g for a minute, before he spoke again. "You could have
explained to the sheriff, couldn't you, your reason for having booze in
the car?"

Casey raised to one elbow. "When yuh told Casey Ryan 'twas not many
men you'd trust, and that you trusted me an' the business was t' be
secret--Mr. Nolan, you 'was talkin' t' CASEY RYAN!" He lay down again
as if that precluded further argument.

"Good! I thought I hadn't made a mistake in my man," Nolan approved, in
a tone that gave Casey an inner glow of pride in himself. "Let's have
the story, old man. Did you see Bill Masters?"

"Bill Masters," said Casey grimly, "was not in Lund. His garage is
sold an' Bill's in Denver--which is a long drive for a Ford t' git
there an' back before Friday midnight. Yuh put a time limit me, Mr.
Nolan, an' nobody had Bill's address. I didn't foller Bill t' Denver.
I asked some others in Lund if they knowed a man named Kenner, and they
did not. So then I went huntin' booze that I could git without the
hull of Nevada knowin' it in fifteen minutes. An' Casey's got this t'
say: When yuh WANT hootch, it's hard t' find as free gold in granite.
When yuh DON'T want it, it's forced on yuh at the point of a gun. This
jug I stole--seein' your business is private, Mr. Nolan.

"I grabbed it off some fellers I knowed in Lund an' never had no use
for, anyway. They're mean enough when they're sober, an' when they're
jagged they're not t' be mentioned on a Sunday. I mighta paid 'em for
it, but money's no good t' them fellers an' there's no call t' waste
it. So they made a holler and I sets the jug down an' licks them both,
an' comes along home mindin' my own business.

"So I guess they 'phoned the sheriff in Vegas that here comes a
bootlegger and land 'im quick. Anyway, I was goin' t' stop there an'
take on a beefsteak an' a few cups uh coffee, but I never done it. I
was slowin' down in front uh Sam's Place when a friend uh mine gives me
the high sign t' put 'er in high an' keep 'er goin'. Which I done.

"Down by Ladd's, Casey looks back an' here comes the sheriff's car hell
bent fer 'lection (anyway it looked like the sheriff's car). An' I
wanta say right here, Mr. Nolan, that's a darn' good Ford yuh got! I
was follered, and 'I was follered hard. But I'm here an' they'
ain't--an' you can ask anybody if that didn't take some going'!"

In the darkness of the cabin Casey turned over and heaved a great sigh.
On the heels of that came a chuckle.