y have to shuffle the facts a bit."

"All right. I'll do all the lying necessary and never bat an eye."

"It won't require much decorating, the story. But you will have to go
up and get him, starting at once." Then he concluded, "I hate to have
to ask you to make that drive late at night and in the darkness."

"Never mind that. Glad to do it, if that's what you want."

"Take your wagon and fill the box with hay and bring him down. By
coming back slowly he won't be jarred, and he has to be brought out
anyway. If he's dead, well, bring his body just the same. A doctor
should be easily at your house by the time you arrive; and your story
is that a sheepherder found him lying by his wrecked car, carried him
into the cabin and then came down and told you of the accident, on
which you went and brought him in, not knowing, of course, in the dark
who he was or what he was doing up there or how the smash-up had
occurred. You might suggest that he was camping there by himself to
fish, and stop at that."

Johnson nodded.

"I'll say just enough and no more," he remarked.

"If you start at once, you'll be there by daylight if not before. That
will get you back here by nine or ten o'clock. I don't want him taken
to San Mateo; that would stir up a swarm of inquiries and might even
send some of the curious up to the spot. Let the trail get cold, so to
speak. People aren't half as curious about a thing three or four days
after it happens as at the moment."

"I've noticed that myself."

"And another thing, I don't wish his father to learn of the matter
just yet. Under other circumstances he should be the first to know,
but I want the news kept from him for a special reason. Besides, it
would be better if he found out about it from others and through
roundabout channels. His son up there I don't see doing any talking
himself for some time if he does live. When he is able to talk, I
believe he'll decide to keep his mouth shut or just accept the
explanation given that he was fishing or something of that kind. When
the doctor has looked him over, either he or you will carry him to
Bowenville. If we could ship him at once to Gaston, where there's some
sort of a hospital, I suppose, or even to Santa Fe, that would be the
thing. He'd be out of the way; there'd be no talk; there would be no
explanations to make except to the doctor."

"Every doctor round these parts probably knows him," Johnson said,
"and so would insist on taking hi