B. M. Bower

“ I said in the beginning that twenty-five thousand dollars was like a wild cat in Casey’s pocket. You can’t give a man that much money all in a lump and, suddenly, after he has been content with dollars enough to pay for the grub he eats, without seeing him lose his sense of proportion. Twenty-five dollars he understands and can spend more prudently than you, perhaps. ”

“ Eighty miles more or less straight away across the mountainous waste lay Lund, halfway up a cañon that led to higher reaches in the hills rich in silver, lead, copper, gold. Silver it was that Casey had found and sold to the men from Tonopah—and it was a freak of luck, he thought whimsically, that had led him and his Ford away over to Ghost Mountain to find their stake when they had probably been driving over millions every day that they made the stage trip from Pinnacle down to Lund. For Casey, be it known, was an old stage driver turned prospector. ”

“ He cranked the battered car, straddled in over the edge on the driver’s side, and set his feet against the pedals with the air of a man who had urgent business elsewhere. The men from Tonopah were not yet out of sight around the butte scarred with granite ledges before Casey was under way, rattling down the rough trail from Ghost Mountain and bouncing clear of the seat as the car lurched over certain rough spots. ”

“ Casey muttered while he dug out the wheels of his Ford, and knew that his own dream must wait upon the need of these three human beings whom he had never seen until an hour ago, of whose existence he had been in ignorance and who would probably contribute nothing whatever to his own welfare or happiness, however much he might contribute to theirs. ”

“ At a dim fork in the trail Casey slowed and stopped. A boiling radiator will not forever brook neglect, and Casey brought his mind down to practical things for a space. “I can just as well take the train from Lund,” he mused, while he poured in more water. “Then I can leave this bleatin' burro with Bill. He oughta give me a coupla hundred for her, anyway. No use wasting money just because you happen to have a few dollars in your pants.” He filled his pipe to smoke and muse on that sensible idea and turned the nose of his Ford down the dim trail to Lund. ”

“ A man, for instance, might wipe his fingers on his pants and look his world straight in the eye. But, dog-gone it, when a lady’s a lady, she ought to be a lady.
Later Casey forgot for a time the incident of the luncheon on Red Lake. With infinite labor and much patience he finally extricated himself and the show people, with no assistance from them, save encouragement. ”

“ Let’s trade cars till the man has our car repaired. Your car goes just fine, and we can load our stuff in and get out away from this horrible town. Why, the preacher was there and made a speech and said the meanest things about you, because you was having a benefit and at the same identical time you was setting in a saloon gambling. He said it was an outrage on civilization, mister, and an insult to the honest, hardworking people in Lund. Them was his very words.”
“Well, hell!” Casey exploded abruptly. “I’m honest and hardworkin’ as any damn preacher. You can ask anybody!” ”

“ The Ford grunted and lugged down to a steady pull. Casey drove as he had driven his six horses up a steep grade in the old days, coaxing every ounce of power into action. Now he coaxed with spark and gas and somehow kept her in high, and stopped with nice judgment on a small island of harder clay within shouting distance cf the car ahead. He killed the engine then and stepped down, and went picking his way carefully out to them, his heavy shoes speedily collecting great pancakes of mud that clung like glue. ”

“ Bill told them comfortingly. “You can make it, all right——”
“We can make it, hey? How're we going to make it, with our car layin' around all over your garage?” The fiat-chested one's tone was arrogant past belief.
Casey was fumbling for strap buckles which he could not reach. He was also groping through his colorful, stage-driver's vocabulary for words which might be pronounced in the presence of a lady, and finding mighty few that were of any use to him. ”

“ Casey admitted. “I been out prospecting.”
“Well, we can just work it fine! Can’t we go somewhere and talk it over? I’ve got a swell idea, mister, if you’ll just listen to it a minute, and it’ll certainly be a godsend to us to be able to give our show. We’ve got some crutches among our stage props, and some scar patches, mister, that would certainly make you up fine as a cripple. Wouldn’t they believe it, mister, if it was told that you had been in an accident and got crippled for life?” ”

“ He looked at the man.
“Jack, dear, you might go help the gentleman get some brush,” the lady suggested sweetly.
“This ain’t my act,” Jack dear objected. “I just about broke my spine trying to heave the car outa the mud when we first stuck. Say, I wish there was a beanery of some kind in walking distance. Honest, I’ll be dead of starvation in another hour. What’s the chance of a bite, hon?”
Contempt surged through Casey. Deep in his soul he pitied her for being tied to such an insect. Immediately he was glad that she had spirit enough to put the little runt in his place. ”

“ The show lady begged him, with dew on her lashes, to play the part faithfully, and they departed very happy over their prospects.
Casey did not know whether he was happy or not. With Bill to encourage him and give him a lift over the gutters, he crossed the street to a restaurant and ordered largely of sirloin steak and French-fried potatoes. After supper there was a long evening to spend quietly on crutches, and The Club was just next door. A man can always spend an evening very quickly at The Club—or he could in the wet days—if his money held out. ”

“ In spite of his perturbation Casey grinned. “Yeah, I guess they’d believe it, all right,” he admitted. “They’d likely be tickled to death to see me goin’ around on crutches.” He cast a hasty thought back into his past, when he had driven a careening stage between Pinnacle and Lund, strewing the steep trail with wreckage not his own. “Yeah, it’d tickle ’em to death. Them that’s rode with me,” he concluded.
“Oh, mister, you certainly are a godsend! Duck outa sight somewhere while I go tell Jack, dear, that we’ve found a way open for us to show, after all!” ”

“ He drove stage from Pinnacle to Lund fer two years and never killed nobody, though he did come close to it, now and again. I've saw strong men that rode with Casey and said they never felt right afterward. Casey, he's a dog-gone good driver, but he used to be kinda hard on passengers. He done more to promote heart failure in them two towns than all the altitude they can pile up. But nobody's going to hold that against a good show that comes there. ”

“ I’ll pack the stuff back there to dry ground and boil some coffee and fry some bacon.” He looked at the woman and was rewarded by a smile so brilliant that Casey was dazzled.
“You certainly are a godsend,” she called after him, as he turned away to his own car. “It just happens that we’re out of everything. It’s so hard to keep anything on hand when you’re traveling in this country, with towns so far apart. You just run short, before you know it.” ”

“ People certainly would turn out good for a man that’s liked the way they say you are. I’d just love to put on a show for you, mister. Couldn’t we fix it up some way?”
Casey looked up and down the street, and found it practically empty. Lund was dining at that hour. And while Casey expected later the loud greetings and the handshakes and all, as a matter of fact he had thus far talked with Bill, the garage man, with Dwyer, the storekeeper and banker, and with the man from Pinnacle, who was already making ready to crank his car and go home. Lund, as a town, was yet unaware of Casey’s presence. ”

“ Casey looked at the show lady, found her gazing at his face with eyes that said please in four languages, and hesitated.
“You could git up a benefit for the Methodist church, mebby,” he temporized. “There’s a church of some kind here—I guess it’s a Methodist. They most generally are.”
“We’d have to split with them if we did,” the show lady objected practically. “Oh, mister, we’re stuck worse than when we was back there in the mud! We’d only have to pay five dollars for a six months’ theater license, which would let us give all the shows we wanted to. ”

“ Down to twenty-five thousand dollars and my Ford autymobil—and Bill’s goin’ to buy that off me soon as he looks her over to see what’s busted and what ain’t.”
Dwyer laughed again and unlocked the door behind the overalls and jumpers, and disappeared into his bank. Presently he returned with a receipted duplicate deposit slip for twenty-three thousand eight hundred dollars, a little, flat check book and two hundred dollars in worn bank notes. “You ought to be independent for the rest of your life, Casey. This is a fine start for any man,” he said. ”

“ We got a first-class act. One that ought to draw down good money anywhere, and would draw down good money, if the movie trust——”
“And then we like to be independent, and go where we like and get off the railroad for a spell. ”

“ Casey awoke just before noon, and went out and held his head under Bill’s garage hydrant with the water running a full stream. He looked up and found Bill standing there with his hands in his pockets, gazing at Casey sorrowfully. Casey grinned.
“How’s she comin’, Bill?”
Bill grunted and spat. “She ain’t. Not if you mean that car them folks wished onto you. The tail light’s pretty fair, though. ”