an' I'd have to
flip a dollar on it. Only fer Bill Masters bein' your friend, I dunno
but what I'd take yuh right back with me t' L. A. an' let yuh sleep in
a jail oncet--seein' you've never had the pleasure!"

The young man laughed imperturbably. "Flip that dollar for me, Casey,
to see whether I shoot yuh now an' dump yuh out in the brush
somewheres, or make yuh play the hootch game an' like it. Why, you
didn't think for one minute, did yuh, that I was takin' any chance with
you? Not a chance in the world! Go squeal to the law--an' what would
it get yuh?

"You was drivin' this car yourself when Smilin' Lou stopped us,
recollect. He had yuh placed as one of that Black Butte gang quick as
he lamped yuh. Yuh think Smilin' Lou is goin' to take a chance? You
was caught with the goods t'night, old-timer, an' it's the second time
inside a month. It'd be the third time you an' the law has tangled.
Why, you set there yourself an' told me how you was practically run
outa L. A., right this week. You set still a minute and figure out
about how many years they'd give yuh!

"How come Smilin' Lou overlooked cleanin' yuh of your roll when he took
mine, do yuh think? He was treatin' yuh white, an' givin' yuh a chance
to come back strong next time--that's why. They got so much on yuh now
after to-night, that he knows you got just one chance to sidestep a
stretch in the pen. That's to play the game with pertection. Smilin'
Lou never to my knowledge throwed down a guy that come through on
demand.

"Smilin' Lou stood there an' sized yuh up about the same as I did,
somethin' like this: 'Here Is Casey Ryan--a clown that's safe anywhere
in the desert States. He got honest prospector wrote all over 'im.
Why, if you boarded a street car the conductor would be guessin',
wild-eyed, how much gold dust it takes to make a nickel, expectin' you
to haul out your poke an' look around fer the gold scales. Why, you
could git by where a town guy couldn't. You've got a rep a mile long as
a fightin', squareshootin' Irishman that's a drivin' fool an' knows the
desert like he knows ham-an'-eggs. Tie on some picks an' shovels an'
put you behind the wheel, and only the guys that are in the know would
ever get wise in a thousand years.

"Why, look what he said about you havin' 'em all bluffed in San Berdoo!
Grabbed you with a bunch uh moonshiners, and you fightin' the saps
harder'n any of 'em--and then, by heck, you slips the noose an' leaves