips of my fingers. Casey has enough ungodly adventures that are true. I +didn't feel called upon to repeat his Irish inventions. + +But now I'm going to tell you. If you can't believe it I shall not blame +you; but Casey swears that it is all true. It's worth beginning where +Casey did, at the beginning. And that goes back to when he was driving +stage in the Yellowstone. + +Casey was making the trip out, one time, and he had just one passenger +because it was at the end of the season and there had been a week of nasty +weather that had driven out most of the sightseers and no new ones were +coming in. This man was a peevish, egotistical sort, I imagine; at any +rate he did a lot of talking about himself and his ill luck, and he told +Casey of his misfortunes by the hour. + +Casey did not mind that much. He says he didn't listen half the time. But +finally the fellow began talking of the wealth that is wasted on folks who +can't use it properly or even appreciate the good fortune. + +To illustrate that point he told a story that set Casey's mind to seeing +visions. The man told about an old Indian who lived in dirt and a +government blanket and drank bad whisky when he could get it, and whipped +his squaw and behaved exactly like other Indians. Yet that old Indian knew +where gold lay so thick that he could pick out pieces of crumbly rock all +plastered with free gold. He was too lazy to dig out enough to do him any +good. He would come into the nearest town with a rusty old lard bucket +full of high grade so rich that the storekeeper once got five hundred +dollars from the bucketful. He gave the Indian about twenty dollars' worth +of grub and made him a present of two yards of bright blue ribbon, which +tickled the old buck so much that in two weeks he was back with more high +grade knotted in the bottom of a gunny sack. + +Casey asked the man why some one didn't trail the Injun. Casey knew that +an Indian is not permitted to file a claim to mineral land. He could not +hold it, under the law, if some white man discovered it and located the +ground, but Casey thought that some white-hearted fellow might take the +claim and pay the buck a certain percentage of the profits. + +The man said that couldn't be done. The old buck--Injun Jim, they called +him--was an old she-bear. All the Indians were afraid of him and would +hide their faces in their blankets when he passed them on his way to the +gold, rather than be suspected by Injun Jim of any unwarranted interest in +his destination. Casey knew enough about Indians to accept that statement. +And white men, it would seem, were either not nervy enough or else they +were not cunning enough. A few had attempted to trail Injun Jim, but no +one had ever succeeded, because that part of Nevada had not had any gold +stampede, which the man declared would have come sure as fate if Injun +Jim's mine were ever uncovered. + +Casey asked certain questions and learned all that the man could tell +him,--or would tell him. He said that Injun Jim lived mostly in the +Tippipah district. No free gold had ever been discovered there, nor much +gold of any kind; but Injun Jim certainly brought free gold into Round +Butte whenever he wanted grub. It must have been ungodly rich,--five +hundred dollars' worth in a ten-pound lard bucket! + +The tale held Casey's imagination. He dreamed nights of trailing Injun +Jim, and if he'd had any money to outfit for the venture he surely would +have gone straight to Nevada and to Round Butte. He told himself that it +would take an outsider to furnish the energy for the search. Men who live +in a country are the last to see the possibilities lying all around them, +Casey said. It was true; he had seen it work out even in himself. Hadn't +he driven stage in Cripple Creek country and carried out gold by the +hundred-thousand,--gold that might have been his had he not been content +to drive stage? Hadn't he lived in gold country all his life, almost, and +didn't he know mineral formations as well as many a school--trained +expert? + +But even dreams of gold fluctuate and grow vague before the small +interests of everyday living. Casey hadn't the money just then to quit his +job of stage driving and go Indian stalking. It would take money,--a few +hundred at least. Casey at that time lacked the price of a ticket to Round +Butte. So he had to drive and dream, and his first spurt of saving grew +half--hearted as the weeks passed; and then he lost all he had saved in a +poker game because he wanted to win enough in one night to make the trip. + +However, he went among men with his ears wide open for gossip concerning +Injun Jim, and he gleaned bits of information that seemed to confirm what +his passenger up in the Yellowstone had told him. He even met a man who +knew Injun Jim. + +Injun Jim, he was told, had one eye and a bad temper. He had lost his +right eye in a fight with soldiers, in the days when Indian fighting was +part of a soldier's training. Injun Jim nursed a grudge against the whites +because of that eye, and while he behaved himself nowadays, being old and +not very popular amongst his own people, it was taken for granted that his +trigger finger would never be paralyzed, and that a white man need only +furnish him a thin excuse and a fair chance to cover all traces of the +killing. Injun Jim would attend to the rest with great zeal. + +Stranger still, Casey found that the tale of the lard bucket and the gold +was true. This man had once been in the store when Jim arrived for grub. +He had taken a piece of the ore in his hands. It was free gold, all right, +and it must have come from a district where free gold was scarce as women. + +"We've got it figured down to a spot about fifty miles square," the man +told Casey. "That old Injun don't travel long trails. He's old. And all +Injuns are lazy. They won't go hunting mineral like a white man. They know +mineral when they see it and they have good memories and can go to the +spot afterwards. Injun Jim prob-ly run across a pocket somewheres when he +was hunting. Can't be much of it--he'd bring in more at a time if there +was, and be Injun-rich. He's just figurin' on making it hold out long as +he lives. 'Tain't worth while trying to find it; there's too much mineral +laying around loose in these hills." + +Casey stored all that gossip away in the back of his head and through all +the ups and downs of the years he never quite forgot it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Casey earned a good deal of money, but there are men who are very good at +finding original ways of losing money, too. Casey was one. (You should +hear Casey unburden himself sometime upon the subject of garages and the +tourist trade!) He saved money enough in Patmos to buy two burros and a +mule, and what grub and tools the burros could carry. There were no poker +games in Patmos, and a discouraged prospector happened along at the right +moment, which accounts for it. + +In this speed-hungry age Casey had not escaped the warped viewpoint which +others assume toward travel. Casey always had craved the sensation of +swift moving through space. His old stage horses could tell you tales of +that! It was a distinct comedown, buying burros for his venture. That took +straight, native optimism and the courage to make the best of things. But +he hadn't the price of a Ford, and Casey abhors debt; so he reminded +himself cheerfully that many a millionaire would still be poor if he had +turned up his nose at burros, sour-dough cans and the business end of pick +and shovel, and made the deal. + +At that, he was better off than most prospectors, he told himself on the +night of his purchase. He had the mule, William, to ride. The prospector +had assured Casey over and over that William was saddle broke. Casey is +too happy-go-lucky, I think. He took the man's word for it and waited +until the night before he intended beginning his journey before he gave +William a try-out, down in a sandy swale back of the garage. He returned +after dark, leading William. Casey had a pronounced limp and an eyetooth +was broken short off, about halfway to the gums, and his lip was cut. + +"William's saddle broke, all right," he told his neighbor, the proprietor +of the Oasis. "I've saw horses broke like that; cow-punchers have fun in +the c'rall with 'em Sundays, seein' which one can stay with the saddle +three jumps. William don't mind the saddle at all. All he hates is anybody +in it." Then he grinned wryly because of his hurt. "No use arguin' with a +mule--I used to be too good a walker." + +Casey therefore traded his riding saddle for another packsaddle, and +collected six coal-oil cans which he cleaned carefully. William was loaded +with cans of water, which he seemed to prefer to Casey, though they +probably weighed more. The burros waddled off under their loads of beans, +flour, bacon, coffee, lard, and a full set of prospector's tools. Casey +set his course by the stars and fared forth across the desert, meaning to +pass through the lower end of Death Valley by night, on a trail he knew, +and so plod up toward the Tippipah country. + +He was happy. He owed no man a nickel, he had grub enough to last him +three months if he were careful, he had a body tough as seasoned hickory, +and he was headed for that great no-man's-land which is the desert. More, +he was actually upon the trail of his dream that he had dreamed years +before up in the Yellowstone. An old, secretive Indian was going to find +his match when Casey Ryan plodded over his horizon and halted beside his +fire. + +By the way, don't blame me for showing a fondness for gloom and gore when +you read the names Casey carried in his mind the next few weeks. Casey +crossed Death Valley and the Funeral Mountains--or a spur of them--and +headed up toward Spectre Range, going by way of Deadman's Spring, where he +filled his water cans. That does not sound cheerful, but Casey was still +fairly happy,--though there were moments when he thought seriously of +killing William with a rock. + +Every morning, without fail, he and William fought every minute from +breakfast to starting time. From his actions you would think that William +had never seen a pack before, and expected it to bite him fatally if he +came within twenty feet of it. You could tell Casey's camp by the manner +in which the sagebrush was trampled and the sand scored with small +hoofprints in a wide circle around it. But once the battle was lost to +William for that day, and Casey had rested and mopped the perspiration off +his face and taken a comforting chew of tobacco and relapsed into silence +simply because he could think of nothing more to say, William became a pet +dog that hazed the two lazy burros along with little nippings on their +rumps, and saw to it that they did not stray too far from camp. + +Casey strung into Searchlight one evening at dusk and camped on a little +knoll behind the town hall, which was open beyond for grazing, and the +village dogs were less likely to bother. Searchlight was not on his way, +but miles off to one side. Casey made the detour because he had heard a +good deal about the place and knew it as a favorite stamping ground of +miners and prospectors who sought free gold. Searchlight is primarily a +gold camp, you see. He wanted to hear a little more about Injun Jim. + +But there had been a murder in Searchlight a dark night or so before his +coming, and three suspects were being discussed and championed by their +friends. Searchlight was not in the mood for aimless gossip of Indians. +Killings had been monotonously frequent, but they usually had daylight and +an audience to rob them of mystery. A murder done on a dark night, in the +black shadow of an empty dance hall, and accompanied by a piercing scream +and the sound of running feet was vastly different. + +Casey lingered half a day, bought a few more pounds of bacon and some +matches and ten yards of satin ribbon in assorted colors and went his way. + +I mention his stop at Searchlight so that those who demand exact geography +will understand why Casey journeyed on to Vegas, tramped its hot sidewalks +for half a day and then went on by way of Indian Spring to the Tippipah +country and his destination. He was following the beaten trail of miners, +now that he was in Jim's country, and he was gleaning a little information +from every man he met. Not altogether concerning Injun Jim, understand,-- +but local tidbits that might make him a welcome companion to the old buck +when he met him. Casey says you are not to believe story-writers who +assume that an Indian is wrapped always in a blanket and inscrutable +dignity. He says an Indian is as great a gossip as any old woman, once you +get him thawed to the talking point. So he was filling his bag of tricks +as he went along. + +From Vegas there is what purports to be an automobile road across the +desert to Round Butte, and Casey as he walked cursed his burros and +William and sighed for his Ford. He was four days traveling to Furnace +Lake, which he had made in a matter of hours with his Ford when he first +came to Starvation. + +He struck Furnace Lake just before dusk one night and pushed the burros +out upon it, thinking he would have cool crossing and would start in the +morning with the lake behind him, which would be something of a load off +his mind. In his heart Casey hated Furnace Lake, and he had good reason. +It was a place of ill fortune for him, especially after the sun had left +it. He wanted it behind him where he need think no more about it and the +grewsome crevice that cut a deep, wide gash two thirds of the way across +it through the middle. Casey is not a coward, and he takes most things as +a matter of course, but he admits that he has always hated and distrusted +Furnace Lake beyond all the dry lakes in Nevada,--and there are many. + +He yelled to William, and William nipped the nearest burro into a +shambling half trot, and then went out upon the lake, Casey heading across +at the widest part so that he would strike his old trail to Starvation +Mountain on the other side. From there to the summit he could make it by +noon on the morrow, he planned. Which would be the end of his preliminary +journey and the beginning of Casey's last drive toward his goal; for from +the top of the divide between Starvation Mountain country and that +forbidding waste which lies under the calm scrutiny of Furnace Peak he +could see the far-off range of the Tippipahs. + +He was a mile out on the Lake when he first glimpsed the light. Casey +studied it while he walked ahead, leaving no footprints on the hard-baked +clay. He had not known that any road followed just under the crest of the +ridge that hid Crazy Woman lake, yet the light was plainly that of an +automobile moving with speed across the face of the ridge just under the +summit. + +Away out in the empty land like that you notice little things and think +about them and try to understand just what they mean, unless they are +perfectly familiar to you. One print of a foot on the trail may betray the +lurking presence of a madman, a murderer, a traveling, friendly, desert +dweller or the wandering of some one who is lost and dying of thirst and +hunger. You like to know which, and you are not satisfied until you do +know. + +A light moving swiftly along Crazy Woman ridge meant a car, and a car up +there meant a road. If there were a road it would probably lead Casey by a +shorter route to the Tippipahs. While he looked there came to his ears a +roaring, as of some high-powered car traveling under full pressure of +gas. The burros followed him, but William lifted his head and brayed +tremulously three times in the dark. Casey had never heard him bray +before, and the sudden rasping outcry startled him. + +He went back and stood for a minute looking at William, who turned tail +and started back toward the shore they had left behind them. Casey ran to +head him off, yelling threats, and William, in spite of his six water +cans--two of them empty--broke into a lope. Casey glanced over his +shoulder as he ran and saw dimly that the burros had turned and were +coming after him, their ears flapping loosely on their bobbing heads as +they trotted. Beyond him, the light still traveled towards the Tippipahs. + +Then, with an abruptness that cannot be pictured, everything was blotted +out in a great, blinding swirl of dust as the wind came whooping down upon +them. It threw Casey as though some one had tripped him. It spun him round +and round on his back like an overturned beetle, and then scooted him +across the lake's surface flat as a floor. He thought of the Crevice, but +there was nothing he could do save hold his head off the ground and his +two palms over his face, shielding his nostrils a little from the smother +of dust. + +Sometimes he was lifted inches from the surface and borne with incredible +swiftness. More than once he was spun round and round until his senses +reeled. But all the time he was going somewhere, and I suspect that for +once in his life Casey Ryan went fast enough to satisfy him. At last he +felt brush sweep past his body, and he knew that he must have been swept +to the edge of the lake. He clutched, scratched his hands bloody on the +straggly thorns of greasewood, caught in the dark at a more friendly sage +and gripped it next the roots. The wind tore at him, howling. Casey +flattened his abused body to the hummocky sand and hung on. + +Hours later, by the pale stars that peered out breathlessly when the fury +of the gale was gone, Casey pulled himself painfully to his feet and +looked for the burros and William. Judging by his own experience, they had +had a rough time of it and would not go far after the wind permitted them +to stop. But as to guessing how far they had been impelled, or in what +direction, Casey knew that was impossible. Still, he tried. When the air +grew clearer and the surrounding hills bulked like huge shadows against +the sky, he saw that he had been blown toward the ridge that guards Crazy +Woman lake. His pack animals should be somewhere ahead of him, he thought +groggily, and began stumbling along through the brush-covered sand dunes +that bordered Furnace Lake for miles. + +And then he saw again the light, shining up there just under the crest of +the ridge. He was glad the car had escaped, but he reflected that the +tricky winds of the desert seldom sweep a large area. Their diabolic fury +implies a concentration of force that must of necessity weaken as it flows +out away from the center. Up there on the ridge they may not have +experienced more than a steady blow. + +He walked slowly because of his bruises, and many times he made small +detours, thinking that a blotch of shadow off to one side might be his +pack train. But always a greasewood mocked him, waving stiff arms at him +derisively. In the sage-land distances deceive. A man may walk unseen +before your eyes, and a bush afar off may trick you with its semblance to +man or beast. Casey finally gave up the hopeless search and headed +straight for the light. + +It was standing still,--a car facing him with its headlights burning, the +distance so great that the two lights glowed as one. "An' it ain't no +Ford," Casey decided. "They wouldn't keep the engine runnin' all this +time, standin' still. Unless it's one of them old kind with lamps." + +I don't suppose you realize, many of you, just what that would mean to a +man in the desert country. It is rather hard to define, but the +significance would be felt, even by Casey in his present plight. You see, +small cars, of the make too famous to be hurt or helped by having its name +mentioned in a simple yarn like this, have long been recognized as the +proper car for rough trails and no trails. Those who travel the desert +most have come to the point of counting "Lizzie" almost as necessary as +beans. Wherefore a larger car is nearly always brought in by strangers to +the country, who swear solemnly, never to repeat the imprudence. A large +car, driven by strangers in the land, means hunters, prospectors from the +outside brought in by some special tale of hidden wealth,--or just plain +simpletons who only want to see what lies over the mountain. There aren't +many of the last-named variety up in the Nevada wastes. Even your +nature-loving rovers oddly keep pretty much to the beaten trails of other +nature lovers, where gas stations and new tires may be found at regular +intervals. The Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, the National Old +Trails they explore,--but not the high, wind-swept mesas of Nevada's +barren land. + +A fear that was not altogether strange to him crept over Casey. It would +be just his grinning enemy Ill-luck on his trail again, if that light +should prove to be made by men hunting for Injun Jim and his mine. Casey +used to feel a sickness in his middle when that thought nagged him, and he +felt a growing anger now when he looked at the twinkling glow. He walked a +little faster. Now that the fear had come to him, Casey wanted to come up +with the men, talk with them, learn their business if they were truthful, +or sense their lying if they tried to hide their purpose from him. He must +know. If they were seeking Injun Jim, then he must find some way to head +them off, circumvent their plans with strategy of his own. He had dreamed +too long and too ardently to submit now to interlopers. + +So he walked, limping and cursing a little now and then because of his +aches. Up a steep slope made heavy with loose sand that dragged at his +feet; over the crest and down the other side among rocks and gravel that +made harder walking than the sand. Up another steep slope: it was +heartbreaking, unending as the toils of a nightmare, but Casey kept on. He +was not worried over his own plight; not yet. He believed that William and +his burros were somewhere ahead of him, since they could not cling to a +bush as he had done and so resist the impetus of that terrific wind. There +was a car standing on the ridge toward which he was laboriously making his +way. It did not occur to Casey that morning might show him a rather +desperate plight. + +Yet the morning did just that. Hours before dawn the light had disappeared +abruptly, but Casey had no uneasiness over that. It was foolish for them +to run down their battery burning lights when they were standing still, he +thought. They had not moved off, and he had well in mind the contour of +the ridge where they were standing. He would have bet good money that he +could walk straight to the car even though darkness hid it from him until +he came within hailing distance. + +But daylight found him still below the higher slope of the ridge, and +Casey was very tired. He had been walking all day, remember, and he had +missed his supper because he wanted to eat it with the lake behind him. He +did not walk in a straight line. He was too near exhaustion to forge ahead +as was his custom. Now he was picking his way carefully so as to shun the +washes out of which he must climb, and the rock patches where he would +stumble, and the thick brush that would claw at him. He would have given +five dollars for a drink of water, but there would be water at the car, he +told himself. People were rather particular about carrying plenty of water +when they traveled these wastes. + +And then he was on the ridge, and his keen eyes were squinted half-shut +while he gazed here and there, no foot of exposed land surface escaping +that unwinking stare. He took off his hat and wiped his face, and reached +mechanically for a chew of tobacco which he always took when perplexed, as +if it stimulated thought. + +There was no car. There was no road. There was not even a burro trail +along that ridge. Yet there had been the lights of a car, and after the +lights had been extinguished Casey had listened rather anxiously for +sound of the motor and had heard nothing at all. The most powerful, +silent-running car on the market would have made some noise in traveling +through that sand and up and down the washes that seamed the mountain +side. Casey would have heard it--he had remarkably keen hearing. + +"And that's darn funny," he muttered, when he was perfectly sure that +there was no car, that there could never have been a car on that trackless +ridge. "That's mighty damn funny! You can ask anybody." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Other things, however, were not so funny to Casey as he stood staring down +over the vast emptiness. There was no sign of his pack train, and without +it he would be in sorry case indeed. He thought of the manner in which the +tornado had whirled him round and round. Caught in a different set of +gyrations and then borne out from the center--flung out would come nearer +it--the burros and William might have been carried in any direction save +his own. Into that gruesome Crevice, for instance. They had not been more +than a mile from the Crevice when the storm struck. + +He glanced across to Barren Butte, rising steeply from the farther end of +the lake. But he did not think of going to the mine up there, except to +tell himself that he'd rot on the desert before he ever asked there for +help. He had his reasons, you remember. A man like Casey can face +humiliation from men much easier than he can face a woman who had +misjudged him and scorned him. Unless, of course, he has a million dollars +in his pocket and knows that she knows it. + +Having discarded Barren Butte from his plans--rather, having declined to +consider it at all--he knew that he must find his supplies, or he must +find water somewhere in the Crazy Woman hills. The prospect was not +bright, for he had never heard any one mention water there. + +He rested where he was for awhile and watched the slope for the pack +animals; more particularly for William and the water cans. He could shoot +rabbits and live for days, if he had a little water, but he had once tried +living on rabbit meat broiled without salt, and he called it dry eating, +even with water to wash it down. Without water he would as soon fast and +let the rabbits live. + +A dark speck moving in the sage far down the slope caught his eyes, and he +got up and peered that way eagerly. He started down to meet it hopefully, +feeling certain that his present plight would soon merge into a mere +incident of the trail. Sure enough, when he had walked for half an hour he +saw that it was William, browsing toward him and limping when he moved. + +But William was bare as the back of Casey's hand. There was no pack, no +coal-oil cans of water; only the halter and lead rope, that dangled and +caught on brush and impeded William's limping progress. I suppose even +miserable mules like company, for William permitted Casey to walk up and +take him by the halter rope. William had a badly skinned knee which gave +him the limp, and his right ear was broken close to his head so that the +structure which had been his pride dropped over his eye like a wet +sunbonnet. + +Casey swore a little and started back along William's tracks to find the +water cans. He followed a winding, purposeless trail that never showed the +track of burros, and after an hour or so he came upon the pack and the +cans. Evidently the water supply had suffered in the wind, for only four +cans were with the blankets and pack saddle. + +William had felt his pack slipping, Casey surmised, and had proceeded to +divest himself of the incumbrance in the manner best known to mules. +Having kicked himself out of it, he had undoubtedly discovered a leaking +can--supposing the cans had escaped thus far--and had battered them with +his heels until they were all leaking copiously. William had saved what he +could. + +Casey read the whole story in the sand. The four cans were bent with +gaping seams, and their sides were scored with the prints of William's +hoofs. In a corner of one of them Casey found a scant half-cup of water, +which he drank greedily. It could no more than ease for a moment his +parched throat; it could not satisfy his thirst. + +After that he led William back along the trail until the mounting sun +warned him that he was making no headway on his journey to the Tippipahs, +and that with no tracks in sight he had small hope of tracing the burros. + +It was sundown again before he gave up hope, and Casey's thirst was a +demon within him. He had wasted a day, he told himself grimly. Now it was +going to be a fight. + +Through the day he had mechanically studied the geologic formation of +those hills before him, and he had decided that the chance for water there +was too slight to make a search worth while. He would push on toward the +Tippipahs. _Pah_, he knew, meant water in the Indian tongue. He did not +know what _Tippi_ signified, but since Indians lived in the Tippipah range +he was assured that the water was drinkable. So he got stiffly to his +feet, studied again the darkling skyline, sent a glance up at the first +stars, and turned his face and William's resolutely toward the Tippipahs. + +He had applied first aid to William's knee in the form of chewed tobacco, +which if it did no more at least discouraged the pestering flies. Now he +collected a ride for his pay. He had reasoned that William was probably +subdued to the point of permitting the liberty, and that he had other +things to think of more important than protecting his mulish dignity. +Casey guessed right. William merely switched his tail pettishly, as mules +will, and went on picking his way through brush and rocks along the ridge. + +It was perhaps nine o'clock when Casey saw the light. William also spied +it and stopped still, his long left ear pointed that way, his broken right +ear dropping over his eye. William lifted his nose and brayed as if he +were tearing loose all his vitals and the operation hurt like the +mischief. Casey kicked him in the flanks and urged him on. It must be a +camp fire, Casey thought. He did not connect it with that moving light he +had seen the night before; that phantom car was a mystery which he would +probably never solve, and in Casey's opinion it had nothing to do with a +camp fire that twinkled upon a distant hilltop. + +From the look of it, Casey judged that it was perhaps eight miles off,-- +possibly less. But there was a rocky canyon or two between them, and +William was lame and Casey was too exhausted to walk more than half a mile +before he must lie down and own himself whipped. Casey Ryan had never done +that for a man, and he did not propose to do it for Nature. He thought +that William ought to have enough stamina to make the trip if he were +given time enough. And at the last, if William gave out, then Casey would +manage somehow to walk the rest of the way. It all depended upon giving +William time enough. + +You know, mules are the greatest mind readers in the world. I have always +heard that, and now Casey swears that it is so. William immediately began +taking his time. Casey told me that a turtle starting nose to nose with +William would have had to pull in his feet and wait for him every half +mile or so. William must have been very thirsty, too. + +The light burned steadily, hearteningly. Whenever they crawled to high +ground where a view was possible, Casey saw it there, just under a certain +star which he had used for a marker at first. And whenever William saw the +light he brayed and tried to swing around and go the other way. But Casey +would not permit that, naturally. Nor did he wonder why William acted so +queerly. You never wonder why a mule does things; you just fight it out +and are satisfied if you win, and let it go at that. + +Casey does not remember clearly the details of that night. He knows that +during the long hours William balked at a particularly steep climb, and +that Casey was finally obliged to get off and lead the Way. It established +an unfortunate precedent, for William refused to let Casey on again, and +Casey was too weak to mount in spite of William. They compromised at last; +that is, they both walked. + +The light went out. Moreover, Casey's star that he had used to mark the +spot moved over to the west and finally slid out of sight altogether. But +Casey felt sure of the direction and he kept going doggedly toward the +point where the light had been. He says there wasn't a rod where a snail +couldn't have outrun him, and when the sky streaked red and orange and the +sun came up, he stood still and looked for a camp, and when he saw nothing +at all but bare rock and bushes of the kind that love barrenness, he +crawled under the nearest shade, tied William fast to the bush and slept. +You don't realize your thirst so much when you are asleep, and you are +saving your strength instead of wearing it out in the hot sun. He remained +there until the sun was almost out of sight behind a high peak. Then he +got up, untied William, mounted him without argument from either, and went +on, keeping to the direction in which he had seen the light. + +Even the little brown mule was having trouble now. He wavered, he picked +his footing with great care when a declivity dipped before him; he stopped +every few yards and rested when he was making a climb. As for Casey, he +managed to hold himself on the narrow back of William, but that was all. +He understood perfectly that the next twenty-four hours would tell the +story for him and for William. He had a sturdy body however and a sturdy +brain that had never weakened its hold on facts. So he clung to his reason +and pushed fear away from him and said doggedly that he would go forward +as long as he could crawl or William could carry him, and he would die or +he would not die, as Fate decided for him. He wondered, too, about the +camp whose fire he had seen. + +Then he saw the light. This time it burned suddenly clear and large and +very bright, away off to the left of him where he had by daylight noticed +a bare shale slide. The light seemed to stand in the very center of the +slide, no more than a mile away. + +William stopped when Casey pulled on the reins he had fashioned from the +lead rope, and turned stiffly so that he faced the light. Casey kicked him +gently with his heels to urge him forward, for in spite of what his reason +told him about the shale slide his instinct was to go straight to the +light. But William began to shiver and tremble, and to swing slowly away. +Casey tried to prevent it, but the mule came out in William. He laid his +good ear flat along his neck as far as it would go, and took little, +nipping steps until he had turned with his tail to the light. Then he +thrust his fawn-colored muzzle to the stars and brayed and brayed, his +good ear working like a pump handle as he tore the sounds loose from his +vitals. + +Casey cursed him in a whisper, having no voice left. He kicked William in +the flanks, having no other means of coercion at hand. But kicking never +yet altered the determination of a mule, and cursing a mule in a whisper +is like blowing your breath against the sail of a becalmed sloop. William +kept his tail toward the light, and furthermore he momentarily drew his +tail farther and farther from that spot. Now and then he would turn his +head and glance back, and immediately increase his pace a little. He was +long past the point where he had strength to trot, but he could walk, and +he did walk and carry Casey on his back, still whispering condemnation. + +They did not travel all night. Casey looked at the Big Dipper and judged +it was midnight when they stopped on the brink of a deep canyon, halted +there in William's sheer despair because the light appeared suddenly on +the high point of a hill directly ahead of them. William's voice was gone +like Casey's, so that he, too, cursed in a whisper with a spasmodic +indrawing of ribs and a wheezing in his throat. + +When it was plain that the mule had stopped permanently, Casey slid off +William's back and lay down without knowing or caring much whether he +would ever get up again. He said he wasn't hungry--much; but his mouth was +too full of tongue, he added grimly. + +He lay and watched through half-closed, staring eyes the light that mocked +him so. His dulling senses told him that it was no camp fire, nor any +light made by human hands. He did not know what it was. He didn't care any +more. William crumpled up and lay down beside him, breathing heavily. It +was getting close to the end of things. Casey knew it, and he thinks +William knew it too. + +The sun found them there and forced Casey to move. He sat up painfully, +the fight to live not yet burned out of him, and gazed dully at the +forbidding hills that closed around him like great, naked rock demons +watching to see him die for want of the things they withheld. Where he +remembered the light to have been when last he saw it was bleak, bare +rock. It was a devil's light and there was nothing friendly or human about +it. + +He looked down into the canyon which William had refused to enter. A faint +interest revived within him because of a patch of green. Trees,--but they +might easily be junipers which will grow in dry canyons as readily, it +would seem, as in any other. He kept looking, because green was a great +relief from the monotonous gray and black and brown of the hills. It +seemed to him after awhile that he saw a small splotch of dead white. + +In the barren lands two things will show white in the distance; a white +horse and a tent of white canvas. Casey shifted his position and squinted +long at the spot, then got up slowly with the help of a bush and took +William by the rope. William was on his feet, standing with head dropped, +apparently half asleep. Casey knew that William was simply waiting until +he could no longer stand. + +Together they wabbled down the sloping canyon side and over a grassy +bottom to the trees, which were indeed juniper trees, but thriftier +looking than their brethren of the dry places. There was water, for +William smelled it at last and hurried forward with more briskness than +Casey could muster, eager though he was to reach the tent he saw standing +there under the biggest juniper. + +Beside the tent was a water bucket of bright, new tin. A white granite +dipper stood in it. Casey drank sparingly and stopped when he would have +given all he ever possessed in the world to have gone on drinking until he +could hold no more. But he was not yet crazy with the thirst. So he +stopped drinking, filled a white granite basin and soused his head again +and again, sighing with sheer ecstasy at the drip of water down his back +and chest. After a little he drank two swallows more, put down the dipper +and went into the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +We can all remember certain experiences that fill us with incredulity even +while we admit that the facts could be proved before a jury of twelve men. +So Casey Ryan, having lost his outfit and come so near to death that he +could barely keep his feet under him, walked into a tent and stood there +thinking it couldn't be true. + +A folding camp chair stood near the opening, and Casey sat down from sheer +weakness while he looked about him. The tent was a twelve-by-fourteen, +which is a bit larger than one usually carries in a pack outfit. It had a +canvas floor soiled in strips where the most walking had been done, but +white under table and beds, which proved its newness. Casey was not +accustomed to seeing tents floored with canvas, and he stared at it for a +full half-minute before his eyes went to other things. + +There was a folding camp table of the kind shown in the window display of +sporting-goods stores, but which seasoned campers find too wobbly for +actual comfort. The varnish still shone on legs and braces, which helped +to prove its newness. There was a two-burner oil stove with an +enamel-rimmed oven that was distinctly out of place in that country and +yet harmonized perfectly with the tent and furnishings. The dishes were +white enamel of aluminum, and there were boxes piled upon boxes, the +labels proclaiming canned things too expensive for ordinary eating. Two +spring cots with new blankets and white-cased pillows stood against the +tent wall, and beneath each cot sat two yellow pigskin suitcases with +straps and brass buckles. They would have been perfectly natural in a +Pullman sleeper, but even in his present stress Casey snorted disdainfully +at sight of them here. + +Things were tumbled about in the disorder of inexperienced campers, but +everything was very new and clean except an array of dishes on the table, +which told Casey that one man had eaten at least three meals without +washing his dishes or putting away his surplus of food. Casey had eaten +nothing at all after that one toasted rabbit which he had choked down on +the evening when he gave up hope of finding the burros. He got up and +staggered stiffly to the table and picked up a piece of burned biscuit, +hard as flint. + +While he mumbled a fragment of that he looked into various half-filled +cans, setting them one by one in a compact group on the table corner; +which was habit rather than conscious thought. Poisonous ptomaine lurked +in every one of them, which was a shame, since he had to discard half a +can of preserved peaches, half a can of roast beef, half a can of +asparagus tips, a can of chicken soup scarcely touched and two thirds of a +can of sweet potatoes. He salvaged a can of ripe olives which he thought +was good, a can of India relish and a can of sweet gherkins (both of the +fifty-seven varieties). You will see what I meant when I spoke of +expensive camp food. + +There was cold coffee in a nickel percolater, and Casey poured himself a +cup, knowing well the risk of eating much just at first. It was while he +was unscrewing the top of the glass jar that held the sugar that he first +noticed the paper. It was folded and thrust into the sugar jar, and Casey +pulled it out and held it crumpled in his hand while he sweetened and +drank the coffee, forcing himself to take it slowly. When the cup was +empty to the last drop he went over and sat down on the edge of a spring +cot and unfolded the note. What he read surprised him a great deal and +puzzled him more. I leave it to you to judge why. + + "I saw it again last night in a different place. The last horse died + yesterday down the canyon. You can have the outfit. I'm going to beat + it out of here while the going's good. Fred." + +"That's mighty damn funny," Casey muttered thickly. "You can--ask--" He +lay back luxuriously, with his head on the white pillow and closed his +eyes. The reaction from struggling to live had set in with the assurance +of his safety. He slept heavily, refreshingly. + +He awoke to the craving for food, and immediately started a small fire +outside and boiled coffee in a nice new aluminum pail that held two quarts +and had an ornamental cover. The oil stove he dismissed from his mind with +a snort of contempt. And because nearly everything he saw was catalogued +in his mind as a luxury, he opened cans somewhat extravagantly and dined +off strange, delectable foods to which his palate was unaccustomed. He +still thought it was mighty queer, but that did not impair his appetite. + +Afterwards he went out to look after William, remembering that horses were +said to have died in this place. William was almost within kicking +distance of the spring, as if he meant to keep an eye upon the water +supply even though that involved browsing off brush instead of wandering +down to good grass below the camp. + +Casey knelt stiffly and drank from the spring, laving his face and head +afterward as if he never would get enough of the luxury of being wet and +cool. He rose and stood looking at William for a few minutes, then took +the lead rope and tied him to a juniper that stood near the spring. The +note had said that the last horse died down the canyon, the implication of +mystery lying heavy behind the words. + +Casey went back to the tent and read the note through again twice, +studying each word as if he hoped to twist some added information out of +it. It sounded as though the writer had expected his partner back from +some trip and had left the note for him, since he had not considered it +necessary to explain what it was that he had seen again in a different +place. Casey wondered if it might not have been that strange light which +he himself had followed. Whatever it was, the fellow had not liked it. His +going had all the earmarks of flight. + +Well, then, why had the last horse died down the canyon? Casey decided +that he would go and see, though he was not hankering for exercise that +day. He took a long drink of water, somewhat shamefacedly filled a new +canteen that lay on a pile of odds and ends near the tent door, and +started down the canyon. It couldn't be far, but he might want a drink +before he got back, and Casey had had enough of thirst. + +He was not long in finding the horse that had died, and in fact all the +horses that had died. There had been four, and the manner of their death +was not in the least mysterious. They had been staked out to graze in a +luxurious patch of loco weed, which is reason enough why any horse should +die. + +Of course, no man save an unmitigated tenderfoot would picket a horse on +loco, which looks very much like wild peavine and is known the West over +as the deadliest weed that grows. A little of it mixed with a diet of +grass will drive horses and cattle insane, and there is no authentic case +of recovery, that I ever heard, once the infection is complete. A lot of +it will kill,--and these poor beasts had actually been staked out to graze +upon it, I suppose because it looked nice and green, and the horses +liked it. + +The performance matched very well the enamel-trimmed oil stove and the +tinned dainties and the expensive suitcases. Casey went back to camp +feeling as though he had stumbled upon a picnic of feeble-minded persons. +He wondered what in hell two men of such a type could be doing out there, +a hundred miles and more from an ice-cream soda and a barber's chair. He +wondered too how "Fred" had expected to get himself across that hundred +miles and more of dry desert country. He must certainly be afoot, and the +camp itself showed no sign of an emergency outfit having been assembled +from its furnishings. + +Casey made sure of that, inspecting first the bedding and food and then +the cooking utensils. Everything was complete--lavishly so--for two men +who loved comfort. Even their sweaters were there; and Casey knew they +must have discovered that the nights can be cool even though the days are +hot, in that altitude. And there were two canteens of the size usually +carried by hikers. + +Casey was so worried that he could not properly enjoy his supper of pâté +de foi gras and crackers, with pork and beans, plum pudding--eaten as +cake--and spiced figs and coffee. That night he turned over on his +spring-cot bed as often as if he had been lying on nettles, and when he +did sleep he dreamed horribly. + +Next morning he set out with William and an emergency camp outfit to trace +if he could the missing men. The great outdoors of Nevada is not kind to +such as these, and Casey had too lately suffered to think with easy-going +optimism that they would manage somehow. They would die if they were left +to shift for themselves, and Casey could not pretend that he did not know +it. + +But there was a difficulty in rescuing them, just as there had been in +rescuing the burros. Casey could not find their tracks, and so could not +follow them. He and William hunted the canyon from top to bottom and +ranged far out on the valley floor without discovering anything that could +be called the track of a man. Which was strange, too, in a country where +footprints are held for a long, long while by the soil,--as souvenirs of +man's passing, perhaps. + +So it transpired that Casey at length returned to the new tent just below +the spring in the nameless canyon beyond Crazy Woman Lake. Chipmunks had +invaded the place and feasted upon an opened package of sweet crackers, +but otherwise the tent had been left inviolate. Neither Fred nor his +partner had returned. Wherefore Casey opened more cans and "made himself +to home," as he naively put it. + +He was impatient to continue his journey, but since he had nothing of his +own except William, he meant to beg or buy a few things from this camp, if +either of the owners showed up. Meantime he could be comfortable, since it +is tacitly understood in the open land that a wayfarer may claim +hospitality of any man, with or without that man's knowledge. He is +expected to keep the camp clean, to leave firewood and to take nothing +away with him except what is absolutely necessary to insure his getting +safely to the next stopping place. Casey knew well the law, and he busied +himself in setting the camp in order while he waited. + +But when five days and nights had slipped into history and he and William +were still in sole possession, Casey began to take another viewpoint. Fred +might possibly have left in a flying machine. The partner might have +decamped permanently before Fred lost his nerve. Several things might have +happened which would leave this particular camp and contents without a +claimant. Casey studied the matter for awhile and then pulled the four +suitcases from beneath the cots and proceeded to investigate. The first +one that he opened had a note folded and addressed to Fred. Casey read it +through without the slightest compunction. The handwriting was different +from that of the first note, hurried and scrawly, the words connected with +faint lines. Here is what Fred's partner had written: + + "Dear Fred: Don't blame me for leaving you. A man that carries the +grouch you do don't need company. I'm fed up on solitude, and I don't like +the feel of things here. My staying won't help your lung a damn bit and if +you want anything you can hunt up the men that carry the light. Maybe they +are the ones that are killing off the horses. Any way, you can wash your +own dishes from now on. It will do you good. If I had of known you were +the crab you are I'll say I would never have come. You are welcome to my +share of the outfit. I hope some one shoots me and puts me out of my +misery quick if I ever show symptoms of wanting to camp out again. I am +going now because if I stayed I'd change your map for you so your own +looking glass wouldn't know you. I'll say you are some nut. + Art." + +Casey had to take a fresh chew of tobacco before his brain would settle +down and he could think clearly. Then he observed that it was a damn funny +combination and you could ask anybody. After that he began to realize that +he was heir to a fine assortment of canned delicacies and an oil stove and +four suitcases filled, he hoped, with good clothes. Not omitting +possession of two spring cots and several pairs of high-grade blankets, +and two sweaters and Lord knows what all. + +Those suitcases were enough to make any man sit and bite his nails, +wondering if he were crazy. Fred and Art had evidently fitted their +wardrobe to their ideas of a summer camp with dancing pavilion and plenty +of hammocks in the immediate neighborhood. There were white flannel +trousers and white canvas shoes and white silk socks, and fine ties and +handkerchiefs and things. There were striped silk shirts which made Casey +grin and think how tickled Injun Jim would be with them,--or one or two of +them; Casey had no intention of laying them all on the altar of diplomacy. +There was an assortment of apparel in those suitcases that would qualify +any man as porch hound at Del Monte. And Casey Ryan, if you please, had +fallen heir to the lot! + +He dressed himself in white flannels with a silk shirt of delf blue and +pale green stripes, and wished that there was a looking-glass in camp +large enough to reflect all of him at once. Then, because his beard +stubble did not harmonize, he shaved with one of the safety razors he +found. + +After that he sorted and packed a careful wardrobe, and stored strange +food into two canvas kyacks. And the next evening he tied the tent flaps +carefully and fared forth with William to find the camp of Injun Jim and +see if his dream would come true. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +You may not believe this next incident. I know I did not, when Casey told +me about it,--but now I am not so sure. Casey said that the light appeared +again, that night, moving slowly along the lip of the canyon like a man +with a large lantern. There was a full moon, which had made him decide to +travel at night on account of the heat while the sun was up. But the moon +did not reveal the cause of the light, though the canyon crest was plainly +visible to him. + +William swung away from that light and walked rather briskly in the other +direction, and Casey did not argue with him. So they headed almost due +west and kept going. It seemed to Casey once or twice that the light +followed them; but he could not be sure. + +Two full nights he journeyed, and on both nights he had the light behind +him. Once it came up swiftly to within a mile or so of him and William, +and stopped there for awhile and then disappeared. Casey camped rather +early and slept, and took the trail again in the morning. Night travel was +getting on his nerves. + +All that day he walked and toward evening, with thunder heads piling high +above the Tippipahs, he came upon a small herd of Indian ponies feeding +out from the mouth of a wide gulch. He knew they were Indian ponies by +their size, their variegated colors, and their general unkemptness. They +presently spied him and went galloping off up the gulch, and Casey +followed until he spied a thin bluish ribbon of smoke wavering up toward +the slate-black clouds. + +He made camp just out of sight around a point of rocks from the smoke, +stretching the canvas tarp which had floored the tent to make shelter +between boulders. He changed his clothes, dressing himself carefully in +the white flannel trousers, blue-and-green striped silk shirt, tan belt, +white shoes and his old Stetson tilted over his right eye at the +characteristic Casey angle. He was taking it for granted that an Indian +camp lay under that smoke, and he knew Indians. Inquisitiveness would shut +them up as effectively as poking a stick at a clam; but there were ways of +coaxing their interest, nevertheless, and when an Indian is curious you +have the trumps in your own hand and it will be your own fault if you +lose. + +Casey's manner therefore was extremely preoccupied when he led a suddenly +limping William up the gulch and past a stone hut with a patched tepee +alongside it. A lean squaw stood erect before the tepee and regarded him +fixedly from under the shade of a mahogany-colored hand, and when Casey +came closer she stooped and ducked out of sight like a prairie dog diving +into its burrow. Casey paid no attention to that. He knew without being +told that he was under close scrutiny from eyes unseen; which was what he +desired and had prepared for. + +The spring, as he had guessed, was above the camp. He threw a rock at two +yammering curs that rushed out at him, and drove them back with Caseyish +curses. Then he watered William at the trampled spring, made himself a +smoke, and went back down the gulch. Opposite the tepee the squaw stood +beside the trial. Casey grinned amiably and said hello. + +"Yo' ketchum 'bacco? My man, him heap sick. Mebby die. Likeum 'bacco, +him." The squaw muttered it as if she would rather not speak, but had been +commanded to beg tobacco from the stranger. + +"Sure, I got tobacco!" Casey's tone was a bit more friendly than before. +He pulled a small red can from his shirt pocket, hesitated and then tied +William to a bush. "Too bad your man sick. Mebby I can help him. He in +here?" + +The squaw gestured dumbly, and Casey stooped and went into the tepee. + +Inside it was so dark that he stood still just within the opening to get +his bearings. This happened to be very good form in Indian society, and we +will assume that Casey lost nothing by the pause. He dimly saw that a few +blankets lay untidily against the tepee wall and that an old Indian was +stretched upon them, watching Casey with one black eye, the other lid +lying in sunken folds across the socket. Casey was for once in his life +speechless. He had not expected to walk straight into the camp of Injun +Jim. He had thought that of course he would have to go on to Round Butte +and glean information there, perhaps; if he were exceptionally lucky he +would meet Indians who would tell him what he wanted to know. But here was +a one-eyed buck, and he was old, and he lived in the Tippipahs,--Injun Jim +by all description. + +"Your squaw says you want tobacco." Casey advanced and held out the red +can. He knew better than to waste words, especially in the beginning. +Indians are peculiar; you must approach them by not seeming to approach at +all. + +The old fellow grunted and turned the can over and over in clawlike hands, +and said he wanted a match and a paper. Casey went farther; he rolled a +cigarette and gave it to him and then rolled one for himself. They smoked, +there in that unsavoury tepee, saying nothing at all. Casey had achieved +the first part of his dream; he was making friends with Injun Jim. + +Later he went down to his own camp, leading William. It was hard to wait +and watch for the proper moment to broach the subject that filled his +mind, and then induce the old Indian to talk. Casey was beginning to +understand why no one had wormed the secret from Jim. When you are +hundreds of miles and many months distant from a problem, it is easy to +decide that you will do so and so, and handle the matter differently from +the bungling men you have heard about. To find Injun Jim and get him to +tell where his gold mine was had seemed fairly easy to Casey when he was +driving stage elsewhere, and could only think about it. But when he +sat on his haunches in the tepee, smoking with Injun Jim and conversing +intermittently of such vital things as the prospect of rain that night, +and the enforced delay in his journey because his pack mule was lame, +speaking of gold mines in a properly disinterested and casual manner was +not at all easy. + +However, Casey ate a very hearty supper and went to bed studying the +problem of somehow winning the old fellow's gratitude. Morning did not +bring a solution, as it properly should have done, but he ransacked his +pack, chose a small glass jar of blackberry jam and a little can of maple +syrup, fortified himself with another red can of tobacco and went up to +the camp, hoping for a streak of good luck. As for medicine, he hadn't a +drop, and if he had he did not know for certain what ailed Injun Jim. He +thought it was just old age and general cussedness. + +Injun Jim ate the jam, using a deadly looking knife and later his fingers, +when the jam got low in the jar. When he had finished that he opened the +can and drank the maple syrup just as he would have drunk whisky,--with a +relish. He smoked Casey's tobacco in the stone pipe which the squaw +brought him and appeared fairly well satisfied with life. But he did not +talk much, and what he did say was of no importance whatever. Not once did +he mention gold mines. + +Casey went back to camp and swore at William as he counted his cans of +luxuries. He did not realize that he had established a dangerous +precedent, but when he led William up to water, meaning to pass by the +camp without stopping, the squaw halted him on his way back and told him +briefly that her man wanted him. + +Injun Jim did not want Casey; he wanted more jam. Casey went back to camp +and got another can, this time of strawberry, and in a spirit of +peevishness added a small tin of the liver paste that had caused him a +night's discomfort. He took them to the tepee, and Injun Jim ate the +complete contents of both cans and seemed disgruntled afterwards; so much +so that he would not talk at all but smoked in brooding silence, staring +with his one malevolent eye at the stained wall of the tepee. + +An hour later he began to move himself restlessly in the blanket and to +mutter Piute words, the full meaning of which Casey did not grasp. But he +would not answer when he was spoken to, so Casey went back to his camp. +And that night Injun Jim was very sick. + +Next day however he was sufficiently recovered to want more jam. Casey +filled his pockets with small cans and doled them out one by one and +gossipped artfully while he watched Injun Jim eat pickles, India relish +and jelly with absolute, inscrutable impartiality. Casey felt sympathetic +qualms in his own stomach just from watching the performance, but he was +talking for a gold mine and he did not stop. + +"You know Willow Pete?" he asked garrulously. "Big, tall man. Drinks +whisky all the time. Willow Pete found a gold mine two moons ago. He's +rich now. Got a big barrel of whisky. Got silk shirts like this--" he +plucked at his own silken sleeve "--got lots of jam all the time. Every +day drinks whisky and eats jam." + +"Hunh!" Injun Jim ran his forefinger dexterously around the inside of a +jelly glass and licked the finger with the nonchalance of a two-year-old. +"Hunh. Got heap big gol' mine, me. No can go ketchum two year, mebby. I +dunno. Feet no damn good for walk. Back no damn good for ride. No ketchum +gol' long time now." + +Casey took a chew of tobacco. This was getting to the point he had been +aiming for, and he needed his wits working at top speed. + +"Well, if you got a gold mine, you can eat jam all the time. Drink whisky, +too," he added, hushing his conscience peremptorily. "If you've got a +white man that's your friend, he might take your gold to town and buy +whisky and jam." + +Injun Jim considered, his finger searching for more jelly. "White man no +good for Injun, mebby. I dunno. Ketchum gol', mebby no givum. Tell all +white mans. Heap mans come. White man horses eat grass. Drink all water. +Shootum deer, shootum rabbit, shootum all damn time. Make big house. Heap +noise all time. No place for Injuns no more. No good." + +"White man not all same, Jim. One white man maybe good friend. Help get +gold, give you half. You buy lots of jam, lots of whisky, lots of silk +shirts, have good time." Casey looked at him straight. He could do it, +because he meant what he said; even the whisky, I regret to say. + +Injun Jim accepted a cigarette and smoked it, saying never a word. Casey +smoked the mate to it and waited, trying to hide how his fingers trembled. +Injun Jim turned himself painfully on the blankets and regarded Casey +steadily with his one suspicious eye. Casey met the look squarely. + +"You got more shirt?" Jim's finger pointed at the blue and green stripes. +"Yo' got more jam? You bringum. Heap sick, me, mebby die. Me no takeum +gol' me die. No wantum, me die. Yo' mebby good man. I dunno. Me ketchum +heap jam, ketchum heap silk shirt, ketchum heap 'bacco, heap whisky, mebby +me tellum you where ketchum gol' mine. Me die, yo' heap rich--" + +He turned suddenly, lifted his right arm and sent his knife swishing +through the air. It sliced its way through the tepee wall and hung there +quivering, Caught by the hilt. Injun Jim called out vicious, Piute words. +"Hahnaga!" he commanded fiercely. "Hahnaga!" + +The lean old squaw came meekly, stood just within the tepee while her lord +spat words at her. She answered apathetically in Piute and backed out. +Presently she returned, driving before her a young squaw whom Casey had +not before seen. The young squaw was holding a hand upon her other arm, +and Casey saw blood between her fingers. The young squaw was not +particularly meek. She stood there sullenly while Injun Jim berated her in +the Indian tongue, and once she muttered a retort that made the old man's +fingers go groping over the blankets for a weapon; whereat the young squaw +laughed contemptuously and went out, sending Casey a side glance and a +fleeting smile as full of coquetry as ever white woman could employ. + +The interruption silenced the old buck upon the subject of gold. Casey sat +there and chewed tobacco and waited, schooling his impatience as best he +could. Injun Jim muttered in Piute, or lay with his one eye closed. But +Casey knew that he did not sleep; his thin lips were drawn too tense for +slumber. So he waited. + +Injun Jim opened his eye suddenly, looked all around the tepee and then +stared fixedly at Casey. "Young squaw no good. Heap much white talk. +Stealum gol' mine, mebby. I dunno." He gestured for his knife, and Casey +got it for him. Injun Jim fondled it evilly. + +"Bimeby killum. Mebby. I dunno. Yo' ketchum jam, ketchum shirt--how many +jam yo' ketchum?" + +Casey meditated awhile. He had not planned an exclusive jam diet for Injun +Jim, therefore his supply was getting low. But at the tenderfoot camp was +much more, enough to last Injun Jim to the border of the happy hunting +grounds,--if he did not loiter too long upon the way. There was no telling +how long Injun Jim would be able to eat jam, but Casey was a good gambler. + +"If I go get a lot more, and get silk shirts--six," he counted with his +fingers, "you tell me where your gold mine is." + +"Yo' bringum heap jam, bringum shirt. Me tellum." His one eye was bright. +"Yo' bringum jam. Yo' bringum shirt. Yol giveum me." He patted the bare +dirt beside the blankets, signifying that he wanted the jam and shirts +there, within reach of his hand. He even twisted his cruel old lips into a +smile. "Me tellum. Me shakeum hand." + +He held out his left hand and Casey clasped it soberly, though he wanted +to jump up and crack his heels together,--as he confided afterwards. Injun +Jim laid the blade of his knife across the clasped hands. + +"Yo' lie me, yo' die quick. Injun god biteum. Mebby snake. I dunno. How +long yo' ketchum heap jam, heap shirt?" + +Now that he knew the way, Casey had in mind a certain short-cut that would +subtract two days from the round trip. He held up his hand, fingers +spread, and got up. Then he thought of the threat and added one of his +own. + +"I've got a God myself, Jim. You lie about that gold mine and the jam'll +choke yuh to death. You can ask anybody." + +Casey went out and straightway packed for the journey. Fate, he told +himself, was playing partners with him. I don't suppose Casey, even in his +most happy-go-lucky mood, had ever been quite so content with life as when +he returned to the camp of the tenderfeet for a mule load of jam and silk +shirts. Trading an old muzzle-loading shotgun to an Indian chief for the +future site of a great city could not have seemed more of a bargain in the +days of our forefathers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +He made the trip almost half a day sooner than he had promised and went +straight up to Injun Jim's camp with his load. He was whistling all the +way up the canyon to the tepee; but then he stopped. + +Inside the hut was the sound of wailing. Casey tried not to guess what +that meant. He tied William and went to the door of the tepee. + +The young squaw came from within and stood just before the opening, +regarding Casey with that maddening, Indian immobility so characteristic +of the race. She did not speak, though Casey waited for fully two minutes; +nor did she move aside to let him go in. Casey grinned disarmingly. + +"Me ketchum heap jam for Injun Jim. Heap silk shirts. Me go tellum," he +said. + +"Are those they?" the young squaw inquired calmly, and pointed to William. +Casey jumped. Any man would, hearing that impeccable sentence issue from +the lips of a squaw with a blanket over her head. + +"Uh-huh," he gulped. + +"My father is dead. He died yesterday from eating too much pickles that +you gave him. I should like to have what you have brought to give him. I +should thank you for the silk shirts. I can fix them so that I can wear +them. I will talk to you pretty soon about that gold mine. I know where it +is. I have helped my father bring the gold away. My father would not tell +you if you gave him all the jam and all the silk in the world. My father +was awful mean. I thought he would maybe kill you and that is why I +listened beside the tepee. I wished to protect you because I know that you +are a good man. Will you give me the silk shirts and the jam?" + +She smiled then, and Casey saw that she had a gold tooth in front, which +further demonstrated how civilized she was. + +"You will excuse the way I am dressed. I have to dress so that I would +please my father. He was very mean with me all the time. He did not like +me because I have gone to school and got a fine educating. He wanted me to +be Indian. But I knew that my father is a chief and that makes me just +what you would say a princess, and I wished to learn how to be educate +like all white ladies. So I took some gold from my father's mine and I +spent the money for going to school. My name," she added impressively, "is +Lucy Lily. What is your name?" + +"Mr.--Casey Ryan," he stuttered, floundering in the mental backwash left +by this flood of amazing eloquence. + +"I like that name. I think I will have you for my friend. Do not talk to +my mother, Hahnaga. She is crazy. She tells lies all the time about me. +She does not like me because I have went to school and got a fine +educating. She is mad all the time when she sees that I am not like her. +Now you give me the silks. I will put on a pretty dress. My father is dead +now and I can do what I wish to do; I am not afraid of my mother. My +mother does not know where to find the gold mine. I am the only one who +knows." + +Casey is a simple soul, too trustful by far. He was embarrassed by the +arch smile which Lucy Lily gave him, and he wished vaguely that she was +the blanket squaw she looked to be. But it never occurred to Casey that +there might be a wily purpose behind her words. He unpacked William and +gave her the things he had brought for Injun Jim, and returned with his +camp outfit to the spring to think things over while he boiled himself a +pot of coffee and fried bacon. + +Lucy Lily appeared like an unwarranted vision before him. Indeed, Casey +likened her coming to a nightmare. Casey no longer wondered why Injun Jim +insisted upon Indian dress for Lucy Lily. + +Now she wore a red silk skirt much spotted with camp grease. A +three-cornered tear in the side had been sewed with long stitches and +coarse white thread, and even Casey was outraged by the un-workmanlike +job. She had on one of the silk shirts, which happened to be striped in +many shades, none of which harmonized with the basic color of the skirt. +She also wore two cheap necklaces whose luster had long since faded, and +her hair was coiled on top of her head and adorned with three combs +containing many white glass settings. Her face was powdered thickly to the +point of her jaws, with very red cheekbones and very red lips. She wore +once-white slippers with French heels much run over at the side and dirty +white silk stockings with great holes in the heels. I must add that the +shirt was too narrow in the bust, so that her arms bulged and there were +gaping spaces between the buttons. And for a belt she wore a wide blue +ribbon very much creased and soiled, as if she had used it for a long +while as a hair bow. + +She sat down upon a rock and watched Casey distractedly bungle his +cooking. She must have had a great deal of initiative for a squaw, for she +plunged straight into the subject which most nearly concerned Casey, and +she was frank to the point of appalling him with her bluntness. Casey is a +rather case-hardened bachelor, but I suspect that Lucy Lily scared him +from the beginning. + +"Do you like me when I have pretty dress on?" she inquired, smoothing the +red silk complacently over her knees. + +Casey swears that he told her it didn't make a darn bit of difference to +him what she wore. If that is the truth, Lucy Lily must have been very +stupid or very persistent, for she went on blandly stating her plans and +her dearest wish. + +"That gold mine I am keeping for my husband," she announced. "It is a +present for a wedding gift for my man. I shall not marry an Indian man. I +am too pretty and I have a gold mine, and I will marry a white man. +Indians don't know what money is good for. I want to live in a town and +wear silk dresses all the time every day and ride in a red automobile and +have lots of rings and go to shows. Have you got lots of money?" + +I don't know what Casey told her. He says he swore he hadn't a nickel to +his name. + +"I think you have got lots of money. I think perhaps you are rich. I don't +see white men walk in the desert with silk shirts and have lots of jam and +pickles if they are not rich. I think you want that gold mine awful bad. +You gave Jim lots of jam so he would tell you. White men want lots of more +money when they have got lots of money. It is like that in shows. If a man +is poor he don't care. If a man is rich he is hunting all the time for +more money and killing people. So I think you are like them rich mans in +shows." + +Casey told her again that he was poor; but she couldn't have believed +him,--not in the face of all the silk and sweets he had displayed. + +"I am awful glad Jim is dead. Now you have gave me the things. We will go +to Tonopah and you will buy a red automobile and we will ride in it. And +you will buy me lots of silk and rings. I shall be a lady like a princess +in a show." + +"Your mother has got something to say about that gold mine," Casey blurted +desperately. "It's hers by rights. She'd have to go fifty-fifty on it. +She's got it coming, and I never cheated anybody yet. I ain't going to +commence on an old squaw." + +"She is a big fool. What you think Hahnaga want of money? The agent he +gives her blankets and tea and flour. If you give Hahnaga silk, I will be +awful mad. She is old. She will die pretty quick." + +"Well," said Casey, "I dunno as any of us has got any cinch on living. +And if there's a gold mine in the family, she sure has got to have an even +break. What about old Jim? Buried him yet?" + +"He is in the tepee. I think Hahnaga will dig a grave. I don't care. I +will go with you, and we will find the gold mine. Then you will buy me--" + +"I'll buy you nothin'!" Casey's tone was emphatic. + +Lucy Lily looked at him steadily. "Before we go for the gold mine we will +go to Tonopah and get marriage, and you will give me a gold ring on my +finger. Then I will show you where is gold so much you will have money to +buy the world full of things." She smiled at him, showing her gold tooth. +"I like you for my man," she said. "I am awful pretty. I have lots of +fellows. I could marry lots of other white mans, but I will marry you." + +"Like hell you will!" snorted Casey, and began to wipe out his frying pan +and empty his coffeepot and make other preparations for instant packing. +"Like hell you'll marry me! Think I'd marry a squaw--?" + +"Then I will not tell you where is the gold! Then I hate you and I will +fix you good! You want that gold mine awful bad. You will have to marry me +before I tell you." + +Casey straightened and looked at her, his frying pan in one hand, his +coffeepot in the other. "Say, I never asked you about the darn mine, did +I? I done my talkin' to Injun Jim. It's you that butted in here on this +deal. Seein' he's dead, I'll talk to his squaw and make a deal with her, +mebby." He looked her over measuringly. "Princess--hunh! I'll tell yuh in +plain American what you are, if yuh don't git outa here. I may want a gold +mine, all right, but I sure don't want it that bad. Git when I tell yuh to +git!" + +A squaw with no education would have got forthwith. But Lucy Lily had +learned to be like white ladies,--or so she said. She screamed at him in +English, in Piute, and chose words in each that no princess should employ +to express her emotions. Her loud denunciations followed Casey to the +tepee, where he stopped and offered his services to Hahnaga as undertaker. + +She accepted stolidly and together they buried Injun Jim, using his best +blanket and not much ceremony. Casey did not know the Piute customs well +enough to follow them, and his version of the white man's funeral service +was simple in the extreme. Hahnaga, however, brought two bottles of +pickles and one jar of preserves which had outlasted Injun Jim's appetite, +and put them in the grave with him, together with his knife and an old +rifle and his pipe. + +To dig a grave and afterwards heap the dirt symmetrically over a discarded +body takes a little time, no matter how cursory is the proceeding. Casey +ceased to hear Lucy Lily's raucous voice and so thought that she had +settled down. He misjudged the red princess. He discovered that when he +went back to where William had stood. + +He no longer stood there. He was gone, pack and all, and once more Casey +stood equipped for desert journeying with shirt, overalls, shoes and +socks, and his old Stetson, and with half a plug of tobacco, a pipe and a +few matches in his pocket. On the bush where William had been tied a piece +of paper was impaled and fluttered in the wind. Casey jerked it off and +read the even, carefully formed script,--and swore. + + "_Dear Sir:_ I am going to Tonopah. If you try to come I will tell the +sherf to coming and see Jim and put you in jail. I will tell the judge you +killed him and the sherf will put you in jail and hung you. Those are fine +shirts. I will wear them silk. As ever your friend, + Yours truly, + LUCY LILY." + +Casey sat down on a rock to think it over. The squaw was moving about +within the hut, collecting the pitifully few belongings which Lucy Lily +had disdained to steal. An Indian does not like to stay where one has +died. + +Casey could overtake Lucy Lily, if he walked fast and did not stop when +dark fell, but he did not want to overtake her. He was not alarmed at her +threat of the sheriff, but he did not want to see her again or hear her or +think of her. + +So Casey tore up the note and went and begged a little food from Hahnaga; +then he broached the subject of the gold mine. The squaw listened, looking +at him with dull black eyes and a face like a stamped-leather portrait of +an Indian. She shook her head and pointed down the gulch. + +"No find gol', bad girl. I think killum my mans. I dunno. No fin' gol'-- +Jim he no tellum. No tellum me, no tellum Lucy, no tellum nobody. I think, +all time Jim hide." She made a gesture as of one covering something with +dirt. "Lucy all time try for fin' gol'. Jim he no likeum. Lucy my sister +girl. Bad. No good. All time heap mean. All time tellum heap big lie so +Indian no likeum. One time take monee, go 'way off. School for write. Come +back for fin' gol', make Jim tellum. Jim sick long time. Jim no tellum. +Jim all time mad for Lucy. Las' night--talk mean--mebby fight--Jim he die +quick. Lucy say killum me, I tell. + +"Now me go my brother. Walk two day. Give you grub--no got many grub. You +takeum gol' you fin'. Me no care. No want. You don' give Lucy. Lucy bad +girl all time. No fin' gol'--Jim he no tellum. I dunno." + +That left Casey exactly where he had been before he found Injun Jim. There +was no getting around it; the squaw repeated her statements twice, which +Casey thought was probably more talking that she had done before in the +course of six months. She impressed Casey as being truthful. She really +did not know any more about Injun Jim's mine than did Casey. Or perhaps a +little more, because she knew, poor thing, just how drunk Jim could get on +the whisky they gave him for the gold. He used to beat her terribly when +he came to camp drunk. Casey learned that much, though it didn't help him +any. + +Hahnaga did not seem to think that anything need be done about the manner +of Jim's death. She said he was heap sick and would die anyway, or words-- +not many--to that effect. Casey decided to go on and mind his own +business. He did not see why, he said, the county of Nye should be let in +for a lot of expense on Injun Jim's account, even if Jim had been killed. +And as for punishing Lucy Lily, he was perfectly willing that it should be +done, only he did not want to do it. I have always believed that Casey was +afraid she might possibly marry him in spite of himself if she were in his +immediate neighborhood long enough. + +They made themselves each a small pack of food and what was more vital, +water, and went their different ways. Hahnaga struck off to the west, to +her brother at the end of Forty-Mile Canyon. At least, that was where she +said her brother mostly camped. Casey retraced his steps for the second +time to the camp of the tenderfeet. Loco Canyon, Casey calls the place, +claiming it by right of discovery. + +Now I don't see, and possibly you won't see, either, what the devil's +lantern had to do with Casey's bad luck. Casey maintains rather stubbornly +that it had a great deal to do with it. First, he says, it got him all off +the trail following it, and was almost the death of him and William. Next, +he declares that it drove him to Lucy Lily and had fully intended that he +should be tied up to her. Then he suspects that it had something to do +with Injun Jim's dying just when he did, and he has another count or two +against the lantern and will tell you them, and back them with much +argument, if you nag him into it. + +It taught him things, he says. And once, after we had talked the matter +over and had fallen into silence, he broke out with a sentence I have +never forgotten, nor the tone in which he said it, nor the way he glared +into the fire, his pipe in his hand where he always had it when he was +extremely in earnest. + +"The three darndest, orneriest, damndest things on earth," said Casey, as +if he were intoning a text, "is a Ford, or a goat, or an Injun. You can +ask anybody yuh like if that ain't so." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Casey was restless, and his restlessness manifested itself in a most +unusual pessimism. Twice he picked up "float" that showed the clean indigo +stain of silver bromyrite in spots the size of a split pea, and cast the +piece from him as if it were so much barren limestone, without ever +investigating to see where it had come from. Little as I know about +mineral, I am sure that one piece at least was rich; high-grade, if ever I +saw any. But Casey merely grunted when I spoke to him about it. + +"Maybe it is. A coupla hundred ounces, say. What's that, even with silver +at a dollar an ounce? It ain't good enough for Casey, and what I'm wastin' +my time for, wearing the heels off'n my shoes prospectin' Starvation, is +somethin' I can't tell yuh." He looked at me with his pale-blue, unwinking +stare for a minute. + +"Er--I can--and I guess the quicker it's out the better I'll feel." + +He took out his familiar plug of tobacco, always nibbled around the edges, +always half the size of his four fingers. I never saw Casey with a fresh +plug in his pocket, and I never saw him down to one chew; it is one of the +little mysteries in his life that I never quite solved. + +"I been thinkin' about that devil's lantern we seen the other night," he +said, when he had returned to his pocket the plug with a corner gone. +"They's something funny about that--the way it went over there and stood +on the Tippipahs again. I ain't sooperstitious. But I can't git things +outa my head. I want to go hunt fer that mine of Injun Jim's. This here is +just foolin' around--huntin' silver. I want to see where that free gold +comes from that he used to peddle. It's mine--by rights. He was goin' to +tell me where it was, you recollect, and he woulda if I hadn't overfed him +on jam--or if that damn squaw hadn't took a notion for marryin'. I let her +stampede me--and that's where I was wrong. I shoulda stayed." + +I was foolish enough to argue with him. I had talked with others about the +mine of Injun Jim, and one man (who owned cattle and called mines a +gamble) told me that he doubted the whole story. A prospectors' bubble, he +called it. Free gold, he insisted, did not belong in this particular +formation; it ran in porphyry, he said,--and then he ran into mineralogy +too technical for me now. I repeated his statement, however, and saw Casey +grin tolerantly. + +"Gold is where yuh find it," he retorted, and spat after a hurrying +lizard. "They said gold couldn't be found in that formation around +Goldfield. But they found it, didn't they?" + +Casey looked at me steadily for a minute and then came out with what was +really in his mind. "You stake me to grub and a couple of burros an' let +me go hunt the Injun Jim, and I'll locate yuh in on it when I find it. And +if I don't find it, I'll pay yuh back for the outfit. And, anyway, you're +makin' money off'n my bad luck right along, ain't yuh? Wasn't it me you +was writin' up, these last few days?" + +"I was--er--reconsidering that devil's lantern yarn you told me, Casey. +But the thing doesn't work out right. It sounds unfinished, as you told +it. I don't know that I can do anything with it, after all." I was +truthful with him; you all remember that I was dissatisfied with the way +Casey ended it. Just walking back across the desert and quitting the +search,--it lacked, somehow, the dramatic climax. I could have built one, +of course. But I wanted to test out my theory that a man like Casey will +live a complete drama if he is left alone. Casey is absolutely natural; he +goes out after life without waiting for it to come to him, and he will +forget all about his own interests to help a stranger,--and above all, he +builds his castles hopefully as a child and seeks always to make them +substantial structures afterwards. If any man can prove my theory, that +man is Casey Ryan. So I led him along to say what dream held him now. + +"Unfinished? Sure it's unfinished! I quit, didn't I tell yuh? It ain't +goin' to be finished till I git out and find that mine. I been studyin' +things over. I never seen one of them lights till I started out to find +Injun Jim's mine. If I'd a-gone along with no bad luck, I wouldn't never +a-found that tenderfoot camp, would I? It was keepin' the light at my back +done that--and William not likin' the look of it, either. And you gotta +admit it was the light mostly that scared them young dudes off and left me +the things. And if you'd of saw Injun Jim, you'd of known same as I that +it was the jam and the silk shirts that loosened him up. Nothin' in my +own pack coulda won him over,--" + +"It's all right that far," I cut in. "But then he died, and you were set +afoot and all but married by as venomous a creature as I ever heard of, +and the thing stops right there, Casey, where it shouldn't." + +"And that's what I'm kickin' about! Casey Ryan ain't the man to let it +stop there. I been thinkin' it over sence that devil's lantern showed up +again, and went and set over there on Tippipah. Mebby I misjudged the +dog-gone thing. Mebby it's settin' somewheres around that gold mine. Funny +it never showed up no other time and no other place. I been travelin' the +desert off'n on all my life, and I never seen anything like it before. +And I can tell yuh this much: I been wanting that mine too darn long to +give up now. If you don't feel like stakin' me for the trip, I'll go back +to Lund and have a talk with Bill. Bill's a good old scout and he'll +stake me to an outfit, anyway." + +That was merely Casey's inborn optimism speaking. Bill was a good old +scout, all right, but if he would grubstake Casey to go hunting the Injun +Jim mine, then Bill had changed considerably. + +The upshot of it was that we left Starvation the next morning, headed for +town. And two days after that I had pulled myself out of bed at daybreak +to walk down to his camp under the mesquite grove just outside of town. I +drank a cup of coffee with him and wished him luck. Casey did not talk +much. His mind was all taken up with the details of his starting,--whether +to trust his water cans on the brown burro or the gray, and whether he had +taken enough "cold" shoes along for the mule. And he set down his cup of +coffee to go rummaging in a kyack just to make sure that he had the hoof +rasp and shoeing hammer safe. + +He was packed and moving up the little hill out of the grove before the +sun had more than painted a cloud or two in the east. A dreamer once more +gone to find the end of his particular rainbow, I told myself, as I +watched him out of sight. I must admit that I hoped, down deep in the +heart of me, that Casey would fall into some other unheard-of experience +such as had been his portion in the past. I felt much more certain that he +would get into some scrape than I did that he would find the Injun Jim, +and I was grinning inside when I went back to town; though there was a bit +of envy in the smile,--one must always envy the man who keeps his dreams +through all the years and banks on them to the end. For myself, I hadn't +chased a rainbow for thirty years, and I could not call myself the better +for it, either. + + * * * * * + +In September the lower desert does not seem to realize that summer is +going. The wind blows a little harder, perhaps, and frequently a little +hotter; the nights are not quite so sweltering, and the very sheets on +one's bed do not feel so freshly baked. But up on the higher mesas there +is a heady quality to the wind that blows fresh in your face. There is an +Indian-summery haze like a thin veil over the farthest mountain ranges. +Summer is with you yet; but somehow you feel that winter is coming. + +In a country all gray and dull yellow and brown, you find strange, +beautiful tints no artist has yet prisoned with his paints. You dream in +spite of yourself, and walk through a world no more than half real, a +world peopled with your thoughts. + +Casey did, when the burros left him in peace long enough. They were +misleading, pot-bellied animals that Casey hazed before him toward the +Tippipahs. They never showed more than slits of eyes beneath their +drooping lids, yet they never missed seeing whatever there was to see, and +taking advantage of every absent-minded moment when Casey was thinking of +the Injun Jim, perhaps. They were fast-walking burros when they were +following a beaten trail and Casey was hard upon their heels, but when his +attention wandered they showed a remarkable amount of energy in finding +blind trails and following them into some impracticable wash where Casey +wasted a good deal of time in extricating them. He said he never saw +burros that hated so to turn around and go back into the road, and he +never saw two burros get out of sight as quickly as they could when they +thought he wasn't watching. They would choose different directions and +hide from him separately,--but once was enough for Casey. He lost them +both for an hour in the sand pits twelve miles out of town, and after that +he tied them nose to tail and himself held a rope attached to the +hindmost, and so made fair time with them, after all. + +The mule, Casey said, was just plain damn mule, sloughed off from the +army, blasé beyond words,--any words at Casey's command, at least. A +lopeared buckskin mule with a hanging lower lip and a chronic +tail-switching, that shacked along hour after hour and saved Casey's legs +and, more particularly, a bunion that had developed in the past year. + +Casey knew the country better than he had known it on his first +unprofitable trip into the Tippipahs. He avoided Furnace Lake, keeping +well around the Southern rim of it and making straight for Loco Canyon and +the spring there while his water cans still had a pleasant slosh. There he +rested his longears for a day, and disinterred certain tenderfoot luxuries +which he had cached when he was there last time. And when he set out again +he went straight on to the old stone hut where Injun Jim had camped. The +tepee was gone, burned down according to Indian custom after a death, as +he had expected. The herd of Indian ponies were nowhere in sight. +Hahnaga's brother, he guessed, had driven them off long ago. + +Casey had worked out a theory, bit by bit, and with characteristic +optimism he had full faith that it would prove a fact later on. He wanted +to start his search from the point where Injun Jim had started, and he had +rather a plausible reason for doing so. + +Injun Jim was an Indian of the old school, and the old school did a great +deal of its talking by signs. Casey had watched Jim with that pale, +unwinking stare that misses nothing within range, and he had read the +significance of Jim's unconscious gestures while he talked. It had been +purely subconscious; Casey had expected the exact location of the mine in +words, and perhaps with a crudely accurate map of Jim's making. But now he +remembered Jim's words, certain motions made by the skinny hands, and from +them he laid his course. + +"He was layin' right here--facin' south," Casey told himself, squatting on +his heels within the rock circle that marked the walls of the tepee. "He +said, 'Got heap big gol' mine, me--' and he turned his hand that way." +Casey squinted at the distant blue ridge that was an unnamed spur of the +Tippipahs. "It's far enough so an old buck like him couldn't make it very +well. Fifteen mile, anyway--mebby twenty or twenty-five. And from the sign +talk he made whilst he was talkin', I'd guess it's nearer twenty than +fifteen. There's that two-peak butte--looks like that would be about right +for distance. And it's dead in line--them old bucks don't waggle their +hands permiskus when they talk. Old Jim woulda laid on his hands if he'd +knovved what they was tellin' me; but even an ornery old devil like him +gits careless when they git old. Casey hits straight fer Two Peak." + +That's the way he got his bearings; just remembering the unguarded motion +of Injun Jim's grimy hand and adding thereto his superficial knowledge of +the country and his own estimate of what an old fellow like Jim could call +a long journey. With this and the unquestioning faith in his dream that +was a part of him, Casey threw his favorite "packer's hitch" across the +packed burros at dawn next morning, boarded his buckskin mule and set off +hopefully across the barren valley, heading straight for the distant butte +he called Two Peak. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +I don't suppose Casey Ryan ever started out to do something for himself-- +something he considered important to his own personal welfare and +happiness--without running straight into some other fellow's business and +stopping to lend a hand. He says he can't remember being left alone at any +time in his life to follow the beckoning finger of his own particular +destiny. + +Casey had made camp that night in one of several deep gulches that ridged +the butte with two peaks. We had been lucky in our burro buying, and he +had two of the fastest walking jacks in the country, so that he was able +to give them a good long nooning and still reach the foot of the butte and +make camp well before sundown. For the first time since he first heard of +the Injun Jim gold mine, Casey felt that he was really "squared away" to +the search. As he sat there blowing his unhurried breath upon a blue +granite cup of coffee to cool it, his memory slanted back along the years +when he had said that some day he would go and hunt for the Injun Jim mine +that was so rich a ten-pound lard bucket full of the ore had been known to +yield five hundred dollars' worth of gold. Well, it had been a long time +since he first said that to himself, but here he was, and to-morrow he +would begin his search with daylight, starting with this gulch he was in +and working methodically over every foot of Two Peak. + +He took two long, satisfying swallows of coffee and poised the cup and +listened. After a minute had gone in that way, he finished the coffee in +gulps and stood up, dangling the empty cup with a finger crooked in the +handle. From somewhere not more than a long rifle-shot away, a Ford was +coughing under full pressure of gas and with at least one dirty spark plug +to give it a spasmodic stutter. While Casey stood there listening, the +stutter slowed and stopped with one wheezy cough. That was all. + +"They'll have to clean up her hootin'-annies before they git outa here," +Casey observed shrewdly, having intimate and sometimes unpleasant +knowledge of Fords and their peculiar ailments. "And I wonder what the +sufferin' Chris'mas they're doin' here, anyway. If it's huntin' the Injun +Jim they're after, the quicker they scrape the sut off them dingbats and +git outa here, the healthier they'll ride. You ask anybody if Casey Ryan's +liable to back up now he's on the ground and squared away!" + +He stood there uneasily for a minute or two longer, caught a whiff of his +bacon scorching and stooped to its rescue. Then he fried a bannock hastily +in the bacon grease, folded two slices of bacon within it and ate in a +hurry, keeping an ear cocked for any further sounds from the concealed +car. + +He finished eating without having heard more and piled his dishes without +washing them. I don't suppose he had used more than ten minutes at the +longest in eating his supper. That was about the limit of Casey's inaction +when he smelled a mystery or a scrap. This had the elements of both, and +he started out forthwith to trail down the Ford, wiping crumbs from his +mouth and getting out his plug of tobacco as he went. + +In broken country sounds are deceptive as to direction, but Casey was +lucky enough to walk straight toward the spot, which was over a hump in +the gulch, a sort of backbone dividing it in two narrow branches there at +its mouth. He had noticed when he rode toward it that it was ridged in the +middle, and had chosen the left-hand branch for no reason at all except +that it happened to be a little smoother traveling for his animals. + +He topped the ridge and came full upon a camp below, almost within calling +distance from where he first sighted it. There was a stone hut that could +not possibly contain more than two small rooms, and there was a tent +pitched not far away. There seemed to be a spring just beyond the cabin. +Casey saw the silver gleam of water there, and a strip of green grass, and +a juniper bush or two. + +But these details were not important at the moment. What sent him down the +hill in an uneven trot was a group of three that stood beside a car. From +their voices, and the gestures that were being made, here was a quarrel +building rapidly into a fight. To prove it the smallest person in the +group suddenly whipped out a revolver and pointed it at the two. Casey saw +the reddening sunlight strike upon the barrel with a brief shine, +instantly quenched when the gun was thrust forward toward the other two +whom it threatened. + +"You get out of my camp and out of my sight just as fast as your legs can +take you. This car belongs to me, and you're not going to touch it. You've +got your wages--more than your wages, you great hulking shirks! A fine +exhibition you're making of yourselves, I must say! You thought you could +bluff me--that I'd stand meekly by and let you two bullies have your own +way about it, did you? You even waited until you had gorged yourselves on +food you've never earned, before you started your highwaymen performance. +You made sure of one more good meal, you--you _hogs._ Now go, before I +empty this gun into the two of you!" + +Casey stopped, puffing a little, I suppose. He is not so young as when +they called him the Fightin' Stagedriver, and he had done his long day of +travel. The three did not know that he was there, they were so busy with +their quarrel. The woman's voice was sharp with contempt, but it was not +loud and there was not a tremble in any tone of it. The gun she held was +steady in her hand, but one man snarled at her and one man laughed. It was +the kind of laugh a woman would hate to hear from a man she was defying. + +"Aw, puddown the popgun! Nobody's scared of it--er you. It ain't loaded, +and if it was loaded you couldn't hit nothin'. No need to be scared +'long's a woman's pointing a gun at yuh. Crank 'er up, agin, Ole. Don't +worry none about _her._ She can't stop nothin', not even her jawin'. Go +awn, start the damn Lizzie an' let's go." + +Ole bent to the cranking, then complained that the switch must be off. His +companion growled that it was nothing of the kind and kept his narrowed +gaze fixed upon the woman. + +She spied Casey standing there, a few rods beyond the car. The gun dropped +in her hand so that its aim was no longer direct. The man who faced her +jumped and caught her wrist, and the gun went off, the bullet singing ten +feet above Casey's head. + +A little girl with flaxen curls and patched overalls on screamed and +rushed up to the man, gripping him furiously around the legs just above +the knees and trying her little best to shake him. "You leave my mamma +alone!" she cried shrilly. + +Casey took a hand then,--a hand with a rock in it, I must explain. He +managed to kick Ole harshly in the ribs, sending him doubled sidewise and +yelping, as he passed him. He laid the other man out senseless with the +rock which landed precisely on the back of the head just under his hat. + +The woman--Casey had mistaken her for a man at first, because she wore bib +overalls and had her hair bobbed and a man's hat on--dropped the gun and +held her wrist that showed angry red finger prints. She smiled at Casey +exactly as if nothing much had happened. + +"Thank you very much indeed. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to +manage the situation. It was growing rather awkward, because I should have +been compelled to shoot them both, I expect, before I was through. And I +dreaded a mess. Wounded, I should have had them on my hands to take care +of--their great hulks!--and dead I should have had to bury them, and I +detest digging in this rocky soil. You really did me a very great--" + +Her eyes ranged to something behind Casey and widened at what they saw. +Casey whirled about, ducked a hurtling monkey wrench and rushed Ole, who +was getting up awkwardly, his eyes malevolent. He made a very thorough job +of thrashing Ole, and finished by knocking him belly down over the +un-hooded engine of the Ford. + +"I hope Jawn doesn't suffer from that," the little woman commented +whimsically. "Babe, run and get that rope over there and take it to the +gentleman so he can tie Ole's hands together. Then he can't be naughty any +more. Hurry, Baby Girl." + +Baby Girl hurried, her curls whipping around her face as she ran. She +brought a coil of cotton clothesline to Casey, looking up at him with +wide, measuring eyes of a tawny shade like sunlight shining through thin +brown silk. "I wish you'd give Joe a beating too," she said with grave +earnestness. "He's a badder man than Ole. He hurt my mamma. Will you give +Joe a beating and tie his naughty hands jus' like that when he wakes up?" +She lifted her plump little body on her scuffed toes, her brown, dimpled +fingers clutching the radiator to hold her steady while she watched Casey +tie Ole's naughty hands behind his back. + +"Now will you tie Joe's naughty hands jus' like that? Don't use up all the +rope! My mamma hasn't got any more rope, and you have to tie--" + +"Babe! Come over here and don't bother the gentleman. Stand away over +there so you can't hear the naughty words Ole is saying." The little woman +smiled, but not much. Casey, glancing up from the last efficient knot, +felt suddenly sorry that he had not first gagged Ole. Casey had not +thought of it before; mere cussing was natural to him as breathing, and he +had scarcely been aware of the fact that Ole was speaking. Now he cuffed +the Swede soundly and told him to shut up, and yanked him off the car. + +"Joe is regaining consciousness. He'll be nasty to handle as a rabid +coyote if you wait much longer. Just cut the rope. It's my clothesline, +but we must not balk at trifles in a crisis like this." The little woman +had recovered her gun and was holding it ready for Joe in case the +predicted rabidness became manifest. + +Casey tied Joe very thoroughly while consciousness was slowly returning. +The situation ceased to be menacing; it became safe and puzzling and even +a bit mysterious. Casey reached for his plug, remembered his manners and +took away his hand. Robbed of his customary inspiration he stood +undecided, scowling at the feebly blinking ruffian called Joe. + +"It's very good of you not to ask what it's all about," said the little +woman, taking off the man's hat and shaking back her hair like a +schoolgirl. "I have some mining claims here--four of them. My husband left +them to me, and since that's all he did leave I have been keeping up the +assessment work every year. Last year I had enough money to buy Jawn." She +nodded toward the Ford. "I outfitted and came out here with an old fellow +I'd known for years, kept camp until he'd done the assessment work, and +paid him off and that was all there was to it. + +"This summer the old man is prospecting the New Jerusalem, I expect. He +died in April. I hired these two scoundrels. I was foolish enough to pay +half their wages in advance, because they told me a tale of owing money to +a widow for board and wanting to pay her. I have," she observed, "a +weakness for widows. And they have just pretended to be working the +claims. I hurt my ankle so that I haven't been able to walk far for a +month, and they took advantage of it and have been prospecting around on +their own account, at my expense, while I religiously marked down their +time and fed them. They have located four claims adjoining mine, and put +up their monuments and done their location work in the past month, if you +please, while I supposed they were working for me." + +"D'they locate you in on 'em?" + +"Locate me--in? You mean, as a partner? They emphatically did not! I went +up to the claims to-day, saw that they had not done a thing since the last +time I was there; they had even taken away my tools. So we tracked them, +Baby and I, and found their location monuments just over the hill, and saw +where they had been working. So to-night I asked them about it, and they +were very defiant and very cool and decided that they were through out +here and would go to town. They were _borrowing_ Jawn--so they said. I was +objecting, naturally. I was quite against being left alone out here, +afoot, with Babe on my hands. It will soon be coming on cold," she said. +"I'd have been in a fine predicament, with supplies for only about a month +longer. And I must get the assessment work done, too, you know." + +"D'you want 'em to stay and finish your work?" Casey reached out with his +foot and pushed Joe down upon his back again. + +The little woman looked down at Joe and across at Ole by the car. "No, +thank you. I should undoubtedly put strychnine in their coffee if they +stayed, I should hate the sight of them so. I have some that I brought for +the pack rats. No, I don't want them--" + +She had sounded very cool and calm, and she had impressed Casey as being +quite as fearless as himself. But now he caught a trembling in her voice, +and he distinctly saw her lip quiver. He was so disturbed that he went +over and slapped Ole again and told him to shut up, though Ole was not +saying a word. + +"Where's their bed-rolls?" Casey asked, when he turned toward her again. +She pointed to the tent, and Casey went and dragged forth the packed +belongings of the two. It was perfectly plain that they had deliberately +planned their desertion, for everything was ready to load into the car. + +Casey went staggering to the Ford, dumped the canvas rolls in and yanked +Ole up by the collar, propelling him into the tonneau. Then he came after +Joe. + +"If you can drive, you'll mebby feel better if yuh go along," he said to +the woman. "I'm goin' to haul 'em far enough sos't they won't feel like +walkin' back to bother yuh, and seein' you don't know me, mebby you better +do the drivin'. Then you'll know I ain't figurin' on stealin' your car and +makin' a getaway." + +"I can drive, of course," she acquiesced. "Not that I'd be afraid to trust +Jawn with you, but they're treacherous devils, those two, and they might +manage somehow to make you trouble if you go alone. Jawn is a +temperamental car, and he demands all of one's attention at times." + +She walked over to the car, reached out in the gathering dusk and fingered +the carburetor adjustment. "When they first revealed their plan of making +away with Jawn," she drawled, "I came up like this and remonstrated. And +while I did so I reached over and turned the screw and shut off the gas +feed. Jawn balked with them, of course--but they never guessed why!" + +The two in the tonneau muttered something in undertones while the little +woman smiled at them contemptuously. Casey thought that was pretty smart-- +to stall the car so they couldn't get away with it--but he did not tell +her so. There was something about the little woman which restrained him +from talking freely and speaking his mind bluntly as was his habit. + +He cranked the car, waited until she had the adjustment correct, and then +went back and stood on the running board, holding with his left hand to a +brace of the top and keeping his right free in case he should need it. The +little woman helped the little girl into the front seat, slid her own +small person behind the wheel and glanced round inquiringly, with a +flattering recognition of his masculine right to command. + +"Just head towards town and keep a-going till I say when," he told her, +and she nodded and sent Jawn careening down over the rough tracks which +Casey had missed by a quarter of a mile or less. + +She could drive, Casey admitted, almost as recklessly as he could. He had +all he wanted to do, hanging on without being snapped off at some of the +sharp turns she made. The road wandered down the valley for ten miles, +crept over a ridge, then dove headlong into another wide, shallow valley +seamed with washes and deep cuts. The little woman never eased her pace +except when there was imminent danger of turning Jawn bottomside up in a +wash. So in a comparatively short time they were over two summits and +facing the distant outline of Crazy Woman Hills. They had come, Casey +judged, about twenty miles, and they had been away from camp less than an +hour. + +Casey leaned forward and spoke to the woman, and she stopped the car +obediently. Casey pulled open the door and motioned, and the Swede came +stumbling out, sullenly followed by Joe, who muttered thickly that he was +sick and that the back of his head was caved in. Casey did not reply, but +heaved their bedding out after them. With the little woman holding her gun +at full aim, he untied the two and frugally stowed the rope away in the +car. + +"Now, you git," he ordered them sternly. "There's four of us camped just +acrost the ridge from this lady's place, and we'll sure keep plenty of +eyes out. If you got any ideas about taking the back trail, you better +think agin, both of yuh. You'd never git within shootin' distance of this +lady's camp. I'm Casey Ryan that's speakin' to yuh. You ask anybody about +me. Git!" + +Sourly they shouldered their bed-rolls and went limping down the trail, +and when their forms were only blurs beyond the shine of the headlights, +the little woman churned Jawn around somehow in the sand and drove back +quite as recklessly as she had come. Casey, bouncing alone in the rear +seat, did a great deal of thinking, but I don't believe he spoke once. + +"Casey Ryan, I have never had much reason for feeling gratitude toward a +man, but I am truly grateful to you. You are a man and a gentleman." The +little woman had driven close to the stone cabin and had turned and rested +her arm along the back of the front seat, half supporting the sleeping +child while she looked full at Casey. She had left the engine running, +probably for sake of the headlights, and her eyes shone dark and bright in +the crisp starlight. + +"'Tain't worth mentionin'," Casey protested awkwardly, and got out. + +"I've been wondering if I could get a couple of you men to do the work on +my claims," she went on. "I'm paying four dollars and board, and it would +be a great nuisance to make the long trip to town and find a couple of men +I would dare trust. In fact, it's going to be pretty hard for me to trust +any one, after this experience. If you men can take the time from your own +business--" + +"I don't know about the rest," Casey hedged uncomfortably. "They was +figurin' on doing something else. But I guess I could finish up the work +for yuh, all right. How deep is your shaft?" + +"It's a tunnel," she corrected. "My husband started four years ago to +drift in to the contact. He'd gone fifty feet when he died. I don't know +that I'll strike the body of ore when I do reach the contact, but it's the +only hope. I'm working the four claims as a group, and the tunnel is now +eighty feet. Those two brigands have wasted a month for me, or it would be +a hundred. One man can manage, though of course it's slower and harder. I +have powder enough, unless they stole it from me. They did about five feet +all told, and tore down part of my wall, I discovered to-day, chasing a +stringer of fairly rich ore, thinking, I suppose, that it would lead to a +pocket. The old man I had last year found a pocket of high grade that +netted me a thousand dollars." + +Casey threw up his head. "Gold?" he asked. + +"Mostly silver. I sent a truck out from town after the ore, shipped it by +express and still made a thousand dollars clear. There wasn't quite a ton +and a half of it, though. You'll come, then, and work for me? I wish you +could persuade one of your partners to help. It's getting well into +September already." + +"I wouldn't depend on 'em," Casey demurred uncomfortably. "I can do it +alone. And I'll board m'self, if you'd ruther. I've got grub enough. I +guess I better be gittin' along back to camp--if you ain't afraid to stay +alone. Them two couldn't git back much b'fore daylight, if they run all +the way; and by that time I'll be up and on the lookout," and Casey swung +off without waiting for an answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Casey was out of his blankets long before daylight the next morning and +sitting behind a bush on the ridge just back of the cabin, his rifle +across his knees. He hoped that his mention of three other men would +discourage those two from the attempt to revenge themselves, much as a +lone woman would tempt them. But he was not going to take any risk +whatever. + +At sunrise he went back to his camp--which he had moved closer to the +cabin, by the way, just barely keeping it out of sight--and cooked a hasty +breakfast. When he returned the little woman was ready to show him her +claims, and she seemed to have forgotten those two who had been so +ignominiously hauled away and dropped like unwanted cats beside the road. +She inquired again about Casey's partners, and Casey lied once more and +said that they had gone on over the range, prospecting. + +I don't know why he did not tell the little woman that he had lied to Ole +and Joe and let it go at that. But he seemed to dread having her discover +that he had lied at all, and so he kept on lying about those three +imaginary men. Perhaps he had a chivalrous instinct that she would feel +safer, more at ease, if she thought that others were somewhere near. At +any rate he did not tell her that his only partners were two burros and a +mule. + +I don't know what the little woman's opinion of Casey was, except that in +the first enthusiasm of her gratitude to him she had called him a man and +a gentleman. She drove a bargain with him, as she supposed. She would pay +him so much more per day if he preferred to board himself, and having +named the amount, Casey waited two minutes, as if he were meditating upon +the matter, and then replied that it suited him all right. + +Casey did not think much of her claims, though he did not tell her so. In +his opinion that tunnel should have been driven into the hill at a +different point, where the indications of mineral were much stronger and +the distance to the contact much less. A light, varying vein had been +followed at an incline, and Casey, working alone, was obliged to wheel +every pound of dirt up a rather steep grade to the dump outside. The rock +was hard to work in, so that it took him a full half a day to put in four +shots, and then he would be likely to find that they had "bootlegged." The +tunnel also faced the south, from where the wind nearly always blew, so +that the gas and smoke from his shots would hang in there sometimes for a +full twenty-four hours, making it impossible for him to work. + +The little woman seemed slightly surprised when Casey told her, at the end +of the first week, to knock off three days on account of gas. She and the +little girl came to his camp next day and brought Casey a loaf of light +bread and interrupted him in the act of shaving. The little woman looked +at the two burros and at the mule, measured the camp outfit with her keen +gray eyes, looked at Casey who had nicked his chin, and became thoughtful. + +After that she stopped calling him Mr. Ryan and addressed him as Casey +Ryan instead, with a little teasing inflection in her voice. Once Casey +happened to mention Lund, and when he saw her look of surprise he +explained that he drove a stage out of Lund, for awhile. + +"Oh! So you _are_ that Casey Ryan!" she said. "I might have known it." She +laughed to herself, but she did not say why, and Casey was afraid to ask. +He could remember so many incidents in his past that he would not want the +little woman to know about, and he was afraid that it might be one of them +at which she was laughing. + +She formed the habit of coming up to the tunnel every day, with Babe +chattering along beside her, swinging herself on her mother's hand. At +first she said whimsically that she had found it best to keep an eye on +her miners, as if that explained her coming. But she always had something +good to eat or drink. Once she brought a small bucket of hot chocolate, +which Casey gulped down heroically and smacked his lips afterwards. Casey +hated chocolate, too, so I think you may take it for granted that by then +he was a goner. + +He used to smoke his pipe and watch the little woman and Babe go +"high-grading" along the tunnel wall. That was what she called it and +pretended that she expected to find very rich ore concealed somewhere. It +struck him one day, quite suddenly, that the Little Woman (I may as well +begin to use capitals, because Casey always called her that in his mind, +and the capitals were growing bigger every day) the Little Woman never +seemed to notice his smoking, or to realize that it is a filthy habit and +immoral and degrading, as that other woman had done. + +He began to notice other things, too; that the Little Woman helped him a +lot, on afternoons when help was most likely to be appreciated. She +sometimes "put down a hole" all by herself, skinning a knuckle now and +then with the lightest "single-jack" and saying _"darn!"_ quite as a +matter of course. + +And once, when the rock was particularly hard, she happened along and +volunteered to turn the drill while Casey used the "double-jack", which I +suppose you know is the big hammer that requires two hands to pound the +drill while another turns it slightly after each blow, so that the bitted +end will chew its way into hard rock. + +You aren't all of you miners, so I will explain further that to drill into +rock with a double-jack and steel drill is not sport for greenhorns +exactly. The drill-turner needs a lot of faith and a little nerve, because +one blow of the double-jack may break a hand clasped just below the head +of the drill. And the man with the double-jack needs a steady nerve, too, +and some experience in swinging the big hammer true to the head of the +drill,--unless he enjoys cracking another man's bones. + +Casey Ryan prides himself upon being able to swing a double-jack as well +as any man in the country. It is his boast that he never yet broke the +skin on the hand of his drill-turner. So I shall have to let you take it +for granted that the Little Woman's presence and help was more unnerving +than a wildcat on Casey's back. For, while the first, second and third +blows fell true on the drill, the fourth went wild. Casey owns that he was +in a cold sweat for fear he might hit her. So he did. She was squatted on +her heels, steadying one elbow on her knee. The double-jack struck her +hand, glanced and landed another blow on her knee; one of those terribly +painful blows that take your breath and make you see stars without +crippling you permanently. + +Casey doesn't like to talk about it, but once he growled that he did about +every damn-fool thing he could with a double-jack, except brain her. The +Little Woman gave one small scream and went over backward in a faint, and +Casey was just about ready to go off and shoot himself. + +He took her up in his arms and carried her down to the cabin before she +came to. And when she did come to her senses, Babe immediately made +matters worse. She was whimpering beside her mother, and when she saw that +mamma had waked up, she shrilled consolingly: "It's going to be all well +in a minute. Casey Ryan kissed it des like _that!_ So now it'll get all +well!" + +If the Little Woman had wanted to tell Casey what she thought of him, she +couldn't just then, for Casey was halfway to his own camp by the time she +glanced around the room, looking for him. + +Common humanity drove him back, of course. He couldn't let a woman and a +child starve to death just because he was a damned idiot and had +half-killed the woman. But if there had been another person within calling +distance, the Little Woman would probably never have seen Casey Ryan +again. + +Necessity has a bland way of ignoring such things as conventions and the +human emotions. Casey cooked supper for Babe and the Little Woman, and +washed the dishes, and wrung out cloths from hot vinegar and salt so that +the Little Woman could bathe her knee--she had to do it left-handed, at +that--and unbuttoned Babe's clothes and helped her on with her pyjamas and +let her kneel on his lap while she said her prayers. Because, as Babe +painstakingly explained, she always kneeled on a lap so ants couldn't run +over her toes and tickle her and make her laugh, which would make God +think she was a bad, naughty girl. + +Can you picture Casey Ryan rocking that child to sleep? I can't--yes, I +can too, and there's something in the picture that holds back the laugh +you think will come. + +Before she gave her final wriggle and cheeped her last little cheep, Babe +had to be carried over and held down where she could kiss mamma good +night. Casey got rather white around the mouth, then. But he didn't say a +word. Indeed, he had said mighty little since that fourth blow of the +double-jack; just enough to get along intelligently, with what he had to +do. He hadn't even told the Little Woman he was sorry. + +So Babe was asleep and tucked in her bed, and Casey turned down the light +and asked perfunctorily if there was anything else he could do, and had +started for the door. And then-- + +"Casey Ryan," called the Little Woman, with the teasing note in her voice. +"Casey Ryan, come back here and listen to me. You are not going off like +that to swear at yourself all night. Sit down in that chair and listen to +me!" + +Casey sat down, swallowing hard. All the Casey Ryan nonchalance was +gone,--never had been with him, in fact, while he faced that Little Woman. +Somehow she had struck him humble and dumb, from the very beginning. I +wish I knew how she did it; I'd like to try it sometime myself. + +"Casey Ryan, it's hard for a woman to own herself in the wrong, especially +to a man," she said, when he had begun to squirm and wonder what biting +words she would say. "I've always thought that I had as good nerve as any +one. I have, usually. But that double-jack scared the life out of me after +the first blow, and I thought I wouldn't let on. I couldn't admit I was +afraid. I was terribly ashamed. I knew you'd never miss, but I was scared, +just the same. And like a darn fool I pushed the drill away from me just +as you struck. It was coming down--you couldn't change it, man alive. +You'd aimed true at the drill, and--the drill wasn't just there at the +moment. Serves me right. But it's tough on you, old boy--having to do the +cooking for three of us while I'm laid up!" + +I'm sure I can't see how Casey Ryan ever got the name of being a devil +with the ladies. He certainly behaved like a yap then, if you get my +meaning. He gave the Little Woman a quick, unwinking stare, looked away +from her shamedly, reached for his plug of tobacco, took away his hand, +swallowed twice, shuffled his feet and then grunted--I can use no other +word for it: + +"Aw, I guess I c'n stand it if you can!" + +He made a motion then to rise up and go to his own camp where he would +undoubtedly think of many tender, witty things that he would like to have +spoken to the Little Woman. But she was watching him. She saw him move and +stopped him with a question. + +"Casey Ryan, tell me the truth about that tunnel. Do you think it's ever +going to strike the ore body at all?" + +Start Casey off on the subject of mining and you have him anchored and +interested for an hour, at least. The Little Woman had brains, you must +see that. + +"Well, I don't want to discourage you, ma'am," Casey said reluctantly, the +truth crowding against his teeth. "But I'd 'a' gone in under that iron +capping, if I'd been doing it. The outcropping you followed in from the +surface never has been in place, ma'am. It's what I'd call a wild +stringer. It pinched out forty foot back of where we're diggin' now. +That's just an iron stain we're following, and the pocket of high grade +don't mean nothin'. You went in on the strength of indications--" He +stopped there and chuckled to himself, in a way that I'd come to know as +the "indications" of a story,--which usually followed. + +The Little Woman probably guessed. I suppose she was lonely, too, and the +pain of her hurts made her want entertainment. "What are you laughing at, +Casey Ryan?" she demanded. "If it's funny, tell _me."_ + +Casey blushed, though she couldn't have seen him in the dusky light of the +cabin. "Aw, it ain't anything much," he protested bashfully. "I just +happened to think about a little ol' Frenchman I knowed once, over in +Cripple Creek, ma'am." He stopped. + +"Well? Tell me about the little ol' Frenchman. It made you laugh, Casey +Ryan, and it's about the first time I've seen you do that. Tell me." + +"Well, it ain't nothin' very funny to tell about," Casey hedged like a +bashful boy; which was mighty queer for Casey Ryan, I assure you. For if +there was anything Casey liked better than a funny story, it was some one +to listen while he told it. "You won't git the kick, mebby. It's knowin' +the Frenchman makes it seem kinda funny when I think about it. He was a +good little man and he kept a little hotel and was an awful good cook. And +he wanted a gold mine worse than anybody I ever seen. He didn't know a +da--nothin' at all about minin' ma'am, but every ol' soak of a prospector +could git a meal off him by tellin' him about some wildcat bonanza or +other. He'd forgit to charge 'em, he'd be so busy listenin'. + +"Well, there was two ol' soaks that got around him to grubstake 'em. They +worked it all one year. They'd git a burro load of grub and go out +somewheres and peck around till it was all et up, and then they'd come +back an' tell Frenchy some wild tale about runnin' acrost what looked like +the richest prospect in the country. They'd go on about havin' all the +indications of a big body uh rich ore. He'd soak it in, an' they'd hang +around town--one had a sore foot one time, I remember, that lasted 'em a +month of good board at Frenchy's hotel before he drove 'em out agin to his +mine, as he called it. + +"They worked that scheme on him for a long time--and it was the only da-- +scheme they wasn't too lazy to work. They'd git money to buy powder an' +fuse an' caps, ma'am, an' blow it on booze, y'see. An' they'd hang in +town, boardin' off Frenchy, jest as long as they c'ld think of an excuse +fer stayin'. + +"So somebody tipped Frenchy off that he was bein' worked for grub an' +booze money, an' Frenchy done a lot uh thinkin'. Next time them two come +in, he was mighty nice to 'em. An' when he finally got 'em pried loose +an' headed out, he appeared suddenly and says he's goin along to take a +look at his mine. They couldn't do nothin' but take him, uh course. So +they led him out to an old location hole somebody else had dug, an' they +showed him iron cappin' an' granite contact an' so on--just talkin' wild, +an' every few minutes comin' in with the 'strong indications of a rich ore +body.' That was their trump suit, y'see, ma'am. + +"Frenchy listened, an' his eyes commenced to snap, but he never said +nothin' for awhile. Then all at once he pulled one uh these ol'-style +revolvers an' points it at 'em, an' yells: _'Indicaziones! Indicaziones!_ +T'ell weez your _indicaziones!_ Now you show me zee me-_tall_!'" Casey +stopped, reached for his plug and remembered that he mustn't. The Little +Woman laughed. She didn't seem to need the tapering off of the story, as +most women demand. + +"And so you think I have plenty of _indicaziones_, but mighty little +chance of getting the me-_tall_," she pointed the moral. "Well, then tell +me what to do." + +It was in the telling, I think, that Casey for the first time forgot to be +shy and became his real, Casey Ryan best. The Little Woman saw at once, +when he pointed it out to her, that she ought to drift and cut under the +iron capping instead of tunnelling away from it as they had been doing. + +But she was not altogether engrossed in that tunnel. I think her +prospecting into the soul of Casey Ryan interested her much more; and +being a woman she followed the small outcropping of his Irish humor and +opened up a distinct vein of it before the evening was over. Just to +convince you, she led him on until Casey told her all about feeding his +Ford syrup instead of oil, and all about how it ran over him a few times +on the dry lake,--Casey was secretly made happy because she saw at once +how easily that could happen, and never once doubted that he was sober! +He told her about the goats in Patmos and made her laugh so hard that Babe +woke and whimpered a little, and insisted that Casey take her up and rock +her again in the old homemade chair with crooked juniper branches hewn for +rockers. + +With Babe in his arms he told her, too, about his coming out to hunt the +Injun Jim mine. He must have felt pretty well acquainted, by then, because +he regaled her with a painstaking, Caseyish description of Lucy Lily and +her educated wardrobe, and--because she was a murderous kind of squaw and +entitled to no particular chivalry--even repeated her manner of proposing +to a white man, and her avowed reason and all. That was going pretty far, +I think, for one evening, but we must keep in mind the fact that Casey and +the Little Woman had met almost a month before this, and that Casey had +merely thrown wide open the little door to his real self. + +At any rate it was after ten o'clock by Casey's Ingersoll when he tucked +Babe into her little bed, brought a jelly glass of cold water for the +Little Woman to drink in the night, and started for the door. + +There he stopped for a minute, debated with his shyness and turned back. + +"You mebby moved that steel at the wrong time," he said abruptly, "I guess +you musta, the way it happened. But I was so scared I'd hit yuh, my teeth +was playin' the dance to _La Paloma_. I was in a cold sweat. I never did +hit a man with a double-jack in my life, and I guess I've put down ten +miles uh holes, ma'am, if you placed 'em end to end. I always made it my +brag I never scraped a knuckle at that game. But--them little hands of +yours on the drill--I was shakin' all over for fear I might--hurt yuh. I-- +I never hated anything so bad in my life--I'd ruther kill a dozen men than +hurt you--" + +"Man alive," the Little Woman exclaimed softly from her dusky corner, +"you'd never have hurt me in the world, if I'd had the nerve to trust +you." And she added softly, "I'll trust you, from now on, Casey Ryan. +Always." + +I think Casey was an awful fool to walk out and never let her know that he +heard that "Always." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +"Casey Ryan," the Little Woman began with her usual abruptness one +evening, when she was able to walk as far as the mine and back without +feeling; the effect of the exercise, but was still nursing a bandaged +right hand; "Casey Ryan, tell me again just what old Injun Jim looked +like." + +Casey laughed and shifted Babe to a more secure perch on his shoulder, and +drew his head to one side in an effort to slacken Babe's terrific pull on +his hair. "Him? Mean an' ornery as the meanest thing you can think of. +Sour as a dough can you've went off an' left for a coupla weeks in July." + +"Oh, yes; very explicit, I admit. But just what did he look like? Height, +weight, age and chief characteristics. I have," she explained, "a +very-good reason for wanting a description of him." + +"What yuh want a description of him for? He's good an' dead now." You see, +Casey had reached the point of intimacy where he could argue with the +Little Woman quite in his everyday Irish spirit of contention. + +The Little Woman had spirit of her own, but she was surprisingly meek with +Casey at times. "It struck me quite suddenly, to-day, that I may know +where that gold mine is; or about where it is," she said, with a hidden +excitement in her voice. "I've been thinking all day about it, and putting +two and two together. I merely need a fair description now of Injun Jim, +to feel tolerably certain that I do or do not know something about the +location of that mine." + +"How'd _you_ come to know anything about it?" Casey stopped to move Babe +to his other shoulder. He had put in a long hard day in the tunnel, and +Babe was a husky youngster for four-and-a-half. Also she had developed a +burr-like quality toward Casey, and she liked so well to be carried home +from the mine that she would sit flat on the ground and rock her small +body and weep until she was picked, up and placed on Casey's shoulder. +"Set still, now, Babe, or Casey'll have to put yuh down an' make yuh walk +home. Le'go my ear! Yuh want Casey to go around lop-sided, with only one +ear?" + +"Yes!" assented Babe eagerly, kicking Casey in the stomach. "Give me your +knife, Casey Wyan, so I can cut off one ear an' _make_ you lop-sided!" + +"An' you'd do it, too!" Casey exclaimed admiringly. + +"Baby Girl, you interrupted mother when mother was speaking of something +important. You make mother very sad." + +Babe's mouth puckered, her eyelids puckered, and she give a small wail. +"Now Baby's sad! You hurt--my--_feelin's_ when you speak to me cross!" +She shook her yellow curls into her eyes and wept against them. + +There was no hope of grown-ups talking about anything so foolish as a gold +mine when Babe was in that mood. So Casey cooked supper, washed the dishes +and helped Babe into her pyjamas; then he let her kneel restively in his +lap while she said her prayers, and told her a story while he rocked her +to sleep--it was a funny, Caseyish story about a bear, but we haven't time +for it now--before he attempted to ask the Little Woman again what she +meant by her mysterious curiosity concerning Injun Jim. Then, when he had +his pipe going and the stove filled with piñon wood, he turned to her with +the question in his eyes. + +The Little Woman laughed. "Now, if that terrible child will kindly consent +to sleep for fifteen minutes, _I'll_ tell you what I meant," she said. "It +had slipped my mind altogether, and it was only to-day, when Babe was +scratching out a snake's track--so the snake couldn't find the way back +home, she said--that I chanced to remember. Just a small thing, you know, +that may or may not mean _something_ very large and _important_--like a +gold mine, for instance." + +"I don't have to go to work 'til sunup," Casey hinted broadly, "and I've +set up many a night when I wasn't havin' half as much fun as I git +listenin' to you talk." + +Again the Little Woman laughed. I think she had been rambling along just +to bait Casey into something like that." + +"Very well, then, I'll come to the point. Though it is such a luxury to +talk, sometimes! For a woman, that is. + +"Three years ago we had two burros to pack water from your gulch, where +there were too many snakes, to this gulch where there never seemed to be +so many. We hadn't developed this spring then. One night something or +other frightened the burros and they disappeared, and I started out to +find them, leaving Babe of course with her father at the tunnel. + +"I trailed those burros along the mountain for about four miles, I should +think. And by that time I was wishing I had taken a canteen with me, +though when I started out from camp I hated the thought of being burdened +with the weight of it. I thought I could find water in some of the +gulches, however, so I climbed a certain ridge and sat down to rest and +examine the canyon beneath with that old telescope Babe plays with. It has +been dropped so many times it's worthless now, but three years ago you +could see a lizard run across a rock a mile away. Don't you believe that?" +she stopped to demand sternly. + +"Say! You couldn't tell me nothin' I wouldn't believe!" Casey retorted, +fussing with his pipe to hide the grin on his face. + +"This is the truth, as it happens. I merely speak of the lizard to +convince you that a man's features would show very distinctly in the +telescope. And please observe, Casey Ryan, that I am very serious at the +moment. This may be important to you, remember. + +"I was sitting among a heap of boulders that capped the ridge, and it +happened that I was pretty well concealed from view because I was keeping +in the shade of a huge rock and had crouched down so that I could steady +the telescope across a flat rock in front of me. So I was not discovered +by a man down in the canyon whom I picked up with the telescope while I +was searching the canyon side for a spring. + +"The man was suddenly revealed to me as he parted the branches of a large +greasewood and peered out. I think it was the stealthiness of his manner +that impressed me most. He looked up and down and across, but he did not +see me. After a short wait, while he seemed to be listening, he crept out +from behind the bush, turned and lifted forward a bag which hadn't much in +it, yet appeared quite heavy. He went down into the canyon, picking his +way carefully and stepping on rocks, mostly. But in one place where he +must cross a wash of deep sand, he went backward and with a dead branch he +had picked up among the rocks he scratched out each track as he made it. +Babe reminded me of that to-day when she scratched out the snake's track +in the sand up by the mine." + +Casey was leaning toward her, listening avidly, his pipe going cold in his +hand. "Was he--?" + +"He was an Indian, and very old, and he walked with that bent, tottery +walk of old age. He had one eye and--" + +"Injun Jim, that was--couldn't be anybody else!" Casey knocked his pipe +against the front of the little cookstove, emptying the half-burned +tobacco into the hearth. The Little Woman probably wondered why he seemed +so unexcited, but she did not know all of Casey's traits. He put away his +pipe and almost immediately reached for his plug of tobacco, taking a chew +without remembering where he was. "If you feel able to ride," he said, +"I'll ketch up the mule in the morning, and we'll go over there." + +"So your heart is really set on finding it, after all. I've been wondering +about that. You haven't seemed to be thinking much about it, lately." + +"A feller can prospect," Casey declared, "when he can't do nothin' else." +And he added rather convincingly, "Good jobs is scarce, out this way. I'd +be a fool to pass up this one, when I'd have the hull winter left fer +prospectin'." + +"And what about those partners of yours?" + +"Oh, them?" Casey hesitated, tempted perhaps to tell the truth. "Oh, +they've quit on me. They quit right away after I went to work. We--we had +a kinda fuss, and they've went back to town." He stopped and added with a +sigh of relief, "We can just as well count them out, fr'm now on--an' +fergit about 'em." + +"Oh," said the Little Woman, and smiled to herself. "Well, if you are +anxious about that patch of brush in the canyon, we'll go and see what's +behind it. To-morrow is Sunday, anyway." + +"I'd a made up the time, if it wasn't," Casey assured her with dignity. +"I've been waitin' a good many years for a look at that Injun Jim gold." + +"And it's just possible that I have been almost within reach of it for the +past four years and didn't know it! Well, I always have believed that Fate +weaves our destinies for us; and a curious pattern is the weaving, +sometimes! I'll go with you, Casey Ryan, and I hope, for your sake, that +Indian Jim's mine is behind that clump of bushes. And I hope," she added, +with a little laugh whose meaning was not clear to Casey, "I hope you get +a million dollars out of it! I should like to point to Casey Ryan, the +mining millionaire and say, 'That plutocratic gentleman over there once +knocked me down with a hammer, and washed my dishes for two weeks, and +really, my dears, you should taste his sour-dough biscuits!'" + +Casey went away to his camp and lay awake a long time, not thinking about +the Injun Jim mine, if you please, but wondering what he had done to make +the Little Woman give him hell about his biscuits. Good Lord! Did she +still blame him for hitting her with that double-jack?--when he knew and +she knew that she had made him do it!--and if she didn't like his +sour-dough biscuits, why in thunder had she kept telling him she did? + +He tucked the incident away in the back of his mind, meaning to watch her +and find out just what she did mean, anyway. Her opinion of him had become +vital to Casey; more vital than the Injun Jim mine, even. + +He saddled the buckskin mule next morning and after breakfast the three +set out, with a lunch and two canteens of water. The Little Woman was in a +very good humor and kept Casey "jumpin' sideways," as he afterwards +confessed to me, wondering just what she meant or whether she meant +nothing at all by her remarks concerning his future wealth and dignity and +how he would forget old friends. + +She even pretended she had forgotten the place, and was not at all sure +that this was the right canyon, when they came to it. She studied +landmarks and then said they were all wrong and that the place was marked +in her mind by something entirely different and not what she first named. +She deviled Casey all she could, and led him straight to the spot and +suggested that they eat their lunch there, within twenty feet of the +bushes from which she had seen the Indian creep with the sack on his back. + +She underrated Casey's knowledge of minerals; or perhaps she wanted to +test it,--you never can tell what a woman really has in the back of her +mind. Casey sat there eating a sour-dough biscuit of his own making, and +staring at the steep wall of the canyon because he was afraid to stare at +the Little Woman, and so his uncannily keen eye saw a bit of rock no +larger than Babe's fist. It lay just under that particular clump of +bushes, in the shade. And in the shade he saw a yellow gleam on the rock. + +He looked at the Little Woman then and grinned, but he didn't say anything +until he had taken the coffeepot off the fire, and had filled her cup. + +"This ain't a bad canyon to prospect in. You can brush up your memory +whilst I take a look around. Mebby I can find Jim's mine myself," he said +impudently. Then he got up and went poking here and there with his +prospector's pick, and finally worked up to the brush and disappeared +behind it. In five minutes or less he came back to her with a little +nugget the size of Babe's thumb. + +"If yuh want to see something pretty, come on up where I got this here," +he told her. "I'll show yuh what drives prospectors crazy. This ain't no +free gold country, but there's a pile uh gold in a dirt bank I can show +yuh. Mebby you forgot the place, and mebby yuh didn't. I've quit guessin' +at what yuh really do mean an' what yuh don't mean. Anyway, this is where +we headed for." + +"Well, you really are a prospector, after all. I just wondered." The +Little Woman did not seem in the least embarrassed. She just laughed and +took Babe by the hand, and they went up beyond the clump of bushes to what +lay hidden so cunningly behind it. + +Cunning--that was the mood Nature must have been in when she planted free +gold in that little wrinkle on the side of Two Peak, and set the bushes in +the mouth of the draw, and piled an iron ledge across the top and spread +barren mountainside all around it. In the hiding Injun Jim had done his +share, too. He had pulled rubble down over the face of the bank of +richness, and eyes less keen than Casey's would have passed it by without +a second glance. + +The Little Woman knelt and picked out half a dozen small nuggets and stood +up, holding them out to Casey, her eyes shining. "Casey Ryan, here's the +end of your rainbow! And you're luckier than most of us; you've got your +pot o' gold." + +Casey looked down at her oddly. "It's mebby the end of one," he said. "But +they's another one, now, 't I can see plainer than this one. I dunno's +I'll ever git to where that one points." + +"A man's never satisfied," scoffed the Little Woman, turning the precious +little yellow fragments over thoughtfully in her palm. "I should think +this ought to be enough for you, man alive." + +"Mebby it had. But it ain't." He looked at her, hesitating,--and I think +the Little Woman waited and held her breath for what he might say next. +But Casey was scarcely himself in her presence. He turned away without +another glance at the nuggets. + +"You'n the kid can gopher around there whilst I go step off the lines of a +claim an' put up the location notice," he said, and left her standing +there with the gold in her palm. + +That night it was the Little Woman who planned great things for Casey, and +it was Casey who smoked and said little about it. But once he shook his +head when she described the gilded future she saw for him. + +"Money in great gobs like that ain't much use to me," he demurred. "Once I +blew into Lund, over here, with twenty-five thousand dollars in my pocket +that I got outa silver claims. All I ever saved outa that chunk was two +pairs of socks. No need of you makin' plans on my being a millionaire. It +ain't in me. I guess I'm nothin' but a rough-neck stagedriver an' +prospector, clear into the middle of my bones. If I had the sense of a +rabbit I never'd gone hellin' through life the way I've done. I'd amount +to somethin' by now. As it is I ain't nothin' and I ain't nobody--" + +"You're Casey Wyan! You make me sad when you say that!" Babe protested +sleepily, lifting her head from his shoulder and spatting him reprovingly +on the cheek. "You're my bes' friend and you've got a lots more sense than +a wabbit!" + +"And your rainbow, Casey Ryan?" the Little Woman asked softly. "What about +this other, new rainbow?" + +"It's there," said Casey gloomily. "It'll always be there--jest over the +ridge ahead uh me. I c'n see it, plain enough, but I got more sense 'n to +think I'll ever git m'hands on it." + +"I'll go catch your wainbow, Casey Wyan. I'll run fas' as I can, an' I'll +catch it for you!" + +"Will yuh, Babe?" Casey bent his head until his lips touched her curls. +And neither Casey nor the Little Woman spoke of it again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +Oddly enough, it was Lucy Lily who unconsciously brought Casey to his +rainbow. Lucy Lily did not mean to do Casey any favor, I can assure you, +but Fate just took her and used her for the moment, and Lucy Lily had +nothing to say about it. + +Don't think that a squaw who wants to live like a white princess will +forget to go hunting a gold mine whose richness she had seen,--in a lard +bucket, perhaps. Lucy Lily did not abandon her bait. She used it again, +and a renegade white man snapped at it, worse luck. So they went hunting +through the Tippipahs for the mine of Injun Jim. What excuses the squaw +made for not being able to lead the man directly to the spot, I can't say, +of course; but I suppose she invented plenty. + +She did one clever thing, at least. In their wanderings she led the way +into the old camp of Injun Jim. There had been no storm to dim the tracks +Casey had made, and Lucy Lily, Indian that she was, knew that these were +the tracks of Casey Ryan and guessed what was his errand there. So she and +her white man trailed him across the valley to Two Peak. + +They came first to the camp, and there the Little Woman met them, and by +some canny intuition knew who they were and what they wanted,--thanks to +Casey's garrulous mood when he told her of Lucy Lily. They said that they +were hunting horses, and presently went on over the ridge; not following +Casey's plain trail to the tunnel, but riding off at an angle so that they +could come into the trail once they were hidden from the house. + +Casey, as it happened, was not at the tunnel at all, but over at the gold +mine, doing the location work. Doing it in the side hill a good two +hundred feet away from the gold streak, too, I will add. + +The Little Woman watched until the squaw and her man were out of sight, +and then she took a small canteen and filled it, got her rifle, pocketed +her automatic revolver, and tied Babe's sunbonnet firmly under Babe's +double chin. She could not take the mule, because Casey had ridden him, so +she walked, and carried Babe most of the way on her back. She kept to the +gulches until she was too far away to be seen in the sage, even when a +squaw was squinting sharp-eyed after her. + +She came, in the course of two hours or so, to the lip of the canyon, and +who-whooed to Casey, mucking out after a shot he had put down in the +location hole. Casey looked up, waved his hand and then came running. No +whim would send the Little Woman on a four-mile walk with a heavy child +like Babe to carry, and Casey was as white as he'll ever get when he met +her halfway to the bottom of the canyon. + +"Take Babe and let's get back to the claim," she panted. "I came to tell +you that squaw is on your trail with a white man in tow, and it'll be a +case of claim-jumping if they can see their way tolerably clear. He's a +mate for the two you helped me haul out of camp, and I think, Casey Ryan, +the squaw would kill you in a minute if she gets the chance." + +Casey did rather a funny thing, considering how scared he was usually of +the Little Woman. "You pack that kid all the way over here?" he grunted, +and picked up the Little Woman and carried her, and left Babe to walk. Of +course he helped Babe, holding her hand over the roughest spots, but it +was the Little Woman whom he carried the rest of the way. And Babe, if you +please, was quite calm about it and never once became "sad" so that she +must sit down and cry. + +"All the claim-jumpin' they'll do won't hurt nobody," Casey observed +unexcitedly, when he had set the Little Woman down on a rock beside his +location "cut" in the canyon's side. "She likely picked on a white man +so's he could locate under the law, but this claim's located a'ready." He +waved a hand toward the monument, a few rods up the canyon. "And Casey +Ryan ain't spreadin' no rich gold vein wide open for every prowlin' desert +rat to pack off all he kin stagger under. I'm callin' it the Devil's +Lantern. You c'n call a mine any name yuh darn want to. And if it wasn't +fer the Devil's Lantern, I wouldn't be here. That name won't mean nothin' +to 'em. Let 'em come." His eyes turned toward the hidden richness and +dwelt there, studying the tracks, big and little, that led up to it, and +deciding that tracks do not necessarily mean a gold mine, and that it +would be better to leave them as they were and not attempt to cover them. + +"You just say it's your claim, if they come snoopin' around here. I'm +supposed to be workin' for yuh," he said abruptly, giving her one of his +quick, steady glances. + +"They can go and read the location notice," the Little Woman pointed out. +Casey did not make any reply to that, but picked up his shovel and went to +work again, mucking out the dirt and broken rocks which the dynamite had +loosened in the cut. + +"She's a bird, ain't she?" he grinned over his shoulder, his mind +reverting to Lucy Lily. "Did she have on her war paint?" + +"She will have, when she sees you," the Little Woman retorted, watching +the farther rim of the canyon. Then she remembered Babe and called to her. +That youngster was always prospecting around on her own initiative, and +she answered shrilly now from up the canyon. The Little Woman stood up, +looking that way, never dreaming how wishfully Casey was watching her,-- +and how reverently. + +"Baby Girl, you must not run off like that! Mother will be compelled to +tie a rope on you." + +"I was jes' getting--Casey Wyan's--'bacco. Poor Casey Wyan forgot--his +'bacco! He's my frien'. I have to give him his 'bacco," Babe defended +herself, coming down from the location monument in small jumps and +scrambles. Close to her importantly heaving chest she clutched a small, +red tobacco can of the kind which smokers carelessly call "P.A." "Casey +Wyan lost it up in the wocks," Babe explained, when her mother met her +disapprovingly and caught her by the hand. + +"Why, Babe! You've been naughty. This must be Casey Ryan's location +notice. It must be left in the rocks, Baby Girl, so people will know that +Casey Ryan owns this claim." + +"It's his 'bacco!" Babe insisted stubbornly. "Casey Wyan needs his +'bacco." + +The Little Woman knew that streak of stubbornness of old. There was just +one way to deal with it, and that was to prove to Babe that she was +mistaken. So she opened the red can and pulled out a folded paper, +unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud. Not that Babe would +understand it all, but to make it seem very convincing and important,--and +I think partly to enjoy for herself the sense of Casey's potential wealth. + +"'Notice of Location--Quartz,'" she read, and glanced over the paper at +her listening small daughter. "'To Whom it May Concern: Please take +notice that: The name of this claim is the Devil's Lantern Quartz Mining +Claim. Said Claim is situated in the--Unsurveyed--Mining District, County +of Nye, State of Nevada. Located this twenty-fifth day of September, 19--. +This discovery is made and this notice is posted this twenty-fifth day of +September,19--. + +"'2. That the undersigned locators are citizens of he United States or have +declared their intention to become such, and have discovered +mineral-bearing rock--!'" + +"What's mineral-bearing wock, mother?" + +"That's the gold, Baby Girl. '--in place thereon and do locate and claim +same for mining purposes. + +"'3. That the number of linear feet in length along the course of the vein +each way from the point of discovery whereon we have erected a monument--' +That's the monument, up there, and Babe must not touch it-- '--is +Easterly 950 feet; Westerly 550 feet; that the total length does not +exceed 1500 feet. That the width on the Southerly side is 300 feet; that +the width on the Northerly side is 300 feet; that the end lines are +parallel; that the general course of the vein or lode as near as may be is +in an Easterly and Westerly direction; that the boundaries of this claim +may be readily traced and are defined as follows, to-wit:--!'" + +She skipped a lot of easterly and westerly technique in Casey's clear, +uncompromising handwriting--done in an indelible pencil--and came down to +the last paragraph: + +"'That all the dips, variations, spurs, angles and all veins, ledges, or +deposits within the lines of said claim, together with all water and +timber and any other rights appurtenant, allowed by the law of this State +or of the United States are hereby claimed. + + "'Locators + Jack I. Gleason, + Margaret Sutten.' + +"Why--why-y--Good Lord!" + +"Here they come," Casey called at that moment. "Put 'er back in the +monument and don't let on like we think they're after this claim at all. +It's a darn sight harder to start a fuss when the other fellow don't act +like he knows there's any fuss comin'. You ask anybody that ever had a +fight." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASEY RYAN*** + + +******* This file should be named 12495-8.txt or 12495-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/4/9/12495 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/12495-8.zip b/old/12495-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1110656 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12495-8.zip diff --git a/old/12495.txt b/old/12495.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a52090 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12495.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6397 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Casey Ryan, by B. M. Bower + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Casey Ryan + +Author: B. M. Bower + +Release Date: June 2, 2004 [eBook #12495] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASEY RYAN*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects, +Charles M. Bidwell, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + +CASEY RYAN + +BY + +B. M. BOWER + +Author of "Chip of the Flying U", "Rim O' the World", "Cow-Country", etc. + +1921 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Casey reached for his pocket, and the white man also +reached for his. FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 237.] + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +From Denver to Spokane, from El Paso to Fort Benton, men talk of Casey +Ryan and smile when they speak his name. Old men with the flat tone of +coming senility in their voices will suck at their pipes and cackle +reminiscently while they tell you of Casey's tumultuous youth--when he +drove the six fastest horses in Colorado on the stage out from Cripple +Creek, and whooped past would-be holdups with a grin of derision on his +face and bullets whining after him and passengers praying disjointed +prayers and clinging white-knuckled to the seats. + +They say that once a flat, lanky man climbed bareheaded out at the stage +station below the mountain and met Casey coming springily off the box with +whip and six reins in his hand. The lanky man was still pale from his +ride, and he spluttered when he spoke: + +"Sa-ay! N-next time you're held up and I'm r-ridin' with yuh, b-by gosh, +you s-_stop_. I-I'd ruther be shot t-than p-pitched off into a +c-canyon, s-somewhere a-and busted up!" + +Casey is a little man. When he was young he was slim, but he always has +owned a pale blue, unwinking squint which he uses with effect. He halted +where he was and squinted up at the man, and spat fluid tobacco and +grinned. + +"You're here, and you're able to kick about my drivin'. That's purty good +luck, I'd say. You _ain't_ shot, an' you ain't layin' busted in no canyon. +Any time a man gits shot outa Casey Ryan's stage, he'll have to jump out +an' wait for the bullet to ketch up. And there ain't any passengers offn' +this stage layin' busted in no canyon, neither. I bring in what I start +out with." + +The other man snorted and reached under his coat tail for the solacing +plug of chewing tobacco. Opposition and ridicule had brought a little +color into his face. + +"Why, hell, man! You--you come around that ha-hairpin turn up there on two +wheels! It's a miracle we wasn't--" + +"Miracles is what happens once and lets it go at that. Say! Casey Ryan +_always_ saves wear on a coupla wheels, on that turn. I've made it on one; +but the leaders wasn't runnin' right to-day. That nigh one's cast a shoe. +I gotta have that looked after." He gave up the reins to the waiting +hostler and went off, heading straight for the station porch where waited +a red-haired girl with freckles and a warm smile for Casey. + +That was Casey's youth; part of it. The rest was made up of fighting, +gambling, drinking hilariously with the crowd and always with his temper +on hair trigger. Along the years behind him he left a straggling +procession of men, women and events. The men and women would always know +the color of his eyes and would recognize the Casey laugh in a crowd, +years after they had last heard it; the events were full of the true Casey +flavor,--and as I say, when men told of them and mentioned Casey, they +laughed. + +From the time when his daily drives were likely to be interrupted by +holdups, and once by a grizzly that reared up in the road fairly under the +nose of his leaders and sent the stage off at an acute angle, blazing a +trail by itself amongst the timber, Casey drifted from mountain to desert, +from desert to plain and back again, blithely meeting hard luck face to +face and giving it good day as if it were a friend. For Casey was born an +optimist, and misfortune never quite got him down and kept him there, +though it tried hard and often, as you will presently see. Some called him +gritty. Some said he hadn't the sense to know when he was licked. Either +way, it made a rare little Irishman of Casey Ryan, and kept his name from +becoming blurred in the memories of those who once knew him. + +So in time it happened that Casey was driving a stage of his own from +Pinnacle down to Lund, in Nevada, and making boast that his four horses +could beat the record--the month's record, mind--of any dog-gone +auty-_mo_-bile that ever infested the trail. Infest is a word that Casey +would have used often had he known its dictionary reputation. Having been +deprived of close acquaintance with dictionaries, but having a facile +imagination and some creative ability, Casey kept pace with progress and +invented words of his own which he applied lavishly to all automobiles; +but particularly and emphatically he applied the spiciest, most colorful +ones to Fords. + +Put yourself in Casey's place, and you will understand. Imagine yourself +with a thirty-mile trip to make down a twisty, rough mountain road built +in the days when men hauled ore down the mountain on wagons built to bump +over rocks without damage to anything but human bones. You are Casey Ryan, +remember; you never stopped for stage robbers or grizzlies in the past, +and you have your record to maintain as the hardest driver in the West. +You are proud of that record, because you know how you have driven to earn +it. + +You pop the lash over the ears of your leaders and go whooping down a +long, straight bit of road where you count on making time. When you are +about halfway down and the four horses are running even and tugging +pleasantly at the reins, and you are happy enough to sing your favorite +song, which begins, + + "Hey, ole Bill! Can-n yuh play the fiddle-o? + Yes, by gosh! I--I--kin play a liddle-o--" + +and never gets beyond that one flat statement, around the turn below you +comes a Ford, rattling all its joints trying to make the hill on "high." +The driver honks wildly at you to give him the road--you, Casey Ryan! +Wouldn't you writhe and invent words and apply them viciously to all Fords +and the man who invented them? But the driver comes at you honking, +squawking,--and you turn out. + +You have to, unless the Ford does; and Fords don't. A Ford will send a +twin-six swerving sharply to the edge of a ditch, and even Casey Ryan must +swing his leaders to the right in obedience to that raucous command. + +Once Casey didn't. He had the patience of the good-natured, and for awhile +he had contented himself with his vocabulary and his reputation as a +driver and a fighter, and the record he held of making the thirty miles +from Pinnacle to Lund in an hour and thirty-five minutes, twenty-six days +in the month. (He did not publish his running expenses, by the way, nor +did he mention the fact that his passengers were mostly strangers picked +up at the railway station at Lund because they liked the look of the +picturesque four-horses-and-Casey stagecoach.) + +Once Casey refused to turn out. That morning he had been compelled to wait +and whip a heavy man who berated Casey because the heavy man's wife had +ridden from Pinnacle to Lund the day before and had fainted at the last +sharp turn in the road and had not revived in time to board the train for +Salt Lake which she had been anxious to catch. Casey had known she was +anxious to catch the train, and he had made the trip in an hour and +twenty-nine minutes in spite of the fact that he had driven the last mile +with a completely unconscious lady leaning heavily against his left +shoulder. She made much better time with Casey than she would have made on +the narrow-gauge train which carried ore and passengers and mail to Lund, +arriving when most convenient to the train crew. That it took half an hour +to restore her to consciousness was not Casey's fault. + +Casey had succeeded in whipping the heavy man till he hollered, but the +effort had been noticeable. Casey wondered uneasily whether by any chance +he, Casey Ryan, was growing old with the rest of the world. That +possibility had never before occurred to him, and the thought was +disquieting. Casey Ryan too old to lick any man who gave him cause, too +old to hold the fickle esteem of those who met him in the road? Casey +squinted belligerently at the Old-man-with-the-scythe and snorted. "I +licked him good. You ask anybody. And he's twice as big as I am. I guess +they's a good many years left in Casey Ryan yet! Giddap, you--thus-and-so! +We're ten minutes late and we got our record!" + +At that moment a Ford touring car popped around the turn below him and +squawked presumptuously for a clear passage ahead. Casey pulled his lash +off the nigh leader, yelled and charged straight down the road. Did they +think they could honk him off the road? Hunh! Casey Ryan was still Casey +Ryan. Never again would he turn out for man or devil. + +Wherefore Casey was presently extricating his leaders from the harness of +his wheelers ten feet below the grade. On the road above him the driver of +the Ford inspected bent parts and a smashed headlight and cranked and +cranked ineffectively, and swore down at Casey Ryan, who squinted +unblinkingly up under his hatbrim at the man he likewise cussed. + +They were a long while there exchanging disagreeable opinions of one +another, and Casey was even obliged to climb the steep bank and whip the +driver of the Ford because he had applied a word to Casey which had never +failed as automatic prelude to a Casey Ryan combat. Casey was frankly +winded when he finally mounted one of his horses and led the other three, +and so proceeded to Lund as mad as he had ever been in his life. + +"That there settles it final," he snorted, when the town came into view in +the flat below. "They've pushed Casey off'n the grade for the first time +and the last time. What pushin' and crowdin' and squawkin' is done from +now on, it'll be Casey Ryan doin' it! Faint! I'll learn 'em something to +faint about. If it's Fords goin' to run horses off'n the trail, you watch +how Casey Ryan'll drive the livin' tar outa one. Dog-gone 'em, there ain't +no Ford livin' that can drive Casey off'n the road. I'll drive 'em till +their tongues hang out. I'll make 'em bawl like a calf, and I'll pound 'em +on the back and make 'em fan it faster." + +So talking to himself and his team he rode into town and up to one of +those ubiquitous Ford agencies that write their curly-tailed blue +lettering across the continent from the high nose of Maine to the shoulder +of Cape Flattery. + +"Gimme one of them dog-goned blankety bing-bing Ford auty-_mo_-biles," he +commanded the garage owner who came to meet Casey amiably in his shirt +sleeves. "Here's four horses I'll trade yuh, with what's left of the +harness. And up at the third turn you'll find a good wheel off'n the +stage." He slid down from the sweaty back of his nigh leader and stood +slightly bow-legged and very determined before the garage owner, Bill +Masters. + +"Wel-l--there ain't much sale for horses, Casey. I ain't got any place to +keep 'em, nor any feed. I'll sell yuh a Ford on time, and--" + +Casey glanced over his shoulder to make sure the horses were standing +quiet, dropped the reins and advanced upon Bill. + +"You _trade_," he stated flatly. + +Bill backed a little. "Oh, all right, if that's the way yuh feel. What yuh +askin' for the four just as they stand?" + +"Me? A Ford auty-_mo_-bile. I told yuh that, Bill. And I want you to put +on the biggest horn that's made; one that can be heard from here to +Pinnacle and back when I turn 'er loose. And run the damn thing out here +right away and show me how it works, and how often you gotta wind it and +when. Lucky I didn't bring no passengers down--I was runnin' empty. But I +gotta take back a load of Bohunks to the Bluebird this afternoon, and my +stage, she's a total wreck. I'll sign papers to-night if you got any to +sign." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Thus was the trade effected with much speed and few preliminaries, because +Bill knew Casey Ryan very intimately and had seen him in action when his +temper was up. Bill adjusted an extra horn which he happened to have in +stock. One of those terrific things that go far toward making the life of +a pedestrian a nerve-racking succession of startles. Casey tried it out on +himself before he would accept it. He walked several doors down the street +with the understanding that Bill would honk at him when he was some little +distance away. Bill waited until Casey's attention was drawn to a lady +with thick ankles who was crossing the street in a hurry and a stiff +breeze. Bill came down on the metal plunger of the horn with all his +might, and Casey jumped perceptibly and came back grinning. + +"She'll do. What'll put a crimp in Casey Ryan's spine is good enough for +anybody. Bring her out here and show me how yuh work the damn thing. Guess +she'll hold six Bohunks, won't she--with sideboards on? I'll run 'er +around a coupla times b'fore I start out--and that's all I will do." + +Naturally the garage man was somewhat perturbed at this nonchalant manner +of getting acquainted with a Ford. He knew the road from Lund to Pinnacle. +He had driven it himself, with a conscious sigh of relief when he had +safely negotiated the last hair-pin curve; and Bill was counted a good +driver. He suggested an insurance policy to Casey, not half so jokingly as +he tried to sound. + +Casey turned and gave him a pale blue, unwinking stare. "Say! Never you +mind gettin' out insurance on _this_ auty-_mo_-bile. What you wanta do is +insure the cars that's liable to meet up with me in the trail." + +Bill saw the sense of that, too, and said no more about insuring Casey. He +drove down the canyon where the road is walled in on both sides by cliffs, +and proceeded to give Casey a lesson in driving. Casey did not think that +he needed to be taught how to drive. All he wanted to know, he said, was +how to stop 'er and how to start 'er. Bill needn't worry about the rest of +it. + +"She's darn tender-bitted," he commented, after two round trips over the +straight half-mile stretch,--and fourteen narrow escapes. "And the man +that made 'er sure oughta known better than to make 'er neck rein in +harness. And I don't like this windin' 'er up every time you wanta start. +But she can sure _go_--and that's what Casey Ryan's after every day in the +week. + +"All right, Bill. I'll go gather up the Bohunks and start. You better +'phone up to Pinnacle that Casey's on the road--and tell 'em he says it's +his road's long's he's on it. They'll know what I mean." + +Pinnacle did know, and waited on the sidewalk that afforded a view of the +long hill where the road curled down around the head of the gulch and into +town. Much sooner than his most optimistic backers had a right to expect-- +for there were bets laid on the outcome there in Pinnacle--on the brow of +the hill a swirl of red dust grew rapidly to a cloud. Like a desert +whirlwind it swept down the road, crossed the narrow bridge over the deep +cut at the head of the gulch where the famous Youbet mine belched black +smoke, and rolled on down the steep, narrow little street. + +Out of the whirlwind poked the pugnacious little brass-rimmed nose of a +new Ford, and behind the windshield Casey Ryan grinned widely as he swung +up to the postoffice and stopped as he had always stopped his four-horse +stage,--with a flourish. Stopping with a flourish is fine and spectacular +when you are driving horses accustomed to that method and on the lookout +for it. Horses have a way of stiffening their forelegs and sliding their +hind feet and giving a lot of dramatic finish to the performance. But +there is no dramatic sense at all in the tin brain of a Ford. It just +stopped. And the insecure fourth Bohunk in the tonneau went hurtling +forward into the front seat straight on his way through the windshield. +Casey threw up an elbow instinctively and caught him in the collar button +and so avoided breakage and blood spattered around. Three other foreigners +were scrambling to get out when Casey stopped them with a yell that froze +them quiet where they were. + +"Hey! You stay right where y'are! I gotta deliver yuh up to the Bluebird +in a minute." + +There were chatterings and gesticulations in the tonneau. Out of the +gabble a shrill voice rose be-seechingly in English. "We will _walk_, +meester'. If you _pleese_, meester! We are 'fraid for ride wit' dees +may_chine_, meester!" + +Casey was nettled by the cackling and the thigh-slapping of the audience +on the sidewalk. He reached for his stage whip, and missing it used his +ready Irish fists. So the Bohunks crawled unhappily back into the car and +subsided shivering and with tears in their eyes. + +"Dammit, when I take on passengers to ride, they're goin' to _ride_ till +they git there. You shut up, back there!" + +A friend of Casey's stepped forward and cranked the machine, and Casey +pulled down the gas lever until the motor howled, turned in the shortest +possible radius and went lunging up the crooked steep trail to the +Bluebird mine on top of the hill, his engine racing and screaming in low. + +Thereafter Pinnacle and Lund had a new standard by which to measure the +courage of a man. Had he made the trip with Casey Ryan and his new Ford? +He _had_? By golly, he sure had nerve. One man passed the peak for sheer +bravery and rode twice with Casey, but certain others were inclined to +disparage the feat, on the ground that on the second trip he was drunk. + +Casey did not like that. He admitted that he was a hard driver; he had +always been proud because men called him the hardest driver in the West. +But he argued that he was also a safe driver, and that they had no +business to make such a fuss over riding with him. Didn't he ride after +his own driving every day of his life? Had he ever got killed? Had he ever +killed anybody else? Well! What were they all yawping about, then? +Pinnacle and Lund made him tired. + +"If you fellers think I can't bounce that there tin can down the road fast +as any man in the country, why don't yuh pass me on the road? You're +welcome. Just try it." + +No one cared to try, however. Meeting him was sufficiently hazardous. +There were those who secretly timed their traveling so that they would not +see Casey Ryan at all, and I don't think you can really call them cowards, +either. A good many had families, you know. + +Casey had an accident now and then; and his tire expense was such as to +keep him up nights playing poker for money to support his Ford. You simply +can't whirl into town at a thirty-mile gait--I am speaking now of +Pinnacle, whose street was a gravelly creek bed quite dry and ridgy +between rains--and stop in twice the car's length without scouring more +rubber off your tires than a capacity load of passengers will pay for. +Besides, you run short of passengers if you persist in doing it. Even the +strangers who came in on the Salt Lake line were quite likely to look once +at the cute little narrow-gauge train with its cunning little day coach +hitched behind a string of ore cars, glance at Casey's Ford stage with +indifference and climb into the cunning day coach for the trip to +Pinnacle. The psychology of it passed quite over Casey's head, but his +pocket felt the change. + +In two weeks--perhaps it was less, though I want to be perfectly just-- +Casey was back, afoot and standing bow-legged in the doorway of Bill +Master's garage at Lund. + +"Gimme another one of them Ford auty-_mo_-biles," he requested, grinning a +little. "I guess mebby I oughta take two or three--but I'm a little short +right now, Bill. I ain't been gitting any good luck at poker, lately." + +Bill asked a question or two while he led Casey to the latest model of +Fords, just in from the factory. + +Casey took a chew of tobacco and explained. "Well, I had a bet up, y'see. +That red-headed bartender in Pinnacle bet me a hundred dollars I couldn't +beat my own record ten minutes on the trip down. I knowed I could, so I +took him up on it. A man would be a fool if he didn't grab any easy money +like that. And so I pounded 'er on the tail, coming down. And I had eight +minutes peeled off my best time, and then Jim Black he had to go git in +the road on that last turn up there. We rammed our noses together and I +pushed him on ahead of me for fifty rods, Bill--and him yelling at me to +quit--but something busted in the insides of my car, I guess. She give a +grunt and quit. All right, I'll take this one. Grease her up, Bill. I'll +eat a bite before I take her up." + +You've no doubt suspected before now that not even poker, played +industriously o' nights, could keep Casey's head above the financial +waters that threatened to drown him and his Ford and his reputation. Casey +did not mind repair bills, so long as he achieved the speed he wanted. But +he did mind not being able to pay the repair bills when they were +presented to him. Whatever else were his faults, Casey Ryan had always +gone cheerfully into his pocket and paid what he owed. Now he was haunted +by a growing fear that an unlucky game or two would send him under, and +that he might not come up again. + +He began to think seriously of selling his car and going back to horses +which, in spite of the high cost of feeding them, had paid their way and +his, and left him a pleasant jingle in his pockets. But then he bumped +hard into one of those queer little psychological facts which men never +take into account until it is too late. Casey Ryan, who had driven horses +since he could stand on his toes and fling harness on their backs, could +not go back to driving horses. The speed fiend of progress had him by the +neck. Horses were too slow for Casey. Moreover, when he began to think +about it, he knew that the thirty-mile stretch between Pinnacle and Lund +had become too tame for him, too monotonous. He knew in the dark every +twist in the road, every sharp turn, and he could tell you offhand what +every sharp turn had cost him in the past month, either in repairs to his +own car or to the car that had unluckily met him without warning. For +Casey, I must tell you, habitually forgot all about that earsplitting +klaxon at his left elbow. He was always in too much of a hurry to blow it; +and anyway, by the time he reached a turn, he was around it; there either +was no car in the road or Casey had scraped paint off it or worse and gone +on. So why honk? + +Far distances called Casey. In one day, he meditated, he could cover more +desert with his Ford than horses could travel in a week. An old, +half-buried passion stirred, lifted its head and smiled at him +seductively,--a dream he had dreamed of finding some of that wealth which +Nature holds so miser-like in her hills. A gold mine, or perhaps silver or +copper,--what matter which mineral he found, so long as it spelled wealth +for him? Then he would buy a bigger car and a faster car, and he would +bore farther and farther into yonder. In his past were tucked away months +on end of tramping across deserts and up mountain defiles with a packed +burro nipping patiently along in front of him and this same, seductive +dream beckoning him over the next horizon. Burros had been slow. While he +hurtled down the road from Pinnacle to Lund, Casey pictured himself +plodding through sand and sage and over malapai and up dry canyons, hazing +a burro before him. + +"No, sir, the time for that is gone by. I could do in a week now what it +took me a month to do then. I could get into country a man'd hate to +tackle afoot, not knowing the water holes. I'll git me a radiator that +don't boil like a teakettle over a pitch fire, and load up with water and +grub and gas, and I'll find the Injun Jim mine, mebby. Or some other darn +mine that'll put me in the clear the rest of my life. Couldn't before, +because I had to travel too slow. But shucks! A Ford can go anywhere a +mountain goat can go. You ask anybody." + +So Casey sold his stage line and the hypothetical good will that went with +it, and Pinnacle and Lund breathed long and deep and planned trips they +had refrained from taking heretofore, and wished Casey luck. Bill Masters +laid a friendly hand on his shoulder and made a suggestion so wise that +not even Casey could shut his mind against it. + +"You're starting out where there won't be no Bill handy to fix what you +bust," he pointed out. "You wait over a day or two, Casey, and let me show +yuh a few things about that car. If you bust down on the desert you'll +want to know what's wrong, and how to fix it. It's easy, but you got to +know where to look for the trouble." + +"Me? Say, Bill, I never had to go lookin' for trouble," Casey grinned. +"What do I need to learn how for?" + +Nevertheless he remained all of that day with Bill and crammed on +mechanics. He was amazed to discover how many and how different were the +ailments that might afflict a Ford. That he had boldly--albeit +unconsciously--driven a thing filled with timers, high-tension plugs that +may become fouled and fail to "spark," carburetors that could get out of +adjustment (whatever that was) spark plugs that burned out and had to be +replaced, a transmission that absolutely _must_ have grease or something +happened, bearings that were prone to burn out if they went dry of oil, +and a multitude of other mishaps that could happen and did happen if one +did not watch out, would have filled Casey with foreboding if that were +possible. Being an optimist to the middle of his bones, he merely felt a +growing pride in himself. He had actually driven all this aggregation of +potential internal grief! Whenever anything had happened to his Ford +auty-_mo_-bile between Pinnacle and Lund, Casey never failed to trace the +direct cause, which had always been external rather than internal, save +that time when he had walked in and bought a new car without out probing +into the vitals of the other. + +"I'd ruther have a horse down with glanders," he sighed, when Bill finally +washed the grease off his hands and forearms and rolled down his sleeves. +"But Casey Ryan's game to try anything once, and most things the second +and third time. You ask anybody. Gimme all the hootin'-annies that's +liable to wear out, Bill, and a load uh tires and patches, and Casey'll +come back and hand yuh a diamond big as your fist, some day. Ole Lady +Trouble's always tryin' to take a fall outa me, but she's never got me +down so't I had to holler 'nough. You ask anybody. Casey Ryan's goin' out +to see what he can see. If he meets up with Miss Fortune, he'll tame her, +Bill. And this little Ford auty-_mo_-bile is goin' to eat outa my hand. I +don't give a cuss if she does git sore and ram her spark plugs into her +carburetor now and agin. She'll know who's boss, Bill. I learnt it to the +burros, and what you can learn a burro you can learn a Ford, take time +enough." + +Taking that point of view and keeping it, Casey managed very well. +Whenever anything went wrong that his vocabulary and a monkey wrench could +not mend, Casey sat down on the shadiest running board and conned the +Instruction Book which Bill handed him at the last minute. Other times he +treated the Ford exactly as he would treat a burro, with satisfactory +results. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Away out on the high mesas that are much like the desert below, except +that the nights are cool and the wind is not fanned out of a furnace, +Casey fought sand and brush and rocks and found a trail now and then which +he followed thankfully, and so came at last to a short range of mountains +whose name matched well their inhospitable stare. The Starvation Mountains +had always been reputed rich in mineral and malevolent in their attitude +toward man and beast. Even the Joshua trees stood afar off and lifted +grotesque arms defensively against them. But Casey was not easily daunted, +and eerie places held for him no meaning save the purely material one. If +he could find water and the rich vein of ore some one had told him was +there, then Casey would be happy in spite of snakes, tarantulas and +sinister stories of the place. + +Water he found, not too far up a gulch. So he pitched his tent within +carrying distance from the spring, thanked the god of mechanics that an +automobile neither eats nor drinks when it does not work, and set out to +find his fortune. + +Casey knew there was a mining camp on the high slope of Barren Butte. He +knew the name of the camp, which was Lucky Lode, and he knew the foreman +there--knew him from long ago in the days when Casey was what he himself +confessed to be wild. In reaching Starvation Mountains, Casey had driven +for fifteen miles within plain sight of Lucky Lode. But gas is precious +when you are a hundred miles from a garage, and since business did not +take him there Casey did not drive up the five-mile hill to the Lucky Lode +just to shake hands with the foreman and swap a yarn or two. Instead, he +headed down on to the bleached, bleak oval of Furnace Lake and forged +across it as straight as he could drive toward Starvation Mountains. + +But the next time Casey made the trip--needing supplies, powder, fuse, +caps and so on--Fate took him by the ear and led him to a lady. This is +how Fate did it,--and I will say it was an original idea: + +Casey had a gallon syrup can in the car which he used for extra oil for +the engine. Having an appetite for sour-dough biscuits and syrup, he had +also a gallon can of syrup in the car. It was a terrifically hot day, and +the wind that blew full against Casey's left cheek as he drove burned even +his leather skin where it struck. Casey was afraid he was running short of +water, and a Ford's comfort comes first,--as every man knows; so that +Casey was parched pretty thoroughly, inside and out. Within a mile of +Furnace Lake he stopped, took an unsatisfying sip from his big canteen and +emptied the rest of the water into the radiator. Then he replenished the +oil in the motor generously, cranked and went bumping along down the trail +worn rough with the trucks from Lucky Lode. + +For a little way he jounced along the trail; then the motor began to +labor; and although Casey pulled the gas lever down as far as it would go, +the car slowed and stopped dead in the road. After an hour of fruitless +monkey-wrenching and swearing and sweating, Casey began to suspect +something. He examined both cans, "hefted" them, smelt and even tasted the +one half-empty, and decided that Ford auty-_mo_-biles do not require two +quarts of syrup at one dose. He thought that a little syrup ought not to +make much difference, but half a gallon was probably too much. + +He put in more oil on top of the syrup, but he could not even move the +crank, much less "turn 'er over." So long as a man can wind the crank of a +Ford he seems able to keep alive his hopes. Casey could not crank, +wherefore he knew himself beaten even while he heaved and lifted and +swore, and strained every muscle in his back lifting again. He got so +desperately wrathful that he lifted the car perceptibly off its right +front wheel with every heave, but he felt as if he were trying to lift a +boulder. + +It was past supper time at Lucky Lode when Casey arrived, staggering a +little with exhaustion, both mental and physical. His eyes were bloodshot +with the hot wind, his face was purple from the same wind, his lips were +dry and rough. I cannot blame the men at Lucky Lode for a sudden thirst +when they saw him coming, and a hope that he still had a little left. And +when he told them that he had filled his engine with syrup instead of oil, +what would any one think? + +Their unjust suspicions would not have worried Casey in the least, had +Lucky Lode not possessed a lady cook who was a lady. She was a widow with +two children, and she had the children with her and held herself aloof +from the men in a manner befitting a lady. Casey was hungry and thirsty +and tired, and, as much as was possible to his nature, disgusted, with +life in general. The widow gave him a smile of sympathy which went +straight to his heart, and hot biscuits and coffee and beans cooked the +way he liked them best. These went straight to ease the gnawing emptiness +of his stomach, and being a man who took his emotions at their face value, +he jumped to the conclusion that it was the lady whose presence gave him +the glow. + +Casey stayed that night and the next day and the next at Lucky Lode. The +foreman helped him tow the syruppy car up the hill to the machine shop +where he could get at it, and Casey worked until night trying to remove +the dingbats from the hootin'annies,--otherwise, the pistons from the +cylinders. The foreman showed him what to do, and Casey did it, using a +"double-jack" and a lot of energy. + +Before he left the Lucky Lode, Casey knew exactly what syrup will do to a +Ford if applied internally, and the widow had promised to marry him if he +would stop drinking and smoking and swearing. Since Casey had not been +drunk in ten years on account of having seen a big yellow snake with a +green head on the occasion of his last carouse, he took the drinking +pledge quite cheerfully for her sake. He promised to stop smoking, glad +that the widow neglected to mention chewing tobacco, which was his +everyday comfort. As for the swearing, he told her he would do his best +under the circumstances, and that he would taste the oil hereafter, and +try and think up some new names for the Ford. + +"But Casey, if you leave whisky alone, you won't need to taste the oil," +the widow told him. Whereat Casey grinned feebly and explained for the +tenth time that he had not been drinking. She did not contradict him. She +seemed a wise woman, after a fashion. + +Casey drove back to his camp at Starvation Mountain happy and a little +scared. Why, after all these years of careless freedom, he should +precipitate himself into matrimony with a woman he had known casually for +two days puzzled him a little. + +"Well, a man gits to feelin' like he wants to settle down when he's +crowdin' fifty," he explained his recklessness to the Ford as it hummed +away over Furnace Lake which was flat as a floor and dry as a bleached +bone,--and much the same color. "Any man feels the want of a home as he +gits older. And Casey's the man that will try anything once, you ask +anybody." He took out his pipe, looked at it, bethought himself of his +promise and put it away again, substituting a chew of tobacco as large as +his cheek would hold without prying his mouth open. "G'long, there--can't +you? You got your belly full of oil--shake a wheel and show you're alive." + +After that, Casey spent every Sunday at Lucky Lode. He liked the widow +better and better. Especially after dinner, with the delicious flavor of +pie still caressing his palate. Only he wished she would take it for +granted that when Casey Ryan made a promise, Casey Ryan would keep it. + +"I've got so now I can bark a knuckle with m'single-jack when I'm puttin' +down a hole, and say, 'Oh, dear!' and let it go at that," he boasted to +her on the second Sunday. "I'll bet there ain't another man in the state +of Nevada could do that." + +"Yes. But Casey dear, if _only_ you will never touch another drop of +liquor. You'll keep your promise, won't you, dear boy?" + +"Hell, yes!" Casey assured her headily. It had been close to twenty years +since he had been called dear boy, at least to his face. He kissed the +widow full on the lips before he saw that a frown sat upon her forehead +like a section of that ridgy cardboard they wrap bottles in. + +"Casey, you swore!" + +"Swore? Me?" + +"I only hope," sighed the widow, "that your other promise won't be broken +as easily as that one. Remember, Casey, I cannot and I will not marry a +drinking man!" + +Casey looked at her dubiously. "If you mean that syrup--" + +"Oh, I've heard awful tales of you, Casey dear! The boys talk at the +table, and they seem to think it's awful funny to tell about your fighting +and drinking and playing cards for money. But I think it's perfectly +awful. You _must_ stop drinking, Casey dear. I could never forgive myself +if I set before my innocent little ones the example of a husband who +drank." + +"You won't," said Casey. "Not if you marry me, you won't." Then he changed +the subject, beginning to talk of his prospect over on Starvation. The +widow liked to hear him tell about finding a pocket of ore that went +seventy ounces in silver and one and seven tenths ounces in gold, and how +he expected any day to get down into the main body of ore and find it a +"contact" vein. It all sounded very convincing and as if Casey Ryan were +in a fair way to become a rich man. + +The next time Casey saw the widow he was on his way to town for more +powder, his whole box of "giant" having gone off with a tremendous bang +the night before in one of those abrupt hailstorms that come so +unexpectedly in the mountain country. Casey had worked until dark, and was +dog-tired and had left the box standing uncovered beside the dugout where +he kept it. He suspected that a hailstone had played a joke on him, but +his chief emotion was one of self-congratulation because he had prudently +stored the dynamite around a shoulder of the canyon from where he camped. + +When he told the widow about it as one relates the details of a narrow +escape, and pointed out how lucky he was, she looked very grave. It was a +very careless thing to do, she said. Casey admitted it was. A man who +handled dynamite ought to shun liquor above all things, she went on; and +Casey agreed restively. He had not felt any inclination, to imbibe until +that minute, when the Irish rose up hotly within him. + +"Casey dear, are you _sure_ you have nothing in camp?" + +Casey assured her solemnly that he had not and drove off down the hill, +vaguely aware that he was not so content with life as he had been. + +"Damn that syrup!" he exploded once, quite as abruptly as had the giant +powder. After that he chewed tobacco and drove in broody silence. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Being Casey Ryan, tough as hickory and wont to drive headlong to his +destination, Casey did not remain in town to loiter a half a day and sleep +a night and drive back the next day, as most desert dwellers did. He +hurried through with his business, filled up with gas and oil, loaded on +an extra can of each, strapped his box of dynamite upon the seat beside +him where he could keep an eye on it--just as if that would do any good if +the tricky stuff meant to blow up!--and started back at three in the +afternoon. He would be half the night getting to camp, even though he was +Casey Ryan and drove a mean Ford. But he would be there, ready to start +work at sunrise. A man who is going to marry a widow with two children had +best hurry up and strike every streak of rich ore he has in his claim, +thought Casey. + +All that afternoon, though the wind blew hot in his face, Casey drilled +across the desert, meeting never a living thing, overtaking none. All that +afternoon a yellow dust cloud swirled rapidly along the rough desert road, +vainly trying to keep up with Casey who made it. In Yucca Pass he had to +stop and fill motor and radiator with oil and water, and just as he topped +the summit a front tire popped like a pistol. + +Casey killed the engine and got out a bit stiffly, pried off a chew of +tobacco and gazed pensively at Barren Butte that held Lucky Lode, where +the widow was cooking supper at that moment. Casey wished practically that +he was there and could sit down to some of her culinary achievements. + +"I sure would like to flop m'lip over one of her biscuits right now," he +said aloud. "If I do strike it, I wonder will she git too high-toned to +cook?" + +His eyes went to Furnace Lake, lying smooth and pale yellow in the +saucerlike basin between Barren Butte and the foothills of Starvation. In +the soft light of the afterglow it seemed to smile at him with a glint of +malice, like the treacherous thing it was. For Furnace Lake is +treacherous. The Big Earthquake (America knows only one Big Earthquake, +that which rocked San Francisco so disastrously) had split Furnace Lake +halfway across, leaving an ugly crevice ten feet wide at the narrowest +point and eighty feet deep, men said. Time and passing storms had partly +filled the gash, but it was there, ugly, ominous, a warning to all men to +trust the lake not at all. Little cracks radiated from the big gash here +and there, and the cattle men rode often that way, though not often enough +to save their cattle from falling in. + +By day the lake shimmered deceptively with mirages that painted it blue +with the likeness of water, Then a lone clump of greasewood stood up tall +and proclaimed itself a ship lying idle on a glassy expanse of water so +blue, so cool, so clear, one could not wonder that thirsty travelers went +mad sometimes with the false lure of it. + +Just now the lake looked exactly like any lake at dusk, with the far shore +line reflected along its edge; and Casey's thought went beyond, to his +claim on Starvation. Being tired and hungry, he pictured wistfully a cabin +there, and a light in the window when he went chuckling up the long mesa +in the dark, and the widow inside with hot coffee and supper waiting for +him. Just as soon as he struck "shipping values" that picture would be +real, said Casey to himself; and he opened his tool box and set to work +changing the tire. + +By the time he had finished it was dark, and Casey had yet a long forty +miles between himself and his sour-dough can. He cranked the engine, +switched on the electric headlights, and went tearing down the +fifteen-mile incline to the lake. + +"She c'n see the lights, and she'll know I ain't hangin' out in town +lappin' up whisky," he told himself as he drove. "She'll know it's Casey +Ryan comin' home--know it the way them lights are slippin' over the +country. Ain't another man on the desert can put a car over the trail like +this! You ask anybody." + +Pleased with himself and his reputation, urged by hunger and the desire to +make good on his claim so that he might have the little home he +instinctively craved, Casey pulled the gas lever down another eighth of an +inch--when he was already using more than he should--and nearly bounced +his dynamite off the seat when he lurched over a sandy hummock and down on +to the smooth floor of the lake. + +It was five miles across that lake from rim to rim and taking a straight +line, as Casey did, well above the crevice. In all that distance there is +not a stick, or a stone, or a bush to mark the way. Not even a trail, +since Casey was the only man who traveled it, and Casey never made tracks +twice in the same place, but drove down upon it, picked himself a landmark +on the opposite side and steered for it exactly as one steers a boat. The +marks he left behind him were no more than pencil marks drawn upon a sheet +of buff wrapping paper. Unless the lake was wet with one of those sporadic +desert rains, you couldn't make any impression on the cement-like surface. + +And when the lake was wet, you stuck where you were until wind and sun +dried it for you. Wherefore Casey plunged out upon five miles of blank, +baked clay with neither road, chart nor compass to guide him. It was the +first time he had ever crossed at night, and a blanket of thin, high +clouds hid the stars. + +Casey thought nothing much of that,--being Casey Ryan. He had before him +the dim--very dim--outline of Starvation, and being perfectly sober, he +steered a straight course, and made sure he was well away from the upper +end of the crevice, and pulled the gas lever down another notch. + +The little handful of engine roared beautifully and shook the car with the +vibration. Casey heaved a sigh of weariness mingled with content that the +way was smooth and he need not look for chuck holes for a few minutes, at +any rate. He settled back, and his fingers relaxed on the wheel. I think +he dozed, though Casey swears he did not. + +Suddenly he leaned forward, stared hard, leaned out and stared, listened +with an ear cocked toward the engine. He turned and looked behind, then +stared ahead again. + +"By _gosh_, I bet both hubs is busted!" he ejaculated under his breath,-- +Furnace Lake subdues one somehow. "She's runnin' like a wolf--but she +ain't goin'!" + +He waited for a minute longer, trifling with the gas, staring and +listening. The car was shaking with the throb of the motor, but Casey +could feel no forward motion. "Settin' here burnin' gas like a 'lection +bonfire--she sure _would_ think I'm drunk if she knowed it," Casey +muttered, and straddled over the side of the car to the running board. + +"I wish--to--_hell_ I hadn't promised her not to cuss!" he gritted, and +with one hand still on the wheel, Casey shut off the gas and stepped down. + +He stepped down upon a surface sliding beneath him at the rate of close to +forty miles an hour. The Ford went on, spinning away from him in a wide +circle, since Casey had unconsciously turned the wheel to the left as he +let go. The blow of meeting the hard clay stunned him just at first, and +he had rolled over a couple of times before he began to regain his senses. + +He lifted himself groggily to his knees and looked for the car, saw it +bearing down upon him from the direction whence he had come. Before he had +time to wonder much at the phenomenon, it was upon him, over with a lurch, +and gone again. + +Casey was tough, and he never knew when he was whipped. He crawled up to +his knees again, saw the same Ford coming at him with dimming headlights +from the same direction it had taken before, made a wild grab for it, was +knocked down and run over again. You may not believe that, but Casey had +the bruises to prove it. + +On the third round the Ford had slowed to a walk, figuratively speaking. +Casey was pretty dizzy, and he thought his back was broken, but he was mad +clear through. He caught the Ford by its fender, hung on, clutching +frantically for a better hold, was dragged a little distance so and then, +as its speed slackened to a gentle forward roll, he made shift to get +aboard and give the engine gas before it had quite stopped. Which he told +himself was lucky, because he couldn't have cranked the thing to save his +life. + +By sheer dogged nerve he drove to camp, drank cold coffee left from his +early breakfast, and decided that the bite of a Ford, while it is +poisonous, is not necessarily fatal unless it attacks one in a vital spot. + +Casey could not drill a hole, he could not swing a pick; for two days he +limped groaning around camp and confined his activities to cooking his +meals. Frequently he would look at the Ford and shake his head. There was +something uncanny about it. + +"She sure has got it in for me," he mused. "You can't blame her for +runnin' off when I dropped the reins and stepped out. But that don't +account for the way she come _at_ me, and the way she _got_ me every +circle she made. That's human. It's dog-_gone_ human! I've cussed her a +lot, and I've done things to her--like that syrup I poured into her--and +dog-gone her, she's been layin' low and watchin' her chance all this +while. Fords, I believe, are about as human as horses, and I've knowed +horses I believe coulda talked if their tongues was split. Ask anybody. +That there car _knowed_!" + +The third day after the attack Casey was still too sore to work, but he +managed to crank the Ford--eyeing it curiously the while, and with +respect, too--and started down the mesa and up over the ridge and on down +to the lake. He was still studying the matter incredulously, still +wondering if Fords can think. He wanted to tell the widow about it and get +her opinion. The widow was a smart woman. A little touchy on the liquor +question, maybe, but smart. You ask anybody. + +Lucky Lode greeted him with dropped jaws and wide staring eyes, which +puzzled Casey until the foreman, grasping his shoulder--which made Casey +wince and break a promise--explained their astonishment. They had, as +Casey expected, seen his lights when he came off the summit from Yucca +Pass. By the speed they traveled, Lucky Lode knew that Casey and no other +was at the steering wheel, even before he took to the lake. + +"And then," said the foreman, "we saw your lights go round and round in a +circle, and disappear--" + +"They didn't," Casey cut in trenchantly. "They went dim because I was +taking her slow, being about all in." + +The foreman grinned. "We thought you'd drove into the crevice, and we went +down with lanterns and hunted the full length of it. We never found a sign +of you or the car--" + +"'Cause I was over in camp, or thereabouts," interpolated Casey drily. "I +wish you'd of come on over. I sure needed help." + +"We figured you was pretty well lit up, to circle around like that. I've +been down since, by daylight, and so have some of the boys, looking into +that crevice. But we gave it up, finally." + +Then Casey, because he liked a joke even when it was on himself, told the +foreman and his men what had happened to him. He did not exaggerate the +mishap; the truth was sufficiently wild. + +They whooped with glee. Every one laughs at the unusual misfortunes of +others, and this was unusual. They stood around the Ford and talked to it, +and whooped again. "You sure must have had so-ome jag, Casey," they told +him exuberantly. + +"I was sober," Casey testified earnestly. "I'll swear I hadn't a drop of +anything worse than lemon soda, and that was before I left town." +Whereupon they whooped the louder, bent double, some of them with mirth. + +"Say! If I was drunk that night, I'd say so," Casey exploded finally. +"What the hell--what's the matter with you rabbits? You think Casey Ryan +has got to the point where he's scared to tell what he done and all he +done? Lemme tell yuh, anything Casey does he ain't afraid to _tell_ about! +Lyin' is something I never was scared bad enough to do. You ask anybody." + +"There's the widow," said the foreman, wiping his eyes. + +Casey turned and looked, but the widow was not in sight. The foreman, he +judged, was speaking figuratively. He swung back glaring. + +"You think I'm scared to tell her what happened? She'll know I was sober +if I say I was sober. She ain't as big a fool--" He did not want to fight, +although he was aching to lick every man of them. But for one thing, he +was too sore and lame, and then, the widow would not like it. + +With his neck very stiff, Casey limped down to the house and tried to tell +the widow. But the widow was a woman, and she was hurt because Casey, +since he was alive and not in the crevice, had not come straight to +comfort her, but had lingered up there talking and laughing with the men. +The widow had taken Casey's part when the others said he must have been +drunk. She had maintained, red-lidded and trembly of voice, that something +had gone wrong with Casey's car so that he couldn't steer it. Such things +happened, she knew. + +Well, Casey told the widow the truth, and the widow's face hardened while +she listened. She had permitted him to kiss her when he came in, but now +she moved away from him. She did not call him dear boy, nor even Casey +dear. She waited until he had reached the point that puzzled him, the +point of a Ford's degree of intelligence. Then her lips thinned before she +opened them. + +"And what," she asked coldly, "had you been drinking, Mr. Ryan?" + +"Me? One bottle of lemon soda before I left town, and I left town at three +o'clock in the afternoon. I swear--" + +"You need not swear, Mr. Ryan." The widow folded her hands and regarded +him sternly, though her voice was still politely soft. "After I had told +you repeatedly that my little ones should ever be guarded from a drinking +father; after you had solemnly promised me that you would never again put +glass to your lips, or swallow a drop of whisky; after that very morning +renewing your pledge--" + +"Well, I kept it," Casey said, his face a shade paler under its usual +frank red. "I swear to Gawd I was sober." + +"You need not lie," said the widow, "and add to your misdeeds. You were +drunk. No man in his senses would imagine what you imagine, or do what you +did. I wish you to understand, Mr. Ryan, that I shall not marry you. I +could not trust you out of my sight." + +"I--was--_sober_!" cried Casey, measuring his words. Very nearly shouting +them, in fact. + +The widow turned pointedly away and began to stir something on the stove, +and did not look at him. + +Casey went out, climbed the hill to his Ford, cranked it and went +larruping down the hill, out on the lake and, when he had traversed half +its length, turned and steered a straight course across it. Where tracings +of wheels described a wide circle he stopped and regarded them intently. +Then he began to swear, at nothing in particular, but with a hearty +enjoyment of the phrases he intoned. + +"Casey, you sure as hell have had one close call," he remarked, when he +could think of nothing new and devilish to say. "You mighta run along, and +run along, till you got _married_ to her. Whadda I want a wife for, +anyway? Sour-dough biscuits tastes pretty good, and Casey sure can make +'em!" He got out his pipe, filled it and crammed down the tobacco, found a +match and leaned back, smoking with relish, one leg thrown over the wheel. + +"A man's best friend is his Ford," he exclaimed. "You can ask anybody." He +grinned, and blew a lot of smoke, and gave the wheel an affectionate +little twist. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Some months later Casey waved good-by to the men from Tonopah, squinted up +at the sun and got a coal-oil can of water, with which he filled the +radiator of his Ford. He rolled his bed in the tarp and tied it securely, +put flour, bacon, coffee, salt and various other small necessities of life +into a box, inspected his sour-dough can, and decided to empty it and +start over again if hard fate drove him to sourdough. + +"Might bust down and have to sleep out," he meditated. "Then, agin, I +ain't liable to; and if I do, I'll be goin' so fast I'll git somewhere +before she stops. I'm--sure--goin' to go!" + +He cranked the battered car, straddled in over the edge on the driver's +side and set his feet against the pedals with the air of a man who had +urgent business elsewhere. The men from Tonopah were not yet out of sight +around the butte scarred with rhyolite ledges before Casey was under way, +rattling down the rough trail from Starvation Mountain and bouncing clear +of the seat as the car lurched over certain rough spots. + +Pinned with a safety pin to the inside pocket of the vest he wore only +when he felt need of a safe and secret pocket, Casey Ryan carried a check +for twenty-five thousand dollars, made payable to himself. A check for +twenty-five thousand dollars in Casey's pocket was like a wildcat clawing +at his imagination and spitting at every moment's delay. Casey had endured +solitude and some hardship while he coaxed Starvation Mountain to reveal a +little of its secret treasure. Now he wanted action, light, life and +plenty of it. While he drove he dreamed, and his dreams beckoned, urged +him faster and faster. + +Up over the summit of the ridge that lay between Starvation and Furnace +Lake he surged, with radiator bubbling. Down the long slope to the lake, +lying there smiling sardonically at a world it loved to trick with its +moods, Casey drove as if he were winning a bet. Across that five miles of +baked, yellow-white clay he raced, his Ford a-creak in every joint. + +"Go it, you tin lizard!" chortled Casey. "I'll have me a real wagon when I +git to Los. She'll be white, with red stripes along her sides and red +wheels, and she'll lay 'er belly to the ground and eat up the road and +lick her chops for more. Sixty miles under her belt every time the clock +strikes, or she ain't good enough fer Casey! Mebby they think they got +some drivers in Californy. Mebby they _think_ they have. They ain't, +though, because Casey Ryan ain't there yet. I'll catch that night train. +Oughta be in by morning, and then you keep your eye on Casey. There's +goin' to be a stir around Los, about to-morrow noon. I'll have to buy some +clothes, I guess. And I'll git acquainted with some nice girl with yella +hair that likes pleasure, and take her out ridin'. Yeah, I'll have to git +me a swell outfit uh clothes. I'll look the part, all right---" + +Up a long, winding trail and over another summit to Yucca Pass Casey +dreamed, while the stark, scarred buttes on either side regarded him with +enigmatic calm. Since the first wagon train had worried over the rough +deserts on their way to California, the bleak hills of Nevada had listened +while prospectors dreamed aloud and cackled over their dreaming; had +listened, too, while they raved in thirst and heat and madness. +Inscrutably they watched Casey as he hurried by with his twenty-five +thousand dollars and his pleasant pictures of soft ease. + +At a dim fork in the trail Casey slowed and stopped. A boiling radiator +will not forever brook neglect, and Casey brought his mind down to +practical things for a space. "I can just as well take the train from +Lund," he mused, while he poured in more water. "Then I can leave this +bleatin' burro with Bill. He oughta give me a coupla hundred for her, +anyway. No use wasting money just because you happen to have a few +thousand in your pants." He filled his pipe at that sensible idea and +turned the nose of his Ford down the dim trail to Lund. + +Eighty miles more or less straight away across the mountainous waste lay +Lund, halfway up a canyon that led to higher reaches in the hills, rich in +silver, lead, copper, gold. Silver it was that Casey had found and sold to +the men from Tonopah, and it was a freak of luck, he thought whimsically, +that had led him and his Ford away over to Starvation Mountains to find +their stake when they had probably been driving over millions every day +that they made the stage trip from Pinnacle down to Lund. + +The trail was rutted in places where the sluicing rains had driven hard +across the hills; soft with sand in places where the fierce winds had +swept the open. For awhile the thin, wobbly track of a wagon meandered +along ahead of him, then turned off up a flat-bottomed draw and was lost +in the sagebrush. Some prospector not so lucky as he, thought Casey, with +swift, soon forgotten sympathy. A coyote ran up a slope toward him, halted +with forefeet planted on a rock, and stared at him, ears perked like an +inquisitive dog. Casey stopped, eased his rifle out of the crease in the +back of the seat cushion, chanced a shot,--and his luck held. He climbed +out, picked up the limp gray animal, threw it into the tonneau and went +on. Even with twenty-five thousand dollars in his pocket, Casey told +himself that coyote hides are not to be scorned. He had seen the time when +the price of a good hide meant flour and bacon and tobacco to him. He +would skin it when he stopped to eat. + +Eighty miles with never a soul to call good day to Casey. Nor shack nor +shelter made for man, and only one place where there was water to wet his +lips if they cracked with thirst,--unless, perchance, one of those swift +desert downpours came riding on the wind, lashing the clouds with +lightning. + +Far ahead of Casey such a storm rolled in off the barren hills to the +south. "She's a-wettin' up that red lake a-plenty," observed Casey, +squinting through the dirty windshield. "No trail around, either, on +account of the lava beds. But I guess I can pull acrost, all right." Doubt +was in his voice, however, and he was half minded to turn back and take +the straight road to Vegas, which had been his first objective. But he +discarded the idea. + +"No, sir, Casey Ryan never back-trailed yet. Poor time to commence, now +when I got the world by the tail and a downhill pull. We'll make out, all +right--can't be so terrible boggy with a short rain like that there. I +bet," he continued optimistically to the Ford, which was the nearest he +had to human companionship, "I bet we make it in a long lope. Git along, +there! Shake a wheel--'s the last time you haul Casey around. Casey's +goin' to step high, wide and handsome. Sixty miles _an hour_, or he'll ask +for his money back. They can't step too fast for Casey! Blue--if I get me +a lady friend with yella hair, mebby she'll show up better in a blue car +than she will in a white-and-red. This here turnout has got to be tasty +and have class. If she was dark--" He shook his head at that. "No, sir, +black hair grows too plenty on squaws an' chilli queens. Yella goes with +Casey. Clingin' kinda girl with blue eyes--that's the stuff! An' I'll sure +show her some drivin'!" + +He wondered whether he should try and find the girl first and buy the car +to match her beauty, or buy the car first and with that lure the lady of +his dreams. It was a nice question and it required thought. It was +pleasant to ponder the problem, and Casey became so lost in meditation +that he forgot to eat when the sun flirted with the scurrying clouds over +his wind-torn automobile top. + +So he came bouncing and swaying down the last mesa to the place called Red +Lake. Casey had heard it spoken of with opprobrious epithets by men who +had crossed it in wet weather. In dry weather it was red clay caked and +checked by the sun, and wheels or hoofs stirred clouds of red dust that +followed and choked the traveler. + +Casey was not thinking at all of the lake when he drove down to it. He was +seeing visions, though you would not think it to look at him; a stocky, +middle-aged man who needed a shave and a hair-cut, wearing cheap, +dirt-stained overalls and a blue shirt and square-toed shoes studded +thickly on the soles with hobnails worn shiny; driving a desert-scarred +Ford with most of the paint gone and a front fender cocked up and flapping +crazily, and tires worn down to the fabric in places. But his eyes were +very keen and steady, and there was a humorous twist to his mouth. If he +dreamed incongruously of big, luxurious cars gorgeous in paint and nickel +trim, and of slim young women with yellow hair and blue eyes,--well, +stranger dreams have been hidden away behind exteriors more unsightly than +was the shell which holds the soul of Casey Ryan. + +Presently the practical, everyday side of his nature nudged him into +taking note of his immediate surroundings. Red Lake had received a +wetting. The dark, shiny surface betrayed that fact, and it was surprising +how real water, when you did see it on a lake subject to mirage, was so +unmistakably real. It is like putting flakes of real gold beside flakes of +mica; you are ready to swear that the mica is gold--until you see the real +gold beside it. So Casey knew at a glance that half of Red Lake was wet, +and that the shiny patches here and there were not mirage pictures but +shallow pools of water. Moreover, out in the reddest, wettest part of it +an automobile stood with its back to him, and pigmy figures were moving +slowly upon either side. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +"Stuck," diagnosed Casey in one word, as he caught sight of the group +ahead. He tucked his dream into the back of his mind while he pulled down +the gas lever a couple of notches and lunged along the muddy ruts that +led straight away from the safe line of sagebrush and out upon the +platter-like red expanse. + +The Ford grunted and lugged down to a steady pull, but Casey drove as he +had driven his six horses on a steep grade in the old days, coaxing every +ounce of power into action. He juggled with spark and gas and somehow kept +her going, and finally stopped with nice judgment on a small island of +harder clay within shouting distance of the car ahead. He killed the +engine then and stepped down, and went picking his way carefully out to +it, his heavy shoes speedily collecting great pancakes of mud that clung +like glue. + +"Stuck, hey? You oughta kept in the ruts, no matter if they are +water-logged. You never want to turn outa the road on one of these lake +beds, huntin' dry ground. If it's wet in the road, you can bank on sinkin' +in to the hocks the minute you turn out." He carefully removed the mud +pancakes from his shoes by scraping them across the hub of the stalled car +and edged back to stand with his arms on his hips while he surveyed the +full plight of them. + +"She sure is bogged down a-plenty," he observed, grinning sympathetically. + +"Could you hitch on your car, Mister, and pull us out?" This was a woman's +voice, and it thrilled Casey, woman hungry as he was. + +Casey put up a hand to his mouth and surreptitiously removed a chew of +tobacco almost fresh. With some effort he pulled his feet closer together, +and he lifted his old Stetson and reset it at a consciously rakish angle. +He glanced at the car, behind it and in front, coming back to the +depressed male individual before him. "Yes, ma'am, I'll get you out, all +right. Sure, I will." + +"We've been stalled here for an hour or more," volunteered the depressed +one. "We was right behind the storm. Looked a sorry chance that anybody +would come along for the next week or so." + +"Mister, you're a godsend, if ever there was one. I'd write your name on +the roster of saints in my prayer book, if I ever said prayers and had a +prayer book and a pencil and knew what name to write." + +"Casey Ryan. Don't you worry, ma'am. We'll get you outa here in no time." +Casey grinned and craned his neck. Looking lower this time, he saw a pair +of feet which did not seem to belong to that voice, though they were +undoubtedly feminine. Still, red mud will work miracles of disfigurement, +and Casey was an optimist by nature. + +"My wife is trying out a new comedy line," the man observed unemotionally. +"Trouble is it never gets over, out front. If she ever did get it across +the footlights, I could raise the price of admission and get away with it. +How far is it to Rhyolite?" + +"Rhyolite? Twenty or twenty-five miles, mebby." Casey gave him an +inquiring look. + +"Can we get there in time to paper the town and hire a hall to show in, +Mister?" Casey saw the mud-caked feet move laboriously toward the rear of +the car. + +"Yes, ma'am, I guess you can. There ain't any town, though, and it ain't +got any hall in it, nor anybody to go to a show." + +The woman laughed. "That's like my prayer book. Well, Jack, you certainly +have got a powerful eye, but you've been trying to Svengali this out-fit +out of the mud for an hour, and I haven't seen it move an inch, so far. +Let's just try something else." + +"A prayer outa your prayer book, maybe," her husband retorted, not +troubling to move or turn his head. + +Casey blinked and looked again. The woman who appeared from the farther +side of the car might have been the creature of his dream, so far as her +face, her hair and her voice went. Her hair was yellow, unmistakably +yellow. Her eyes were bluer than Casey's own, and she had nice teeth and +showed them in a red-lipped smile. A more sophisticated man would have +known that the powder on her nose was freshly applied, and that her reason +for remaining so long hidden from his sight while she talked to him was +revealed in the moist color on her lips and the fresh bloom on her cheeks. +Casey was not sophisticated. He thought she was a beautiful woman and +asked no questions of her make-up box. + +"Mister, you certainly are a godsend!" she gushed again when she faced +him. "I'd call you a direct answer to prayer, only I haven't been praying. +I've been trying to tell Jack that the shovel is not packed under the +banjos, as he thinks it was, but was left back at our last camp where he +was trying to dig water out of a wet spot. Jack, dear, perhaps the +gentleman has got a shovel in his car. Ain't it a real gag, Mister, us +being stuck out here in a dry lake?" + +Casey touched his hat and grinned and tried not to look at her too long. +Husbands of beautiful young women are frequently jealous, and Casey knew +his place and meant to keep it. + +All the way back to his car Casey studied the peculiar features of the +meeting. He had been thinking about yellow-haired women--well! But of +course, she was married, and therefore not to be thought of save as a +coincidence; still, Casey rather regretted the existence of Jack dear, and +began to wonder why good-looking women always picked such dried-up little +runts for husbands. "Show actors by the talk," he mused. "I wonder now if +she don't sing, mebby?" + +He started the car and forged out to them, making the last few rods in low +gear and knowing how risky it was to stop. They were rather helpless, he +had to admit, and did all the standing around while Casey did all the +work. But he shoveled the rear wheels out, waded back to the tiny island +of solid ground and gathered an armful of brush, which he crowded in front +of the wheels, covering himself with mud thereby; then he tied the tow +rope he carried for emergencies like this, waded to the Ford, cranked and +trusted the rest to luck. The Ford moved slowly ahead until the rope +between the two cars tightened, then spun her wheels and proceeded to dig +herself in where she stood. The other car, shaking with the tremor of its +own engine, ruthlessly ground the sagebrush into the mud and stood upon it +roaring and spluttering furiously. + +"Nothing like sticking together, Mister," called the lady cheerfully, and +he heard her laughter above the churn of their motors. + +"Say, ain't your carburetor all off?" Casey leaned out to call back to the +husband. "You're smokin' back there like wet wood." + +The man immediately stopped the motor and looked behind him. + +Casey muttered something under his breath when he climbed out. He looked +at his own car standing hub deep in red mud and reached for the solacing +plug of chewing tobacco. Then he thought of the lady and withdrew his hand +empty. + +"We're certainly going to stick together, Mister," she repeated her +witticism, and Casey grinned foolishly. + +"She'll dry up in a few hours, with this hot sun," he observed +hearteningly. "We'll have to pile brush in, I guess." His glance went back +to the tiny island and to his double row of tracks. He looked at the man. + +"Jack, dear, you might go help the gentleman get some brush," the lady +suggested sweetly. + +"This ain't my act," Jack dear objected. "I just about broke my spine +trying to heave the car outa the mud when we first stuck. Say, I wish +there was a beanery of some kind in walking distance. Honest, I'll be dead +of starvation in another hour. What's the chance of a bite, Hon?" + +Contempt surged through Casey. Deep in his soul he pitied her for being +tied to such an insect. Immediately he was glad that she had spirit enough +to put the little runt in his place. + +"You _would_ wait to buy supplies in Rhyolite, remember," she reminded her +husband calmly. "I guess you'll have to wait till you get there. I've got +one piece of bread saved for Junior. You and I go hungry--and cheer up, +old dear; you're used to it!" + +"I've got grub," Casey volunteered hospitably. "Didn't stop to eat yet. +I'll pack the stuff back there to dry ground and boil some coffee and fry +some bacon." He looked at the woman and was rewarded by a smile so +brilliant that Casey was dazzled. + +"You certainly are a godsend," she called after him, as he turned away to +his own car. "It just happens that we're out of everything. It's so hard +to keep anything on hand when you're traveling in this country, with towns +so far apart. You just run short before you know it." + +Casey thought that the very scarcity of towns compelled one to avoid +running short of food, but he did not say anything. He waded back to the +island with a full load of provisions and cooking utensils, and in three +minutes he was squinting against the smoke of a camp-fire while he poured +water from a canteen into his blackened coffee pot. + +"Coffee! Jack, dear, can you believe your nose!" chirped the woman +presently behind Casey. "Junior, darling, just smell the bacon! Isn't he a +nice gentleman? Go give him a kiss like a little man." + +Casey didn't want any kiss--at least from Junior. Junior was six years +old, and his face was dirty and his eyes were old, old eyes, but brown +like his father's. He had the pinched, hungry look which Casey had seen +only amongst starving Indians, and after he had kissed Casey perfunctorily +he snatched the piece of raw bacon which Casey had just sliced off, and +tore at it with his teeth like a hungry pup. + +Casey affected not to notice, and busied himself with the fire while the +woman reproved Junior half-heartedly in an undertone, and laughed stagily +and remarked upon the number of hours since they had breakfasted. + +Casey tried not to watch them eat, but in spite of himself he thought of a +prospector whom he had rescued last summer after a five-day fast. These +people ate more than the prospector had eaten, and their eyes followed +greedily every mouthful which Casey took, as if they grudged him the food. +Wherefore Casey did not take as many mouthfuls as he would have liked. + +"This desert air certainly does put an edge on one's appetite," the woman +smiled, while she blew across her fourth cup of coffee to cool it, and +between breaths bit into a huge bacon sandwich, which Casey could not help +knowing was her third. "Jack, dear, isn't this coffee delicious!" + +"Mah-mal Do we have to p-pay that there g-godsend? C-can you p-pay for +more b-bacon for me, mah-ma?" Junior licked his fingers and twitched a +fold of his mother's soiled skirt. + +"Sure, give him more bacon! All he wants. I'll fry another skillet full," +Casey spoke hurriedly, getting out the piece which he had packed away in +the bag. + +"He's used to these hold-up joints where they charge you forty cents for a +greasy plate," the man explained, speaking with his mouth full. "Eat all +yuh want, Junior. This is a barbecue and no collection took up to pay the +speaker of the day." + +"We certainly appreciate your kindness, Mister," the woman put in +graciously, holding out her cup. "What we'd have done, stuck here in the +mud with no provisions and no town within miles, heaven only knows. Was +you kidding us," she added, with a betrayal of more real anxiety than she +intended, "when you said Rhyolite is a dead one? We looked it up on the +map, and it was marked like a town. We're making all the little towns that +the road shows mostly miss. We give a fine show, Mister. It's been played +on all the best time in the country--we took it abroad before the war and +made real good money with it. But we just wanted to see the country, you +know--after doing the cont'nent and all the like of that. So we thought +we'd travel independent and make all the small towns--" + +"The movie trust is what put vodeville on the bum," the man interrupted. +"We used to play the best time only. We got a first-class act. One that +ought to draw down good money anywhere, and would draw down good money, if +the movie trust--" + +"And then we like to be independent, and go where we like and get off the +railroad for a spell. Freedom is the breath of life to he and I. We'd +rather have it kinda rough now and then to be free and independent--" + +"I've g-got a b-bunny, a-and it f-fell in the g-grease box a-and we +c-can't wash it off, a-and h-he's asleep now. C-can I g-give my b-bunny +some b-bacon, Mister G-godsend?" + +The woman laughed, and Jack dear laughed, and Casey himself grinned +sheepishly. Casey did not want to be called a godsend, and he hated the +term "Mister" when applied to himself. All his life he had been plain +Casey Ryan and proud of it, and his face was very red when he confessed +that there was no more bacon. He had not expected to feed a family when he +left camp that morning, but had taken rations for himself only. + +Junior whined and insisted that he wanted b-bacon for his b-bunny, and the +man hushed him querulously and asked Casey what the chances were for +getting under way. Casey repacked a lightened bag, emptied the coffee +grounds, shouldered his canteen and waded back to the cars and to the +problem of red mud with an unbelievable quality of tenacity. + +The man followed and asked him if he happened to have any smoking tobacco, +afterwards he begged a cigarette paper, and then a match. "The dog-gone +helpless, starved bunch!" Casey muttered, while he dug out the wheels of +his Ford, and knew that his own haste must wait upon the need of these +three human beings whom he had never seen until an hour ago, of whose very +existence he had been in ignorance, and who would probably contribute +nothing whatever to his own welfare or happiness, however much he might +contribute to theirs. + +I do not say that Casey soliloquised in this manner while he was sweating +there in the mud under hot midday. He did think that now he would no doubt +miss the night train to Los Angeles, and that he would not, after all, be +purchasing glad raiment and a luxurious car on the morrow. He regretted +that, but he did not see how he could help it. He was Casey Ryan, and his +heart was soft to suffering even though a little of the spell cast by the +woman's blue eyes and her golden hair had dimmed for him. + +He still thought her a beautiful woman who was terribly mismated, but he +felt vaguely that women with beautiful golden hair should not drink their +coffee aloud, or calmly turn up the bottom of their skirts that they might +use the underside of the hem for a napkin after eating bacon. I do not +like to mention this; Casey did not like to think of it, either. It was +with reluctance that he reflected upon the different standard imposed by +sex. A man, for instance, might wipe his fingers on his pants and look the +world straight in the eye,--but dog-gone it, when a lady's a lady, she +ought to _be_ a lady. + +Later Casey forgot for a time the incident of the luncheon on Red Lake. +With infinite labor and much patience he finally extricated himself and +the show people, with no assistance from them save encouragement. He towed +them to dry land, untied and put away his rope and then discovered that he +had not the heart to drive on at his usual hurtling pace and leave them to +follow. There was an ominous stutter in their motor, for one thing, and +Casey knew of a stiffish hill a few miles this side of Rhyolite, so he +forced himself to set a slow pace which they could easily follow. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was full sundown when they reached Rhyolite, which was not a town but a +camp beside a spring, usually deserted. Three years before, a mine had +built the camp for the accommodation of the truck drivers who hauled ore +to Lund and were sometimes unable to make the trip in one day. Casey, +having adapted his speed to that of the decrepit car of the show people, +was thankful that they arrived at all. He still had a little flour and +coffee and salt, and he hoped there was enough grease left on the bacon +paper to grease the skillet so that bannocks would not stick to the pan. +He also hoped that his flour would hold out under the onslaught of their +appetites. + +But Casey was lucky. A half dozen cowboys were camped there with a pack +outfit, meaning to ride the canyons next day for cattle. They were cooking +supper, and they had "beefed a critter" that had broken a leg that +afternoon running among rocks. Casey shuffled his responsibility and +watched, in complete content, while the show people gorged on broiled +yearling steaks. (I dislike to use the word gorge where a lady's appetite +is involved, but that is the word which Casey thought of first.) + +Later, the show people very amiably consented to entertain their hosts. It +was then that Casey was once more blinded by the brilliance of the lady +and forgot certain little blemishes that had seemed to him quite +pronounced. The cowboys obligingly built a bonfire before the tent, into +which the couple retired to set their stage and tune their instruments. +Casey lay back on a cowboy's rolled bed with his knees crossed, his hands +clasped behind his thinning hair, and smoked and watched the first pale +stars come out while he listened to the pleasant twang of banjos in the +tuning. + +It was great. The sale of his silver claim to the men from Tonopah, the +check safely pinned in his pocket, the future which he had planned for +himself swam hazily through his mind. He was fed to repletion, he was +rich, he had been kind to those in need. He was a man to be envied, and he +told himself so. + +Then the tent flaps were lifted and a dazzling, golden-haired creature in +a filmy white evening gown to which the firelight was kind stood there +smiling, a banjo in her hands. Casey gave a grunt and sat up, blinking. +She sang, looking at him frequently. At the encore, which was livened by a +clog danced to hidden music, she surely blew a kiss in the direction of +Casey, who gulped and looked around at the others self-consciously, and +blushed hotly. + +In truth, it was a very good show which the two gave there in the tent; +much better than the easiest going optimist would expect. When it was over +to the last twang of a banjo string, Casey took off his hat, emptied into +it what silver he had in his pockets and set the hat in the fireglow. +Without a word the cowboys followed his example, turning pockets inside +out to prove they could give no more. + +Casey spread his bed apart from the others that night, and lay for a long +while smoking and looking up at the stars and dreaming again his dream; +only now the golden-haired creature who leaned back upon the deep cushions +of his speedy blue car, was not a vague bloodless vision, but a real +person with nice teeth and a red-lipped smile, who called him Mister in a +tone he thought like music. Now his dream lady sang to him, talked to +him,--I consider it rather pathetic that Casey's dream always halted just +short of meal time, and that he never pictured her sitting across the +table from him in some expensive cafe, although Casey was rather fond of +cafe lights and music and service and food. + +Next morning the glamor remained, although the lady was once more the +unkempt woman of yesterday. The three seemed to look upon Casey still as a +godsend. They had talked with some of the men and had decided to turn back +to Vegas, which was a bigger town than Lund and therefore likely to +produce better crowds. They even contemplated a three-night stand, which +would make possible some very urgent repairs to their car. Casey demurred, +although he could not deny the necessity for repairs. It was a longer +trail to Vegas and a rougher trail. Moreover, he himself was on his way to +Lund. + +"You go to Lund," he urged, "and you can stay there four nights if you +want to, and give shows. And I'll take yuh on up to Pinnacle in my car +while yours is gettin' fixed, and you can give a show there. You'd draw a +big crowd. I'd make it a point to tell folks you give a fine show. And +I'll git yuh good rates at the garage where I do business. You don't want +nothin' of Vegas. Lund's the place you want to hit fer." + +"There's a lot to that," the foreman of the cowboys agreed. "If Casey's +willin' to back you up, you better hit straight for Lund. Everybody there +knows Casey Ryan. He drove stage from Pinnacle to Lund for two years and +never killed anybody, though he did come close to it now and again. I've +saw strong men that rode with Casey and said they never felt right +afterwards. Casey, he's a dog-gone good driver, but he used to be kinda +hard on passengers. He done more to promote heart failure in them two +towns than all the altitude they can pile up. But nobody's going to hold +that against a good show that comes there. I heard there ain't been a show +stop off in Lund for over a year. You'll have to beat 'em away from the +door, I bet." Wherefore the Barrymores--that was the name they called +themselves, though I am inclined to doubt their legal right to it--the +Barrymores altered their booking and went with Casey to Lund. + +They were not fools, by the way. Their car was much more disreputable than +you would believe a car could be and turn a wheel, and the Barrymores +recognized the handicap of its appearance. They camped well out of sight +of town, therefore, and let Casey drive in alone. + +Casey found that the westbound train had already gone, which gave him a +full twenty-four hours in Lund, even though he discounted his promise to +see the Barrymores through. There was a train, to be sure, that passed +through Lund in the middle of the night; but that was the De Luxe, +standard and drawing-room sleepers, and disdained stopping to pick up +plebeian local passengers. + +So Casey must spend twenty-four hours in Lund, there to greet men who +hailed him joyously at the top of their voices while they were yet afar +off, and thumped him painfully upon the shoulders when they came within +reach of him. You may not grasp the full significance of this, unless you +have known old and popular stage drivers, soft of heart and hard of fist. +Then remember that Casey had spent months on end alone in the wilderness, +working like a lashed slave from sunrise to dark, trying to wrest a +fortune from a certain mountain side. Remember how an enforced isolation, +coupled with rough fare and hard work, will breed a craving for lights and +laughter and the speech of friends. Remember that, and don't overlook the +twenty-five thousand dollar check that Casey had pinned safe within his +pocket. + +Casey had unthinkingly tossed his last dime into his hat for the show +people at Rhyolite. He had not even skinned the coyote, whose hide would +have been worth ten or fifteen dollars, as hides go. In the stress of +pulling out of the mud at Red Lake, he had forgot all about the dead +animal in his tonneau until his nose reminded him next morning that it was +there. Then he had hauled it out by the tail and thrown it away. He was +broke, except that he had that check in his pocket. + +Of course it was easy enough for Casey to get money. He went to the store +that sold everything from mining tools to green perfume bottles tied with +narrow pink ribbon. The man who owned that store also owned the bank next +door, and a little place down the street which was called laconically The +Club. One way or another, Dwyer managed to feel the money of every man who +came into Lund and stopped there for a space. He was an honest man, too,-- +or as honest as is practicable for a man in business. + +Dwyer was tickled to see Casey again. Casey was a good fellow, and he +never needed his memory jogged when he owed a man. He paid before he was +asked to pay, and that was enough to make any merchant love him. He +watched Casey unpin his vest pocket and remove the check, and he was not +too eager to inspect it. + +"Good? Surest thing you know. Want it cashed, or applied to your old +checking account? It's open yet, with a dollar and sixty-seven cents to +your credit, I believe. I'll take care of it, though it's after banking +hours." + +Casey was foolish. "I'll take a couple of hundred, if it's handy, and a +check book. I guess you can fix it so I can get what money I want in Los. +I'm goin' to have one hell of a time when I git there. I've earned it." + +Dwyer laughed while he inked a pen for Casey's endorsement. "Hop to it, +Casey. Glad you made good. But you'd better let me put part of that in a +savings account, so you can't check it out. You know, Casey--remember your +weak point." + +"Aw--that's all right! Don't you worry none about Casey Ryan! Casey'll +take care of himself--he's had too many jolts to want another one. Say, +gimme a pair of them socks before you go in the bank. I'll pay yuh," he +grinned, "when yuh come back with some money. Ain't got a cent on me, +Dwyer. Give it all away. Twelve dollars and something. Down to twenty-five +thousand dollars and my Ford auty-_mo_-bile--and Bill's goin' to buy that +off me as soon as he looks her over to see what's busted and what ain't." + +Dwyer laughed again as he unlocked the door behind the overalls and +jumpers and disappeared into his bank. Presently he returned with a +receipted duplicate deposit slip for twenty-four thousand eight hundred +dollars, a little, flat check book and two hundred dollars in worn bank +notes. "You ought to be independent for the rest of your life, Casey. This +is a fine start for any man," he said. + +Casey paid for the socks and slid the change for a ten-dollar bill into +his overalls pocket, put the check book and the bank notes away where he +had carried the check, and walked out with his hat very much tilted over +his right eye and his shoulders swaggering a little. You can't blame him +for that, can you? + +As he stepped from the store he met an old acquaintance from Pinnacle. +There was only one thing to do in a case like that, and Casey did it quite +naturally. They came out of The Club wiping their lips, and the swagger in +Casey's shoulders was more pronounced. + +Face to face Casey met the show lady, which was what he called her in his +mind. She had her arms clasped around a large paper sack full of lumpy +things, and her eyes had a strained, anxious look. + +"Oh, Mister! I've been looking all over for you. They say we can't show in +this town. The license for road shows is fifty dollars, to begin with, and +I've been all over and can't find a single place where we could show, even +if we could pay the license. Ain't that the last word in hard luck? Now +what to do beats me, Mister. We've just got to have the old car tinkered +up so it'll carry us on to the next place, wherever that is. Jack says he +must have a new tire by some means or other, and he was counting on what +we'd make here. And up at that other place you've mentioned the mumps have +broke out and they wouldn't let us show for love or money. A man in the +drug store told me, Mister. We certainly are in a hole now, for sure! If +we could give a benefit for something or somebody. Those men back there +said you're so popular in this town, I believe I've got an idea. Mister, +couldn't you have bad luck, or be sick or something, so we could give a +benefit for you? People certainly would turn out good for a man that's +liked the way they say you are. I'd just love to put on a show for you. +Couldn't we fix it up some way?" + +Casey looked up and down the street and found it practically empty. Lund +was dining at that hour. And while Casey expected later the loud +greetings, and the handshakes and all, as a matter of fact he had thus far +talked with Bill, the garage man, with Dwyer, the storekeeper and banker, +and with the man from Pinnacle, who was already making ready to crank his +car and go home. Lund, as a town, was yet unaware of Casey's presence. + +Casey looked at the show lady, found her gazing at his face with eyes that +said please in four languages, and hesitated. + +"You could git up a benefit for the Methodist church, mebby," he +temporized. "There's a church of some kind here--I guess it's a Methodist. +They most generally are." + +"We'd have to split with them if we did," the show lady objected +practically. "Oh, we're stuck worse than when we was back there in the +mud! We'd only have to pay five dollars for a six-months' theater license, +which would let us give all the shows we wanted to. It's a new law that I +guess you didn't know anything about," she added kindly. "You certainly +wouldn't have insisted on us coming if you'd knew about the license." + +"It's a year, almost, since I was here," Casey admitted; "I been out +prospecting." + +"Well, we can just work it fine! Can't we go somewhere and talk it over? +I've got a swell idea, Mister, if you'll just listen to it a minute, and +it'll certainly be a godsend to us to be able to give our show. We've got +some crutches amongst our stage props, and some scar patches, Mister, that +would certainly make you up fine as a cripple. Wouldn't they believe it, +Mister, if it was told that you had been in an accident and got crippled +for life?" + +In spite of his embarrassment, Casey grinned. "Yeah, I guess they'd +believe it, all right," he admitted. "They'd likely be tickled to death to +see me goin' around on crutches." He cast a hasty thought back into his +past, when he had driven a careening stage between Pinnacle and Lund, +strewing the steep trail with wreckage not his own. "Yeah, it'd tickle 'em +to death. Them that's rode with me," he concluded. + +"Oh, you certainly are a godsend! Duck outa sight somewhere while I go +tell Jack dear that we've found a way open for us to show, after all!" +While Casey was pulling the sag out of his jaw so that he could protest, +could offer her money, do anything save what she wanted, the show lady +disappeared. Casey turned and went back into The Club, remained five +minutes perhaps and then walked very circumspectly across the street to +Bill's garage. It was there that the Barrymores found him when they came +seeking with their dilapidated old car, their crutches, their grease paint +and scar patches, to make a cripple of Casey whether he would or no. + +Bill fell uproariously in with the plan, and Dwyer, stopping at the garage +on his way home to dinner, thought it a great joke on Lund and promised to +help the benefit along. Casey, with three drinks under his belt and his +stomach otherwise empty, wanted to sing, + + "Hey, ok Bill! Can-n yuh play the fiddle-o? + Yes, by--" + +and stuck there because of the show lady. Casey wouldn't have recognized +Trouble if it had walked up and banged him in the eye. He said sure, he'd +be a cripple for the lady. He'd be anything once, and some things several +times if they asked him in the right way. And then he gave himself into +the hands of Jack dear. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Casey looked battered and sad when the show people were through with him. +He had expected bandages wound picturesquely around his person, but the +Barrymores were more artistic than that. Casey's right leg was drawn up at +the knee so that he could not put his foot on the ground when he tried, +and he did not know how the straps were fastened. His left shoulder was +higher than his right shoulder, and his eyes were sunken in his head and a +scar ran down along his temple to his left cheek bone. When he looked in +the glass which Bill brought him, Casey actually felt ill. They told him +that he must not wash his face, and that his week's growth of beard was a +blessing from heaven. The show lady begged him, with dew on her lashes, to +play the part faithfully, and they departed, very happy over their +prospects. + +Casey did not know whether he was happy or not. With Bill to encourage him +and give him a lift over the gutters, he crossed the street to a +restaurant and ordered largely of sirloin steak and French fried potatoes. +After supper there was a long evening to spend quietly on crutches, and +The Club was just next door. A man can always spend an evening very +quickly at The Club--or he could in the wet days--if his money held out. +Casey had money enough, and within an hour he didn't care whether he was +crippled or not. There were five besides himself at that table, and they +had unanimously agreed to remove the lid. Moreover, there was a crowd ten +deep around that particular table. For the news had gone out that here was +Casey Ryan back again, a hopeless cripple, playing poker like a drunken +Rockefeller and losing as if he liked to lose. + +At eight o'clock the next morning Bill came in to tell Casey that the show +people had brought up their car to be fixed, and was the pay good? Casey +replied Without looking up from his hand, which held a pair of queens +which interested him. He'd stand good, he said, and Bill gave a grunt and +went off. + +At noon Casey meant to eat something. But another man had come into the +game with a roll of money and a boastful manner. Casey rubbed his cramped +leg and hunched down in his chair again and called for a stack of blues. +Casey, I may as well confess, had been calling for stacks of blues and +reds and whites rather often since midnight. + +At four in the afternoon Casey hobbled into the restaurant and ate another +steak and drank three cups of black coffee. He meant to go across to the +garage and have Bill hunt up the Barrymores and get them to unstrap him +for awhile, but just as he was lifting his left crutch around the edge of +the restaurant door, two women of Lund came up and began to pity him and +ask him how it ever happened. Casey could not remember, just at the +moment, what story he had already told of his accident. He stuttered--a +strange thing for an Irishman to do, by the way--and retreated into The +Club, where they dared not follow. + +"H'lo, Casey! Give yuh a chance to win back some of your losin's, if +you're game to try it again," called a man from the far end of the room. + +Casey swore and hobbled back to him, let himself stiffly down into a chair +and dropped his crutches with a rattle of hard wood. Being a cripple was +growing painful, besides being very inconvenient. The male half of Lund +had practically suspended business that day to hover around him and +exchange comments upon his looks. Casey had received a lot of sympathy +that day, and only the fact that he had remained sequestered behind the +curtained arch that cut across the rear of The Club saved him from +receiving a lot more. But of course there were mitigations. Since walking +was slow and awkward, Casey sat. And since he was not a man to sit and +twiddle thumbs to pass the time, Casey played poker. That is how he +explained it afterwards. He had not intended to play poker for twenty-four +hours, but tie up a man's leg so he can't walk, and he's got to do +_something_. + +Wherefore Casey played,--and did not win back what he had lost earlier in +the day. Daylight grew dim, and some one came over and lighted a hanging +gasoline lamp that threw into tragic relief the painted hollows under +Casey's eyes, which were beginning to look very bloodshot around the blue +of them. + +Once, while the bartender was bringing drinks--you are not to infer that +Casey was drunk; he was merely a bit hazy over details--Casey pulled out +his dollar watch and looked at it. Eight-thirty--the show must be pretty +well started, by now. He thought he might venture to hobble over to Bill's +and have those dog-gone straps taken off before he was crippled for sure. +But he did not want to do anything to embarrass the show lady. Besides, he +had lost a great deal of money, and he wanted to win some of it back. He +still had time to make that train, he remembered. It was reported an hour +late, some one said. + +So Casey rubbed his strapped leg, twisting his face at the cramp in his +knee and letting his companions believe that his accident had given him a +heritage of pain. He hitched his lifted shoulder into an easier position +and picked up another unfortunate assortment of five cards. + +At ten o'clock Bill, the garage man, came and whispered something to +Casey, who growled an oath and reached almost unconsciously for his +crutches before trying to get up; so soon is a habit born in a man. + +"What they raisin' thunder about?" he asked apathetically, when Bill had +helped him across the gutter and into the street. "Didn't the crowd turn +out like they expected?" Casey's tone was dismal. You simply cannot be a +cripple for twenty-four hours, and sit up playing unlucky poker all night +and all day and well into another night, without losing some of your +animation; not even if you are Casey Ryan. "Hell, I missed that train +again," he added heavily, when he heard it whistle into the railroad yard. + +"Too bad. You oughta be on it, Casey," Bill said ominously. + +At the garage the Barrymores were waiting for him in their stage clothes +and make-up. The show lady had wept seams down through her rouge, and the +beads on her lashes had clotted unbecomingly. + +"Mister, you certainly have wished a sorry deal on to us," she exclaimed, +when Casey came hobbling through the doorway. "Fifteen years on the stage +and _this_ never happened to us before. We've took our bad luck with our +good luck and lived honest and respectable and self-respecting, and here, +at last, ill fortune has tied the can on to us. I know you meant well and +all that, Mister, but we certainly have had a raw deal handed out to us in +this town. We--certainly--have!" + +"We got till noon to-morrow to be outa the county," croaked Jack dear, +shifting his Adam's apple rapidly. "And that's real comedy, ain't it, when +your damn county runs clean over to the Utah line, and we can't go back +the way we come, or--and we can't go anywhere till this big slob here puts +our car together. He's got pieces of it strung from here around the block. +Say, what kinda town is this you wished on to us, anyway? Holding night +court, mind you, so they could can us quicker!" + +The show lady must have seen how dazed Casey looked. "Maybe you ain't +heard the horrible deal they handed us, Mister. They stopped our show +before we'd raised the curtain,--and it was a seventy-five dollar house if +it was a cent!" she wailed. "They had a bill as long as my arm for +license--we couldn't get by with the five-dollar one--and for lights and +hall rent and what-all. There wasn't enough money in the house to pay it! +And they was going to send us to jail! The sheriff acted anything but a +gentleman, Mister, and if you ever lived in this town and liked it, I must +say I question your taste!" + +"We wouldn't use a town like this for a garbage dump, back home," cut in +Jack with all the contempt he could master. + +"And they hauled us over to their dirty old Justice of the Peace, and he +told us he'd give us thirty days in jail if we was in the county to-morrow +noon, and we don't know how far this county goes, either way!" + +"Fifty miles to St. Simon," Bill told them comfortingly. "You can make it, +all right--" + +"We can make it, hey? How're we going to make it, with our car layin' +around all over your garage?" Jack's tone was arrogant past belief. + +Casey was fumbling for strap buckles which he could not reach. He was also +groping through his colorful, stage-driver's vocabulary for words which +might be pronounced in the presence of a lady, and finding mighty few that +were of any use to him. The combined effort was turning him a fine purple +when the lady was seized with another brilliant idea. + +"Jack dear, don't be harsh. The gentleman meant well--and I'll tell you, +Mister, what let's do! Let's trade cars till the man has our car repaired. +Your car goes just fine, and we can load our stuff in and get away from +this horrible town. Why, the preacher was there and made a speech and said +the meanest things about you, because you was having a benefit and at the +same identical time you was setting in a saloon gambling. He said it was +an outrage on civilization, Mister, and an insult to the honest, +hard-working people in Lund. Them was his very words." + +"Well, hell!" Casey exploded abruptly. "I'm honest and hard-workin' as any +damn preacher. You can ask anybody!" + +"Well, that's what he said, anyhow. We certainly didn't know you was a +gambler when we offered to give you a benefit. We certainly never dreamed +you'd queer us like that. But you'll do us the favor to lend us your car, +won't you? You wouldn't refuse that, and see me and little Junior +languishin' in jail when you know in your heart--" + +"Aw, take the darn car!" muttered Casey distractedly, and hobbled into the +garage office where he knew Bill kept liniment. + +Five minutes, perhaps, after that, Casey opened the office door wide +enough to fling out an assortment of straps and two crutches. + +The show lady turned and made a motion which Casey mentally called a +pounce. "Oh, thank you, Mister! We certainly wouldn't want to go off and +forget these props. Jack dear has to use them in a comedy sketch we put on +sometimes when we got a good house." + +Casey banged the door and said something exceedingly stage-driverish which +a lady should by no means overhear. + +Sounds from the rear of the garage indicated that Casey's Ford was r'arin' +to go, as Casey frequently expressed it. Voices were jumbled in the tones +of suggestions, commands, protest. Casey heard the show lady's clear +treble berating Jack dear with thin politeness. Then the car came snorting +forward, paused in the wide doorway, and the show lady's voice called out +clearly, untroubled as the voice of a child after it has received that +which it cried for. + +"Well, good-by, Mister! You certainly are a godsend to give us the loan of +your car!" There was a buzz and a splutter, and they were gone--gone clean +out of Casey's life into the unknown whence they had come. + +Bill opened the door gently and eased into the office, sniffing liniment. +The painted hollows under Casey's eyes gave him a ghastly look in the +lamp-light when he lifted his face from examining a chafed and angry knee. +Bill opened his mouth for speech, caught a certain look in Casey's eyes +and did not say what he had intended to say. Instead: + +"You better sleep here in the office, Casey. I've got another bed back of +the machine shop. I'll lock up, and if any one comes and rings the night +bell--well, never mind. I'll plug her so they can't ring her." The world +needs more men like Bill. + + * * * * * + +Even after an avalanche, human nature cannot resist digging in the +melancholy hope of turning up grewsome remains. I know that you are all +itching to put shovel into the debris of Casey's dreams, and to see just +what was left of them. + +There was mighty little, let me tell you. I said in the beginning that +twenty-five thousand dollars was like a wildcat in Casey's pocket. You +can't give a man that much money all in a lump and suddenly, after he has +been content with dollars enough to pay for the food he eats, without +seeing him lose his sense of proportion. Twenty-five dollars he +understands and can spend more prudently than you, perhaps. Twenty-five +thousand he simply cannot gauge. It seems exhaustless. It is as if you +plucked from the night all the stars you can see, knowing that the Milky +Way is still there and unnumbered other stars invisible, even in the +aggregate. + +Casey played poker with an appreciative audience and the lid off. Now and +then he took a drink stronger than root beer. He kept that up for a night +and a day and well into another night. Very well, gather round and look at +the remains, and if there's a moral, you are welcome, I am sure. + +Casey awoke just before noon, and went out and held his head under Bill's +garage hydrant, with the water running full stream. He looked up and found +Bill standing there with his hands in his pockets, gazing at Casey +sorrowfully. Casey grinned. You can't down the Irish for very long. + +"How's she comin', Bill?" + +Bill grunted and spat. "She ain't. Not if you mean that car them folks +wished on to you. Well, the tail light's pretty fair, too. And in their +hurry the lady went off and left a pink silk stockin' in the back seat. +The toe's out of it though. Casey, if you wait till you overhaul 'em with +that thing they wheeled in here under the name of a car--" + +"Oh, that's all right, Bill," Casey grunted gamely. "I was goin' to git me +a new car, anyway. Mine wasn't so much. They're welcome." + +Bill grunted and spat again, but he did not say anything. + +"I'll go see Dwyer and see how much I got left," Casey said presently, and +his voice, whether you believe it or not, was cheerful. "I'm going to +ketch that evenin' train to Los." And he added kindly, "C'm on and eat +with me, Bill. I'm hungry." + +Bill shook his head and gave another grunt, and Casey went off without +him. + +After awhile Casey returned. He was grinning, but the grin was, to a +careful observer, a bit sickish. "Say, Bill, talk about poker--I'm off it +fer life. Now look what it done to me, Bill! I puts twenty-five thousand +dollars into the bank--minus two hundred I took in money--and I takes a +check book, and I goes over to The Club and gits into a game. I wears the +check book down to the stubs. I goes back and asks Dwyer how much I got in +the bank, and he looks me over like I was a sick horse he had doubts about +being worth doctorin', and as if he thought he mebby might better take me +out an' shoot me an' put me outa my misery. + +"'Jest one dollar an' sixty-seven cents, Casey,' he says to me, 'if the +checks is all in, which I trust they air!'" Casey got out his plug of +chewing tobacco and pried off a blunted corner. "An' hell Bill! I had that +much in the bank when I started," he finished plaintively. + +"Hell!" repeated Bill in brief, eloquent sympathy. + +Casey set his teeth together and extracted comfort from the tobacco. He +expectorated ruminatively. + +"Well, anyway, I got me some bran' new socks, an' they're paid for, thank +God!" He tilted his old Stetson down over his right eye at his favorite, +Caseyish angle, stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled out into the +sunshine. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"At that," said Bill, grinning a little, "you'll know as much as the +average garage-man. What ain't reformed livery-stable men are second-hand +blacksmiths, and a feller like you, that has drove stage for fifteen +year--" + +"Twenty," Casey Ryan corrected jealously. "Six years at Cripple Creek, and +then four in Yellowstone, and I was up in Montana for over five years, +driving stage from Dry Lake to Claggett and from there I come to Nevada--" + +"Twenty," Bill conceded without waiting to hear more, "knows as much as a +man that has kept livery stable. Then again you've had two Fords--" + +"Oh, I ain't sayin' I can't _run_ a garage," Casey interrupted. "I don't +back down from runnin' anything. But if you'd grubstake me for a year, +instead of settin' up this here garage at Patmos, I'd feel like I had a +better chance of makin' us both a piece uh money. There's a lost gold mine +I been wantin' fer years to get out and look for. I believe I know now +about where to hit for. It ain't lost, exactly. There's an old Injun been +in the habit of packin' in high grade in a lard bucket, and nobody's been +able to trail him and git back to tell about it. He's an old she-bear to +do anything with, but I got a scheme, Bill--" + +"Ferget it," Bill advised. "Now you listen to me, Casey, and lay off that +prospectin' bug for awhile. Here's this long strip of desert from Needles +to Ludlow, and tourists trailin' through like ants on movin' day. And +here's this garage that I can get at Patmos for about half what the +buildin's worth. You ain't got any competition, none whatever. You've got +a cinch. There'll be cars comin' in from both ways with their tongues +hangin' out, outa gas, outa oil, needin' this and needin' that and looking +on that garage as a godsend--" + +"Say, Bill, if I gotta be a godsend I'll go out somewheres and holler +myself to death. Casey's off that godsend stuff for life; you hear me, +Bill--" + +"Glad to hear it, Casey. If you go down there to Patmos to clean up some +money for you 'n' me, you wanta cut out this soft-hearted stuff. Get the +money, see? Never mind being kind; you can be kind when you've got a stake +to be it with. Charge 'em for everything they git, and see to it that the +money's good. Don't you take no checks. Don't trust nobody for anything +whatever. That's your weakness, Casey, and you know it. You're too +dog-gone trusting. You promise me you'll put a bell on your tire tester +and a log chain and drag on your pump and jack--say, you wouldn't believe +the number of honest men that go off for a vacation and steal everything, +by golly, they can haul away! Pliers, wrenches, oil cans, tire testers-- +say, you sure wanta watch 'em when they ask yuh for a tester! You can lose +more tire testers in the garage business--" + +"Well, now, you watch Casey! When it comes to putting things like that +over, they wanta try somebody besides Casey Ryan. You ask anybody if +Casey's easy fooled. But I'd ruther go hunt the Injun Jim mine, Bill." + +"Say, Casey, in this one summer you can make enough money in Patmos to +_buy_ a gold mine. I've been reading the papers pretty careful. Why, they +say tourist travel is the heaviest that ever was known, and this is early +May and it's only beginning. And lemme tell yuh something, Casey. I'd +ruther have a garage in Patmos than a hotel in Los Angeles, and by all +they say that's puttin' it strong. Ever been over the road west uh +Needles, Casey?" + +Casey never had, and Bill proceeded to describe it so that any tourist who +ever blew out a tire there with the sun at a hundred and twenty and +running in high, would have confessed the limitations of his own +vocabulary. + +"And there you are, high and dry, with fifteen miles of the ungodliest, +tire-chewinest road on either side of yuh that America can show. About +like this stretch down here between Rhyolite and Vegas. And hills and +chucks--say, don't talk to me about any Injun packin' gold in a lard +bucket. Why, lemme tell yuh, Casey, if you work it right and don't be so +dog-gone kind-hearted, you'll want a five-ton truck to haul off your +profits next fall. I'd go myself and let you run this place here, only I +got a lot of credit trade and you'd never git a cent outa the bunch. And +then you're wantin' to leave Lund for awhile, anyway." + +"You could git somebody else," Casey suggested half-heartedly. "I kinda +hate to be hobbled to a place like a garage, Bill. And if there's anything +gits my goat, it's patchin' up old tires. I'll run 'em flat long as +they'll stay on, before I'll git out and mend 'em. I'd about as soon go to +jail, Bill, as patch tires for tourists; I--" + +"You don't have to," said Bill, his grin widening. "You sell 'em new +tires, see. There won't be one in a dozen you can't talk into a new tire +or two. Whichever way they're goin', tell 'em the road's a heap worse from +there on than what it was behind 'em. They'll buy new tires--you take it +from me they will. And," he added virtuously, "you'll do 'em no harm +whatever. If you got a car, you need tires, and a new one'll always come +in handy sometime. You know that yourself, Casey. + +"Now, I'll put in an assortment of tires, and I'll trust you to sell 'em. +You and the road they got to travel. Why, when I was in Ludlow, a feller +blew in there with a big brute of a car--36-6 tires. He'd had a blow-out +down the other side of Patmos and he was sore because they didn't have no +tires he could use down there. He bought three tires--_three,_ mind yuh, +and peeled off the bills to pay for 'em! Sa-ay when yuh figure two hundred +cars a day rollin' through, and half of 'em comin' to yuh with grief of +some kind--" + +"It's darn little I know about any car but a Ford," Casey admitted +plaintively. "When yuh come to them complicated ones that you can crawl +behind the wheel and set your boot on a button and holler giddap and +she'll start off in a lope, I don't know about it. A Ford's like a mule or +a burro. You take a monkey wrench and work 'em over, and cuss, and that's +about all there is to it. But you take them others, and I got to admit I +don't know." + +"Well," said Bill, and spat reflectively, "you roll up your sleeves and +I'll learn yuh. It'll take time for the stuff to be delivered, and you can +learn a lot in two or three weeks, Casey, if you fergit that prospectin' +idea and put your mind to it." + +Casey rolled a cigarette and smoked half of it, his eyes clinging +pensively to the barren hills behind Lund. He hunched his shoulders, +looked at Bill and grinned reluctantly. + +"She's a go with me, Bill, if you can't think of no other way to spend +money. I wisht you took to poker more, or minin', or something that's got +action. Stakin' Casey Ryan to a garage business looks kinda foolish to me. +But if you can stand it, Bill, I can. It's kinda hard on the tourists, +don't yuh think?" + +Thus are garages born,--too many of them, as suffering drivers will +testify. Casey Ryan, known wherever men of the open travel and spin their +yarns, famous for his recklessly efficient driving of lurching +stagecoaches in the old days, and for his soft heart and his +happy-go-lucky ways; famous too as the man who invented ungodly +predicaments from which he could extricate himself and be pleased if he +kept his shirt on his back; Casey Ryan as the owner of a garage might +justly be considered a joke pushed to the very limit of plausibility. Yet +Casey Ryan became just that after two weeks of cramming on mechanics and +the compiling of a reference book which would have made a fortune for +himself and Bill if they had thought to publish it. + +"A quort of oil becomes lubrecant and is worth from five to fifteen cents +more per quort when you put it into a two-thousand dollar car or over," +was one valuable bit of information supplied by Bill. Also: "Never cuss or +fight a man getting work done in your place. Shut up and charge him +according to the way he acts." + +It is safe to assume that Bill would make a fortune in the garage business +anywhere, given normal traffic. + +Patmos consists of a water tank on the railroad, a siding where trains can +pass each other, a ten-by-ten depot, telegraph office and express and +freight office, six sweltering families, one sunbaked lodging place with +tent bedrooms so hot that even the soap melts, and the Casey Ryan garage. +I forgot to mention three trees which stand beside the water tank and try +to grow enough at night to make up for the blistering they get during the +day. The highway (Coast to Coast and signed at every crossroads in red +letters on white metal boards with red arrows pointing to the far skyline) +shies away from the railroad at Patmos so that perspiring travelers look +wistfully across two hundred yards or so of lava rock and sand and wish +that they might lie under those three trees and cool off. They couldn't, +you know. It is no cooler under the trees than elsewhere. It merely looks +cooler. + +Even the water tank is a disappointment to the uninitiated. You cannot +drink the water which the pump draws wheezingly up from some deep +reservoir of bad flavors. It is very clear water and it has a sparkle that +lures the unwary, but it is common knowledge that no man ever drank two +swallows of it if he could help himself. So the water supply of Patmos +lies twelve miles away in the edge of the hills, where there is a very +good spring. One of the six male residents of Patmos hauls water in +barrels, at fifty cents a barrel. He makes a living at it, too. + +One other male resident keeps the lodging place,--I avoid the term lodging +house, because this place is not a house. It is a shack with a sign +straddling out over the hot porch to insult the credulity of the +passers-by. The sign says that this place is "The Oasis,"--and the nearest +trees a long rifleshot away, and the coolest water going warm into parched +mouths! + +The Oasis stands over by the highway, alongside Casey's garage, and the +proprietor spends nine tenths of his waking hours sitting on the front +porch and following the strip of shade from the west end to the east end, +and in watching the trains go by, and counting the cars of tourists and +remarking upon the State license plate. + +"There's an outfit from Ioway, maw," he will call in to his wife. "Wonder +where they're headed fer?" His wife will come to the door and look +apathetically at the receding dust cloud, and go back somewhere,--perhaps +to put fresh soap in the tents to melt. Toward evening the cars are very +likely to slow down and stop reluctantly; sunburned, goggled women and men +looking the place over without enthusiasm. It isn't much of a place, to be +sure, but any place is better than none in the desert, unless you have +your own bed and frying pan with you, roped in dusty canvas to the back of +your car. + +Alongside the Oasis stands the garage, and in the garage swelters Casey,-- +during this episode. Just at first Bill came down from Lund and helped him +to arrange and mark prices on his stock of tires and "parts" and +accessories, and to remember the catalogue names for things so that he +would recognize them when a car owner asked for them. + +Casey, I must explain, had evolved a system of his own while driving his +Ford wickedly here and there to the consternation of his fellow men. +Whatever was not a hootin'-annie was a dingbat, and treated accordingly. +The hootin'-annie appeared to be the thing that went wrong, while the +dingbat was the thing the hootin'-annie was attached to. It was perfectly +simple, to Casey and his Ford, but Bill thought it was a trifle limited +and was apt to confuse customers. So Bill remained three days mopping his +face with his handkerchief and explaining things to Casey. After that +Casey hired a heavy-eyed young Mexican to pump tires and fill radiators +and the like, and settled down to make his fortune. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Cars came and cars went, in heat and dust and some tribulation. In a month +Casey had seen the color of every State license plate in the Union, and +some from Canada and Mexico. From Needles way they came, searching their +souls for words to tell Casey what they thought of it as far as they had +gone. And Casey would squint up at them from under the rim of his greasy +old Stetson and grin his Irish grin. + +"Cheer up, the worst is yet to come," he would chant, with never a qualm +at the staleness of the slogan. "How yuh fixed for water? Better fill up +your canteens--yuh don't wanta git caught out between here and Ludlow with +a boilin' radiator and not water enough. Got oil enough? Juan, you look +and see. Can't afford to run low on oil, stranger. No, ma'am, there ain't +any other road--and if there was another road it'd be worse than what this +one is. No, ma'am, you ain't liable to git off'n the road. You can't. +You'd git stuck in the sand 'fore you'd went the length of your car." + +He would walk around them and look at their tires, his hands on his hips +perhaps and his mouth damped shut in deep cogitation. + +"What kinda shape is your extras in?" he would presently inquire. "She's a +tough one, from here on to the next stop. You got a hind tire here that +ain't goin' to last yuh five miles up the road." He would kick the tire +whose character he was blackening. "Better lay in a supply of blow-out +patches, unless you're a mind to invest in a new casing." Very often he +would sell a tire or two, complete with new tubes, before the car moved +on. + +Casey never did things halfway, and Bill had impressed certain things deep +on his mind. He was working with Bill's money and he obeyed Bill's +commands. He never took a check or a promise for his pay, and he never +once let his Irish temper get beyond his teeth or his blackened finger +tips. Which is doing remarkably well for Casey Ryan, as you would admit if +you knew him. + +At the last moment, when the driver was settling himself behind the wheel, +Casey would square his conscience for whatever strain the demands of +business had put upon it. "Wait and take a good drink uh cold water before +yuh start out," he would say, and disappear. He knew that the car would +wait. The man or woman never lived who refused a drink of cold water on +the desert in summer. Casey would return with a pale green glass water +pitcher and a pale green glass. He would grin at their exclamations, and +pour for them water that was actually cold and came from the coolest water +bag inside. Those of you who have never traveled across the desert will +not really understand the effect this would have. Those who have will know +exactly what was said of Casey as that car moved out once more into the +glaring sun and the hot wind and the choking dust. + +Casey always kept one cold water bag and one in process of cooling, and he +would charge as much as he thought they would pay and be called a fine +fellow afterwards. He knew that. He had lived in dry, hot places before, +and he was conscientiously trying to please the public and also make money +for Bill, who had befriended him. You are not to jump to the conclusion, +however, that Casey systematically robbed the public. He did not. He aided +the public, helped the public across a rather bad stretch of country, and +saw to it that the public paid for the assistance. + +Casey saw all sorts and sizes of cars pass to and fro, and most of them +stopped at his door, for gas or for water or oil, or perhaps merely to +inquire inanely if they were on the right road to Needles or to Los +Angeles, as the case might be. Any fool, thought Casey, would know without +asking, since there was no other road, and since the one road was signed +conscientiously every mile or two. But he always grinned good-naturedly +and told them what they wanted him to tell them, and if they shifted money +into his palm for any reason whatever he brought out his green glass +pitcher and his green glass tumbler and gave them a drink all around and +wished them luck. + +There were strip-down Fords that tried to look like sixes, and there were +six-cylinder cars that labored harder than Fords. There were limousines, +sedans, sport cars,--and they all carried suitcases and canvas rolls and +bundles draped over the hoods, on the fenders and piled high on the +running boards. + +Sometimes he would find it necessary to remove a thousand pounds or so of +ill-wrapped bedding from the back of a tonneau before he could get at the +gas tank to fill it, but Casey never grumbled. He merely retied the +luggage with a packer's hitch that would take the greenhorn through his +whole vocabulary before he untied it that night, and he would add two bits +to the price of the gas because his time belonged to Bill, and Bill +expected Casey's time to be paid for by the public. + +One day when it was so hot that even Casey was limp and pale from the +heat, and the proprietor of the Oasis had forsaken the strip of shade on +his porch and had chased his dog out of the dirt hollow it had scratched +under the house and had crawled under there himself, a party pulled slowly +up to the garage and stopped. Casey was inside sitting on the ground and +letting the most recently filled water bag drip down the back of his neck. +He shouted to Juan, but Juan had gone somewhere to find himself a cool +spot for his siesta, so Casey got slowly to his feet and went out to meet +Trouble, sopping his wet hair against the back of his head with the flat +of his hand before he put on his hat. He squinted into the sunshine and +straightway squared himself for business. + +This was a two-ton truck fitted for camping. A tall, lean man whose +overalls hung wide from his suspenders and did not seem to touch his +person anywhere, climbed out and stood looking at the bare rims of two +wheels, as if he had at that moment discovered them. + +"Thinkin' about the price uh tires, stranger?" Casey grinned cheerfully. +"It's lucky I got your size, at that. Fabrics and cords--and the +difference in price is more'n made up in wear. Run yer car inside outa the +sun whilst I change yer grief into joy." + +"I teen havin' hard luck all along," the man complained listlessly. +"Geewhillikens, but it shore does cost to travel!" + +Casey should have been warned by that. Bill would have smelled a purse +lean as the man himself and would have shied a little. But Casey could +meet Trouble every morning after breakfast and yet fail to recognize her +until she had him by the collar. + +"You ask anybody if it don't!" he agreed sympathetically, mentally going +over his rack of tires, not quite sure that he had four in that size, but +hoping that he had five and that he could persuade the man to invest. He +surely needed rubber, thought Casey, as he scrutinized the two casings on +the car. He stood aside while the man backed, turned a wide half-circle +and drove into the grateful shade of the garage. It seemed cool in there +after the blistering sunlight, unless one glanced at Casey's thermometer +which declared a hundred and nineteen with its inexorable red line. + +"Whatcha got there? Goats?" Casey's eyes had left the wheels of the trucks +and dwelt upon a trailer penned round and filled with uneasy animals. + +"Yeah. Twelve, not countin' the little fellers. And m'wife an' six young +ones all told. Makes quite a drag on the ole boat. Knocks thunder outa +tires, too. You say you got my size? We-ell, I guess I got to have 'em, +cost er no cost." + +"Sure you got to have 'em. It's worse ahead than what you been over, an' +if I was you I'd shoe 'er all round before I hit that lava stretch up +ahead here. You could keep them two fer extras in case of accident. Might +git some wear outa them when yuh strike good roads again, but they shore +won't go far in these rocks. You ask anybody." + +"We-ell--I guess mebby I better--I don't see how I'm goin' to git along +any other way, but--" + +Casey had gone to find where Juan had cached himself and to pluck that +apathetic youth from slumber and set him to work. Four casings and tubes +for a two-ton truck run into money, as Casey was telling himself +complacently. He had not yet sold any tires for a two-ton truck, and he +had just two fabrics and two cords, in trade vernacular. He paid no +further attention to the man, since there would be no bickering. When a +man has only two badly chewed tires, and four wheels, argument is +superfluous. + +So Casey mildly kicked Juan awake and after the garage jack, and himself +wheeled out his four great pneumatic tires, and with his jackknife slit +the wound paper covering, and wondered what it was that smelled so +unpleasant. A goat bleated plaintively to remind him of their presence. +Another goat carried on the theme, and the chorus swelled quaveringly and +held to certain minor notes. Within the closed truck a small child +whimpered and then began to cry definitely at the top of its voice. + +Casey looked up from bending over the fourth tire wrapping. "Better let +your folks git out and rest awhile," he invited hospitably. "It's goin' to +take a little time to put these tires on. I got some cold water back +there--help yourself." + +"Well, I'd kinda like to water them goats," the man observed diffidently. +"They ain't had a drop sence early yest-day mornin'. You got water here, +ain't yuh? An' they might graze around a mite whilst we're here. Travelin' +like this, I try to kinda give 'em a chanct when we stop along the road. +It's been an awful trip. We come clear from Wyoming. How far is it from +here to San Jose, Californy?" + +Casey had in the first week learned that it is not wise for a garage man +to confess that he does not know distances. People always asked him how +far it was to some place of which he had never heard, and he had learned +to name figures at random very convincingly. He named now what seemed to +him a sufficient number, and the man said "Gosh!" and went back to let +down the end gate of the trailer and release the goats. "You said you got +water for 'em?" he asked, his tone putting the question in the form of +both statement and request. + +When you are selling four thirty-six-sixes, two of them cords, to a man, +you can't be stingy with a barrel of water, even if it does cost fifty +cents. Casey told Juan to go borrow a tub next door and show the man where +the water barrel stood. Juan, squatted on his heels while he languidly +pumped the jack handle up and down, and seeming pleased than otherwise +when the jack slipped and tilted so that he must lower it and begin all +over again, got languidly to his bare feet and lounged off obediently. +According to Juan's simple philosophy, to obey was better than to dodge +hammers, pliers or monkey wrenches, since Casey's aim was direct and there +was usually considerable force of hard, prospector's muscle behind it. + +Juan was gone a long while, long enough to walk slowly to the station of +Patmos and back again, but he returned with the tub, and the incessant +bleating of the goats stilled intermittently while they drank. By this +time Casey had forgotten the goats, even with the noise of them filling +his ears. + +Casey was down on his knees hammering dents out of the rim of a front +wheel so that the new tire could go on. Four of the six offspring crowded +around him, getting in the way of Casey's hammer and asking questions +which no man could answer and remain normal. Casey had, while he unwrapped +the casings, made a mental reduction in the price. Even Bill would throw +off a little, he told himself, on a sale like this. Mentally he had +deducted twenty-five dollars from the grand total, but before he had that +rim straightened he said to himself that he'd be darned if he discounted +more than twenty. + +"Humbolt an' Greeley, you git away from there an' git out here an' git +these goats a-grazin'," the lean customer called sharply from the rear of +the garage. Humbolt and Greeley hastily proceeded to git, which left two +unkempt young girls standing there at Casey's elbow so that he could not +expectorate where he pleased, or swear at all. Wherefore Casey was +appreciably handicapped in his work, and he wished that he were away out +in the hills digging into the side of a gulch somewhere, sun-blistered, +broke, more than half starving on short rations and with rheumatism in his +right shoulder and a bunion giving him a limp in the left foot. He could +still be happy-- + +"_What_ yuh doin' that for?" the shrillest voice repeated three times +rapidly, with a sniffle now and then by way of punctuation. + +"To make little girls ask questions," grunted Casey, glancing around him +for the snub-nosed, double-headed, four-pound hammer which he called +affectionately by the name Maud. The biggest girl had Maud. She had turned +it upright on its handle and was sitting on the head of it. When Casey +reached for it and got it, without apology or warning, the girl sprawled +backward and howled. + +"Porshea, you git up from there! _Shame_ on yuh!" A shrill woman voice, +very much like the younger voices except that it was worn rough and +querulous with age and many hardships, called down from the truck. Casey +looked up, startled, and tried to remember just what he had said before +the girls appeared to silence him. The woman was very large both in height +and in bulk, and she was heaving herself out of the truck in a way that +reminded Casey oddly of a disgruntled hippopotamus he had once watched +coming out of its tank at a circus. Casey moved modestly away and did not +look, after that first glance. A truck, you will please understand, is not +a touring car, and ladies who have passed the two-hundred-pound notch on +the scales should remain up there and call for a step-ladder. + +She descended, and the jack slipped and let the car down with a six-inch +lurch. Casey is remarkably quick in his motions. He turned, jumped three +feet and caught the lady's full weight in his arms as she was falling +toward him. Probably he would have caught it anyway, but then there would +have been little left of Casey, and his troubles would have been finished +instead of being just begun. + +He had just straightened the jack and was beginning to lift the bare wheel +off the ground again when the fifth offspring descended. Casey thought +again of the hippopotamus in its infancy. The fifth was perhaps fifteen, +but she had apparently reached her full growth, which was very nearly that +of her mother. She had also reached the age of self-consciousness, and she +simpered at Casey when he assisted her to alight. + +Casey was not bashful, nor was he over-fastidious; men who have lived long +in the wilderness are not, as a rule. Still, he had his little whims, and +he failed to react to the young lady's smile. His pale blue eyes were keen +to observe details and even Casey did not approve of "high-water marks" on +feminine beauty. + +Well, that brought the whole family to view save the youngest who had +evidently dropped asleep and was left in the truck. Casey went to work on +the wheel again, after directing mother and daughter to the desert water +bag which swung suspended from ropes in the rear of the garage. + +Ten minutes later a dusty limousine stopped for gas and oil, and Casey +left his work to wait upon them. There was a very good-looking girl +driving, and the man beside her was undoubtedly only her father, and Casey +was humanly anxious to be remembered pleasantly when they drove on. He +asked them to wait and have a drink of cold water, and was deeply +humiliated to find that both water bags were empty,--the overgrown girl +having used the last to wash her face. Casey didn't like her any the +better for that, or for having accentuated the high-water mark, or for +forcing him to apologize to the pretty driver of the limousine. + +He refilled the water bags and remarked pointedly that it would take an +hour for the water to cool in them and that they must be left alone in the +meantime. He did not look at the girl, but from the tail of his eye he saw +her pull a contemptuous grimace at him when she thought his back safely +turned. + +Wherefore Casey finished the putting on of the fourth tire pretty well up +toward the boiling point in temper and in blood. I have not mentioned half +the disagreeable trifles that nagged at him during the interval,--his +audience, for instance, that hovered so close that he could not get up +without colliding with one of them, so full of aimless talk that he +mislaid tools in his distraction. Juan was a pest and Casey thought +malevolently how he would kill him when the job was finished. Juan went +around like one in a trance, his heavy-lidded, opaque eyes following every +movement of the girl, which kept her younger sisters giggling. But even +with interruptions and practically no assistance the truck stood at last +with four good tires on its wheels, and Casey wiped a perspiring face and +let down the jack, thankful that the job was done; thinking, too, that ten +dollars would be a big reduction on the price. He had to count his time, +you see. + +"Well, how much does it come to, mister?" the lord of the flock asked +dolefully, when Casey called him in and told him that he could go at any +time now. + +Casey told him, and made the price only five dollars lower than the full +amount, just because he hated to see men walk around loose in their pants, +with their stomachs sagged in as though they never were fed a square meal +in their lives. + +"It's a pile uh money to pay out for rubber that's goin' to be chewed off +on these here danged rocks," sighed the man. + +Casey grunted and began collecting his tools, rescuing the best hammer he +had from one of the girls. "I wisht it was all profit," he said. "Or even +a quarter of it. I'm sellin' 'em close as I can an' git paid fer my time +puttin' 'em on." + +"Oh, I ain't kickin' about the price. I'm satisfied with that." Men +usually are, you notice, when they want credit. "Now I tell yuh. I ain't +got that much money with me--" + +Casey spat and pointed his thumb toward a sign which he had nailed up just +the day before, thinking that it would save both himself and his customers +some embarrassment. The sign, except that the letters were not even, was +like this: + + "CHECKS MUST BE CASHED + BY THE ONER + OR THEY AIN'T CASHED" + +The lean man read and looked at Casey humbly. "Well, I ain't never wrote a +check in my life. Now I tell yuh. I ain't got the money to pay for these +tires, but I tell yuh what I'll do; I'm goin' on up to my brother--he's +got a prune orchard a little ways out from San Jose, an' he's well fixed. +Now I'll write out an order on my brother, fer him to send you the money. +He's good fer it, an' he'll do it. I'm goin' on up to help him work his +place on shares, so I c'n straighten up with him when I get--" + +Casey had picked up the jack again and was regretfully but firmly +adjusting it under the front axle. "That ain't the first good prospect I +ever had pinch out on me," he observed, trying to be cheerful over it. He +could even grin while he squinted up at the lean man. + +"Well, now, you can't hardly refuse to trust a man in my fix!" + +"Think I can't?" Casey was working the jack handle rapidly and the words +came in jerks. "You stand there and watch me." He spun the wheel free and +reached for his socket wrench. "I wisht you'd spoke your piece before I +set these dam nuts so tight," he added. + +The lean man turned and looked inquiringly at his wife. "Ain't I honest, +maw, and don't I pay my debts? An' ain't my brother Joe honest, an' don't +he pay _his_ debts? Would you think the man lived, maw, that would set a +man with a fambly afoot out on the desert like this?" + +"Nev' mind, now, paw. Give him time to think what it means, an' he won't. +He's got a heart." + +The baby awoke and cried then, and Casey's heart squirmed in his chest. +But he thought of Bill and stiffened his business nerve. + +"I got a heart; sure I've got a heart. You ask anybody if Casey's got a +heart. But I also got a pardner." + +"Your pardner's likely gen'l'man enough to trust us, if you ain't," maw +said sharply. + +"Yes, ma'am, he is. But he's got these tires to pay fer on the first of +the month. It ain't a case uh not trustin'; it's a case of git the money +or keep the tires. I wisht you had the money--she shore is a good bunch uh +rubber I let yuh try on." + +They wrangled with him while he removed the tires he had so painstakingly +adjusted, but Casey was firm. He had to be. There is no heart in the +rubber trust; merely a business office that employs very efficient +bookkeepers, who are paid to see that others pay. He removed the new +tires; that was his duty to Bill. By then it was five o'clock when all +good mechanics throw down their pliers and begin to shed their coveralls. + +Casey was his own man after five o'clock. He rolled the tattered tires out +into the sunlight, let out the air and yanked them from their rims. "Come +on here and help, and I'll patch up your old tires so you c'n go on," he +offered good-naturedly, in spite of the things the woman had said to him. +"The tire don't live that Casey can't patch if it comes to a showdown." + +Before he was through with them he had donated four blow-out patches to +the cause, and about five hours of hard labor. The Smith family--yes, they +were of the tribe of Smith--were camped outside and quarreling +incessantly. The goats, held in spasmodic restraint by Humbolt and Greeley +and a little spotted dog which Casey had overlooked in his first +inventory, were blatting inconsequently in the sage behind the garage. +Casey cooked a belated supper and hoped that the outfit would get an early +start, and that their tires would hold until they reached Ludlow, at +least. "Though I ain't got nothin' against Ludlow," he added to himself +while he poured his coffee. + +"Maw wants to know if you got any coffee you kin lend," the shrill voice +of Portia sounded unexpectedly at his elbow. Casey jumped,--an indication +that his nerves had been unstrung. + +"Lend? Hunh! Tell 'er I give her a cupful." Then, because Casey had +streaks of wisdom, he closed the doors of the garage and locked them from +the inside. Cars might come and honk as long as they liked; Casey was +going to have his sleep. + +Very early he was awakened by the bleating, the barking, the crying and +the wrangling of the Smiths. He pulled his tarp over his ears, hot as it +was, to shut out the sound. After a long while he heard the stutter of the +truck motor getting warmed up. There was a clamor of voices, a bleating of +goats, the barking of the spotted dog, and the truck moved off. + +"Thank Gawd!" muttered Casey, and went to sleep again. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +At two o'clock the next afternoon, the Smith outfit came back, limping +along on three bare rims. Casey's jaw dropped a little when he saw them +coming, but nature had made him an optimist. Now, perhaps, that +hungry-looking Smith would dig into his pocket and find the price of new +tires. It had been Casey's experience that a man who protested the loudest +that he was broke would, if held rigidly to the no-credit rule, find the +money to pay for what he must have. In his heart he believed that Smith +had money dangling somewhere in close proximity to his lank person. + +But if Smith had any money he did not betray the fact. He asked quite +humbly for the loan of tools, and tube cement, and more blow-out patches, +and set awkwardly to work mending his tattered tires. And once more Casey +sent Juan to borrow the Oasis tub, and watered the goats and picked his +way amongst the Smith offsprings and pretended to be deaf half of the +time, and said he didn't know the other half. His green glass water +pitcher was practically useless to travelers, and Juan was worse. A goat +got away from Humbolt and Greeley and went exploring in the corner of the +garage where Casey lived, and ate three pounds of bacon. You know what +bacon costs. Maw Smith became acquainted with Casey and followed him about +with a detailed recital of her family history, which she thought would +make a real exciting book. What Casey thought I must not tell you. + +That night Casey patched tires and tubes. He had to, you see, or go crazy. +Next morning he listened to the departure of the Smith family and the +Smith goats, and prayed that their tires would hold out even as far as +Bagdad,--though I don't see why, since there was no garage in Bagdad, or +anything else but a flag station. + +That afternoon at three o'clock, they came back again! And Casey neglected +to send Juan after the tub to water the goats. Wherefore paw sent Humbolt, +and watered the goats himself from Casey's barrel and seemed peevish +because he must. Maw Smith came after coffee again, and helped herself +with no more formality than a shrill, "I'm borrying some more coffee!" +sent to Casey out in front. + +That night Casey patched tires and tubes. + +At six o'clock Smith pounded on the back door and called in to Casey that +he would have to have some gas before he started. So Casey pulled on his +pants and gave Smith some gas, and paid the garage out of his own pocket. +He didn't swear, either. He was past that. + +That afternoon Casey watched apprehensively the road that led west. It was +two-thirty when he saw them coming. Casey set his jaw and went in and hid +every blow-out patch he had in stock, and all the cement. + +Smith went into camp, sent Greeley after the Oasis tub and watered the +goats from one of Casey's water barrels. Casey went on with his work, +waiting upon customers who paid, and tried not to think of the Smiths, +although most of them were underfoot or at his elbow. + +"Them tires you mended ain't worth a cuss," Smith came around finally to +complain. "I didn't get ten mile out with 'em before I had another +blowout. I tell yuh what I'll do. I'll trade yuh goats fer tires. I got +two milk goats that's worth a hundred dollars apiece, mebby more, the way +goats is selling on the Coast. I hate to part with 'em, but I gotta do +somethin'. Er else you'll have to trust me till I c'n get to my brother +an' git the money. It ain't," he added grievedly, "as if I wasn't honest +enough to pay my debts." + +"Nope," said Casey wearily, "I don't want yer goats. I've had more goats +a'ready than I want. And tires has gotta roll outa this shop paid for. We +talked that all over, the first night." + +"What am I goin' to do, then?" Smith inquired in exasperation. + +"Hell; I dunno," Casey returned grimly. "I quit guessin' day before +yesterday." + +Smith went off to confer with maw, and Casey overheard some very harsh +statements made concerning himself. Maw Smith was so offended that she +refused to borrow coffee from Casey that night, and she called her +children out of his garage and told them she would warm their ears for +them if they went near him again. Hearing which Casey's features relaxed a +little. He could even meet customers with his accustomed grin when Smith +in his anger sent the goats over to the water tank next day, refusing to +show any friendship for Casey by emptying a water barrel for him. But he +had to fire Juan for pouring gasoline into the radiator of a big sedan, +and later he had to stalk that lovesick youth into the very camp of the +Smiths and lead him back by the collar, and search him for stolen tools. +He recovered twice as many as you would believe a Mexican's few garments +could conceal. + +Casey was harassed for two days by the loud proximity of the Smiths, but +not one of them deigned to speak to him or to show any liking for him +whatever, beyond helping themselves superciliously to the contents of his +water barrel. On the morning of the third day the lean man presented his +thin shadow and then himself at the front door of the garage, with a +letter in his hand and a hopeful look on his face. + +"Well, mebby I c'n talk business to yuh now an' have somethin' to go on," +he began abruptly. "I went an' sent off a telegraft to my brother in San +Jose about you, and he's wrote a letter to yuh. My brother's a business +man. You c'n see that much fer yourself. An' mebby you'll see your way +clear t' help me leave this dod-rotten hole. Here's yer letter." + +Casey held himself neutral while he read the letter. +As it happens that I have a copy, here it is: + + (Printed Letterhead) + + VISTA GRANDE RANCHO + + Smith Bros. + + San Jose, Calif. + +_Garage Owner, Patmos, Calif._ + +Dear Sir: I am informed that my brother Eldreth William Smith, having +suffered the mishap to lose his tires at your place or thereabouts, and +having the misfortune to fall short of immediate funds with which to pay +cash for replacement, has been denied credit at your hands. + +I regret that because of business requirements in my own business it is +impossible for me to place the amount necessary at his immediate disposal. +It is therefore my advise that you lend to my brother Eldreth William +Smith such money or moneys as will be necessary to purchase railroad +tickets for himself and family from Patmos to this place, and + +Furthermore that you take as security for said loan such motor truck and +equipment etc. as he has now stored at your place of business. I am aware +of the fact that a motor truck in any running condition would amply secure +such loans as would purchase tickets from Patmos to San Jose, and I hereby +enclose note for same, duly made out in blank and signed by me, which +signature will be backed by the signature of my brother. Upon receiving +from you such money as he may require he will duly deliver note and +security duly signed and filled with the amount. I trust this will be +perfectly satisfactory to you as amply securing you for the loan of the +desired amount. + + Thanking you in advance, + + Yours very Truly, + + J. Paul Smith. + +In spite of himself, Casey was impressed. The very Spanish name of the +prune orchard impressed him, and so did the formal business terms used by +J. Paul Smith; and that "thanking you in advance" seemed to place him +under a moral obligation too great to shirk. There was the note, too,-- +heavy green paper with a stag's head printed on it, and looking almost +like a check. + +"Well, all right, if it don't cost too much and the time don't run too +long," surrendered Casey reluctantly. "How much--" + +"Fare's a little over twenty-five dollars, an' they'll be four full fares +an' three half. I guess mebby I better have a hundred an' seventy-five +anyway, so'st we kin eat on the way." + +Casey chanced to have almost that much coming to him out of the business, +so that he would not be lending Bill's money. He watched the lean Smith +fill in the amount and sign the note, identifying the truck by its engine +and license numbers, and he went and borrowed fifteen dollars from the +proprietor of the Oasis and made up the amount. There was a train at noon, +and from his garage door he watched the Smith family start off across the +lava rocks to the depot, each one laden with bundles and disreputable +grips, the spotted dog trotting optimistically ahead of the party with his +pink tongue draped over the right side of his mouth. Smith turned, the +baby in his arms, and called back casually to Casey: + +"Yuh better tie up them two milk goats when yuh milk 'em. They won't stand +if yuh don't." + +Casey's jaw sagged. He had not thought of the goats. Indeed, the last two +days they had not troubled him except by their bleating at dawn. Humbolt +and Greeley had grazed them over by the railroad track so that they could +watch the trains go by. Casey looked and saw that the goats were still +over there where they had been driven early. He took off his hat and +rubbed his palm reflectively over the back of his head, set the hat on his +head with a pronounced tilt over one eyebrow, and reached for his plug of +tobacco. + +"Oh, darn the goats! Me milkin' goats! Well, now, Casey Ryan never milked +no goats, an' he ain't goin' to milk no goats! You can ask anybody if they +think't he will." + +Casey was very busy that day, and he had no dull-eyed Juan to do certain +menial tasks about the cars that stopped before his garage. Nevertheless +he kept an eye on the station of Patmos until the westbound train had come +and had departed, and on the rough road between the railroad and the +garage for another half hour, until he was sure that the Smith family were +not coming back. Then he went more cheerfully about his work, now and then +glancing, perhaps, at the truck which had been driven into the rear of the +garage where it was very much in his way, but was safe from pilfering +fingers. It was not such a bad truck, give it new tires. Casey had already +figured the price at which he could probably sell it, on an easy payment +plan, to the man who hauled water for Patmos. It was more than the amount +of his loan, naturally. By noon he was rather hoping the "Smith Bros." +would fail to take up that note. + +Casey, you see, was not counting the goats at all. He had a vague idea +that, while they were nominally a part of the security, they were actually +of no importance whatever. They would run loose until Smith came after +them, he guessed. He did not intend to milk any nanny goats, so that +settled the goat question for Casey. + +Casey simply did not know anything about goats. He ought to have used a +little logic and not so much happy-go-lucky "t'ell with the goats." That +is all very well, so far as it goes, and we all know that everybody says +it and thinks it. But it does, not settle the problem. It never occurred +to Casey, for instance, that the going of Humbolt and Greeley and the +little spotted dog would make any difference. It really did make a great +deal, you see. And it never occurred to Casey that goats are domesticated +animals after they have been hauled around the country for weeks and weeks +in a trailer to a truck, or that they will come back to the only home they +know. + +I don't know how long it takes goats to fill up. I never kept a goat or +goats. And I don't know how long they will stand around and blat before +they start something. I don't know much more about goats than Casey, or +didn't, at least, until he told me. By that time Casey knew a lot more, I +suspect, than he could put into words. + +Casey says that he heard them blatting around outside, but he was busy +trying to straighten a radius rod--Casey _said_ he was taking the kinks +outa that hootin'-annie that goes behind the front ex and turns the +dingbats when you steer--for a man who walked back and forth and slapped +his hands together nervously and kept asking how long it was going to +take, and how far it was to Barstow, and whether the road from there up +across the Mojave was in good condition, and whether the Death Valley road +out from Ludlow went clear through the valley and was a cut-off north, or +whether it just went into the valley and stopped. Casey says that the only +time he ever was in Death Valley it was with a couple of burros and that +he like to have stayed there. He got to telling the man about his trip +into Death Valley and how he just did get out by a scratch. + +So he didn't pay any attention to the goats until he went back after some +cold water for the white little woman in the car, that looked all tuckered +out and scared. It was then he found the whole corner chewed off one water +bag and the other water bag on the ground and a lot more than the corner +gone. And the billy was up on his hind feet with his horns caught in the +fullest barrel, and was snorting and snuffling in a drowning condition and +tilting the barrel perilously. The other goats were acting just like plain +damn goats, said Casey, and merely looking for trouble without having +found any. + +Casey says he had to call the Oasis man to help him get Billy out of the +barrel, and that even then he had to borrow a saw and saw off one horn-- +either that, or cave in the barrel with Maud--and he needed that barrel +worse than the billy goat needed two horns; but he told me that if he'd +had Maud in his two hands just then he sure would have caved in the goat. + +At that, the nervous man got away without paying Casey, which I think +rankled worse than a spoiled barrel of water. + +Casey told me that he aged ten years in the next two weeks, and lost +eighty-nine dollars and a half in damages and wages, not counting the two +water bags he had to replace out of his stock, at nearly four dollars +wholesale price. When he chased the goats out of his back door they went +around and came in at the front, determined, he supposed, to bed down near +the truck. + +It was late before that occurred to him, and when it did he cranked up and +drove the truck a hundred yards down the road that led to the spring. The +goats did not follow as he expected, but stood around the trailer and +blatted. Casey went back and hooked on the trailer and drove again down +the road. The goats would not follow, and he went back to find that Billy +had managed to push open the back door and had led his flock into Casey's +kitchen. There was no kitchen left but the little camp stove, and that was +bent so that it stood skew-gee, Casey said, and developed a habit of +toppling over just when his coffee came to a boil. + +Casey told me that he had to barricade himself in his garage that night, +and he swore that Billy stood on his hind feet and stared at him all night +through the window in spite of wrenches and pliers hailing out upon him. +However that may be, Billy couldn't have stood there all night, unless +Casey got his dates mixed. For at six o'clock the Oasis man came over, +stepping high and swinging his fists, and told Casey that them damn goats +had et all the bedding out of one tent and the soap, towel and one pillow +out of another, and what was Casey going to do about it? + +Casey did not know,--and he was famous for his resourcefulness too. I +think he paid for the bedding before the thing was settled. + +Casey says that after that it was just one thing after another. He told me +that he never would have believed twelve goats could cover so much +cussedness in a day. He said he couldn't fill a radiator but some goat +would be chewing the baggage tied behind the car, or Billy would be +rooting suitcases off the running board. One party fell in love with a +baby goat and Casey in a moment of desperation told them they could have +it. But he was sorry afterward, because the mother stood and blatted at +him reproachfully for four days and nights without stopping. + +Casey swears that he picked up and threw two tons of rocks every day, and +he has no idea how many tons the six families of Patmos heaved at and +after the goats. When they weren't going headfirst into barrels of water +they were chewing something not meant to be chewed. Casey asserts that it +is all a bluff about goats eating tin cans. They don't. He says they never +touched a can all the while he had them. He says devastated Patmos wished +they would, and leave the two-dollar lace curtains alone, and clotheslines +and water barrels and baggage. He says many a party drove off with chewed +bedding rolls and didn't know it, and that he didn't tell them, either. + +You're thinking about Juan, I know. Well, Casey thought of Juan the first +day, and took the trouble to hunt him up and hire him to herd the goats. +But Juan developed a bad case of sleeping sickness, Casey says, which +unfortunately was not contagious to goats. He swears that he never saw one +of those goats lying down, though he had seen pictures of goats lying down +and had a vague idea that they chewed their cuds. Casey tried to be funny, +then. He looked at me and grinned, and observed, "Hunh! Goats don't chew +cuds. That's all wrong. They chew _duds._ You ask anybody in Patmos." So +Juan slept under sagebushes and grease-wood, and the goats did not. + +Casey declares that he stood it for two weeks, and that it took all he +could make in the garage to pay the six families of Patmos for the damage +wrought by his security. He lost fifteen pounds of flesh and every friend +he had made in the place except the man who hauled water, and he liked it +because he was getting rich. Once Casey had a bright idea, and with much +labor and language he loaded the goats into the trailer and had the +water-hauler take them out to the hills. But that didn't work at all. Part +of the flock came back afoot, from sheer homesickness, and the rest were +hauled back because they were ruining the spring which was Patmos' sole +water supply. + +Casey would have shot the goats, but he couldn't bring himself to do +anything that would offend J. Paul Smith of the _Vista Grande Rancho._ +Whenever he read the letter J. Paul Smith had written him he was ashamed +to do anything that would lower him in the estimation of J. Paul Smith, +who trusted him and took it for granted that he would do the right thing +and do it with enthusiasm. + +"If he hadn't wrote so dog-gone polite!" Casey complained to me. "And if +he hadn't went an' took it for granted I'd come through. But a man can't +turn down a feller that wrote the way he done. Look at that letter! A +college perfessor couldn't uh throwed together no better letter than that. +And that there 'Thanking you in advance'--a feller _can't_ throw a man +down when he writes that way. You ask anybody." Casey's tone was one of +reminiscent injury, as if J. Paul Smith had indeed taken a mean advantage +of him. + +One day Casey reached the limit of his endurance,--or perhaps of the +endurance of Patmos. There were not enough male residents to form a mob +strong enough to lynch Casey, but there was one woman who had lost a sofa +pillow and two lace curtains; Casey did not say much about her, but I +gathered that he would as soon be lynched as remonstrated with again by +that woman. "Sufferin' Sunday! I'd shore hate to be her husband. You ask +anybody!" sighed Casey when he was telling me. + +Casey moralized a little. "Folks used to look at the goats that I'd maybe +just hazed off into the brush fifty yards or so with a thousand pounds +mebby of rocks, an' some woman in goggles would say, 'Oh, an' you keep +goats! How nice!' like as if it were something peaceful an' homelike to +keep goats! Hunh! Lemme tell yuh; never drive past a place that _looks_ +peaceful, and jump at the idea it _is_ peaceful. They may be a woman +behind them vines poisinin' 'er husband's father. How could them darn +tourists tell'what was goin' on in Patmos? They seen the goats pertendin' +to graze, an' keepin' an eye peeled till my back was turned, an' they +thought it was _nice_ to keep goats. Hunh!" + +At last Casey could bear no more. He gathered together enough hardwood, +three-inch crate slats to make twelve crates, and he worked for three +nights, making them. And Casey is no carpenter. After that he worked for +three days, with all the men in Patmos to help him, getting the goats into +the crates and loaded on the truck. Then he drove over to the station and +asked for tags, and addressed the crates to J. Paul Smith, _Vista Grande +Rancho,_ San Jose, Calif. Then he discovered that he could not send them +except by express, and that he could not send them by express unless he +prepaid the charges. And the charges on goats sent by express, was, as +Casey put it, a holy fright. + +But he had to do it. Patmos had been led to believe that he would send +those goats off on the train, and Casey did not know what would happen if +he failed. There were the heads of the six families, and all the children +who were of walking age, grouped around the crates and Casey expectantly. +Casey went back to the garage safe and got what money he had, borrowed the +balance from the male citizens of Patmos and prepaid the express. Patmos +helped to load them into the first express car going west, and Casey felt, +he said, as if some one had handed him a million dollars in dimes. + +Casey seemed to think that ended the story, but I am like the rest of you. +I wanted to know what the Smith family did, and J. Paul Smith, and whether +Casey kept the truck and sold it to the man who hauled water. + +"Who? Me? Say! D'you ever know Casey Ryan to ever come out anywheres but +at the little end uh the horn? Ain't I the bag holder pro tem?" I don't +know what he meant by that. I think he was mistaken in the meaning of "pro +tem." + +"You ask anybody. Say, I got a letter sayin' in a gen'ral way that I'm a +thief an' a cutthroat an' a profiteer an' so on, an' that I would have to +pay fer the goat that was missin'--that there was the one I give away--an' +that the damages to the billy goat was worth twenty-five dollars and same +would be deducted from the amount of the loan. _Darn_ these fancy word +slingers!" said Casey. "An' the day before the note come due, here comes +that shoestring in pants with the money to pay the note minus the damages, +and four new tires fer the truck! Yessir, wouldn't buy tires off me, even! +Could yuh beat that fer gall? And he wouldn't hardly speak." + +Casey grinned and got his plug of tobacco and inspected the corners +absently before he bit into it. "But I got even with 'im," he added. "I +laid off till he got his tires on--an' I wouldn't lend him no tools to put +'em on with, neither. And then I looked up an' down the road an' seen +there was no dust comin' an' we wouldn't be interrupted, an' I went up to +the old skunk an' I says, 'I got a bill to colleck off you. _Thankin' you +in advance!'_ an' then I shore collected. You ask anybody in Patmos. Say, +I bet he drove by-guess-an'-by-gosh to the orange belt, anyway, the way +his eyes was swellin' up when he left!" + +I mentioned his promise to Bill, that he would not fight a customer. Casey +spat disgustedly. "Hell! He wasn't no customer! Didn't he ship his rubber +in by express, ruther'n to buy off me?" He grinned retrospectively and +looked at his knuckles, one of which showed a patch of new skin, pink and +yet tender. + +"'Thankin' you in advance!' that's just what I told 'im. An' I shore got +all I thanked 'im for! You ask anybody in Patmos. They seen 'im +afterwards." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +"Look there!" Casey rose from the ground where he had been sitting with +his hands clasped round his drawn-up knees. He pointed with his pipe to a +mountain side twelve miles away but looking five, even in the gloom of +early dusk. "Look at that, will yuh! Whadda yuh say that is, just makin' a +guess? A fire, mebby?" + +"Camp fire. Some prospector boiling coffee in a dirty lard bucket, maybe." + +Casey snorted. "It's a darn big fire to boil a pot uh coffee! Recollect, +it's twelve miles over to that mountain. A bonfire a mile off wouldn't +look any bigger than that. Would it now?" His tone was a challenge to my +truthfulness. + +"Wel-l, I guess it wouldn't, come to think of it." + +"Guess? You know darn well it wouldn't. You watch that there fire. I ain't +over there--but if that ain't the devil's lantern, I'll walk on my hands +from here over there an' find out for yuh." + +"I'd have to go over there myself to discover whether you're right or +wrong. But if a fellow can trust his eyes, Casey--" + +"Well, you can't," Casey said grimly, still standing, his eyes fixed upon +the distant light. "Not here in this country, you can't. You ask anybody. +You don't trust your eyes when yuh come to a dry lake an' you see water, +an' the bushes around the shore reflected in the water, an' mebby a boat +out in the middle. _Do_ yuh? You don't trust your eyes when you look at +them hills. They look close enough to walk over to 'em in half or three +quarters of an hour. _Don't_ they? An' didn't I take yuh in my Ford +auto-_mo_-bile, an' wasn't it twelve? An' d'yuh trust your eyes when yuh +look up, an' it looks like you could knock stars down with a tent pole, +like yuh knock apples off'n trees? Sure, you can't trust your eyes! When +yuh hit the desert, oletimer, yuh pack two of the biggest liars on earth +right under your eyebrows." He chuckled at that. "An' most folks pack +another one under their noses, fer luck. Now lookit over there! Prospector +nothin'. It's the devil out walkin' an' packin' a lantern. He's mebby +found some shin bones an' a rib or two an' mebby a chewed boot, an' he +stopped there to have his little laugh. Lemme tell yuh. You mark where +that fire is. An' t'-morra, if yuh like, I'll take yuh over there. If you +c'n find a track er embers on that slope--Gawsh!" + +We both stood staring; while he talked, the light had blinked out like +snapping an electric switch. And that was strange because camp fires take +a little time in the dying. I stepped inside the tent, fumbled for the +field glasses and came out, adjusting the night focus. Casey's squat, +powerful form stood perfectly still where I had left him, his face turned +toward the mountain. There was no fire on the slope. Beyond, hanging black +in the sky, a thunder cloud pillowed up toward the peak of the mountain, +pushing out now and then to blot a star from the purple. Now and then a +white, ragged gash cut through, but no sound reached up to where we were +camped on the high mesa that was the lap of Starvation Mountain. I will +explain that Casey had come back to Starvation to see if there were not +another good silver claim lying loose and needing a location monument. We +faced Tippipah Range twelve miles away,--and to-night the fire on its +slope. + +"Lightning struck a yucca over there and burned it, probably," I hazarded, +seeking the spot through the glasses. + +"Yeah--only there ain't no yuccas on that slope. That's a limestone ledge +formation an' there ain't enough soil to cover up a t'rantler. And the +storm's over back of the Tippipahs anyhow. It ain't on 'em." + +"It's burning up again--" + +"Hit another yucca, mebby!" + +"It looks--" I adjusted the lenses carefully "--like a fire, all right. +There's a reddish cast. I can't see any flames, exactly, but--" I suppose +I gave a gasp, for Casey laughed outright. + +"No, I guess yuh can't. Flames don't travel like that--huh?" + +The light had moved suddenly, so that it seemed to jump clean away from +the field of vision embraced by the glasses. I had a little trouble in +picking it up again. I had to take down the glasses and look; and then I +left them down and watched the light with my naked, lying eyes. They did +lie; they must have. They said that a camp fire had abruptly picked itself +up bodily and was slipping rapidly as a speeding automobile up a bare +white slide of rock so steep that a mountain goat would give one glance +and hunt up an easier trail. All my life I have had intimate acquaintance +with camp fires; I have eaten with them, slept with them, coaxed them in +storm, watched them from afar. I thought I knew all their tricks, all +their treacheries. I have seen apparently cold ashes blow red quite +unexpectedly and fire grass and bushes and go racing away,--I have fought +them then with whatever came to hand. + +I admit that an odd, prickly sensation at the base of my scalp annoyed me +while I watched this fire race up the slope and leave no red trail behind +it. Then it disappeared, blinked out again. I opened my mouth to call +Casey's attention to it--though I felt that he was watching it with that +steady, squinting stare of his that never seems to wink or waver for a +second--but there it was again, come to a stop just under the crest of the +mountain where the white slide was topped by a black rim capped with +bleak, bare rock like a crude skullcap on Tippipah. The fire flared, +dimmed, burned bright again, as though some one had piled on dry brush. I +caught up the glasses and watched the light for a full minute. They were +good glasses,--I ought to have seen the flicker of flames; but I did not. +Just the reddish yellow glow and no more. + +"Must be fox fire," I said, feeling impatient because that did not satisfy +me at all, but having no other explanation that I could think of handy. +"I've seen wonderful exhibitions of it in low, swampy ground--" + +Casey spat into the dark. "I never heard of nobody boggin' down, up there +on Tippipah." He put his cold pipe in his mouth, removed it and gestured +with it toward the light. "I've seen jack-o'-lanterns myself. You know +darn well that ain't it; not up on them rocks, dry as a bone. A minute ago +you said it was lightnin' burnin' a yucca. Why don't yuh come out in the +open, an' say you don't _know_? Mebby you'll come closer to believin' what +I told yuh about that devil's lantern I follered. He's lit another one-- +kinda hopin' we'll be fool enough to fall for it. You come inside where +yuh can't watch it. That's what does the damage--watchin' and wonderin' +and then goin' to see. I bet you wanta strike out right now and see just +what it is." + +I didn't admit it, but Casey had guessed exactly what was in my mind. I +was itching with curiosity and trying to ignore the creepiness of it. +Casey went into the tent and lighted the candle and proceeded to unlace +his high hiking boots. "You come on in and go to bed. Don't yuh pay no +attention to that light--that's what the Old Boy plays for first, every +time; workin' your curiosity up. You ask anybody. He played me fer a +sucker and I told yuh about it, and yuh thought Casey was stringin' yuh. +Well, I can take a joke from the devil himself and never let out a yip-- +but once is enough for Casey! I'm goin' to bed. Let him set out there and +hold his darn lantern and be damned; he ain't going to make nothin' off'n +Casey Ryan this time. You can ask anybody if Casey Ryan bites twice on the +same hook." + +He got into bed and turned his face to the wall with a finality I could +not ignore. I let it go at that, but twice I got up and went outside to +look. There burned the light, diabolically like a signal fire on the peak, +where no fire should be. I began to seek explanations, but the best of +them were vague. Electricity playing a prank of some obscure kind,--that +was as close as I could get to it, and even that did not satisfy as it +should have done, perhaps because the high, barren mesas and the mountains +of bare rocks are in themselves weird and sinister, and commonplace +explanations of their phenomena seem out of place. + +The land is empty of men, emptier still of habitations. There are not many +animals, even. A few coyotes, all of them under suspicion of having +rabies; venomous things such as tarantulas and centipedes, scorpions, +rattlers, hydrophobia skunks. Not so many of them that they are a constant +menace, but occasionally to be reckoned with. Great sprawling dry lakes +ominous in their very placidity; dust dry, with little whirlwinds +scurrying over them and mirages that lie to you most convincingly, +painting water where there is only clay dust. Water that is hidden deep in +forbidding canyons, water that you must hunt for blindly unless you have +been told where it comes stealthily out from some crevice in the rocks. +Indians know the water holes, and have told the white men with whom they +made friends after a fashion--for Casey tells me he never knew a red man +who was essentially noble--and these have told others; and men have named +the springs and have indicated their location on maps. Otherwise the land +is dry, parched and deadly and beautiful, and men have died terrible, +picturesque deaths within its borders. + +I was thinking of that, and it seemed not too incongruous that the devil +should now and then walk abroad with a lantern of his own devising to make +men shrink from his path. But Casey says, and I think he means it, that +the light is a lure. He told me a weird adventure of his own to back his +argument, but I thought he was inventing most of it as he went along. +Until I saw that light on Tippipah I had determined to let his romancing +go in at one ear if it must, and stop there without running out at the +tips of my fingers. Casey has enough ungodly adventures that are true. I +didn't feel called upon to repeat his Irish inventions. + +But now I'm going to tell you. If you can't believe it I shall not blame +you; but Casey swears that it is all true. It's worth beginning where +Casey did, at the beginning. And that goes back to when he was driving +stage in the Yellowstone. + +Casey was making the trip out, one time, and he had just one passenger +because it was at the end of the season and there had been a week of nasty +weather that had driven out most of the sightseers and no new ones were +coming in. This man was a peevish, egotistical sort, I imagine; at any +rate he did a lot of talking about himself and his ill luck, and he told +Casey of his misfortunes by the hour. + +Casey did not mind that much. He says he didn't listen half the time. But +finally the fellow began talking of the wealth that is wasted on folks who +can't use it properly or even appreciate the good fortune. + +To illustrate that point he told a story that set Casey's mind to seeing +visions. The man told about an old Indian who lived in dirt and a +government blanket and drank bad whisky when he could get it, and whipped +his squaw and behaved exactly like other Indians. Yet that old Indian knew +where gold lay so thick that he could pick out pieces of crumbly rock all +plastered with free gold. He was too lazy to dig out enough to do him any +good. He would come into the nearest town with a rusty old lard bucket +full of high grade so rich that the storekeeper once got five hundred +dollars from the bucketful. He gave the Indian about twenty dollars' worth +of grub and made him a present of two yards of bright blue ribbon, which +tickled the old buck so much that in two weeks he was back with more high +grade knotted in the bottom of a gunny sack. + +Casey asked the man why some one didn't trail the Injun. Casey knew that +an Indian is not permitted to file a claim to mineral land. He could not +hold it, under the law, if some white man discovered it and located the +ground, but Casey thought that some white-hearted fellow might take the +claim and pay the buck a certain percentage of the profits. + +The man said that couldn't be done. The old buck--Injun Jim, they called +him--was an old she-bear. All the Indians were afraid of him and would +hide their faces in their blankets when he passed them on his way to the +gold, rather than be suspected by Injun Jim of any unwarranted interest in +his destination. Casey knew enough about Indians to accept that statement. +And white men, it would seem, were either not nervy enough or else they +were not cunning enough. A few had attempted to trail Injun Jim, but no +one had ever succeeded, because that part of Nevada had not had any gold +stampede, which the man declared would have come sure as fate if Injun +Jim's mine were ever uncovered. + +Casey asked certain questions and learned all that the man could tell +him,--or would tell him. He said that Injun Jim lived mostly in the +Tippipah district. No free gold had ever been discovered there, nor much +gold of any kind; but Injun Jim certainly brought free gold into Round +Butte whenever he wanted grub. It must have been ungodly rich,--five +hundred dollars' worth in a ten-pound lard bucket! + +The tale held Casey's imagination. He dreamed nights of trailing Injun +Jim, and if he'd had any money to outfit for the venture he surely would +have gone straight to Nevada and to Round Butte. He told himself that it +would take an outsider to furnish the energy for the search. Men who live +in a country are the last to see the possibilities lying all around them, +Casey said. It was true; he had seen it work out even in himself. Hadn't +he driven stage in Cripple Creek country and carried out gold by the +hundred-thousand,--gold that might have been his had he not been content +to drive stage? Hadn't he lived in gold country all his life, almost, and +didn't he know mineral formations as well as many a school--trained +expert? + +But even dreams of gold fluctuate and grow vague before the small +interests of everyday living. Casey hadn't the money just then to quit his +job of stage driving and go Indian stalking. It would take money,--a few +hundred at least. Casey at that time lacked the price of a ticket to Round +Butte. So he had to drive and dream, and his first spurt of saving grew +half--hearted as the weeks passed; and then he lost all he had saved in a +poker game because he wanted to win enough in one night to make the trip. + +However, he went among men with his ears wide open for gossip concerning +Injun Jim, and he gleaned bits of information that seemed to confirm what +his passenger up in the Yellowstone had told him. He even met a man who +knew Injun Jim. + +Injun Jim, he was told, had one eye and a bad temper. He had lost his +right eye in a fight with soldiers, in the days when Indian fighting was +part of a soldier's training. Injun Jim nursed a grudge against the whites +because of that eye, and while he behaved himself nowadays, being old and +not very popular amongst his own people, it was taken for granted that his +trigger finger would never be paralyzed, and that a white man need only +furnish him a thin excuse and a fair chance to cover all traces of the +killing. Injun Jim would attend to the rest with great zeal. + +Stranger still, Casey found that the tale of the lard bucket and the gold +was true. This man had once been in the store when Jim arrived for grub. +He had taken a piece of the ore in his hands. It was free gold, all right, +and it must have come from a district where free gold was scarce as women. + +"We've got it figured down to a spot about fifty miles square," the man +told Casey. "That old Injun don't travel long trails. He's old. And all +Injuns are lazy. They won't go hunting mineral like a white man. They know +mineral when they see it and they have good memories and can go to the +spot afterwards. Injun Jim prob-ly run across a pocket somewheres when he +was hunting. Can't be much of it--he'd bring in more at a time if there +was, and be Injun-rich. He's just figurin' on making it hold out long as +he lives. 'Tain't worth while trying to find it; there's too much mineral +laying around loose in these hills." + +Casey stored all that gossip away in the back of his head and through all +the ups and downs of the years he never quite forgot it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Casey earned a good deal of money, but there are men who are very good at +finding original ways of losing money, too. Casey was one. (You should +hear Casey unburden himself sometime upon the subject of garages and the +tourist trade!) He saved money enough in Patmos to buy two burros and a +mule, and what grub and tools the burros could carry. There were no poker +games in Patmos, and a discouraged prospector happened along at the right +moment, which accounts for it. + +In this speed-hungry age Casey had not escaped the warped viewpoint which +others assume toward travel. Casey always had craved the sensation of +swift moving through space. His old stage horses could tell you tales of +that! It was a distinct comedown, buying burros for his venture. That took +straight, native optimism and the courage to make the best of things. But +he hadn't the price of a Ford, and Casey abhors debt; so he reminded +himself cheerfully that many a millionaire would still be poor if he had +turned up his nose at burros, sour-dough cans and the business end of pick +and shovel, and made the deal. + +At that, he was better off than most prospectors, he told himself on the +night of his purchase. He had the mule, William, to ride. The prospector +had assured Casey over and over that William was saddle broke. Casey is +too happy-go-lucky, I think. He took the man's word for it and waited +until the night before he intended beginning his journey before he gave +William a try-out, down in a sandy swale back of the garage. He returned +after dark, leading William. Casey had a pronounced limp and an eyetooth +was broken short off, about halfway to the gums, and his lip was cut. + +"William's saddle broke, all right," he told his neighbor, the proprietor +of the Oasis. "I've saw horses broke like that; cow-punchers have fun in +the c'rall with 'em Sundays, seein' which one can stay with the saddle +three jumps. William don't mind the saddle at all. All he hates is anybody +in it." Then he grinned wryly because of his hurt. "No use arguin' with a +mule--I used to be too good a walker." + +Casey therefore traded his riding saddle for another packsaddle, and +collected six coal-oil cans which he cleaned carefully. William was loaded +with cans of water, which he seemed to prefer to Casey, though they +probably weighed more. The burros waddled off under their loads of beans, +flour, bacon, coffee, lard, and a full set of prospector's tools. Casey +set his course by the stars and fared forth across the desert, meaning to +pass through the lower end of Death Valley by night, on a trail he knew, +and so plod up toward the Tippipah country. + +He was happy. He owed no man a nickel, he had grub enough to last him +three months if he were careful, he had a body tough as seasoned hickory, +and he was headed for that great no-man's-land which is the desert. More, +he was actually upon the trail of his dream that he had dreamed years +before up in the Yellowstone. An old, secretive Indian was going to find +his match when Casey Ryan plodded over his horizon and halted beside his +fire. + +By the way, don't blame me for showing a fondness for gloom and gore when +you read the names Casey carried in his mind the next few weeks. Casey +crossed Death Valley and the Funeral Mountains--or a spur of them--and +headed up toward Spectre Range, going by way of Deadman's Spring, where he +filled his water cans. That does not sound cheerful, but Casey was still +fairly happy,--though there were moments when he thought seriously of +killing William with a rock. + +Every morning, without fail, he and William fought every minute from +breakfast to starting time. From his actions you would think that William +had never seen a pack before, and expected it to bite him fatally if he +came within twenty feet of it. You could tell Casey's camp by the manner +in which the sagebrush was trampled and the sand scored with small +hoofprints in a wide circle around it. But once the battle was lost to +William for that day, and Casey had rested and mopped the perspiration off +his face and taken a comforting chew of tobacco and relapsed into silence +simply because he could think of nothing more to say, William became a pet +dog that hazed the two lazy burros along with little nippings on their +rumps, and saw to it that they did not stray too far from camp. + +Casey strung into Searchlight one evening at dusk and camped on a little +knoll behind the town hall, which was open beyond for grazing, and the +village dogs were less likely to bother. Searchlight was not on his way, +but miles off to one side. Casey made the detour because he had heard a +good deal about the place and knew it as a favorite stamping ground of +miners and prospectors who sought free gold. Searchlight is primarily a +gold camp, you see. He wanted to hear a little more about Injun Jim. + +But there had been a murder in Searchlight a dark night or so before his +coming, and three suspects were being discussed and championed by their +friends. Searchlight was not in the mood for aimless gossip of Indians. +Killings had been monotonously frequent, but they usually had daylight and +an audience to rob them of mystery. A murder done on a dark night, in the +black shadow of an empty dance hall, and accompanied by a piercing scream +and the sound of running feet was vastly different. + +Casey lingered half a day, bought a few more pounds of bacon and some +matches and ten yards of satin ribbon in assorted colors and went his way. + +I mention his stop at Searchlight so that those who demand exact geography +will understand why Casey journeyed on to Vegas, tramped its hot sidewalks +for half a day and then went on by way of Indian Spring to the Tippipah +country and his destination. He was following the beaten trail of miners, +now that he was in Jim's country, and he was gleaning a little information +from every man he met. Not altogether concerning Injun Jim, understand,-- +but local tidbits that might make him a welcome companion to the old buck +when he met him. Casey says you are not to believe story-writers who +assume that an Indian is wrapped always in a blanket and inscrutable +dignity. He says an Indian is as great a gossip as any old woman, once you +get him thawed to the talking point. So he was filling his bag of tricks +as he went along. + +From Vegas there is what purports to be an automobile road across the +desert to Round Butte, and Casey as he walked cursed his burros and +William and sighed for his Ford. He was four days traveling to Furnace +Lake, which he had made in a matter of hours with his Ford when he first +came to Starvation. + +He struck Furnace Lake just before dusk one night and pushed the burros +out upon it, thinking he would have cool crossing and would start in the +morning with the lake behind him, which would be something of a load off +his mind. In his heart Casey hated Furnace Lake, and he had good reason. +It was a place of ill fortune for him, especially after the sun had left +it. He wanted it behind him where he need think no more about it and the +grewsome crevice that cut a deep, wide gash two thirds of the way across +it through the middle. Casey is not a coward, and he takes most things as +a matter of course, but he admits that he has always hated and distrusted +Furnace Lake beyond all the dry lakes in Nevada,--and there are many. + +He yelled to William, and William nipped the nearest burro into a +shambling half trot, and then went out upon the lake, Casey heading across +at the widest part so that he would strike his old trail to Starvation +Mountain on the other side. From there to the summit he could make it by +noon on the morrow, he planned. Which would be the end of his preliminary +journey and the beginning of Casey's last drive toward his goal; for from +the top of the divide between Starvation Mountain country and that +forbidding waste which lies under the calm scrutiny of Furnace Peak he +could see the far-off range of the Tippipahs. + +He was a mile out on the Lake when he first glimpsed the light. Casey +studied it while he walked ahead, leaving no footprints on the hard-baked +clay. He had not known that any road followed just under the crest of the +ridge that hid Crazy Woman lake, yet the light was plainly that of an +automobile moving with speed across the face of the ridge just under the +summit. + +Away out in the empty land like that you notice little things and think +about them and try to understand just what they mean, unless they are +perfectly familiar to you. One print of a foot on the trail may betray the +lurking presence of a madman, a murderer, a traveling, friendly, desert +dweller or the wandering of some one who is lost and dying of thirst and +hunger. You like to know which, and you are not satisfied until you do +know. + +A light moving swiftly along Crazy Woman ridge meant a car, and a car up +there meant a road. If there were a road it would probably lead Casey by a +shorter route to the Tippipahs. While he looked there came to his ears a +roaring, as of some high-powered car traveling under full pressure of +gas. The burros followed him, but William lifted his head and brayed +tremulously three times in the dark. Casey had never heard him bray +before, and the sudden rasping outcry startled him. + +He went back and stood for a minute looking at William, who turned tail +and started back toward the shore they had left behind them. Casey ran to +head him off, yelling threats, and William, in spite of his six water +cans--two of them empty--broke into a lope. Casey glanced over his +shoulder as he ran and saw dimly that the burros had turned and were +coming after him, their ears flapping loosely on their bobbing heads as +they trotted. Beyond him, the light still traveled towards the Tippipahs. + +Then, with an abruptness that cannot be pictured, everything was blotted +out in a great, blinding swirl of dust as the wind came whooping down upon +them. It threw Casey as though some one had tripped him. It spun him round +and round on his back like an overturned beetle, and then scooted him +across the lake's surface flat as a floor. He thought of the Crevice, but +there was nothing he could do save hold his head off the ground and his +two palms over his face, shielding his nostrils a little from the smother +of dust. + +Sometimes he was lifted inches from the surface and borne with incredible +swiftness. More than once he was spun round and round until his senses +reeled. But all the time he was going somewhere, and I suspect that for +once in his life Casey Ryan went fast enough to satisfy him. At last he +felt brush sweep past his body, and he knew that he must have been swept +to the edge of the lake. He clutched, scratched his hands bloody on the +straggly thorns of greasewood, caught in the dark at a more friendly sage +and gripped it next the roots. The wind tore at him, howling. Casey +flattened his abused body to the hummocky sand and hung on. + +Hours later, by the pale stars that peered out breathlessly when the fury +of the gale was gone, Casey pulled himself painfully to his feet and +looked for the burros and William. Judging by his own experience, they had +had a rough time of it and would not go far after the wind permitted them +to stop. But as to guessing how far they had been impelled, or in what +direction, Casey knew that was impossible. Still, he tried. When the air +grew clearer and the surrounding hills bulked like huge shadows against +the sky, he saw that he had been blown toward the ridge that guards Crazy +Woman lake. His pack animals should be somewhere ahead of him, he thought +groggily, and began stumbling along through the brush-covered sand dunes +that bordered Furnace Lake for miles. + +And then he saw again the light, shining up there just under the crest of +the ridge. He was glad the car had escaped, but he reflected that the +tricky winds of the desert seldom sweep a large area. Their diabolic fury +implies a concentration of force that must of necessity weaken as it flows +out away from the center. Up there on the ridge they may not have +experienced more than a steady blow. + +He walked slowly because of his bruises, and many times he made small +detours, thinking that a blotch of shadow off to one side might be his +pack train. But always a greasewood mocked him, waving stiff arms at him +derisively. In the sage-land distances deceive. A man may walk unseen +before your eyes, and a bush afar off may trick you with its semblance to +man or beast. Casey finally gave up the hopeless search and headed +straight for the light. + +It was standing still,--a car facing him with its headlights burning, the +distance so great that the two lights glowed as one. "An' it ain't no +Ford," Casey decided. "They wouldn't keep the engine runnin' all this +time, standin' still. Unless it's one of them old kind with lamps." + +I don't suppose you realize, many of you, just what that would mean to a +man in the desert country. It is rather hard to define, but the +significance would be felt, even by Casey in his present plight. You see, +small cars, of the make too famous to be hurt or helped by having its name +mentioned in a simple yarn like this, have long been recognized as the +proper car for rough trails and no trails. Those who travel the desert +most have come to the point of counting "Lizzie" almost as necessary as +beans. Wherefore a larger car is nearly always brought in by strangers to +the country, who swear solemnly, never to repeat the imprudence. A large +car, driven by strangers in the land, means hunters, prospectors from the +outside brought in by some special tale of hidden wealth,--or just plain +simpletons who only want to see what lies over the mountain. There aren't +many of the last-named variety up in the Nevada wastes. Even your +nature-loving rovers oddly keep pretty much to the beaten trails of other +nature lovers, where gas stations and new tires may be found at regular +intervals. The Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, the National Old +Trails they explore,--but not the high, wind-swept mesas of Nevada's +barren land. + +A fear that was not altogether strange to him crept over Casey. It would +be just his grinning enemy Ill-luck on his trail again, if that light +should prove to be made by men hunting for Injun Jim and his mine. Casey +used to feel a sickness in his middle when that thought nagged him, and he +felt a growing anger now when he looked at the twinkling glow. He walked a +little faster. Now that the fear had come to him, Casey wanted to come up +with the men, talk with them, learn their business if they were truthful, +or sense their lying if they tried to hide their purpose from him. He must +know. If they were seeking Injun Jim, then he must find some way to head +them off, circumvent their plans with strategy of his own. He had dreamed +too long and too ardently to submit now to interlopers. + +So he walked, limping and cursing a little now and then because of his +aches. Up a steep slope made heavy with loose sand that dragged at his +feet; over the crest and down the other side among rocks and gravel that +made harder walking than the sand. Up another steep slope: it was +heartbreaking, unending as the toils of a nightmare, but Casey kept on. He +was not worried over his own plight; not yet. He believed that William and +his burros were somewhere ahead of him, since they could not cling to a +bush as he had done and so resist the impetus of that terrific wind. There +was a car standing on the ridge toward which he was laboriously making his +way. It did not occur to Casey that morning might show him a rather +desperate plight. + +Yet the morning did just that. Hours before dawn the light had disappeared +abruptly, but Casey had no uneasiness over that. It was foolish for them +to run down their battery burning lights when they were standing still, he +thought. They had not moved off, and he had well in mind the contour of +the ridge where they were standing. He would have bet good money that he +could walk straight to the car even though darkness hid it from him until +he came within hailing distance. + +But daylight found him still below the higher slope of the ridge, and +Casey was very tired. He had been walking all day, remember, and he had +missed his supper because he wanted to eat it with the lake behind him. He +did not walk in a straight line. He was too near exhaustion to forge ahead +as was his custom. Now he was picking his way carefully so as to shun the +washes out of which he must climb, and the rock patches where he would +stumble, and the thick brush that would claw at him. He would have given +five dollars for a drink of water, but there would be water at the car, he +told himself. People were rather particular about carrying plenty of water +when they traveled these wastes. + +And then he was on the ridge, and his keen eyes were squinted half-shut +while he gazed here and there, no foot of exposed land surface escaping +that unwinking stare. He took off his hat and wiped his face, and reached +mechanically for a chew of tobacco which he always took when perplexed, as +if it stimulated thought. + +There was no car. There was no road. There was not even a burro trail +along that ridge. Yet there had been the lights of a car, and after the +lights had been extinguished Casey had listened rather anxiously for +sound of the motor and had heard nothing at all. The most powerful, +silent-running car on the market would have made some noise in traveling +through that sand and up and down the washes that seamed the mountain +side. Casey would have heard it--he had remarkably keen hearing. + +"And that's darn funny," he muttered, when he was perfectly sure that +there was no car, that there could never have been a car on that trackless +ridge. "That's mighty damn funny! You can ask anybody." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Other things, however, were not so funny to Casey as he stood staring down +over the vast emptiness. There was no sign of his pack train, and without +it he would be in sorry case indeed. He thought of the manner in which the +tornado had whirled him round and round. Caught in a different set of +gyrations and then borne out from the center--flung out would come nearer +it--the burros and William might have been carried in any direction save +his own. Into that gruesome Crevice, for instance. They had not been more +than a mile from the Crevice when the storm struck. + +He glanced across to Barren Butte, rising steeply from the farther end of +the lake. But he did not think of going to the mine up there, except to +tell himself that he'd rot on the desert before he ever asked there for +help. He had his reasons, you remember. A man like Casey can face +humiliation from men much easier than he can face a woman who had +misjudged him and scorned him. Unless, of course, he has a million dollars +in his pocket and knows that she knows it. + +Having discarded Barren Butte from his plans--rather, having declined to +consider it at all--he knew that he must find his supplies, or he must +find water somewhere in the Crazy Woman hills. The prospect was not +bright, for he had never heard any one mention water there. + +He rested where he was for awhile and watched the slope for the pack +animals; more particularly for William and the water cans. He could shoot +rabbits and live for days, if he had a little water, but he had once tried +living on rabbit meat broiled without salt, and he called it dry eating, +even with water to wash it down. Without water he would as soon fast and +let the rabbits live. + +A dark speck moving in the sage far down the slope caught his eyes, and he +got up and peered that way eagerly. He started down to meet it hopefully, +feeling certain that his present plight would soon merge into a mere +incident of the trail. Sure enough, when he had walked for half an hour he +saw that it was William, browsing toward him and limping when he moved. + +But William was bare as the back of Casey's hand. There was no pack, no +coal-oil cans of water; only the halter and lead rope, that dangled and +caught on brush and impeded William's limping progress. I suppose even +miserable mules like company, for William permitted Casey to walk up and +take him by the halter rope. William had a badly skinned knee which gave +him the limp, and his right ear was broken close to his head so that the +structure which had been his pride dropped over his eye like a wet +sunbonnet. + +Casey swore a little and started back along William's tracks to find the +water cans. He followed a winding, purposeless trail that never showed the +track of burros, and after an hour or so he came upon the pack and the +cans. Evidently the water supply had suffered in the wind, for only four +cans were with the blankets and pack saddle. + +William had felt his pack slipping, Casey surmised, and had proceeded to +divest himself of the incumbrance in the manner best known to mules. +Having kicked himself out of it, he had undoubtedly discovered a leaking +can--supposing the cans had escaped thus far--and had battered them with +his heels until they were all leaking copiously. William had saved what he +could. + +Casey read the whole story in the sand. The four cans were bent with +gaping seams, and their sides were scored with the prints of William's +hoofs. In a corner of one of them Casey found a scant half-cup of water, +which he drank greedily. It could no more than ease for a moment his +parched throat; it could not satisfy his thirst. + +After that he led William back along the trail until the mounting sun +warned him that he was making no headway on his journey to the Tippipahs, +and that with no tracks in sight he had small hope of tracing the burros. + +It was sundown again before he gave up hope, and Casey's thirst was a +demon within him. He had wasted a day, he told himself grimly. Now it was +going to be a fight. + +Through the day he had mechanically studied the geologic formation of +those hills before him, and he had decided that the chance for water there +was too slight to make a search worth while. He would push on toward the +Tippipahs. _Pah_, he knew, meant water in the Indian tongue. He did not +know what _Tippi_ signified, but since Indians lived in the Tippipah range +he was assured that the water was drinkable. So he got stiffly to his +feet, studied again the darkling skyline, sent a glance up at the first +stars, and turned his face and William's resolutely toward the Tippipahs. + +He had applied first aid to William's knee in the form of chewed tobacco, +which if it did no more at least discouraged the pestering flies. Now he +collected a ride for his pay. He had reasoned that William was probably +subdued to the point of permitting the liberty, and that he had other +things to think of more important than protecting his mulish dignity. +Casey guessed right. William merely switched his tail pettishly, as mules +will, and went on picking his way through brush and rocks along the ridge. + +It was perhaps nine o'clock when Casey saw the light. William also spied +it and stopped still, his long left ear pointed that way, his broken right +ear dropping over his eye. William lifted his nose and brayed as if he +were tearing loose all his vitals and the operation hurt like the +mischief. Casey kicked him in the flanks and urged him on. It must be a +camp fire, Casey thought. He did not connect it with that moving light he +had seen the night before; that phantom car was a mystery which he would +probably never solve, and in Casey's opinion it had nothing to do with a +camp fire that twinkled upon a distant hilltop. + +From the look of it, Casey judged that it was perhaps eight miles off,-- +possibly less. But there was a rocky canyon or two between them, and +William was lame and Casey was too exhausted to walk more than half a mile +before he must lie down and own himself whipped. Casey Ryan had never done +that for a man, and he did not propose to do it for Nature. He thought +that William ought to have enough stamina to make the trip if he were +given time enough. And at the last, if William gave out, then Casey would +manage somehow to walk the rest of the way. It all depended upon giving +William time enough. + +You know, mules are the greatest mind readers in the world. I have always +heard that, and now Casey swears that it is so. William immediately began +taking his time. Casey told me that a turtle starting nose to nose with +William would have had to pull in his feet and wait for him every half +mile or so. William must have been very thirsty, too. + +The light burned steadily, hearteningly. Whenever they crawled to high +ground where a view was possible, Casey saw it there, just under a certain +star which he had used for a marker at first. And whenever William saw the +light he brayed and tried to swing around and go the other way. But Casey +would not permit that, naturally. Nor did he wonder why William acted so +queerly. You never wonder why a mule does things; you just fight it out +and are satisfied if you win, and let it go at that. + +Casey does not remember clearly the details of that night. He knows that +during the long hours William balked at a particularly steep climb, and +that Casey was finally obliged to get off and lead the Way. It established +an unfortunate precedent, for William refused to let Casey on again, and +Casey was too weak to mount in spite of William. They compromised at last; +that is, they both walked. + +The light went out. Moreover, Casey's star that he had used to mark the +spot moved over to the west and finally slid out of sight altogether. But +Casey felt sure of the direction and he kept going doggedly toward the +point where the light had been. He says there wasn't a rod where a snail +couldn't have outrun him, and when the sky streaked red and orange and the +sun came up, he stood still and looked for a camp, and when he saw nothing +at all but bare rock and bushes of the kind that love barrenness, he +crawled under the nearest shade, tied William fast to the bush and slept. +You don't realize your thirst so much when you are asleep, and you are +saving your strength instead of wearing it out in the hot sun. He remained +there until the sun was almost out of sight behind a high peak. Then he +got up, untied William, mounted him without argument from either, and went +on, keeping to the direction in which he had seen the light. + +Even the little brown mule was having trouble now. He wavered, he picked +his footing with great care when a declivity dipped before him; he stopped +every few yards and rested when he was making a climb. As for Casey, he +managed to hold himself on the narrow back of William, but that was all. +He understood perfectly that the next twenty-four hours would tell the +story for him and for William. He had a sturdy body however and a sturdy +brain that had never weakened its hold on facts. So he clung to his reason +and pushed fear away from him and said doggedly that he would go forward +as long as he could crawl or William could carry him, and he would die or +he would not die, as Fate decided for him. He wondered, too, about the +camp whose fire he had seen. + +Then he saw the light. This time it burned suddenly clear and large and +very bright, away off to the left of him where he had by daylight noticed +a bare shale slide. The light seemed to stand in the very center of the +slide, no more than a mile away. + +William stopped when Casey pulled on the reins he had fashioned from the +lead rope, and turned stiffly so that he faced the light. Casey kicked him +gently with his heels to urge him forward, for in spite of what his reason +told him about the shale slide his instinct was to go straight to the +light. But William began to shiver and tremble, and to swing slowly away. +Casey tried to prevent it, but the mule came out in William. He laid his +good ear flat along his neck as far as it would go, and took little, +nipping steps until he had turned with his tail to the light. Then he +thrust his fawn-colored muzzle to the stars and brayed and brayed, his +good ear working like a pump handle as he tore the sounds loose from his +vitals. + +Casey cursed him in a whisper, having no voice left. He kicked William in +the flanks, having no other means of coercion at hand. But kicking never +yet altered the determination of a mule, and cursing a mule in a whisper +is like blowing your breath against the sail of a becalmed sloop. William +kept his tail toward the light, and furthermore he momentarily drew his +tail farther and farther from that spot. Now and then he would turn his +head and glance back, and immediately increase his pace a little. He was +long past the point where he had strength to trot, but he could walk, and +he did walk and carry Casey on his back, still whispering condemnation. + +They did not travel all night. Casey looked at the Big Dipper and judged +it was midnight when they stopped on the brink of a deep canyon, halted +there in William's sheer despair because the light appeared suddenly on +the high point of a hill directly ahead of them. William's voice was gone +like Casey's, so that he, too, cursed in a whisper with a spasmodic +indrawing of ribs and a wheezing in his throat. + +When it was plain that the mule had stopped permanently, Casey slid off +William's back and lay down without knowing or caring much whether he +would ever get up again. He said he wasn't hungry--much; but his mouth was +too full of tongue, he added grimly. + +He lay and watched through half-closed, staring eyes the light that mocked +him so. His dulling senses told him that it was no camp fire, nor any +light made by human hands. He did not know what it was. He didn't care any +more. William crumpled up and lay down beside him, breathing heavily. It +was getting close to the end of things. Casey knew it, and he thinks +William knew it too. + +The sun found them there and forced Casey to move. He sat up painfully, +the fight to live not yet burned out of him, and gazed dully at the +forbidding hills that closed around him like great, naked rock demons +watching to see him die for want of the things they withheld. Where he +remembered the light to have been when last he saw it was bleak, bare +rock. It was a devil's light and there was nothing friendly or human about +it. + +He looked down into the canyon which William had refused to enter. A faint +interest revived within him because of a patch of green. Trees,--but they +might easily be junipers which will grow in dry canyons as readily, it +would seem, as in any other. He kept looking, because green was a great +relief from the monotonous gray and black and brown of the hills. It +seemed to him after awhile that he saw a small splotch of dead white. + +In the barren lands two things will show white in the distance; a white +horse and a tent of white canvas. Casey shifted his position and squinted +long at the spot, then got up slowly with the help of a bush and took +William by the rope. William was on his feet, standing with head dropped, +apparently half asleep. Casey knew that William was simply waiting until +he could no longer stand. + +Together they wabbled down the sloping canyon side and over a grassy +bottom to the trees, which were indeed juniper trees, but thriftier +looking than their brethren of the dry places. There was water, for +William smelled it at last and hurried forward with more briskness than +Casey could muster, eager though he was to reach the tent he saw standing +there under the biggest juniper. + +Beside the tent was a water bucket of bright, new tin. A white granite +dipper stood in it. Casey drank sparingly and stopped when he would have +given all he ever possessed in the world to have gone on drinking until he +could hold no more. But he was not yet crazy with the thirst. So he +stopped drinking, filled a white granite basin and soused his head again +and again, sighing with sheer ecstasy at the drip of water down his back +and chest. After a little he drank two swallows more, put down the dipper +and went into the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +We can all remember certain experiences that fill us with incredulity even +while we admit that the facts could be proved before a jury of twelve men. +So Casey Ryan, having lost his outfit and come so near to death that he +could barely keep his feet under him, walked into a tent and stood there +thinking it couldn't be true. + +A folding camp chair stood near the opening, and Casey sat down from sheer +weakness while he looked about him. The tent was a twelve-by-fourteen, +which is a bit larger than one usually carries in a pack outfit. It had a +canvas floor soiled in strips where the most walking had been done, but +white under table and beds, which proved its newness. Casey was not +accustomed to seeing tents floored with canvas, and he stared at it for a +full half-minute before his eyes went to other things. + +There was a folding camp table of the kind shown in the window display of +sporting-goods stores, but which seasoned campers find too wobbly for +actual comfort. The varnish still shone on legs and braces, which helped +to prove its newness. There was a two-burner oil stove with an +enamel-rimmed oven that was distinctly out of place in that country and +yet harmonized perfectly with the tent and furnishings. The dishes were +white enamel of aluminum, and there were boxes piled upon boxes, the +labels proclaiming canned things too expensive for ordinary eating. Two +spring cots with new blankets and white-cased pillows stood against the +tent wall, and beneath each cot sat two yellow pigskin suitcases with +straps and brass buckles. They would have been perfectly natural in a +Pullman sleeper, but even in his present stress Casey snorted disdainfully +at sight of them here. + +Things were tumbled about in the disorder of inexperienced campers, but +everything was very new and clean except an array of dishes on the table, +which told Casey that one man had eaten at least three meals without +washing his dishes or putting away his surplus of food. Casey had eaten +nothing at all after that one toasted rabbit which he had choked down on +the evening when he gave up hope of finding the burros. He got up and +staggered stiffly to the table and picked up a piece of burned biscuit, +hard as flint. + +While he mumbled a fragment of that he looked into various half-filled +cans, setting them one by one in a compact group on the table corner; +which was habit rather than conscious thought. Poisonous ptomaine lurked +in every one of them, which was a shame, since he had to discard half a +can of preserved peaches, half a can of roast beef, half a can of +asparagus tips, a can of chicken soup scarcely touched and two thirds of a +can of sweet potatoes. He salvaged a can of ripe olives which he thought +was good, a can of India relish and a can of sweet gherkins (both of the +fifty-seven varieties). You will see what I meant when I spoke of +expensive camp food. + +There was cold coffee in a nickel percolater, and Casey poured himself a +cup, knowing well the risk of eating much just at first. It was while he +was unscrewing the top of the glass jar that held the sugar that he first +noticed the paper. It was folded and thrust into the sugar jar, and Casey +pulled it out and held it crumpled in his hand while he sweetened and +drank the coffee, forcing himself to take it slowly. When the cup was +empty to the last drop he went over and sat down on the edge of a spring +cot and unfolded the note. What he read surprised him a great deal and +puzzled him more. I leave it to you to judge why. + + "I saw it again last night in a different place. The last horse died + yesterday down the canyon. You can have the outfit. I'm going to beat + it out of here while the going's good. Fred." + +"That's mighty damn funny," Casey muttered thickly. "You can--ask--" He +lay back luxuriously, with his head on the white pillow and closed his +eyes. The reaction from struggling to live had set in with the assurance +of his safety. He slept heavily, refreshingly. + +He awoke to the craving for food, and immediately started a small fire +outside and boiled coffee in a nice new aluminum pail that held two quarts +and had an ornamental cover. The oil stove he dismissed from his mind with +a snort of contempt. And because nearly everything he saw was catalogued +in his mind as a luxury, he opened cans somewhat extravagantly and dined +off strange, delectable foods to which his palate was unaccustomed. He +still thought it was mighty queer, but that did not impair his appetite. + +Afterwards he went out to look after William, remembering that horses were +said to have died in this place. William was almost within kicking +distance of the spring, as if he meant to keep an eye upon the water +supply even though that involved browsing off brush instead of wandering +down to good grass below the camp. + +Casey knelt stiffly and drank from the spring, laving his face and head +afterward as if he never would get enough of the luxury of being wet and +cool. He rose and stood looking at William for a few minutes, then took +the lead rope and tied him to a juniper that stood near the spring. The +note had said that the last horse died down the canyon, the implication of +mystery lying heavy behind the words. + +Casey went back to the tent and read the note through again twice, +studying each word as if he hoped to twist some added information out of +it. It sounded as though the writer had expected his partner back from +some trip and had left the note for him, since he had not considered it +necessary to explain what it was that he had seen again in a different +place. Casey wondered if it might not have been that strange light which +he himself had followed. Whatever it was, the fellow had not liked it. His +going had all the earmarks of flight. + +Well, then, why had the last horse died down the canyon? Casey decided +that he would go and see, though he was not hankering for exercise that +day. He took a long drink of water, somewhat shamefacedly filled a new +canteen that lay on a pile of odds and ends near the tent door, and +started down the canyon. It couldn't be far, but he might want a drink +before he got back, and Casey had had enough of thirst. + +He was not long in finding the horse that had died, and in fact all the +horses that had died. There had been four, and the manner of their death +was not in the least mysterious. They had been staked out to graze in a +luxurious patch of loco weed, which is reason enough why any horse should +die. + +Of course, no man save an unmitigated tenderfoot would picket a horse on +loco, which looks very much like wild peavine and is known the West over +as the deadliest weed that grows. A little of it mixed with a diet of +grass will drive horses and cattle insane, and there is no authentic case +of recovery, that I ever heard, once the infection is complete. A lot of +it will kill,--and these poor beasts had actually been staked out to graze +upon it, I suppose because it looked nice and green, and the horses +liked it. + +The performance matched very well the enamel-trimmed oil stove and the +tinned dainties and the expensive suitcases. Casey went back to camp +feeling as though he had stumbled upon a picnic of feeble-minded persons. +He wondered what in hell two men of such a type could be doing out there, +a hundred miles and more from an ice-cream soda and a barber's chair. He +wondered too how "Fred" had expected to get himself across that hundred +miles and more of dry desert country. He must certainly be afoot, and the +camp itself showed no sign of an emergency outfit having been assembled +from its furnishings. + +Casey made sure of that, inspecting first the bedding and food and then +the cooking utensils. Everything was complete--lavishly so--for two men +who loved comfort. Even their sweaters were there; and Casey knew they +must have discovered that the nights can be cool even though the days are +hot, in that altitude. And there were two canteens of the size usually +carried by hikers. + +Casey was so worried that he could not properly enjoy his supper of pate +de foi gras and crackers, with pork and beans, plum pudding--eaten as +cake--and spiced figs and coffee. That night he turned over on his +spring-cot bed as often as if he had been lying on nettles, and when he +did sleep he dreamed horribly. + +Next morning he set out with William and an emergency camp outfit to trace +if he could the missing men. The great outdoors of Nevada is not kind to +such as these, and Casey had too lately suffered to think with easy-going +optimism that they would manage somehow. They would die if they were left +to shift for themselves, and Casey could not pretend that he did not know +it. + +But there was a difficulty in rescuing them, just as there had been in +rescuing the burros. Casey could not find their tracks, and so could not +follow them. He and William hunted the canyon from top to bottom and +ranged far out on the valley floor without discovering anything that could +be called the track of a man. Which was strange, too, in a country where +footprints are held for a long, long while by the soil,--as souvenirs of +man's passing, perhaps. + +So it transpired that Casey at length returned to the new tent just below +the spring in the nameless canyon beyond Crazy Woman Lake. Chipmunks had +invaded the place and feasted upon an opened package of sweet crackers, +but otherwise the tent had been left inviolate. Neither Fred nor his +partner had returned. Wherefore Casey opened more cans and "made himself +to home," as he naively put it. + +He was impatient to continue his journey, but since he had nothing of his +own except William, he meant to beg or buy a few things from this camp, if +either of the owners showed up. Meantime he could be comfortable, since it +is tacitly understood in the open land that a wayfarer may claim +hospitality of any man, with or without that man's knowledge. He is +expected to keep the camp clean, to leave firewood and to take nothing +away with him except what is absolutely necessary to insure his getting +safely to the next stopping place. Casey knew well the law, and he busied +himself in setting the camp in order while he waited. + +But when five days and nights had slipped into history and he and William +were still in sole possession, Casey began to take another viewpoint. Fred +might possibly have left in a flying machine. The partner might have +decamped permanently before Fred lost his nerve. Several things might have +happened which would leave this particular camp and contents without a +claimant. Casey studied the matter for awhile and then pulled the four +suitcases from beneath the cots and proceeded to investigate. The first +one that he opened had a note folded and addressed to Fred. Casey read it +through without the slightest compunction. The handwriting was different +from that of the first note, hurried and scrawly, the words connected with +faint lines. Here is what Fred's partner had written: + + "Dear Fred: Don't blame me for leaving you. A man that carries the +grouch you do don't need company. I'm fed up on solitude, and I don't like +the feel of things here. My staying won't help your lung a damn bit and if +you want anything you can hunt up the men that carry the light. Maybe they +are the ones that are killing off the horses. Any way, you can wash your +own dishes from now on. It will do you good. If I had of known you were +the crab you are I'll say I would never have come. You are welcome to my +share of the outfit. I hope some one shoots me and puts me out of my +misery quick if I ever show symptoms of wanting to camp out again. I am +going now because if I stayed I'd change your map for you so your own +looking glass wouldn't know you. I'll say you are some nut. + Art." + +Casey had to take a fresh chew of tobacco before his brain would settle +down and he could think clearly. Then he observed that it was a damn funny +combination and you could ask anybody. After that he began to realize that +he was heir to a fine assortment of canned delicacies and an oil stove and +four suitcases filled, he hoped, with good clothes. Not omitting +possession of two spring cots and several pairs of high-grade blankets, +and two sweaters and Lord knows what all. + +Those suitcases were enough to make any man sit and bite his nails, +wondering if he were crazy. Fred and Art had evidently fitted their +wardrobe to their ideas of a summer camp with dancing pavilion and plenty +of hammocks in the immediate neighborhood. There were white flannel +trousers and white canvas shoes and white silk socks, and fine ties and +handkerchiefs and things. There were striped silk shirts which made Casey +grin and think how tickled Injun Jim would be with them,--or one or two of +them; Casey had no intention of laying them all on the altar of diplomacy. +There was an assortment of apparel in those suitcases that would qualify +any man as porch hound at Del Monte. And Casey Ryan, if you please, had +fallen heir to the lot! + +He dressed himself in white flannels with a silk shirt of delf blue and +pale green stripes, and wished that there was a looking-glass in camp +large enough to reflect all of him at once. Then, because his beard +stubble did not harmonize, he shaved with one of the safety razors he +found. + +After that he sorted and packed a careful wardrobe, and stored strange +food into two canvas kyacks. And the next evening he tied the tent flaps +carefully and fared forth with William to find the camp of Injun Jim and +see if his dream would come true. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +You may not believe this next incident. I know I did not, when Casey told +me about it,--but now I am not so sure. Casey said that the light appeared +again, that night, moving slowly along the lip of the canyon like a man +with a large lantern. There was a full moon, which had made him decide to +travel at night on account of the heat while the sun was up. But the moon +did not reveal the cause of the light, though the canyon crest was plainly +visible to him. + +William swung away from that light and walked rather briskly in the other +direction, and Casey did not argue with him. So they headed almost due +west and kept going. It seemed to Casey once or twice that the light +followed them; but he could not be sure. + +Two full nights he journeyed, and on both nights he had the light behind +him. Once it came up swiftly to within a mile or so of him and William, +and stopped there for awhile and then disappeared. Casey camped rather +early and slept, and took the trail again in the morning. Night travel was +getting on his nerves. + +All that day he walked and toward evening, with thunder heads piling high +above the Tippipahs, he came upon a small herd of Indian ponies feeding +out from the mouth of a wide gulch. He knew they were Indian ponies by +their size, their variegated colors, and their general unkemptness. They +presently spied him and went galloping off up the gulch, and Casey +followed until he spied a thin bluish ribbon of smoke wavering up toward +the slate-black clouds. + +He made camp just out of sight around a point of rocks from the smoke, +stretching the canvas tarp which had floored the tent to make shelter +between boulders. He changed his clothes, dressing himself carefully in +the white flannel trousers, blue-and-green striped silk shirt, tan belt, +white shoes and his old Stetson tilted over his right eye at the +characteristic Casey angle. He was taking it for granted that an Indian +camp lay under that smoke, and he knew Indians. Inquisitiveness would shut +them up as effectively as poking a stick at a clam; but there were ways of +coaxing their interest, nevertheless, and when an Indian is curious you +have the trumps in your own hand and it will be your own fault if you +lose. + +Casey's manner therefore was extremely preoccupied when he led a suddenly +limping William up the gulch and past a stone hut with a patched tepee +alongside it. A lean squaw stood erect before the tepee and regarded him +fixedly from under the shade of a mahogany-colored hand, and when Casey +came closer she stooped and ducked out of sight like a prairie dog diving +into its burrow. Casey paid no attention to that. He knew without being +told that he was under close scrutiny from eyes unseen; which was what he +desired and had prepared for. + +The spring, as he had guessed, was above the camp. He threw a rock at two +yammering curs that rushed out at him, and drove them back with Caseyish +curses. Then he watered William at the trampled spring, made himself a +smoke, and went back down the gulch. Opposite the tepee the squaw stood +beside the trial. Casey grinned amiably and said hello. + +"Yo' ketchum 'bacco? My man, him heap sick. Mebby die. Likeum 'bacco, +him." The squaw muttered it as if she would rather not speak, but had been +commanded to beg tobacco from the stranger. + +"Sure, I got tobacco!" Casey's tone was a bit more friendly than before. +He pulled a small red can from his shirt pocket, hesitated and then tied +William to a bush. "Too bad your man sick. Mebby I can help him. He in +here?" + +The squaw gestured dumbly, and Casey stooped and went into the tepee. + +Inside it was so dark that he stood still just within the opening to get +his bearings. This happened to be very good form in Indian society, and we +will assume that Casey lost nothing by the pause. He dimly saw that a few +blankets lay untidily against the tepee wall and that an old Indian was +stretched upon them, watching Casey with one black eye, the other lid +lying in sunken folds across the socket. Casey was for once in his life +speechless. He had not expected to walk straight into the camp of Injun +Jim. He had thought that of course he would have to go on to Round Butte +and glean information there, perhaps; if he were exceptionally lucky he +would meet Indians who would tell him what he wanted to know. But here was +a one-eyed buck, and he was old, and he lived in the Tippipahs,--Injun Jim +by all description. + +"Your squaw says you want tobacco." Casey advanced and held out the red +can. He knew better than to waste words, especially in the beginning. +Indians are peculiar; you must approach them by not seeming to approach at +all. + +The old fellow grunted and turned the can over and over in clawlike hands, +and said he wanted a match and a paper. Casey went farther; he rolled a +cigarette and gave it to him and then rolled one for himself. They smoked, +there in that unsavoury tepee, saying nothing at all. Casey had achieved +the first part of his dream; he was making friends with Injun Jim. + +Later he went down to his own camp, leading William. It was hard to wait +and watch for the proper moment to broach the subject that filled his +mind, and then induce the old Indian to talk. Casey was beginning to +understand why no one had wormed the secret from Jim. When you are +hundreds of miles and many months distant from a problem, it is easy to +decide that you will do so and so, and handle the matter differently from +the bungling men you have heard about. To find Injun Jim and get him to +tell where his gold mine was had seemed fairly easy to Casey when he was +driving stage elsewhere, and could only think about it. But when he +sat on his haunches in the tepee, smoking with Injun Jim and conversing +intermittently of such vital things as the prospect of rain that night, +and the enforced delay in his journey because his pack mule was lame, +speaking of gold mines in a properly disinterested and casual manner was +not at all easy. + +However, Casey ate a very hearty supper and went to bed studying the +problem of somehow winning the old fellow's gratitude. Morning did not +bring a solution, as it properly should have done, but he ransacked his +pack, chose a small glass jar of blackberry jam and a little can of maple +syrup, fortified himself with another red can of tobacco and went up to +the camp, hoping for a streak of good luck. As for medicine, he hadn't a +drop, and if he had he did not know for certain what ailed Injun Jim. He +thought it was just old age and general cussedness. + +Injun Jim ate the jam, using a deadly looking knife and later his fingers, +when the jam got low in the jar. When he had finished that he opened the +can and drank the maple syrup just as he would have drunk whisky,--with a +relish. He smoked Casey's tobacco in the stone pipe which the squaw +brought him and appeared fairly well satisfied with life. But he did not +talk much, and what he did say was of no importance whatever. Not once did +he mention gold mines. + +Casey went back to camp and swore at William as he counted his cans of +luxuries. He did not realize that he had established a dangerous +precedent, but when he led William up to water, meaning to pass by the +camp without stopping, the squaw halted him on his way back and told him +briefly that her man wanted him. + +Injun Jim did not want Casey; he wanted more jam. Casey went back to camp +and got another can, this time of strawberry, and in a spirit of +peevishness added a small tin of the liver paste that had caused him a +night's discomfort. He took them to the tepee, and Injun Jim ate the +complete contents of both cans and seemed disgruntled afterwards; so much +so that he would not talk at all but smoked in brooding silence, staring +with his one malevolent eye at the stained wall of the tepee. + +An hour later he began to move himself restlessly in the blanket and to +mutter Piute words, the full meaning of which Casey did not grasp. But he +would not answer when he was spoken to, so Casey went back to his camp. +And that night Injun Jim was very sick. + +Next day however he was sufficiently recovered to want more jam. Casey +filled his pockets with small cans and doled them out one by one and +gossipped artfully while he watched Injun Jim eat pickles, India relish +and jelly with absolute, inscrutable impartiality. Casey felt sympathetic +qualms in his own stomach just from watching the performance, but he was +talking for a gold mine and he did not stop. + +"You know Willow Pete?" he asked garrulously. "Big, tall man. Drinks +whisky all the time. Willow Pete found a gold mine two moons ago. He's +rich now. Got a big barrel of whisky. Got silk shirts like this--" he +plucked at his own silken sleeve "--got lots of jam all the time. Every +day drinks whisky and eats jam." + +"Hunh!" Injun Jim ran his forefinger dexterously around the inside of a +jelly glass and licked the finger with the nonchalance of a two-year-old. +"Hunh. Got heap big gol' mine, me. No can go ketchum two year, mebby. I +dunno. Feet no damn good for walk. Back no damn good for ride. No ketchum +gol' long time now." + +Casey took a chew of tobacco. This was getting to the point he had been +aiming for, and he needed his wits working at top speed. + +"Well, if you got a gold mine, you can eat jam all the time. Drink whisky, +too," he added, hushing his conscience peremptorily. "If you've got a +white man that's your friend, he might take your gold to town and buy +whisky and jam." + +Injun Jim considered, his finger searching for more jelly. "White man no +good for Injun, mebby. I dunno. Ketchum gol', mebby no givum. Tell all +white mans. Heap mans come. White man horses eat grass. Drink all water. +Shootum deer, shootum rabbit, shootum all damn time. Make big house. Heap +noise all time. No place for Injuns no more. No good." + +"White man not all same, Jim. One white man maybe good friend. Help get +gold, give you half. You buy lots of jam, lots of whisky, lots of silk +shirts, have good time." Casey looked at him straight. He could do it, +because he meant what he said; even the whisky, I regret to say. + +Injun Jim accepted a cigarette and smoked it, saying never a word. Casey +smoked the mate to it and waited, trying to hide how his fingers trembled. +Injun Jim turned himself painfully on the blankets and regarded Casey +steadily with his one suspicious eye. Casey met the look squarely. + +"You got more shirt?" Jim's finger pointed at the blue and green stripes. +"Yo' got more jam? You bringum. Heap sick, me, mebby die. Me no takeum +gol' me die. No wantum, me die. Yo' mebby good man. I dunno. Me ketchum +heap jam, ketchum heap silk shirt, ketchum heap 'bacco, heap whisky, mebby +me tellum you where ketchum gol' mine. Me die, yo' heap rich--" + +He turned suddenly, lifted his right arm and sent his knife swishing +through the air. It sliced its way through the tepee wall and hung there +quivering, Caught by the hilt. Injun Jim called out vicious, Piute words. +"Hahnaga!" he commanded fiercely. "Hahnaga!" + +The lean old squaw came meekly, stood just within the tepee while her lord +spat words at her. She answered apathetically in Piute and backed out. +Presently she returned, driving before her a young squaw whom Casey had +not before seen. The young squaw was holding a hand upon her other arm, +and Casey saw blood between her fingers. The young squaw was not +particularly meek. She stood there sullenly while Injun Jim berated her in +the Indian tongue, and once she muttered a retort that made the old man's +fingers go groping over the blankets for a weapon; whereat the young squaw +laughed contemptuously and went out, sending Casey a side glance and a +fleeting smile as full of coquetry as ever white woman could employ. + +The interruption silenced the old buck upon the subject of gold. Casey sat +there and chewed tobacco and waited, schooling his impatience as best he +could. Injun Jim muttered in Piute, or lay with his one eye closed. But +Casey knew that he did not sleep; his thin lips were drawn too tense for +slumber. So he waited. + +Injun Jim opened his eye suddenly, looked all around the tepee and then +stared fixedly at Casey. "Young squaw no good. Heap much white talk. +Stealum gol' mine, mebby. I dunno." He gestured for his knife, and Casey +got it for him. Injun Jim fondled it evilly. + +"Bimeby killum. Mebby. I dunno. Yo' ketchum jam, ketchum shirt--how many +jam yo' ketchum?" + +Casey meditated awhile. He had not planned an exclusive jam diet for Injun +Jim, therefore his supply was getting low. But at the tenderfoot camp was +much more, enough to last Injun Jim to the border of the happy hunting +grounds,--if he did not loiter too long upon the way. There was no telling +how long Injun Jim would be able to eat jam, but Casey was a good gambler. + +"If I go get a lot more, and get silk shirts--six," he counted with his +fingers, "you tell me where your gold mine is." + +"Yo' bringum heap jam, bringum shirt. Me tellum." His one eye was bright. +"Yo' bringum jam. Yo' bringum shirt. Yol giveum me." He patted the bare +dirt beside the blankets, signifying that he wanted the jam and shirts +there, within reach of his hand. He even twisted his cruel old lips into a +smile. "Me tellum. Me shakeum hand." + +He held out his left hand and Casey clasped it soberly, though he wanted +to jump up and crack his heels together,--as he confided afterwards. Injun +Jim laid the blade of his knife across the clasped hands. + +"Yo' lie me, yo' die quick. Injun god biteum. Mebby snake. I dunno. How +long yo' ketchum heap jam, heap shirt?" + +Now that he knew the way, Casey had in mind a certain short-cut that would +subtract two days from the round trip. He held up his hand, fingers +spread, and got up. Then he thought of the threat and added one of his +own. + +"I've got a God myself, Jim. You lie about that gold mine and the jam'll +choke yuh to death. You can ask anybody." + +Casey went out and straightway packed for the journey. Fate, he told +himself, was playing partners with him. I don't suppose Casey, even in his +most happy-go-lucky mood, had ever been quite so content with life as when +he returned to the camp of the tenderfeet for a mule load of jam and silk +shirts. Trading an old muzzle-loading shotgun to an Indian chief for the +future site of a great city could not have seemed more of a bargain in the +days of our forefathers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +He made the trip almost half a day sooner than he had promised and went +straight up to Injun Jim's camp with his load. He was whistling all the +way up the canyon to the tepee; but then he stopped. + +Inside the hut was the sound of wailing. Casey tried not to guess what +that meant. He tied William and went to the door of the tepee. + +The young squaw came from within and stood just before the opening, +regarding Casey with that maddening, Indian immobility so characteristic +of the race. She did not speak, though Casey waited for fully two minutes; +nor did she move aside to let him go in. Casey grinned disarmingly. + +"Me ketchum heap jam for Injun Jim. Heap silk shirts. Me go tellum," he +said. + +"Are those they?" the young squaw inquired calmly, and pointed to William. +Casey jumped. Any man would, hearing that impeccable sentence issue from +the lips of a squaw with a blanket over her head. + +"Uh-huh," he gulped. + +"My father is dead. He died yesterday from eating too much pickles that +you gave him. I should like to have what you have brought to give him. I +should thank you for the silk shirts. I can fix them so that I can wear +them. I will talk to you pretty soon about that gold mine. I know where it +is. I have helped my father bring the gold away. My father would not tell +you if you gave him all the jam and all the silk in the world. My father +was awful mean. I thought he would maybe kill you and that is why I +listened beside the tepee. I wished to protect you because I know that you +are a good man. Will you give me the silk shirts and the jam?" + +She smiled then, and Casey saw that she had a gold tooth in front, which +further demonstrated how civilized she was. + +"You will excuse the way I am dressed. I have to dress so that I would +please my father. He was very mean with me all the time. He did not like +me because I have gone to school and got a fine educating. He wanted me to +be Indian. But I knew that my father is a chief and that makes me just +what you would say a princess, and I wished to learn how to be educate +like all white ladies. So I took some gold from my father's mine and I +spent the money for going to school. My name," she added impressively, "is +Lucy Lily. What is your name?" + +"Mr.--Casey Ryan," he stuttered, floundering in the mental backwash left +by this flood of amazing eloquence. + +"I like that name. I think I will have you for my friend. Do not talk to +my mother, Hahnaga. She is crazy. She tells lies all the time about me. +She does not like me because I have went to school and got a fine +educating. She is mad all the time when she sees that I am not like her. +Now you give me the silks. I will put on a pretty dress. My father is dead +now and I can do what I wish to do; I am not afraid of my mother. My +mother does not know where to find the gold mine. I am the only one who +knows." + +Casey is a simple soul, too trustful by far. He was embarrassed by the +arch smile which Lucy Lily gave him, and he wished vaguely that she was +the blanket squaw she looked to be. But it never occurred to Casey that +there might be a wily purpose behind her words. He unpacked William and +gave her the things he had brought for Injun Jim, and returned with his +camp outfit to the spring to think things over while he boiled himself a +pot of coffee and fried bacon. + +Lucy Lily appeared like an unwarranted vision before him. Indeed, Casey +likened her coming to a nightmare. Casey no longer wondered why Injun Jim +insisted upon Indian dress for Lucy Lily. + +Now she wore a red silk skirt much spotted with camp grease. A +three-cornered tear in the side had been sewed with long stitches and +coarse white thread, and even Casey was outraged by the un-workmanlike +job. She had on one of the silk shirts, which happened to be striped in +many shades, none of which harmonized with the basic color of the skirt. +She also wore two cheap necklaces whose luster had long since faded, and +her hair was coiled on top of her head and adorned with three combs +containing many white glass settings. Her face was powdered thickly to the +point of her jaws, with very red cheekbones and very red lips. She wore +once-white slippers with French heels much run over at the side and dirty +white silk stockings with great holes in the heels. I must add that the +shirt was too narrow in the bust, so that her arms bulged and there were +gaping spaces between the buttons. And for a belt she wore a wide blue +ribbon very much creased and soiled, as if she had used it for a long +while as a hair bow. + +She sat down upon a rock and watched Casey distractedly bungle his +cooking. She must have had a great deal of initiative for a squaw, for she +plunged straight into the subject which most nearly concerned Casey, and +she was frank to the point of appalling him with her bluntness. Casey is a +rather case-hardened bachelor, but I suspect that Lucy Lily scared him +from the beginning. + +"Do you like me when I have pretty dress on?" she inquired, smoothing the +red silk complacently over her knees. + +Casey swears that he told her it didn't make a darn bit of difference to +him what she wore. If that is the truth, Lucy Lily must have been very +stupid or very persistent, for she went on blandly stating her plans and +her dearest wish. + +"That gold mine I am keeping for my husband," she announced. "It is a +present for a wedding gift for my man. I shall not marry an Indian man. I +am too pretty and I have a gold mine, and I will marry a white man. +Indians don't know what money is good for. I want to live in a town and +wear silk dresses all the time every day and ride in a red automobile and +have lots of rings and go to shows. Have you got lots of money?" + +I don't know what Casey told her. He says he swore he hadn't a nickel to +his name. + +"I think you have got lots of money. I think perhaps you are rich. I don't +see white men walk in the desert with silk shirts and have lots of jam and +pickles if they are not rich. I think you want that gold mine awful bad. +You gave Jim lots of jam so he would tell you. White men want lots of more +money when they have got lots of money. It is like that in shows. If a man +is poor he don't care. If a man is rich he is hunting all the time for +more money and killing people. So I think you are like them rich mans in +shows." + +Casey told her again that he was poor; but she couldn't have believed +him,--not in the face of all the silk and sweets he had displayed. + +"I am awful glad Jim is dead. Now you have gave me the things. We will go +to Tonopah and you will buy a red automobile and we will ride in it. And +you will buy me lots of silk and rings. I shall be a lady like a princess +in a show." + +"Your mother has got something to say about that gold mine," Casey blurted +desperately. "It's hers by rights. She'd have to go fifty-fifty on it. +She's got it coming, and I never cheated anybody yet. I ain't going to +commence on an old squaw." + +"She is a big fool. What you think Hahnaga want of money? The agent he +gives her blankets and tea and flour. If you give Hahnaga silk, I will be +awful mad. She is old. She will die pretty quick." + +"Well," said Casey, "I dunno as any of us has got any cinch on living. +And if there's a gold mine in the family, she sure has got to have an even +break. What about old Jim? Buried him yet?" + +"He is in the tepee. I think Hahnaga will dig a grave. I don't care. I +will go with you, and we will find the gold mine. Then you will buy me--" + +"I'll buy you nothin'!" Casey's tone was emphatic. + +Lucy Lily looked at him steadily. "Before we go for the gold mine we will +go to Tonopah and get marriage, and you will give me a gold ring on my +finger. Then I will show you where is gold so much you will have money to +buy the world full of things." She smiled at him, showing her gold tooth. +"I like you for my man," she said. "I am awful pretty. I have lots of +fellows. I could marry lots of other white mans, but I will marry you." + +"Like hell you will!" snorted Casey, and began to wipe out his frying pan +and empty his coffeepot and make other preparations for instant packing. +"Like hell you'll marry me! Think I'd marry a squaw--?" + +"Then I will not tell you where is the gold! Then I hate you and I will +fix you good! You want that gold mine awful bad. You will have to marry me +before I tell you." + +Casey straightened and looked at her, his frying pan in one hand, his +coffeepot in the other. "Say, I never asked you about the darn mine, did +I? I done my talkin' to Injun Jim. It's you that butted in here on this +deal. Seein' he's dead, I'll talk to his squaw and make a deal with her, +mebby." He looked her over measuringly. "Princess--hunh! I'll tell yuh in +plain American what you are, if yuh don't git outa here. I may want a gold +mine, all right, but I sure don't want it that bad. Git when I tell yuh to +git!" + +A squaw with no education would have got forthwith. But Lucy Lily had +learned to be like white ladies,--or so she said. She screamed at him in +English, in Piute, and chose words in each that no princess should employ +to express her emotions. Her loud denunciations followed Casey to the +tepee, where he stopped and offered his services to Hahnaga as undertaker. + +She accepted stolidly and together they buried Injun Jim, using his best +blanket and not much ceremony. Casey did not know the Piute customs well +enough to follow them, and his version of the white man's funeral service +was simple in the extreme. Hahnaga, however, brought two bottles of +pickles and one jar of preserves which had outlasted Injun Jim's appetite, +and put them in the grave with him, together with his knife and an old +rifle and his pipe. + +To dig a grave and afterwards heap the dirt symmetrically over a discarded +body takes a little time, no matter how cursory is the proceeding. Casey +ceased to hear Lucy Lily's raucous voice and so thought that she had +settled down. He misjudged the red princess. He discovered that when he +went back to where William had stood. + +He no longer stood there. He was gone, pack and all, and once more Casey +stood equipped for desert journeying with shirt, overalls, shoes and +socks, and his old Stetson, and with half a plug of tobacco, a pipe and a +few matches in his pocket. On the bush where William had been tied a piece +of paper was impaled and fluttered in the wind. Casey jerked it off and +read the even, carefully formed script,--and swore. + + "_Dear Sir:_ I am going to Tonopah. If you try to come I will tell the +sherf to coming and see Jim and put you in jail. I will tell the judge you +killed him and the sherf will put you in jail and hung you. Those are fine +shirts. I will wear them silk. As ever your friend, + Yours truly, + LUCY LILY." + +Casey sat down on a rock to think it over. The squaw was moving about +within the hut, collecting the pitifully few belongings which Lucy Lily +had disdained to steal. An Indian does not like to stay where one has +died. + +Casey could overtake Lucy Lily, if he walked fast and did not stop when +dark fell, but he did not want to overtake her. He was not alarmed at her +threat of the sheriff, but he did not want to see her again or hear her or +think of her. + +So Casey tore up the note and went and begged a little food from Hahnaga; +then he broached the subject of the gold mine. The squaw listened, looking +at him with dull black eyes and a face like a stamped-leather portrait of +an Indian. She shook her head and pointed down the gulch. + +"No find gol', bad girl. I think killum my mans. I dunno. No fin' gol'-- +Jim he no tellum. No tellum me, no tellum Lucy, no tellum nobody. I think, +all time Jim hide." She made a gesture as of one covering something with +dirt. "Lucy all time try for fin' gol'. Jim he no likeum. Lucy my sister +girl. Bad. No good. All time heap mean. All time tellum heap big lie so +Indian no likeum. One time take monee, go 'way off. School for write. Come +back for fin' gol', make Jim tellum. Jim sick long time. Jim no tellum. +Jim all time mad for Lucy. Las' night--talk mean--mebby fight--Jim he die +quick. Lucy say killum me, I tell. + +"Now me go my brother. Walk two day. Give you grub--no got many grub. You +takeum gol' you fin'. Me no care. No want. You don' give Lucy. Lucy bad +girl all time. No fin' gol'--Jim he no tellum. I dunno." + +That left Casey exactly where he had been before he found Injun Jim. There +was no getting around it; the squaw repeated her statements twice, which +Casey thought was probably more talking that she had done before in the +course of six months. She impressed Casey as being truthful. She really +did not know any more about Injun Jim's mine than did Casey. Or perhaps a +little more, because she knew, poor thing, just how drunk Jim could get on +the whisky they gave him for the gold. He used to beat her terribly when +he came to camp drunk. Casey learned that much, though it didn't help him +any. + +Hahnaga did not seem to think that anything need be done about the manner +of Jim's death. She said he was heap sick and would die anyway, or words-- +not many--to that effect. Casey decided to go on and mind his own +business. He did not see why, he said, the county of Nye should be let in +for a lot of expense on Injun Jim's account, even if Jim had been killed. +And as for punishing Lucy Lily, he was perfectly willing that it should be +done, only he did not want to do it. I have always believed that Casey was +afraid she might possibly marry him in spite of himself if she were in his +immediate neighborhood long enough. + +They made themselves each a small pack of food and what was more vital, +water, and went their different ways. Hahnaga struck off to the west, to +her brother at the end of Forty-Mile Canyon. At least, that was where she +said her brother mostly camped. Casey retraced his steps for the second +time to the camp of the tenderfeet. Loco Canyon, Casey calls the place, +claiming it by right of discovery. + +Now I don't see, and possibly you won't see, either, what the devil's +lantern had to do with Casey's bad luck. Casey maintains rather stubbornly +that it had a great deal to do with it. First, he says, it got him all off +the trail following it, and was almost the death of him and William. Next, +he declares that it drove him to Lucy Lily and had fully intended that he +should be tied up to her. Then he suspects that it had something to do +with Injun Jim's dying just when he did, and he has another count or two +against the lantern and will tell you them, and back them with much +argument, if you nag him into it. + +It taught him things, he says. And once, after we had talked the matter +over and had fallen into silence, he broke out with a sentence I have +never forgotten, nor the tone in which he said it, nor the way he glared +into the fire, his pipe in his hand where he always had it when he was +extremely in earnest. + +"The three darndest, orneriest, damndest things on earth," said Casey, as +if he were intoning a text, "is a Ford, or a goat, or an Injun. You can +ask anybody yuh like if that ain't so." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Casey was restless, and his restlessness manifested itself in a most +unusual pessimism. Twice he picked up "float" that showed the clean indigo +stain of silver bromyrite in spots the size of a split pea, and cast the +piece from him as if it were so much barren limestone, without ever +investigating to see where it had come from. Little as I know about +mineral, I am sure that one piece at least was rich; high-grade, if ever I +saw any. But Casey merely grunted when I spoke to him about it. + +"Maybe it is. A coupla hundred ounces, say. What's that, even with silver +at a dollar an ounce? It ain't good enough for Casey, and what I'm wastin' +my time for, wearing the heels off'n my shoes prospectin' Starvation, is +somethin' I can't tell yuh." He looked at me with his pale-blue, unwinking +stare for a minute. + +"Er--I can--and I guess the quicker it's out the better I'll feel." + +He took out his familiar plug of tobacco, always nibbled around the edges, +always half the size of his four fingers. I never saw Casey with a fresh +plug in his pocket, and I never saw him down to one chew; it is one of the +little mysteries in his life that I never quite solved. + +"I been thinkin' about that devil's lantern we seen the other night," he +said, when he had returned to his pocket the plug with a corner gone. +"They's something funny about that--the way it went over there and stood +on the Tippipahs again. I ain't sooperstitious. But I can't git things +outa my head. I want to go hunt fer that mine of Injun Jim's. This here is +just foolin' around--huntin' silver. I want to see where that free gold +comes from that he used to peddle. It's mine--by rights. He was goin' to +tell me where it was, you recollect, and he woulda if I hadn't overfed him +on jam--or if that damn squaw hadn't took a notion for marryin'. I let her +stampede me--and that's where I was wrong. I shoulda stayed." + +I was foolish enough to argue with him. I had talked with others about the +mine of Injun Jim, and one man (who owned cattle and called mines a +gamble) told me that he doubted the whole story. A prospectors' bubble, he +called it. Free gold, he insisted, did not belong in this particular +formation; it ran in porphyry, he said,--and then he ran into mineralogy +too technical for me now. I repeated his statement, however, and saw Casey +grin tolerantly. + +"Gold is where yuh find it," he retorted, and spat after a hurrying +lizard. "They said gold couldn't be found in that formation around +Goldfield. But they found it, didn't they?" + +Casey looked at me steadily for a minute and then came out with what was +really in his mind. "You stake me to grub and a couple of burros an' let +me go hunt the Injun Jim, and I'll locate yuh in on it when I find it. And +if I don't find it, I'll pay yuh back for the outfit. And, anyway, you're +makin' money off'n my bad luck right along, ain't yuh? Wasn't it me you +was writin' up, these last few days?" + +"I was--er--reconsidering that devil's lantern yarn you told me, Casey. +But the thing doesn't work out right. It sounds unfinished, as you told +it. I don't know that I can do anything with it, after all." I was +truthful with him; you all remember that I was dissatisfied with the way +Casey ended it. Just walking back across the desert and quitting the +search,--it lacked, somehow, the dramatic climax. I could have built one, +of course. But I wanted to test out my theory that a man like Casey will +live a complete drama if he is left alone. Casey is absolutely natural; he +goes out after life without waiting for it to come to him, and he will +forget all about his own interests to help a stranger,--and above all, he +builds his castles hopefully as a child and seeks always to make them +substantial structures afterwards. If any man can prove my theory, that +man is Casey Ryan. So I led him along to say what dream held him now. + +"Unfinished? Sure it's unfinished! I quit, didn't I tell yuh? It ain't +goin' to be finished till I git out and find that mine. I been studyin' +things over. I never seen one of them lights till I started out to find +Injun Jim's mine. If I'd a-gone along with no bad luck, I wouldn't never +a-found that tenderfoot camp, would I? It was keepin' the light at my back +done that--and William not likin' the look of it, either. And you gotta +admit it was the light mostly that scared them young dudes off and left me +the things. And if you'd of saw Injun Jim, you'd of known same as I that +it was the jam and the silk shirts that loosened him up. Nothin' in my +own pack coulda won him over,--" + +"It's all right that far," I cut in. "But then he died, and you were set +afoot and all but married by as venomous a creature as I ever heard of, +and the thing stops right there, Casey, where it shouldn't." + +"And that's what I'm kickin' about! Casey Ryan ain't the man to let it +stop there. I been thinkin' it over sence that devil's lantern showed up +again, and went and set over there on Tippipah. Mebby I misjudged the +dog-gone thing. Mebby it's settin' somewheres around that gold mine. Funny +it never showed up no other time and no other place. I been travelin' the +desert off'n on all my life, and I never seen anything like it before. +And I can tell yuh this much: I been wanting that mine too darn long to +give up now. If you don't feel like stakin' me for the trip, I'll go back +to Lund and have a talk with Bill. Bill's a good old scout and he'll +stake me to an outfit, anyway." + +That was merely Casey's inborn optimism speaking. Bill was a good old +scout, all right, but if he would grubstake Casey to go hunting the Injun +Jim mine, then Bill had changed considerably. + +The upshot of it was that we left Starvation the next morning, headed for +town. And two days after that I had pulled myself out of bed at daybreak +to walk down to his camp under the mesquite grove just outside of town. I +drank a cup of coffee with him and wished him luck. Casey did not talk +much. His mind was all taken up with the details of his starting,--whether +to trust his water cans on the brown burro or the gray, and whether he had +taken enough "cold" shoes along for the mule. And he set down his cup of +coffee to go rummaging in a kyack just to make sure that he had the hoof +rasp and shoeing hammer safe. + +He was packed and moving up the little hill out of the grove before the +sun had more than painted a cloud or two in the east. A dreamer once more +gone to find the end of his particular rainbow, I told myself, as I +watched him out of sight. I must admit that I hoped, down deep in the +heart of me, that Casey would fall into some other unheard-of experience +such as had been his portion in the past. I felt much more certain that he +would get into some scrape than I did that he would find the Injun Jim, +and I was grinning inside when I went back to town; though there was a bit +of envy in the smile,--one must always envy the man who keeps his dreams +through all the years and banks on them to the end. For myself, I hadn't +chased a rainbow for thirty years, and I could not call myself the better +for it, either. + + * * * * * + +In September the lower desert does not seem to realize that summer is +going. The wind blows a little harder, perhaps, and frequently a little +hotter; the nights are not quite so sweltering, and the very sheets on +one's bed do not feel so freshly baked. But up on the higher mesas there +is a heady quality to the wind that blows fresh in your face. There is an +Indian-summery haze like a thin veil over the farthest mountain ranges. +Summer is with you yet; but somehow you feel that winter is coming. + +In a country all gray and dull yellow and brown, you find strange, +beautiful tints no artist has yet prisoned with his paints. You dream in +spite of yourself, and walk through a world no more than half real, a +world peopled with your thoughts. + +Casey did, when the burros left him in peace long enough. They were +misleading, pot-bellied animals that Casey hazed before him toward the +Tippipahs. They never showed more than slits of eyes beneath their +drooping lids, yet they never missed seeing whatever there was to see, and +taking advantage of every absent-minded moment when Casey was thinking of +the Injun Jim, perhaps. They were fast-walking burros when they were +following a beaten trail and Casey was hard upon their heels, but when his +attention wandered they showed a remarkable amount of energy in finding +blind trails and following them into some impracticable wash where Casey +wasted a good deal of time in extricating them. He said he never saw +burros that hated so to turn around and go back into the road, and he +never saw two burros get out of sight as quickly as they could when they +thought he wasn't watching. They would choose different directions and +hide from him separately,--but once was enough for Casey. He lost them +both for an hour in the sand pits twelve miles out of town, and after that +he tied them nose to tail and himself held a rope attached to the +hindmost, and so made fair time with them, after all. + +The mule, Casey said, was just plain damn mule, sloughed off from the +army, blase beyond words,--any words at Casey's command, at least. A +lopeared buckskin mule with a hanging lower lip and a chronic +tail-switching, that shacked along hour after hour and saved Casey's legs +and, more particularly, a bunion that had developed in the past year. + +Casey knew the country better than he had known it on his first +unprofitable trip into the Tippipahs. He avoided Furnace Lake, keeping +well around the Southern rim of it and making straight for Loco Canyon and +the spring there while his water cans still had a pleasant slosh. There he +rested his longears for a day, and disinterred certain tenderfoot luxuries +which he had cached when he was there last time. And when he set out again +he went straight on to the old stone hut where Injun Jim had camped. The +tepee was gone, burned down according to Indian custom after a death, as +he had expected. The herd of Indian ponies were nowhere in sight. +Hahnaga's brother, he guessed, had driven them off long ago. + +Casey had worked out a theory, bit by bit, and with characteristic +optimism he had full faith that it would prove a fact later on. He wanted +to start his search from the point where Injun Jim had started, and he had +rather a plausible reason for doing so. + +Injun Jim was an Indian of the old school, and the old school did a great +deal of its talking by signs. Casey had watched Jim with that pale, +unwinking stare that misses nothing within range, and he had read the +significance of Jim's unconscious gestures while he talked. It had been +purely subconscious; Casey had expected the exact location of the mine in +words, and perhaps with a crudely accurate map of Jim's making. But now he +remembered Jim's words, certain motions made by the skinny hands, and from +them he laid his course. + +"He was layin' right here--facin' south," Casey told himself, squatting on +his heels within the rock circle that marked the walls of the tepee. "He +said, 'Got heap big gol' mine, me--' and he turned his hand that way." +Casey squinted at the distant blue ridge that was an unnamed spur of the +Tippipahs. "It's far enough so an old buck like him couldn't make it very +well. Fifteen mile, anyway--mebby twenty or twenty-five. And from the sign +talk he made whilst he was talkin', I'd guess it's nearer twenty than +fifteen. There's that two-peak butte--looks like that would be about right +for distance. And it's dead in line--them old bucks don't waggle their +hands permiskus when they talk. Old Jim woulda laid on his hands if he'd +knovved what they was tellin' me; but even an ornery old devil like him +gits careless when they git old. Casey hits straight fer Two Peak." + +That's the way he got his bearings; just remembering the unguarded motion +of Injun Jim's grimy hand and adding thereto his superficial knowledge of +the country and his own estimate of what an old fellow like Jim could call +a long journey. With this and the unquestioning faith in his dream that +was a part of him, Casey threw his favorite "packer's hitch" across the +packed burros at dawn next morning, boarded his buckskin mule and set off +hopefully across the barren valley, heading straight for the distant butte +he called Two Peak. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +I don't suppose Casey Ryan ever started out to do something for himself-- +something he considered important to his own personal welfare and +happiness--without running straight into some other fellow's business and +stopping to lend a hand. He says he can't remember being left alone at any +time in his life to follow the beckoning finger of his own particular +destiny. + +Casey had made camp that night in one of several deep gulches that ridged +the butte with two peaks. We had been lucky in our burro buying, and he +had two of the fastest walking jacks in the country, so that he was able +to give them a good long nooning and still reach the foot of the butte and +make camp well before sundown. For the first time since he first heard of +the Injun Jim gold mine, Casey felt that he was really "squared away" to +the search. As he sat there blowing his unhurried breath upon a blue +granite cup of coffee to cool it, his memory slanted back along the years +when he had said that some day he would go and hunt for the Injun Jim mine +that was so rich a ten-pound lard bucket full of the ore had been known to +yield five hundred dollars' worth of gold. Well, it had been a long time +since he first said that to himself, but here he was, and to-morrow he +would begin his search with daylight, starting with this gulch he was in +and working methodically over every foot of Two Peak. + +He took two long, satisfying swallows of coffee and poised the cup and +listened. After a minute had gone in that way, he finished the coffee in +gulps and stood up, dangling the empty cup with a finger crooked in the +handle. From somewhere not more than a long rifle-shot away, a Ford was +coughing under full pressure of gas and with at least one dirty spark plug +to give it a spasmodic stutter. While Casey stood there listening, the +stutter slowed and stopped with one wheezy cough. That was all. + +"They'll have to clean up her hootin'-annies before they git outa here," +Casey observed shrewdly, having intimate and sometimes unpleasant +knowledge of Fords and their peculiar ailments. "And I wonder what the +sufferin' Chris'mas they're doin' here, anyway. If it's huntin' the Injun +Jim they're after, the quicker they scrape the sut off them dingbats and +git outa here, the healthier they'll ride. You ask anybody if Casey Ryan's +liable to back up now he's on the ground and squared away!" + +He stood there uneasily for a minute or two longer, caught a whiff of his +bacon scorching and stooped to its rescue. Then he fried a bannock hastily +in the bacon grease, folded two slices of bacon within it and ate in a +hurry, keeping an ear cocked for any further sounds from the concealed +car. + +He finished eating without having heard more and piled his dishes without +washing them. I don't suppose he had used more than ten minutes at the +longest in eating his supper. That was about the limit of Casey's inaction +when he smelled a mystery or a scrap. This had the elements of both, and +he started out forthwith to trail down the Ford, wiping crumbs from his +mouth and getting out his plug of tobacco as he went. + +In broken country sounds are deceptive as to direction, but Casey was +lucky enough to walk straight toward the spot, which was over a hump in +the gulch, a sort of backbone dividing it in two narrow branches there at +its mouth. He had noticed when he rode toward it that it was ridged in the +middle, and had chosen the left-hand branch for no reason at all except +that it happened to be a little smoother traveling for his animals. + +He topped the ridge and came full upon a camp below, almost within calling +distance from where he first sighted it. There was a stone hut that could +not possibly contain more than two small rooms, and there was a tent +pitched not far away. There seemed to be a spring just beyond the cabin. +Casey saw the silver gleam of water there, and a strip of green grass, and +a juniper bush or two. + +But these details were not important at the moment. What sent him down the +hill in an uneven trot was a group of three that stood beside a car. From +their voices, and the gestures that were being made, here was a quarrel +building rapidly into a fight. To prove it the smallest person in the +group suddenly whipped out a revolver and pointed it at the two. Casey saw +the reddening sunlight strike upon the barrel with a brief shine, +instantly quenched when the gun was thrust forward toward the other two +whom it threatened. + +"You get out of my camp and out of my sight just as fast as your legs can +take you. This car belongs to me, and you're not going to touch it. You've +got your wages--more than your wages, you great hulking shirks! A fine +exhibition you're making of yourselves, I must say! You thought you could +bluff me--that I'd stand meekly by and let you two bullies have your own +way about it, did you? You even waited until you had gorged yourselves on +food you've never earned, before you started your highwaymen performance. +You made sure of one more good meal, you--you _hogs._ Now go, before I +empty this gun into the two of you!" + +Casey stopped, puffing a little, I suppose. He is not so young as when +they called him the Fightin' Stagedriver, and he had done his long day of +travel. The three did not know that he was there, they were so busy with +their quarrel. The woman's voice was sharp with contempt, but it was not +loud and there was not a tremble in any tone of it. The gun she held was +steady in her hand, but one man snarled at her and one man laughed. It was +the kind of laugh a woman would hate to hear from a man she was defying. + +"Aw, puddown the popgun! Nobody's scared of it--er you. It ain't loaded, +and if it was loaded you couldn't hit nothin'. No need to be scared +'long's a woman's pointing a gun at yuh. Crank 'er up, agin, Ole. Don't +worry none about _her._ She can't stop nothin', not even her jawin'. Go +awn, start the damn Lizzie an' let's go." + +Ole bent to the cranking, then complained that the switch must be off. His +companion growled that it was nothing of the kind and kept his narrowed +gaze fixed upon the woman. + +She spied Casey standing there, a few rods beyond the car. The gun dropped +in her hand so that its aim was no longer direct. The man who faced her +jumped and caught her wrist, and the gun went off, the bullet singing ten +feet above Casey's head. + +A little girl with flaxen curls and patched overalls on screamed and +rushed up to the man, gripping him furiously around the legs just above +the knees and trying her little best to shake him. "You leave my mamma +alone!" she cried shrilly. + +Casey took a hand then,--a hand with a rock in it, I must explain. He +managed to kick Ole harshly in the ribs, sending him doubled sidewise and +yelping, as he passed him. He laid the other man out senseless with the +rock which landed precisely on the back of the head just under his hat. + +The woman--Casey had mistaken her for a man at first, because she wore bib +overalls and had her hair bobbed and a man's hat on--dropped the gun and +held her wrist that showed angry red finger prints. She smiled at Casey +exactly as if nothing much had happened. + +"Thank you very much indeed. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to +manage the situation. It was growing rather awkward, because I should have +been compelled to shoot them both, I expect, before I was through. And I +dreaded a mess. Wounded, I should have had them on my hands to take care +of--their great hulks!--and dead I should have had to bury them, and I +detest digging in this rocky soil. You really did me a very great--" + +Her eyes ranged to something behind Casey and widened at what they saw. +Casey whirled about, ducked a hurtling monkey wrench and rushed Ole, who +was getting up awkwardly, his eyes malevolent. He made a very thorough job +of thrashing Ole, and finished by knocking him belly down over the +un-hooded engine of the Ford. + +"I hope Jawn doesn't suffer from that," the little woman commented +whimsically. "Babe, run and get that rope over there and take it to the +gentleman so he can tie Ole's hands together. Then he can't be naughty any +more. Hurry, Baby Girl." + +Baby Girl hurried, her curls whipping around her face as she ran. She +brought a coil of cotton clothesline to Casey, looking up at him with +wide, measuring eyes of a tawny shade like sunlight shining through thin +brown silk. "I wish you'd give Joe a beating too," she said with grave +earnestness. "He's a badder man than Ole. He hurt my mamma. Will you give +Joe a beating and tie his naughty hands jus' like that when he wakes up?" +She lifted her plump little body on her scuffed toes, her brown, dimpled +fingers clutching the radiator to hold her steady while she watched Casey +tie Ole's naughty hands behind his back. + +"Now will you tie Joe's naughty hands jus' like that? Don't use up all the +rope! My mamma hasn't got any more rope, and you have to tie--" + +"Babe! Come over here and don't bother the gentleman. Stand away over +there so you can't hear the naughty words Ole is saying." The little woman +smiled, but not much. Casey, glancing up from the last efficient knot, +felt suddenly sorry that he had not first gagged Ole. Casey had not +thought of it before; mere cussing was natural to him as breathing, and he +had scarcely been aware of the fact that Ole was speaking. Now he cuffed +the Swede soundly and told him to shut up, and yanked him off the car. + +"Joe is regaining consciousness. He'll be nasty to handle as a rabid +coyote if you wait much longer. Just cut the rope. It's my clothesline, +but we must not balk at trifles in a crisis like this." The little woman +had recovered her gun and was holding it ready for Joe in case the +predicted rabidness became manifest. + +Casey tied Joe very thoroughly while consciousness was slowly returning. +The situation ceased to be menacing; it became safe and puzzling and even +a bit mysterious. Casey reached for his plug, remembered his manners and +took away his hand. Robbed of his customary inspiration he stood +undecided, scowling at the feebly blinking ruffian called Joe. + +"It's very good of you not to ask what it's all about," said the little +woman, taking off the man's hat and shaking back her hair like a +schoolgirl. "I have some mining claims here--four of them. My husband left +them to me, and since that's all he did leave I have been keeping up the +assessment work every year. Last year I had enough money to buy Jawn." She +nodded toward the Ford. "I outfitted and came out here with an old fellow +I'd known for years, kept camp until he'd done the assessment work, and +paid him off and that was all there was to it. + +"This summer the old man is prospecting the New Jerusalem, I expect. He +died in April. I hired these two scoundrels. I was foolish enough to pay +half their wages in advance, because they told me a tale of owing money to +a widow for board and wanting to pay her. I have," she observed, "a +weakness for widows. And they have just pretended to be working the +claims. I hurt my ankle so that I haven't been able to walk far for a +month, and they took advantage of it and have been prospecting around on +their own account, at my expense, while I religiously marked down their +time and fed them. They have located four claims adjoining mine, and put +up their monuments and done their location work in the past month, if you +please, while I supposed they were working for me." + +"D'they locate you in on 'em?" + +"Locate me--in? You mean, as a partner? They emphatically did not! I went +up to the claims to-day, saw that they had not done a thing since the last +time I was there; they had even taken away my tools. So we tracked them, +Baby and I, and found their location monuments just over the hill, and saw +where they had been working. So to-night I asked them about it, and they +were very defiant and very cool and decided that they were through out +here and would go to town. They were _borrowing_ Jawn--so they said. I was +objecting, naturally. I was quite against being left alone out here, +afoot, with Babe on my hands. It will soon be coming on cold," she said. +"I'd have been in a fine predicament, with supplies for only about a month +longer. And I must get the assessment work done, too, you know." + +"D'you want 'em to stay and finish your work?" Casey reached out with his +foot and pushed Joe down upon his back again. + +The little woman looked down at Joe and across at Ole by the car. "No, +thank you. I should undoubtedly put strychnine in their coffee if they +stayed, I should hate the sight of them so. I have some that I brought for +the pack rats. No, I don't want them--" + +She had sounded very cool and calm, and she had impressed Casey as being +quite as fearless as himself. But now he caught a trembling in her voice, +and he distinctly saw her lip quiver. He was so disturbed that he went +over and slapped Ole again and told him to shut up, though Ole was not +saying a word. + +"Where's their bed-rolls?" Casey asked, when he turned toward her again. +She pointed to the tent, and Casey went and dragged forth the packed +belongings of the two. It was perfectly plain that they had deliberately +planned their desertion, for everything was ready to load into the car. + +Casey went staggering to the Ford, dumped the canvas rolls in and yanked +Ole up by the collar, propelling him into the tonneau. Then he came after +Joe. + +"If you can drive, you'll mebby feel better if yuh go along," he said to +the woman. "I'm goin' to haul 'em far enough sos't they won't feel like +walkin' back to bother yuh, and seein' you don't know me, mebby you better +do the drivin'. Then you'll know I ain't figurin' on stealin' your car and +makin' a getaway." + +"I can drive, of course," she acquiesced. "Not that I'd be afraid to trust +Jawn with you, but they're treacherous devils, those two, and they might +manage somehow to make you trouble if you go alone. Jawn is a +temperamental car, and he demands all of one's attention at times." + +She walked over to the car, reached out in the gathering dusk and fingered +the carburetor adjustment. "When they first revealed their plan of making +away with Jawn," she drawled, "I came up like this and remonstrated. And +while I did so I reached over and turned the screw and shut off the gas +feed. Jawn balked with them, of course--but they never guessed why!" + +The two in the tonneau muttered something in undertones while the little +woman smiled at them contemptuously. Casey thought that was pretty smart-- +to stall the car so they couldn't get away with it--but he did not tell +her so. There was something about the little woman which restrained him +from talking freely and speaking his mind bluntly as was his habit. + +He cranked the car, waited until she had the adjustment correct, and then +went back and stood on the running board, holding with his left hand to a +brace of the top and keeping his right free in case he should need it. The +little woman helped the little girl into the front seat, slid her own +small person behind the wheel and glanced round inquiringly, with a +flattering recognition of his masculine right to command. + +"Just head towards town and keep a-going till I say when," he told her, +and she nodded and sent Jawn careening down over the rough tracks which +Casey had missed by a quarter of a mile or less. + +She could drive, Casey admitted, almost as recklessly as he could. He had +all he wanted to do, hanging on without being snapped off at some of the +sharp turns she made. The road wandered down the valley for ten miles, +crept over a ridge, then dove headlong into another wide, shallow valley +seamed with washes and deep cuts. The little woman never eased her pace +except when there was imminent danger of turning Jawn bottomside up in a +wash. So in a comparatively short time they were over two summits and +facing the distant outline of Crazy Woman Hills. They had come, Casey +judged, about twenty miles, and they had been away from camp less than an +hour. + +Casey leaned forward and spoke to the woman, and she stopped the car +obediently. Casey pulled open the door and motioned, and the Swede came +stumbling out, sullenly followed by Joe, who muttered thickly that he was +sick and that the back of his head was caved in. Casey did not reply, but +heaved their bedding out after them. With the little woman holding her gun +at full aim, he untied the two and frugally stowed the rope away in the +car. + +"Now, you git," he ordered them sternly. "There's four of us camped just +acrost the ridge from this lady's place, and we'll sure keep plenty of +eyes out. If you got any ideas about taking the back trail, you better +think agin, both of yuh. You'd never git within shootin' distance of this +lady's camp. I'm Casey Ryan that's speakin' to yuh. You ask anybody about +me. Git!" + +Sourly they shouldered their bed-rolls and went limping down the trail, +and when their forms were only blurs beyond the shine of the headlights, +the little woman churned Jawn around somehow in the sand and drove back +quite as recklessly as she had come. Casey, bouncing alone in the rear +seat, did a great deal of thinking, but I don't believe he spoke once. + +"Casey Ryan, I have never had much reason for feeling gratitude toward a +man, but I am truly grateful to you. You are a man and a gentleman." The +little woman had driven close to the stone cabin and had turned and rested +her arm along the back of the front seat, half supporting the sleeping +child while she looked full at Casey. She had left the engine running, +probably for sake of the headlights, and her eyes shone dark and bright in +the crisp starlight. + +"'Tain't worth mentionin'," Casey protested awkwardly, and got out. + +"I've been wondering if I could get a couple of you men to do the work on +my claims," she went on. "I'm paying four dollars and board, and it would +be a great nuisance to make the long trip to town and find a couple of men +I would dare trust. In fact, it's going to be pretty hard for me to trust +any one, after this experience. If you men can take the time from your own +business--" + +"I don't know about the rest," Casey hedged uncomfortably. "They was +figurin' on doing something else. But I guess I could finish up the work +for yuh, all right. How deep is your shaft?" + +"It's a tunnel," she corrected. "My husband started four years ago to +drift in to the contact. He'd gone fifty feet when he died. I don't know +that I'll strike the body of ore when I do reach the contact, but it's the +only hope. I'm working the four claims as a group, and the tunnel is now +eighty feet. Those two brigands have wasted a month for me, or it would be +a hundred. One man can manage, though of course it's slower and harder. I +have powder enough, unless they stole it from me. They did about five feet +all told, and tore down part of my wall, I discovered to-day, chasing a +stringer of fairly rich ore, thinking, I suppose, that it would lead to a +pocket. The old man I had last year found a pocket of high grade that +netted me a thousand dollars." + +Casey threw up his head. "Gold?" he asked. + +"Mostly silver. I sent a truck out from town after the ore, shipped it by +express and still made a thousand dollars clear. There wasn't quite a ton +and a half of it, though. You'll come, then, and work for me? I wish you +could persuade one of your partners to help. It's getting well into +September already." + +"I wouldn't depend on 'em," Casey demurred uncomfortably. "I can do it +alone. And I'll board m'self, if you'd ruther. I've got grub enough. I +guess I better be gittin' along back to camp--if you ain't afraid to stay +alone. Them two couldn't git back much b'fore daylight, if they run all +the way; and by that time I'll be up and on the lookout," and Casey swung +off without waiting for an answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Casey was out of his blankets long before daylight the next morning and +sitting behind a bush on the ridge just back of the cabin, his rifle +across his knees. He hoped that his mention of three other men would +discourage those two from the attempt to revenge themselves, much as a +lone woman would tempt them. But he was not going to take any risk +whatever. + +At sunrise he went back to his camp--which he had moved closer to the +cabin, by the way, just barely keeping it out of sight--and cooked a hasty +breakfast. When he returned the little woman was ready to show him her +claims, and she seemed to have forgotten those two who had been so +ignominiously hauled away and dropped like unwanted cats beside the road. +She inquired again about Casey's partners, and Casey lied once more and +said that they had gone on over the range, prospecting. + +I don't know why he did not tell the little woman that he had lied to Ole +and Joe and let it go at that. But he seemed to dread having her discover +that he had lied at all, and so he kept on lying about those three +imaginary men. Perhaps he had a chivalrous instinct that she would feel +safer, more at ease, if she thought that others were somewhere near. At +any rate he did not tell her that his only partners were two burros and a +mule. + +I don't know what the little woman's opinion of Casey was, except that in +the first enthusiasm of her gratitude to him she had called him a man and +a gentleman. She drove a bargain with him, as she supposed. She would pay +him so much more per day if he preferred to board himself, and having +named the amount, Casey waited two minutes, as if he were meditating upon +the matter, and then replied that it suited him all right. + +Casey did not think much of her claims, though he did not tell her so. In +his opinion that tunnel should have been driven into the hill at a +different point, where the indications of mineral were much stronger and +the distance to the contact much less. A light, varying vein had been +followed at an incline, and Casey, working alone, was obliged to wheel +every pound of dirt up a rather steep grade to the dump outside. The rock +was hard to work in, so that it took him a full half a day to put in four +shots, and then he would be likely to find that they had "bootlegged." The +tunnel also faced the south, from where the wind nearly always blew, so +that the gas and smoke from his shots would hang in there sometimes for a +full twenty-four hours, making it impossible for him to work. + +The little woman seemed slightly surprised when Casey told her, at the end +of the first week, to knock off three days on account of gas. She and the +little girl came to his camp next day and brought Casey a loaf of light +bread and interrupted him in the act of shaving. The little woman looked +at the two burros and at the mule, measured the camp outfit with her keen +gray eyes, looked at Casey who had nicked his chin, and became thoughtful. + +After that she stopped calling him Mr. Ryan and addressed him as Casey +Ryan instead, with a little teasing inflection in her voice. Once Casey +happened to mention Lund, and when he saw her look of surprise he +explained that he drove a stage out of Lund, for awhile. + +"Oh! So you _are_ that Casey Ryan!" she said. "I might have known it." She +laughed to herself, but she did not say why, and Casey was afraid to ask. +He could remember so many incidents in his past that he would not want the +little woman to know about, and he was afraid that it might be one of them +at which she was laughing. + +She formed the habit of coming up to the tunnel every day, with Babe +chattering along beside her, swinging herself on her mother's hand. At +first she said whimsically that she had found it best to keep an eye on +her miners, as if that explained her coming. But she always had something +good to eat or drink. Once she brought a small bucket of hot chocolate, +which Casey gulped down heroically and smacked his lips afterwards. Casey +hated chocolate, too, so I think you may take it for granted that by then +he was a goner. + +He used to smoke his pipe and watch the little woman and Babe go +"high-grading" along the tunnel wall. That was what she called it and +pretended that she expected to find very rich ore concealed somewhere. It +struck him one day, quite suddenly, that the Little Woman (I may as well +begin to use capitals, because Casey always called her that in his mind, +and the capitals were growing bigger every day) the Little Woman never +seemed to notice his smoking, or to realize that it is a filthy habit and +immoral and degrading, as that other woman had done. + +He began to notice other things, too; that the Little Woman helped him a +lot, on afternoons when help was most likely to be appreciated. She +sometimes "put down a hole" all by herself, skinning a knuckle now and +then with the lightest "single-jack" and saying _"darn!"_ quite as a +matter of course. + +And once, when the rock was particularly hard, she happened along and +volunteered to turn the drill while Casey used the "double-jack", which I +suppose you know is the big hammer that requires two hands to pound the +drill while another turns it slightly after each blow, so that the bitted +end will chew its way into hard rock. + +You aren't all of you miners, so I will explain further that to drill into +rock with a double-jack and steel drill is not sport for greenhorns +exactly. The drill-turner needs a lot of faith and a little nerve, because +one blow of the double-jack may break a hand clasped just below the head +of the drill. And the man with the double-jack needs a steady nerve, too, +and some experience in swinging the big hammer true to the head of the +drill,--unless he enjoys cracking another man's bones. + +Casey Ryan prides himself upon being able to swing a double-jack as well +as any man in the country. It is his boast that he never yet broke the +skin on the hand of his drill-turner. So I shall have to let you take it +for granted that the Little Woman's presence and help was more unnerving +than a wildcat on Casey's back. For, while the first, second and third +blows fell true on the drill, the fourth went wild. Casey owns that he was +in a cold sweat for fear he might hit her. So he did. She was squatted on +her heels, steadying one elbow on her knee. The double-jack struck her +hand, glanced and landed another blow on her knee; one of those terribly +painful blows that take your breath and make you see stars without +crippling you permanently. + +Casey doesn't like to talk about it, but once he growled that he did about +every damn-fool thing he could with a double-jack, except brain her. The +Little Woman gave one small scream and went over backward in a faint, and +Casey was just about ready to go off and shoot himself. + +He took her up in his arms and carried her down to the cabin before she +came to. And when she did come to her senses, Babe immediately made +matters worse. She was whimpering beside her mother, and when she saw that +mamma had waked up, she shrilled consolingly: "It's going to be all well +in a minute. Casey Ryan kissed it des like _that!_ So now it'll get all +well!" + +If the Little Woman had wanted to tell Casey what she thought of him, she +couldn't just then, for Casey was halfway to his own camp by the time she +glanced around the room, looking for him. + +Common humanity drove him back, of course. He couldn't let a woman and a +child starve to death just because he was a damned idiot and had +half-killed the woman. But if there had been another person within calling +distance, the Little Woman would probably never have seen Casey Ryan +again. + +Necessity has a bland way of ignoring such things as conventions and the +human emotions. Casey cooked supper for Babe and the Little Woman, and +washed the dishes, and wrung out cloths from hot vinegar and salt so that +the Little Woman could bathe her knee--she had to do it left-handed, at +that--and unbuttoned Babe's clothes and helped her on with her pyjamas and +let her kneel on his lap while she said her prayers. Because, as Babe +painstakingly explained, she always kneeled on a lap so ants couldn't run +over her toes and tickle her and make her laugh, which would make God +think she was a bad, naughty girl. + +Can you picture Casey Ryan rocking that child to sleep? I can't--yes, I +can too, and there's something in the picture that holds back the laugh +you think will come. + +Before she gave her final wriggle and cheeped her last little cheep, Babe +had to be carried over and held down where she could kiss mamma good +night. Casey got rather white around the mouth, then. But he didn't say a +word. Indeed, he had said mighty little since that fourth blow of the +double-jack; just enough to get along intelligently, with what he had to +do. He hadn't even told the Little Woman he was sorry. + +So Babe was asleep and tucked in her bed, and Casey turned down the light +and asked perfunctorily if there was anything else he could do, and had +started for the door. And then-- + +"Casey Ryan," called the Little Woman, with the teasing note in her voice. +"Casey Ryan, come back here and listen to me. You are not going off like +that to swear at yourself all night. Sit down in that chair and listen to +me!" + +Casey sat down, swallowing hard. All the Casey Ryan nonchalance was +gone,--never had been with him, in fact, while he faced that Little Woman. +Somehow she had struck him humble and dumb, from the very beginning. I +wish I knew how she did it; I'd like to try it sometime myself. + +"Casey Ryan, it's hard for a woman to own herself in the wrong, especially +to a man," she said, when he had begun to squirm and wonder what biting +words she would say. "I've always thought that I had as good nerve as any +one. I have, usually. But that double-jack scared the life out of me after +the first blow, and I thought I wouldn't let on. I couldn't admit I was +afraid. I was terribly ashamed. I knew you'd never miss, but I was scared, +just the same. And like a darn fool I pushed the drill away from me just +as you struck. It was coming down--you couldn't change it, man alive. +You'd aimed true at the drill, and--the drill wasn't just there at the +moment. Serves me right. But it's tough on you, old boy--having to do the +cooking for three of us while I'm laid up!" + +I'm sure I can't see how Casey Ryan ever got the name of being a devil +with the ladies. He certainly behaved like a yap then, if you get my +meaning. He gave the Little Woman a quick, unwinking stare, looked away +from her shamedly, reached for his plug of tobacco, took away his hand, +swallowed twice, shuffled his feet and then grunted--I can use no other +word for it: + +"Aw, I guess I c'n stand it if you can!" + +He made a motion then to rise up and go to his own camp where he would +undoubtedly think of many tender, witty things that he would like to have +spoken to the Little Woman. But she was watching him. She saw him move and +stopped him with a question. + +"Casey Ryan, tell me the truth about that tunnel. Do you think it's ever +going to strike the ore body at all?" + +Start Casey off on the subject of mining and you have him anchored and +interested for an hour, at least. The Little Woman had brains, you must +see that. + +"Well, I don't want to discourage you, ma'am," Casey said reluctantly, the +truth crowding against his teeth. "But I'd 'a' gone in under that iron +capping, if I'd been doing it. The outcropping you followed in from the +surface never has been in place, ma'am. It's what I'd call a wild +stringer. It pinched out forty foot back of where we're diggin' now. +That's just an iron stain we're following, and the pocket of high grade +don't mean nothin'. You went in on the strength of indications--" He +stopped there and chuckled to himself, in a way that I'd come to know as +the "indications" of a story,--which usually followed. + +The Little Woman probably guessed. I suppose she was lonely, too, and the +pain of her hurts made her want entertainment. "What are you laughing at, +Casey Ryan?" she demanded. "If it's funny, tell _me."_ + +Casey blushed, though she couldn't have seen him in the dusky light of the +cabin. "Aw, it ain't anything much," he protested bashfully. "I just +happened to think about a little ol' Frenchman I knowed once, over in +Cripple Creek, ma'am." He stopped. + +"Well? Tell me about the little ol' Frenchman. It made you laugh, Casey +Ryan, and it's about the first time I've seen you do that. Tell me." + +"Well, it ain't nothin' very funny to tell about," Casey hedged like a +bashful boy; which was mighty queer for Casey Ryan, I assure you. For if +there was anything Casey liked better than a funny story, it was some one +to listen while he told it. "You won't git the kick, mebby. It's knowin' +the Frenchman makes it seem kinda funny when I think about it. He was a +good little man and he kept a little hotel and was an awful good cook. And +he wanted a gold mine worse than anybody I ever seen. He didn't know a +da--nothin' at all about minin' ma'am, but every ol' soak of a prospector +could git a meal off him by tellin' him about some wildcat bonanza or +other. He'd forgit to charge 'em, he'd be so busy listenin'. + +"Well, there was two ol' soaks that got around him to grubstake 'em. They +worked it all one year. They'd git a burro load of grub and go out +somewheres and peck around till it was all et up, and then they'd come +back an' tell Frenchy some wild tale about runnin' acrost what looked like +the richest prospect in the country. They'd go on about havin' all the +indications of a big body uh rich ore. He'd soak it in, an' they'd hang +around town--one had a sore foot one time, I remember, that lasted 'em a +month of good board at Frenchy's hotel before he drove 'em out agin to his +mine, as he called it. + +"They worked that scheme on him for a long time--and it was the only da-- +scheme they wasn't too lazy to work. They'd git money to buy powder an' +fuse an' caps, ma'am, an' blow it on booze, y'see. An' they'd hang in +town, boardin' off Frenchy, jest as long as they c'ld think of an excuse +fer stayin'. + +"So somebody tipped Frenchy off that he was bein' worked for grub an' +booze money, an' Frenchy done a lot uh thinkin'. Next time them two come +in, he was mighty nice to 'em. An' when he finally got 'em pried loose +an' headed out, he appeared suddenly and says he's goin along to take a +look at his mine. They couldn't do nothin' but take him, uh course. So +they led him out to an old location hole somebody else had dug, an' they +showed him iron cappin' an' granite contact an' so on--just talkin' wild, +an' every few minutes comin' in with the 'strong indications of a rich ore +body.' That was their trump suit, y'see, ma'am. + +"Frenchy listened, an' his eyes commenced to snap, but he never said +nothin' for awhile. Then all at once he pulled one uh these ol'-style +revolvers an' points it at 'em, an' yells: _'Indicaziones! Indicaziones!_ +T'ell weez your _indicaziones!_ Now you show me zee me-_tall_!'" Casey +stopped, reached for his plug and remembered that he mustn't. The Little +Woman laughed. She didn't seem to need the tapering off of the story, as +most women demand. + +"And so you think I have plenty of _indicaziones_, but mighty little +chance of getting the me-_tall_," she pointed the moral. "Well, then tell +me what to do." + +It was in the telling, I think, that Casey for the first time forgot to be +shy and became his real, Casey Ryan best. The Little Woman saw at once, +when he pointed it out to her, that she ought to drift and cut under the +iron capping instead of tunnelling away from it as they had been doing. + +But she was not altogether engrossed in that tunnel. I think her +prospecting into the soul of Casey Ryan interested her much more; and +being a woman she followed the small outcropping of his Irish humor and +opened up a distinct vein of it before the evening was over. Just to +convince you, she led him on until Casey told her all about feeding his +Ford syrup instead of oil, and all about how it ran over him a few times +on the dry lake,--Casey was secretly made happy because she saw at once +how easily that could happen, and never once doubted that he was sober! +He told her about the goats in Patmos and made her laugh so hard that Babe +woke and whimpered a little, and insisted that Casey take her up and rock +her again in the old homemade chair with crooked juniper branches hewn for +rockers. + +With Babe in his arms he told her, too, about his coming out to hunt the +Injun Jim mine. He must have felt pretty well acquainted, by then, because +he regaled her with a painstaking, Caseyish description of Lucy Lily and +her educated wardrobe, and--because she was a murderous kind of squaw and +entitled to no particular chivalry--even repeated her manner of proposing +to a white man, and her avowed reason and all. That was going pretty far, +I think, for one evening, but we must keep in mind the fact that Casey and +the Little Woman had met almost a month before this, and that Casey had +merely thrown wide open the little door to his real self. + +At any rate it was after ten o'clock by Casey's Ingersoll when he tucked +Babe into her little bed, brought a jelly glass of cold water for the +Little Woman to drink in the night, and started for the door. + +There he stopped for a minute, debated with his shyness and turned back. + +"You mebby moved that steel at the wrong time," he said abruptly, "I guess +you musta, the way it happened. But I was so scared I'd hit yuh, my teeth +was playin' the dance to _La Paloma_. I was in a cold sweat. I never did +hit a man with a double-jack in my life, and I guess I've put down ten +miles uh holes, ma'am, if you placed 'em end to end. I always made it my +brag I never scraped a knuckle at that game. But--them little hands of +yours on the drill--I was shakin' all over for fear I might--hurt yuh. I-- +I never hated anything so bad in my life--I'd ruther kill a dozen men than +hurt you--" + +"Man alive," the Little Woman exclaimed softly from her dusky corner, +"you'd never have hurt me in the world, if I'd had the nerve to trust +you." And she added softly, "I'll trust you, from now on, Casey Ryan. +Always." + +I think Casey was an awful fool to walk out and never let her know that he +heard that "Always." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +"Casey Ryan," the Little Woman began with her usual abruptness one +evening, when she was able to walk as far as the mine and back without +feeling; the effect of the exercise, but was still nursing a bandaged +right hand; "Casey Ryan, tell me again just what old Injun Jim looked +like." + +Casey laughed and shifted Babe to a more secure perch on his shoulder, and +drew his head to one side in an effort to slacken Babe's terrific pull on +his hair. "Him? Mean an' ornery as the meanest thing you can think of. +Sour as a dough can you've went off an' left for a coupla weeks in July." + +"Oh, yes; very explicit, I admit. But just what did he look like? Height, +weight, age and chief characteristics. I have," she explained, "a +very-good reason for wanting a description of him." + +"What yuh want a description of him for? He's good an' dead now." You see, +Casey had reached the point of intimacy where he could argue with the +Little Woman quite in his everyday Irish spirit of contention. + +The Little Woman had spirit of her own, but she was surprisingly meek with +Casey at times. "It struck me quite suddenly, to-day, that I may know +where that gold mine is; or about where it is," she said, with a hidden +excitement in her voice. "I've been thinking all day about it, and putting +two and two together. I merely need a fair description now of Injun Jim, +to feel tolerably certain that I do or do not know something about the +location of that mine." + +"How'd _you_ come to know anything about it?" Casey stopped to move Babe +to his other shoulder. He had put in a long hard day in the tunnel, and +Babe was a husky youngster for four-and-a-half. Also she had developed a +burr-like quality toward Casey, and she liked so well to be carried home +from the mine that she would sit flat on the ground and rock her small +body and weep until she was picked, up and placed on Casey's shoulder. +"Set still, now, Babe, or Casey'll have to put yuh down an' make yuh walk +home. Le'go my ear! Yuh want Casey to go around lop-sided, with only one +ear?" + +"Yes!" assented Babe eagerly, kicking Casey in the stomach. "Give me your +knife, Casey Wyan, so I can cut off one ear an' _make_ you lop-sided!" + +"An' you'd do it, too!" Casey exclaimed admiringly. + +"Baby Girl, you interrupted mother when mother was speaking of something +important. You make mother very sad." + +Babe's mouth puckered, her eyelids puckered, and she give a small wail. +"Now Baby's sad! You hurt--my--_feelin's_ when you speak to me cross!" +She shook her yellow curls into her eyes and wept against them. + +There was no hope of grown-ups talking about anything so foolish as a gold +mine when Babe was in that mood. So Casey cooked supper, washed the dishes +and helped Babe into her pyjamas; then he let her kneel restively in his +lap while she said her prayers, and told her a story while he rocked her +to sleep--it was a funny, Caseyish story about a bear, but we haven't time +for it now--before he attempted to ask the Little Woman again what she +meant by her mysterious curiosity concerning Injun Jim. Then, when he had +his pipe going and the stove filled with pinon wood, he turned to her with +the question in his eyes. + +The Little Woman laughed. "Now, if that terrible child will kindly consent +to sleep for fifteen minutes, _I'll_ tell you what I meant," she said. "It +had slipped my mind altogether, and it was only to-day, when Babe was +scratching out a snake's track--so the snake couldn't find the way back +home, she said--that I chanced to remember. Just a small thing, you know, +that may or may not mean _something_ very large and _important_--like a +gold mine, for instance." + +"I don't have to go to work 'til sunup," Casey hinted broadly, "and I've +set up many a night when I wasn't havin' half as much fun as I git +listenin' to you talk." + +Again the Little Woman laughed. I think she had been rambling along just +to bait Casey into something like that." + +"Very well, then, I'll come to the point. Though it is such a luxury to +talk, sometimes! For a woman, that is. + +"Three years ago we had two burros to pack water from your gulch, where +there were too many snakes, to this gulch where there never seemed to be +so many. We hadn't developed this spring then. One night something or +other frightened the burros and they disappeared, and I started out to +find them, leaving Babe of course with her father at the tunnel. + +"I trailed those burros along the mountain for about four miles, I should +think. And by that time I was wishing I had taken a canteen with me, +though when I started out from camp I hated the thought of being burdened +with the weight of it. I thought I could find water in some of the +gulches, however, so I climbed a certain ridge and sat down to rest and +examine the canyon beneath with that old telescope Babe plays with. It has +been dropped so many times it's worthless now, but three years ago you +could see a lizard run across a rock a mile away. Don't you believe that?" +she stopped to demand sternly. + +"Say! You couldn't tell me nothin' I wouldn't believe!" Casey retorted, +fussing with his pipe to hide the grin on his face. + +"This is the truth, as it happens. I merely speak of the lizard to +convince you that a man's features would show very distinctly in the +telescope. And please observe, Casey Ryan, that I am very serious at the +moment. This may be important to you, remember. + +"I was sitting among a heap of boulders that capped the ridge, and it +happened that I was pretty well concealed from view because I was keeping +in the shade of a huge rock and had crouched down so that I could steady +the telescope across a flat rock in front of me. So I was not discovered +by a man down in the canyon whom I picked up with the telescope while I +was searching the canyon side for a spring. + +"The man was suddenly revealed to me as he parted the branches of a large +greasewood and peered out. I think it was the stealthiness of his manner +that impressed me most. He looked up and down and across, but he did not +see me. After a short wait, while he seemed to be listening, he crept out +from behind the bush, turned and lifted forward a bag which hadn't much in +it, yet appeared quite heavy. He went down into the canyon, picking his +way carefully and stepping on rocks, mostly. But in one place where he +must cross a wash of deep sand, he went backward and with a dead branch he +had picked up among the rocks he scratched out each track as he made it. +Babe reminded me of that to-day when she scratched out the snake's track +in the sand up by the mine." + +Casey was leaning toward her, listening avidly, his pipe going cold in his +hand. "Was he--?" + +"He was an Indian, and very old, and he walked with that bent, tottery +walk of old age. He had one eye and--" + +"Injun Jim, that was--couldn't be anybody else!" Casey knocked his pipe +against the front of the little cookstove, emptying the half-burned +tobacco into the hearth. The Little Woman probably wondered why he seemed +so unexcited, but she did not know all of Casey's traits. He put away his +pipe and almost immediately reached for his plug of tobacco, taking a chew +without remembering where he was. "If you feel able to ride," he said, +"I'll ketch up the mule in the morning, and we'll go over there." + +"So your heart is really set on finding it, after all. I've been wondering +about that. You haven't seemed to be thinking much about it, lately." + +"A feller can prospect," Casey declared, "when he can't do nothin' else." +And he added rather convincingly, "Good jobs is scarce, out this way. I'd +be a fool to pass up this one, when I'd have the hull winter left fer +prospectin'." + +"And what about those partners of yours?" + +"Oh, them?" Casey hesitated, tempted perhaps to tell the truth. "Oh, +they've quit on me. They quit right away after I went to work. We--we had +a kinda fuss, and they've went back to town." He stopped and added with a +sigh of relief, "We can just as well count them out, fr'm now on--an' +fergit about 'em." + +"Oh," said the Little Woman, and smiled to herself. "Well, if you are +anxious about that patch of brush in the canyon, we'll go and see what's +behind it. To-morrow is Sunday, anyway." + +"I'd a made up the time, if it wasn't," Casey assured her with dignity. +"I've been waitin' a good many years for a look at that Injun Jim gold." + +"And it's just possible that I have been almost within reach of it for the +past four years and didn't know it! Well, I always have believed that Fate +weaves our destinies for us; and a curious pattern is the weaving, +sometimes! I'll go with you, Casey Ryan, and I hope, for your sake, that +Indian Jim's mine is behind that clump of bushes. And I hope," she added, +with a little laugh whose meaning was not clear to Casey, "I hope you get +a million dollars out of it! I should like to point to Casey Ryan, the +mining millionaire and say, 'That plutocratic gentleman over there once +knocked me down with a hammer, and washed my dishes for two weeks, and +really, my dears, you should taste his sour-dough biscuits!'" + +Casey went away to his camp and lay awake a long time, not thinking about +the Injun Jim mine, if you please, but wondering what he had done to make +the Little Woman give him hell about his biscuits. Good Lord! Did she +still blame him for hitting her with that double-jack?--when he knew and +she knew that she had made him do it!--and if she didn't like his +sour-dough biscuits, why in thunder had she kept telling him she did? + +He tucked the incident away in the back of his mind, meaning to watch her +and find out just what she did mean, anyway. Her opinion of him had become +vital to Casey; more vital than the Injun Jim mine, even. + +He saddled the buckskin mule next morning and after breakfast the three +set out, with a lunch and two canteens of water. The Little Woman was in a +very good humor and kept Casey "jumpin' sideways," as he afterwards +confessed to me, wondering just what she meant or whether she meant +nothing at all by her remarks concerning his future wealth and dignity and +how he would forget old friends. + +She even pretended she had forgotten the place, and was not at all sure +that this was the right canyon, when they came to it. She studied +landmarks and then said they were all wrong and that the place was marked +in her mind by something entirely different and not what she first named. +She deviled Casey all she could, and led him straight to the spot and +suggested that they eat their lunch there, within twenty feet of the +bushes from which she had seen the Indian creep with the sack on his back. + +She underrated Casey's knowledge of minerals; or perhaps she wanted to +test it,--you never can tell what a woman really has in the back of her +mind. Casey sat there eating a sour-dough biscuit of his own making, and +staring at the steep wall of the canyon because he was afraid to stare at +the Little Woman, and so his uncannily keen eye saw a bit of rock no +larger than Babe's fist. It lay just under that particular clump of +bushes, in the shade. And in the shade he saw a yellow gleam on the rock. + +He looked at the Little Woman then and grinned, but he didn't say anything +until he had taken the coffeepot off the fire, and had filled her cup. + +"This ain't a bad canyon to prospect in. You can brush up your memory +whilst I take a look around. Mebby I can find Jim's mine myself," he said +impudently. Then he got up and went poking here and there with his +prospector's pick, and finally worked up to the brush and disappeared +behind it. In five minutes or less he came back to her with a little +nugget the size of Babe's thumb. + +"If yuh want to see something pretty, come on up where I got this here," +he told her. "I'll show yuh what drives prospectors crazy. This ain't no +free gold country, but there's a pile uh gold in a dirt bank I can show +yuh. Mebby you forgot the place, and mebby yuh didn't. I've quit guessin' +at what yuh really do mean an' what yuh don't mean. Anyway, this is where +we headed for." + +"Well, you really are a prospector, after all. I just wondered." The +Little Woman did not seem in the least embarrassed. She just laughed and +took Babe by the hand, and they went up beyond the clump of bushes to what +lay hidden so cunningly behind it. + +Cunning--that was the mood Nature must have been in when she planted free +gold in that little wrinkle on the side of Two Peak, and set the bushes in +the mouth of the draw, and piled an iron ledge across the top and spread +barren mountainside all around it. In the hiding Injun Jim had done his +share, too. He had pulled rubble down over the face of the bank of +richness, and eyes less keen than Casey's would have passed it by without +a second glance. + +The Little Woman knelt and picked out half a dozen small nuggets and stood +up, holding them out to Casey, her eyes shining. "Casey Ryan, here's the +end of your rainbow! And you're luckier than most of us; you've got your +pot o' gold." + +Casey looked down at her oddly. "It's mebby the end of one," he said. "But +they's another one, now, 't I can see plainer than this one. I dunno's +I'll ever git to where that one points." + +"A man's never satisfied," scoffed the Little Woman, turning the precious +little yellow fragments over thoughtfully in her palm. "I should think +this ought to be enough for you, man alive." + +"Mebby it had. But it ain't." He looked at her, hesitating,--and I think +the Little Woman waited and held her breath for what he might say next. +But Casey was scarcely himself in her presence. He turned away without +another glance at the nuggets. + +"You'n the kid can gopher around there whilst I go step off the lines of a +claim an' put up the location notice," he said, and left her standing +there with the gold in her palm. + +That night it was the Little Woman who planned great things for Casey, and +it was Casey who smoked and said little about it. But once he shook his +head when she described the gilded future she saw for him. + +"Money in great gobs like that ain't much use to me," he demurred. "Once I +blew into Lund, over here, with twenty-five thousand dollars in my pocket +that I got outa silver claims. All I ever saved outa that chunk was two +pairs of socks. No need of you makin' plans on my being a millionaire. It +ain't in me. I guess I'm nothin' but a rough-neck stagedriver an' +prospector, clear into the middle of my bones. If I had the sense of a +rabbit I never'd gone hellin' through life the way I've done. I'd amount +to somethin' by now. As it is I ain't nothin' and I ain't nobody--" + +"You're Casey Wyan! You make me sad when you say that!" Babe protested +sleepily, lifting her head from his shoulder and spatting him reprovingly +on the cheek. "You're my bes' friend and you've got a lots more sense than +a wabbit!" + +"And your rainbow, Casey Ryan?" the Little Woman asked softly. "What about +this other, new rainbow?" + +"It's there," said Casey gloomily. "It'll always be there--jest over the +ridge ahead uh me. I c'n see it, plain enough, but I got more sense 'n to +think I'll ever git m'hands on it." + +"I'll go catch your wainbow, Casey Wyan. I'll run fas' as I can, an' I'll +catch it for you!" + +"Will yuh, Babe?" Casey bent his head until his lips touched her curls. +And neither Casey nor the Little Woman spoke of it again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +Oddly enough, it was Lucy Lily who unconsciously brought Casey to his +rainbow. Lucy Lily did not mean to do Casey any favor, I can assure you, +but Fate just took her and used her for the moment, and Lucy Lily had +nothing to say about it. + +Don't think that a squaw who wants to live like a white princess will +forget to go hunting a gold mine whose richness she had seen,--in a lard +bucket, perhaps. Lucy Lily did not abandon her bait. She used it again, +and a renegade white man snapped at it, worse luck. So they went hunting +through the Tippipahs for the mine of Injun Jim. What excuses the squaw +made for not being able to lead the man directly to the spot, I can't say, +of course; but I suppose she invented plenty. + +She did one clever thing, at least. In their wanderings she led the way +into the old camp of Injun Jim. There had been no storm to dim the tracks +Casey had made, and Lucy Lily, Indian that she was, knew that these were +the tracks of Casey Ryan and guessed what was his errand there. So she and +her white man trailed him across the valley to Two Peak. + +They came first to the camp, and there the Little Woman met them, and by +some canny intuition knew who they were and what they wanted,--thanks to +Casey's garrulous mood when he told her of Lucy Lily. They said that they +were hunting horses, and presently went on over the ridge; not following +Casey's plain trail to the tunnel, but riding off at an angle so that they +could come into the trail once they were hidden from the house. + +Casey, as it happened, was not at the tunnel at all, but over at the gold +mine, doing the location work. Doing it in the side hill a good two +hundred feet away from the gold streak, too, I will add. + +The Little Woman watched until the squaw and her man were out of sight, +and then she took a small canteen and filled it, got her rifle, pocketed +her automatic revolver, and tied Babe's sunbonnet firmly under Babe's +double chin. She could not take the mule, because Casey had ridden him, so +she walked, and carried Babe most of the way on her back. She kept to the +gulches until she was too far away to be seen in the sage, even when a +squaw was squinting sharp-eyed after her. + +She came, in the course of two hours or so, to the lip of the canyon, and +who-whooed to Casey, mucking out after a shot he had put down in the +location hole. Casey looked up, waved his hand and then came running. No +whim would send the Little Woman on a four-mile walk with a heavy child +like Babe to carry, and Casey was as white as he'll ever get when he met +her halfway to the bottom of the canyon. + +"Take Babe and let's get back to the claim," she panted. "I came to tell +you that squaw is on your trail with a white man in tow, and it'll be a +case of claim-jumping if they can see their way tolerably clear. He's a +mate for the two you helped me haul out of camp, and I think, Casey Ryan, +the squaw would kill you in a minute if she gets the chance." + +Casey did rather a funny thing, considering how scared he was usually of +the Little Woman. "You pack that kid all the way over here?" he grunted, +and picked up the Little Woman and carried her, and left Babe to walk. Of +course he helped Babe, holding her hand over the roughest spots, but it +was the Little Woman whom he carried the rest of the way. And Babe, if you +please, was quite calm about it and never once became "sad" so that she +must sit down and cry. + +"All the claim-jumpin' they'll do won't hurt nobody," Casey observed +unexcitedly, when he had set the Little Woman down on a rock beside his +location "cut" in the canyon's side. "She likely picked on a white man +so's he could locate under the law, but this claim's located a'ready." He +waved a hand toward the monument, a few rods up the canyon. "And Casey +Ryan ain't spreadin' no rich gold vein wide open for every prowlin' desert +rat to pack off all he kin stagger under. I'm callin' it the Devil's +Lantern. You c'n call a mine any name yuh darn want to. And if it wasn't +fer the Devil's Lantern, I wouldn't be here. That name won't mean nothin' +to 'em. Let 'em come." His eyes turned toward the hidden richness and +dwelt there, studying the tracks, big and little, that led up to it, and +deciding that tracks do not necessarily mean a gold mine, and that it +would be better to leave them as they were and not attempt to cover them. + +"You just say it's your claim, if they come snoopin' around here. I'm +supposed to be workin' for yuh," he said abruptly, giving her one of his +quick, steady glances. + +"They can go and read the location notice," the Little Woman pointed out. +Casey did not make any reply to that, but picked up his shovel and went to +work again, mucking out the dirt and broken rocks which the dynamite had +loosened in the cut. + +"She's a bird, ain't she?" he grinned over his shoulder, his mind +reverting to Lucy Lily. "Did she have on her war paint?" + +"She will have, when she sees you," the Little Woman retorted, watching +the farther rim of the canyon. Then she remembered Babe and called to her. +That youngster was always prospecting around on her own initiative, and +she answered shrilly now from up the canyon. The Little Woman stood up, +looking that way, never dreaming how wishfully Casey was watching her,-- +and how reverently. + +"Baby Girl, you must not run off like that! Mother will be compelled to +tie a rope on you." + +"I was jes' getting--Casey Wyan's--'bacco. Poor Casey Wyan forgot--his +'bacco! He's my frien'. I have to give him his 'bacco," Babe defended +herself, coming down from the location monument in small jumps and +scrambles. Close to her importantly heaving chest she clutched a small, +red tobacco can of the kind which smokers carelessly call "P.A." "Casey +Wyan lost it up in the wocks," Babe explained, when her mother met her +disapprovingly and caught her by the hand. + +"Why, Babe! You've been naughty. This must be Casey Ryan's location +notice. It must be left in the rocks, Baby Girl, so people will know that +Casey Ryan owns this claim." + +"It's his 'bacco!" Babe insisted stubbornly. "Casey Wyan needs his +'bacco." + +The Little Woman knew that streak of stubbornness of old. There was just +one way to deal with it, and that was to prove to Babe that she was +mistaken. So she opened the red can and pulled out a folded paper, +unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud. Not that Babe would +understand it all, but to make it seem very convincing and important,--and +I think partly to enjoy for herself the sense of Casey's potential wealth. + +"'Notice of Location--Quartz,'" she read, and glanced over the paper at +her listening small daughter. "'To Whom it May Concern: Please take +notice that: The name of this claim is the Devil's Lantern Quartz Mining +Claim. Said Claim is situated in the--Unsurveyed--Mining District, County +of Nye, State of Nevada. Located this twenty-fifth day of September, 19--. +This discovery is made and this notice is posted this twenty-fifth day of +September,19--. + +"'2. That the undersigned locators are citizens of he United States or have +declared their intention to become such, and have discovered +mineral-bearing rock--!'" + +"What's mineral-bearing wock, mother?" + +"That's the gold, Baby Girl. '--in place thereon and do locate and claim +same for mining purposes. + +"'3. That the number of linear feet in length along the course of the vein +each way from the point of discovery whereon we have erected a monument--' +That's the monument, up there, and Babe must not touch it-- '--is +Easterly 950 feet; Westerly 550 feet; that the total length does not +exceed 1500 feet. That the width on the Southerly side is 300 feet; that +the width on the Northerly side is 300 feet; that the end lines are +parallel; that the general course of the vein or lode as near as may be is +in an Easterly and Westerly direction; that the boundaries of this claim +may be readily traced and are defined as follows, to-wit:--!'" + +She skipped a lot of easterly and westerly technique in Casey's clear, +uncompromising handwriting--done in an indelible pencil--and came down to +the last paragraph: + +"'That all the dips, variations, spurs, angles and all veins, ledges, or +deposits within the lines of said claim, together with all water and +timber and any other rights appurtenant, allowed by the law of this State +or of the United States are hereby claimed. + + "'Locators + Jack I. Gleason, + Margaret Sutten.' + +"Why--why-y--Good Lord!" + +"Here they come," Casey called at that moment. "Put 'er back in the +monument and don't let on like we think they're after this claim at all. +It's a darn sight harder to start a fuss when the other fellow don't act +like he knows there's any fuss comin'. You ask anybody that ever had a +fight." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASEY RYAN*** + + +******* This file should be named 12495.txt or 12495.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/4/9/12495 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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