Casey left his digging and returned to the Ford, still determined to carry on the bluff and pretend that much tinkering was necessary before he could travel further.-With a great show of industry he rummaged for pliers and wrenches, removed the hood from the motor and squinted down at the little engine.
By that time Mack Nolan was snoring softly in deep slumber. Casey listened suspiciously, knowing too well how misleading a snore could be.-But his own eyelids were growing exceeding heavy, and the soporific sound acted hypnotically upon his sleep-hungry brain. He caught himself yawning, and suddenly threw down the wrench.
"Aw, hell!" he muttered disgustedly, and went and crawled under the back of the car where it was shady.
The sun was nearly down when Casey awoke and crawled out.-Mack Nolan was still curled comfortably in the car, his back against the bed roll.-He opened his eyes and yawned when Casey leaned and looked in upon him.
"By Jove, that was a fine sleep I had," he announced cheerfully, lifting himself up and dangling his legs outside the car. "Strike anything yet?"
"Naw."-Casey's grunt was eloquent of the mood he was in.
"Get the car fixed all right?"-Mack Nolan's cheerfulness seemed nothing less than diabolical to Casey.
"Naw." Then Casey added grimly, "I'm stuck.-I dunno what ails the damned thing.-Have to send to Vegas fer new parts, I guess.
It's only three miles out here to the road.-Mebby you better hike over to the highway an' ketch a ride with somebody.-I might send in for a timer an' some things, too.-No use waitin' fer me, Nolan-- can't-tell how long I'll be held up here."
Mack Nolan climbed out of the car.-Casey's spirits rose instantly. Nolan came forward and looked down at the engine as casually as he would glance at a nickel alarm clock.
"She was hitting all right when you backed down here," Nolan remarked easily.-"I'll just take a look at her myself.-Fords are cranky sometimes.-But I've assembled too many of them in the factory to let one get the best of me in the desert."
Casey could almost hear his heart when it slumped down into his boots. But he wasn't licked yet.
"Aw, let the darned thing alone till we eat," he said, pushing his hat forward to hurry his wits.
"Well--I can throw a Ford together in the dark, if necessary," smiled Mack Nolan.-"Eat, it is, if you want it that way. That breakfast I put away seems to have sharpened my appetite for supper.-Tell you what, Ryan.-I'll do a little trouble-shooting here while you cook supper.-How'll that be?"
That wouldn't be, if Casey could prevent it.-His pale, narrow-lidded eyes dwelt upon Nolan unwinkingly.
"Well, mebby I'm kind of a crank about my car," he hedged, with a praiseworthy calmness.-"Fords is like horses, to me. I drove stage all m' life till I took to prospectin'--an' I never could stand around and let anybody else monkey with my teams.-I ain't a doubt in the world, Mr. Nolan, but what you know as much about Fords as I do.-More, mebby.-But Casey Ryan's got 'is little ways, an' he can't seem to ditch 'em.-We'll eat; an' then mebby we'll look 'er over together.
"At the same time," he went on with rising courage, "I'm liable to stick around here for awhile an' prospect a little.-If you wanta find them mules an' outfit, don't bank too strong on Casey Ryan. He's liable to change 'is mind any old time.-Day or night, you can't tell what Casey might take a notion to do.-That there's a fact.-You can ask anybody if it ain't."
Mack Nolan laughed and slapped Casey unexpectedly on the shoulder. "You're a man after my own heart, Casey Ryan," he declared enigmatically.-"I'll stick to you and take a chance.
Darn the mules! Somebody will find them and look after them until I show up."
Casey's spirits, as he admitted to himself, were rising and falling like the hammer of a pile driver; and like the pile driver, the hammer was driving him deeper and deeper into hopelessness.-He would have given an ear to know for certain whether Mack Nolan were as innocent and friendly as he seemed.
Until he did know, Casey could see nothing before him but to wait his chance to give Nolan the slip.
Sitting cross-legged in the glow of the campfire after supper, with a huge pattern of stars drawn over the purple night sky, Casey pulled out the old pipe with which he had solaced many an evening and stuffed it thoughtfully with tobacco.-Across the campfire, Mack Nolan sat with his hat tilted down over his eyes, smoking a cigarette and seeming at peace with all the world.
Casey hoped that Nolan would forget about fixing the Ford.-He hoped that Nolan would sleep well to-night.-Casey was perfectly willing to sacrifice a good roll of bedding and the cooking outfit for the privilege of traveling alone.-No man, he told himself savagely, could ask a better deal than he was prepared to give Nolan.-He bent to reach a burning twig for his pipe, and found Nolan watching him steadily from under his hat brim.
"What sort of looking fellows were those, Ryan, that left a load of booze on your hands?"-Nolan asked casually when he saw that he was observed.
Casey burned his fingers with the blazing twig.-"Who said anything about any fellers leavin' me booze?" he evaded sharply.
"If it's a drink you're hintin' for, you won't get it.-Casey Ryan ain't no booze peddler, an' now's as good a time as any to let that soak into your system."
Mack Nolan's gray eyes were still watching Casey with a steadfastness that was disconcerting to a man in Casey's dilemma.
"It might help us both considerably," he said quietly, "if you told me all about it.-You can't cache that booze you've got in the car-- I won't let you, for one thing; for another, that would be merely dodging the issue, and if you'll forgive my frankness, dodging doesn't seem to be quite in your line."
Casey puffed hard on his pipe.-"The world's gittin' so darned full uh crooks, a man can't turn around now'days without bumpin' into a few!" he exploded bitterly.-"What kind uh hold-up game YOU playin', Mr. Nolan?-If that's your name," he added fiercely.