Casey Ryan

next day, as most desert dwellers did. He hurried through with his business, filled up with gas and oil, loaded on an extra can of each, strapped his box of dynamite upo

ut he would be there, ready to start work at sunrise. A man who is going to marry a widow with two

All that afternoon a yellow dust cloud swirled rapidly along the rough desert road, vainly trying to keep up with Casey who made it. In Yu

ely at Barren Butte that held Lucky Lode, where the widow was cooking supper at that moment. Ca

iscuits right now," he said aloud. "If I do strike

is treacherous. The Big Earthquake (America knows only one Big Earthquake, that which rocked San Francisco so disastrously) had split Furnace Lake halfway across, leaving an ugly crevice ten feet wide at the narrowest point and eighty feet deep, men said. Time and passing st

e clump of greasewood stood up tall and proclaimed itself a ship lying idle on a glassy expanse of water so bl

ed and hungry, he pictured wistfully a cabin there, and a light in the window when he went chuckling up the long mesa in the dark, and the widow inside with hot coffee and supp

etween himself and his sour-dough can. He cranked the engine, switched on the e

lf as he drove. "She'll know it's Casey Ryan comin' home-know it the way them lights are slippin' over

home he instinctively craved, Casey pulled the gas lever down another eighth of an inch-when he was already using more than he sh

e Casey was the only man who traveled it, and Casey never made tracks twice in the same place, but drove down upon it, picked himself a landmark on the opposite side and steered for it exactly as one steers a boat. The ma

ey plunged out upon five miles of blank, baked clay with neither road, chart nor compass to guide him.

ine of Starvation, and being perfectly sober, he steered a straight course, and made sure he

riness mingled with content that the way was smooth and he need not look for chuck holes for a few minutes, at a

d stared, listened with an ear cocked toward the engin

under his breath,- Furnace Lake subdues one someho

the motor, but Casey could feel no forward motion. "Settin' here burnin' gas like a 'lection bonfire-she sure wou

ss!" he gritted, and with one hand still on the

away from him in a wide circle, since Casey had unconsciously turned the wheel to the left as he let go. The blow of meet

down upon him from the direction whence he had come. Before he had time to wo

rd coming at him with dimming headlights from the same direction it had taken before, made a wild grab fo

t the Ford by its fender, hung on, clutching frantically for a better hold, was dragged a little distance so and then, as its speed slackened to a gentle forward roll, he

s early breakfast, and decided that the bite of a Ford, while it is po

roaning around camp and confined his activities to cooking his meals. Frequently

me every circle she made. That's human. It's dog-gone human! I've cussed her a lot, and I've done things to her-like that syrup I poured into her-and dog-gone her, she's been layin' low and w

tarted down the mesa and up over the ridge and on down to the lake. He was still studying the matter incredulously, still wondering if Fords can think. He w

sey wince and break a promise-explained their astonishment. They had, as Casey expected, seen his lights when he came off the summit from

e saw your lights go round and r

ntly. "They went dim because I was

evice, and we went down with lanterns and hunted the ful

ts," interpolated Casey drily. "I wish y

that. I've been down since, by daylight, and so have some of t

f, told the foreman and his men what had happened to him. He d

and this was unusual. They stood around the Ford and talked to it, and whoope

of anything worse than lemon soda, and that was before I left town." W

? You think Casey Ryan has got to the point where he's scared to tell what he done and all he done? Lemme tell yuh, any

," said the forema

not in sight. The foreman, he judged, was s

. She ain't as big a fool-" He did not want to fight, although he was aching to lick every ma

the crevice, had not come straight to comfort her, but had lingered up there talking and laughing with the men. The widow had taken Casey's part when the others said he must h

n he came in, but now she moved away from him. She did not call him dear boy, nor even Casey dear. She waited until he had re

coldly, "had you bee

I left town, and I left town at thr

fter I had told you repeatedly that my little ones should ever be guarded from a drinking father; after you had solemnly promised

ce a shade paler under its usual fran

in his senses would imagine what you imagine, or do what you did. I wish you to unde

measuring his words. Very ne

and began to stir something on t

sed half its length, turned and steered a straight course across it. Where tracings of wheels described a wide circle he stopped a

nd run along, till you got married to her. Whadda I want a wife for, anyway? Sour-dough biscuits tastes pretty good, and Casey sure can make 'em

u can ask anybody." He grinned, and blew a lot of sm