"It's no use asking questions, Jack," the Little Woman told me pensively when we had finished our salad in the best cafe in town, and were waiting for the fish.-"I've asked questions of every uniform in this town, from the district judge down to the courthouse janitor.-Nobody knows a thing.-I DID find that Casey was booked yesterday for having a stolen car and a load of booze in his possession, but he isn't in jail--or if he is, they're keeping him down in some dungeon and have thrown away the key.
It was hinted in the police court that he was dismissed for want of evidence; but they wouldn't SAY anything, and so there you are!"
We finished our fish in a thoughtful silence.-Then, when the waiter had removed the plates, the Little Woman looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Well-sir, there's something I want to tell you, Jack.-I believe Casey has put this town on the run.-They can't tell ME!
Something's happened, over around the courthouse.-A lot of the men I talked with had a scared look in their eyes, and they were nervous when doors opened, and looked around when people came walking along.-I don't know what he's been doing--but Casey Ryan's been up to something. You can't tell ME!-I know how our laundry boy looks when Casey's home."
"And didn't you get any line at all on his whereabouts?" I asked her. Given three hours the start of me, I knew perfectly well that the Little Woman had found out all there was to know about Casey.
"Well-sir--I've got this to go on," the Little Woman drawled and held a telegram across the table.-"You'll notice that was sent from Goffs.-It's ten days old, but I've been getting ready ever since it arrived.-I've put Babe in a boarding-school, and I leased the apartment house.-I kept three dressmakers ruining their eyes with nightwork, Jack, ****** up some nifty sports clothes.-If Casey's bound to stay in the desert--well, I'm his wife--and Casey does kind of like to have me around.-You can't tell ME.
"So I've got the twin-six packed with the niftiest camp outfit you ever saw, Jack.-I've got a yellow and red beach umbrella, and two reclining chairs, and--well-sir, I'm going to rough it de luxe.-I don't expect to keep Casey in hand--I happen to know him.-But it's just possible, Jack, that I can keep him in sight!"
Of course I told her--as I've told her often enough before--that she was a brick.-I added that I would go along, if she liked; which she did.-Not even the Little Woman should ever attempt to drive across the Mojave alone.
We started out as soon as we had finished the meal.-A Cadillac roadster came up behind us and honked for clear passing as we swung into the long, straight stretch that leads up the Cajon.
The Little Woman peered into the rear vision mirror and pressed the toe of her white pump upon the accelerator.
"There's only one man in the world that can pass ME on the road," the Little Woman drawled, "and he doesn't wear a panama!"
As we snapped around the turns of Cajon Grade, I looked back once or twice.-The Cadillac roadster was still following pertinaciously, but it was too far back to honk at us.-When we slid down to the Victorville garage and stopped for gas, the Cadillac slid by. The driver in the panama gave us one glance through his colored glasses, but I felt, somehow, that the glance was sufficiently comprehensive to fix us firmly in his memory.-I inquired at the garage concerning Casey Ryan, taking it for granted he would be driving a Ford.-A man of that description had stopped at the garage for gas that forenoon, the boy told me.
About nine o'clock, I learned from further questioning.
"Well-sir, that gives him five hours the start," the Little Woman remarked, as she eased in the clutch and slid around the corner into the highway to Barstow.-"But you can't tell me I can't run down a Ford with this car.-I know to the last inch what a Jawn Henry is good for.-I drove one myself, remember.-Now we'll see."