登陆注册
15441100000003

第3章 CHAPTER ONE(3)

The Little Woman laughed. "Well-sir, it wasn't so much a stroke as it was a wallop.-Casey bought it just to show who was boss, he or the landlord.-The first thing he did when we moved in was to take down the nicely framed rules that said we must not cook cabbage nor onions nor fish, nor play music after ten o'clock at night, nor do any loud talking in the halls.

"Every day for a week Casey cooked cabbage, onions and fish.-He sat up nights to play the graphophone.-He stayed home to talk loudly and play bucking bronk with Babe all up and down the stairs and in the halls.-Our rent was paid for a month in advance, and the landlord was too little and old to fight.-So he sold out cheap--and it really was a good stroke of business for us, though not deliberate-"Well-sir, at first we lost tenants who didn't enjoy the freedom of their neighbors' homes.-But really, Jack, you'd be surprised to know how many people in this city just LOVE cabbage and onions and fish, and to have children they needn't disown whenever they go house-hunting. I had ventilator hoods put over every gas range in the house, and turned the back yard into a playground with plenty of sand piles and swings.-I raised the price, too, and made the place look very select, with a roof garden for the grown-ups.-We have the house filled now with really nice families--avoiding the garlic brand--and as an investment I wouldn't ask for anything better.

"Casey enjoyed himself hugely while he was whipping things into shape, but the last month he's been going stale.-The tenants are all so thankful to do as they please that they're excruciatingly polite to him, no matter what he does or says.-He's tired of the beaches and he has begun to cuss the long, smooth roads that are signed so that he couldn't get lost if he tried.-It does seem as if there's no interest left in anything, unless he can get a kick out of going to jail.-And, Jack, I do believe he's gone there."

The telephone rang and the Little Woman excused herself and went into the hall, closing the door softly behind her.

I'm not greatly given to reminiscence, but while I sat and watched the flames of civilization licking tamely at the impregnable iron bark of the gas logs, the eyes of my memory looked upon a picture:

Desert, empty and with the mountains standing back against the sky, the great dipper uptilted over a peak and the stars bending close for very friendliness.-The licking flames of dry greasewood burning, with a pungent odor in my nostrils when the wind blew the smoke my way. The far-off hooting of an owl, perched somewhere on a juniper branch watching for mice; and Casey Ryan sitting cross-legged in the sand, squinting humorously at me across the fire while he talked.

I saw him, too, bolting a hurried breakfast under a mesquite tree in the chill before sunrise, his mind intent upon the trail; facing the desert and its hardships as a matter of course, with never a thought that other men would shrink from the ordeal.

I saw him kneeling before a solid face of rock in a shallow cut in the hillside, swinging his "single-jack" with tireless rhythm; a tap and a turn of the steel, a tap and a turn--chewing tobacco industriously and stopping now and then to pry off a fresh bit from the plug in his hip pocket before he reached for the "spoon" to muck out the hole he was drilling.

I saw him larruping in his Ford along a sandy, winding trail it would break a snake's back to follow, hot on the heels of his next adventure, dreaming of the fortune that finally came. . . .

The Little Woman came in looking as if she had been talking with Destiny and was still dazed and unsteady from the meeting.

"Well-sir, he's gone!" she announced, and stopped and tried to smile. But her eyes looked hurt and sorry.-"He has bought a Ford and a tent and outfit since he left us down on Seventh and Broadway, and he just called me up on long-distance from San Bernardino.-He's going out on a prospecting trip, he says.-I'll say he's been going some!-A speed cop overhauled him just the other side of Claremont, he told me, and he was delayed for a few minutes while he licked the cop and kicked him and his motorcycle into a ditch.-He says he's sorry he sassed me, and if I can drive a car in this darned town and not spend all my loose change paying fines, I'm a better man than he is.-He doesn't know when he'll be back--and there you are."

She sat down wearily on the arm of an over-stuffed armchair and looked up at the gilt-and-onyx clock which I suspected Casey of having bought.-"If he isn't lynched before morning," she sighed whimsically, "he'll probably make it to the Nevada line all right."

I rose, also glancing at the clock.-But the Little Woman put up a hand to forbid the plan she read in my mind.

"Let him alone, Jack," she advised.-"Let him go and be just as wild and devilish as he wants to be.-I'm only thankful he can take it out on a Ford and a pick and shovel.-There really isn't any trouble between us two.-Casey knows I can look out for myself for awhile.-He's got to have a vacation from loafing and matrimony. I'm so thankful he isn't taking it in jail!"

I told her somewhat bluntly that she was a brick, and that if I could get in touch with Casey I'd try to keep an eye on him. It would probably be a good thing, I told her, if he did stay away long enough to let this collection of complaints against him be forgotten at the police station.

I went away, hoping fervently that Casey would break even his own records that night.-I really intended to find him and keep an eye on him.-But keeping an eye on Casey Ryan is a more complicated affair than it sounds.

Wherefore, much of this story must be built upon my knowledge of Casey and a more or less complete report of events in which I took no part, welded together with a bit of healthy imagination.

同类推荐
  • 六十种曲红梨记

    六十种曲红梨记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 涅槃经疏

    涅槃经疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 阿毗昙五法行经

    阿毗昙五法行经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 题曾氏园林

    题曾氏园林

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 钓矶立谈

    钓矶立谈

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 我的王爷两魄一体

    我的王爷两魄一体

    秋风煞起,万物拒灭,战火不息,众叛亲离,受经人生磨难。她穿越时空来到这个陌生的时代,是人生转折点,还是人生终点。来到这里是一鸣惊人还是过普通人生活。他一体两魄,两魄性格相反。一个妖娆似蛇唯对她痴情不悔,一个冷酷无情却对她百般呵护.她应该选谁?“他?”还是“他?”
  • 持诵准提真言法要

    持诵准提真言法要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 绝色兵王在都市

    绝色兵王在都市

    李笑,夜枭雇佣兵组织的组建者,一块蕴含异能的蚩尤石,让他的人生产生了翻天覆地的变化。为祖国,他甘愿血溅五尺,为兄弟,他不惜屠尽全族,为女人,他更是惜怜有加。寻找亲人的渺茫,家国仇恨的纠结,是谁?在幕后操纵着这一切,所谓的一切,究竟是天命所为,还是人事阴谋。而他又如何在这交错纷乱的事件中,找到属于他自己的王者之路?
  • 花的日记

    花的日记

    直美因为姐姐英子的出嫁而倍感忧伤,但是邻家的女孩子久里清子给了她安慰,女孩子花儿一样的年纪,有着花儿一样的明媚,连心里的秘密,也像清晨花瓣上的露珠一样,在朝阳下轻快地闪着柔和的光……
  • 三坟

    三坟

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 我的呆萌教授是女神

    我的呆萌教授是女神

    海龟女叫兽竟然最喜欢偷窥大学学生八卦,在学校论坛身披无数马甲小号?某天某晚,A大校园论坛十大话题榜首计算机系选修课惊现女神老师!!!!!!你萌以为这是一篇单纯的校园文的话那就太天真了,我只能告诉你们,都是套路哈哈哈哈哈哈
  • TFBOYS之美丽邂逅

    TFBOYS之美丽邂逅

    她!从小生活在单身家庭中,正当她好不容易适应这个生活,却飞来横祸,妈妈突然逝世,她成了孤儿,原本与妈妈生活在美国的她因妈妈的突然逝世,便离开了这个伤心之地,回到自己的祖国;她!从小生活在富裕的家庭在家是乖乖女,可在家外,她的性格多变;她!从小生活在孤儿院,但在意外,流浪到重庆阴差阴错与以上两女主相遇成为姐妹……她们将与三小只擦出怎样的火花呢?如果喜欢这本书的话,收藏到书架吧!
  • 瑞竹堂经验方

    瑞竹堂经验方

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 穿越之三国风云帝王觉醒

    穿越之三国风云帝王觉醒

    一个全能少年在现代身份显赫,14就拿到物理学的博士位获得诺贝尔奖,18岁拿到了军事、政治、历史、化学………………等显著成就,成为人类史上第一人的天才少年。成为全球少女的偶像全家以他为荣。但在一场雨中的一本奇异的中国小说经典之下开始了他纵横三国的传奇旅途。
  • 倾世容貌倾天下

    倾世容貌倾天下

    她,是能从阎王手中抢人的神医,也是在黑白两道拥有绝对权威的组织暗夜首领。当她孤身来到日月大陆,强者为尊。她会选择隐居山林,还是另开一番天地?当她的身世被揭秘,是否还能坦然一笑,淡然面对?