He felt that he might indeed grow old fast, shut up in a city. It occurred to him that the Little Woman was unreasonable to expect it of him.-Her idea of getting him out of town for a time, as the judge had advised, was to send him up to San Francisco to be close-herded there.-Casey had promised to go, but now the prospect jarred.-He wasn't feeble-minded, that he knew of; it seemed natural to want to do his own deciding now and then.-When he got back home in the morning,-Casey meant to have a serious talk with the Little Woman, and get right down to cases, and tell her that he was built for the desert, and that you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
"They been tryin' to make Casey Ryan over into something he ain't," he muttered under his breath, while his new friend was in the garage office paying for the gas.-"Jack an' the Little Woman's all right, but they can't drive Casey Ryan in no town herd.-Cops is cops; and they got 'em in San Francisco same as they got 'em in L. A. If they got 'em, I'll run agin' 'em. I'll tell 'em so, too."
The young man came out, sliding silver coins into his trousers pocket. He glanced up and down the narrow, little street already deserted, cranked the Ford and climbed in.
"All set," he observed cheerfully, "Let's go!"
Casey slipped his cigarette to the upper, left-hand corner of his whimsical, Irish mouth, forced a roar out of the little engine and whipped around the corner and across the track into the faintly lighted road that led past shady groves and over a hill or two, and so into the desert again.
His new friend had fallen into a meditative mood, staring out through the windshield and whistling under his breath a pleasant little melody of which he was probably wholly unaware.-Perhaps he felt that he had said enough to Casey just at present concerning a possible partnership.-Perhaps he even regretted having said anything at all.
Casey himself drove mechanically, his rebellious mood slipping gradually into optimism.-You can't keep Casey Ryan down for long; in spite of his past unpleasant experiences he was presently weaving optimistic plans of his own.-The young fellow beside him seemed to return Casey's impulsive friendship.-Casey thought pleasureably of the possibility of their driving over the desert together, sharing alike the fortunes of the game and the adventures of the trail. Casey himself had learned to be shy of partnerships--witness Barney Oakes!--but any man with a drop of Irish in his blood and a bit of Irish twinkle in his eye would turn his back on defeat and try again for a winning.
They had just passed over a hilly stretch with many turns and windings, the moon blotted out completely now by the cloud bank.
For half an hour they had not seen any evidence that other human beings were alive in the world.-But when they went rattling across a small mesa where the sand was deep, a car with one brilliant spotlight suddenly showed itself around a turn just ahead of them.
Casey slowed down automatically and gave a twist to the steering wheel. But the sand just here was deep and loose, and the front wheels of the Ford gouged unavailingly at the sides of the ruts.
Casey honked the horn warningly and stopped full, swearing a good, Caseyish oath.-The other car, having made no apparent effort to turn out, also stopped within a few feet of Casey, the spotlight fairly blinding him.
The young man beside Casey slid up straight in the seat and stopped whistling.-He leaned out of the car and stared ahead without the dusty interference of the windshield.
"You can back up a few lengths and make the turn-out all right," he suggested.
"If I can back up, so can he.-He's got as much road behind him as what I'VE got," Casey retorted stubbornly.-"He never made a try at turnin' out.-I was watchin'.-Any time I can't lick a road hawg, he's got a license to lick me.-Make yourself comf'table, young feller--we're liable to set here a spell."
Casey grinned.-"I spent four hours on a hill once, out-settin, a road hawg that wanted me to back up."
The man in the other car climbed out and came toward them, walking outside the beams cast by his own glaring spotlight.-He bulked. rather large in the shadows; but Casey Ryan, blinking at him through the windshield, was still ready and willing to fight if necessary.-Or, if stubbornness were to be the test, Casey could grin and feel secure.-A little man, he reflected, can sit just as long as a big man.
The big man walked leisurely up to the car and smiled as he lifted a foot to the running board.-He leaned forward, his eyes going past Casey to the other man.
