behind high peaks.

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