It was noon the next day when Nolan returned, and he did not explain
why he was eighteen hours overdue. Casey eyed him expectantly, but
Nolan's manner was brisk and preoccupied.
"Help me unload this stuff, Ryan," he said, "and put it out of sight in
the cellar. We won't have to go through the process of making
moonshine, after all."
Casey looked into the car, pulling aside the tarp. Four kegs he
counted, and lifted out one.
"An' how many did YOU lick, Mr. Nolan?" he grinned over his shoulder as
he started for the door.
Nolan laughed noncommittally.
"Perhaps I'm luckier at picking my bootleggers," he retorted. "If you
carry the right brand of bluff, you can keep the skin on your knuckles,
Ryan. This beats making it, at any rate."
That afternoon and the next day, Casey Ryan did what he never dreamed
was possible. With Mack Nolan to show him how, Casey performed
miracles. While he did not, literally change water into wine, he did
give forty-three gallons of White Mule a most imposing pedigree.
He turned kegs of crude, moonshine whisky into Canadian Club, Garnkirk,
Tom Pepper, Three Star Hennessey and Cognac--if you were to believe the
bottles, labels and government seals. Under Mack Nolan's instruction
and with his expert assistance, the forgery was perfect. While the
cellar reeked with the odor of White Mule when they had finished, the
bottled array on the table whispered of sybaritic revelings to glisten
the eyes of the most dissipated man about town.
"When it's as easy done as that, Mr. Nolan, the feller's a fool that
drinks it. You've learnt Casey Ryan somethin' that mighta done 'im
some good a few years back." He picked up a flat, pint bottle and
caressed its label with reminiscent finger tips.
"Many's the time me an' old Tommy Pepper drove stage together," he
mused. "Throwed 'im at a bear once that I met in the trail over in
Colorado when I hadn't no gun on me. Busted a pint on his nose--man!
Then I never waited to see what happened. I was a wild divil them days
when me an' Tommy Pepper was side pardners. But a yaller snake with a
green head crawled out of a bottle of 'im once--and that there was
where Casey Ryan says good-by to booze. If I hadn't quit 'im then, I'd
sure as hell quit 'im now. After this performance, Mr. Nolan, Casey
Ryan's goin' to look twice into his coffee pot. I wouldn't believe in
cow's milk, if I done the milkin' myself!"
"Most of the stuff that's peddled nowadays is doctored," Nolan
replied, with the air of one who knows. "When it isn't White Mule,
it's likely to be something worse. That's one of the chief reasons why
I'm fighting it. If they only peddled decent whisky it wouldn't be so
bad, Ryan. But it's rank poison. I've seen so many go stone blind--or
die--that it makes me pretty savage sometimes. So now I'll coach you
in the part you're to play as hootch runner; and to-morrow you can
start for Los Angeles."
Casey did not answer. He felt absently for his pipe, filled and
lighted it and went out to sit on the doorstep in gloomy meditation
while he smoked.
Returning to Los Angeles, even without a bootlegger's load, was not a
matter which Casey liked to contemplate. He would have to face the
Little Woman if he went back; either as a deliberate liar, who lied to
his wife to gain the freedom he might have had without resorting to
deceit, or as the victim once more of crooks. Casey thought he would
prefer the accusation of lying deliberately to the Little Woman, though
it made him squirm to think of it. He wished she had not openly
taunted him with getting into trouble and needing her always to get him
out.
He would like to tell her that he was now working for the government.
The secrecy of his mission, the danger it involved, would impress even
her amused cynicism. But the very secrecy of his mission in itself
made it impossible for him to tell her anything about it. Casey would
not admit it, but it was a real disappointment to him that he could not
wear a star on his coat.
All that day and evening he was glum, a strange mood for Casey Ryan.
But if Mack Nolan noticed his silence, he gave no sign. Nolan himself
was wholly absorbed by the business in hand. The success of this plan
meant a good deal to him, and he told Casey so very frankly; which
lightened Casey's gloom perceptibly.
Casey was to drive to Los Angeles--even to San Diego if necessary--and
return within a week, unless Nolan's hopes were fulfilled and Casey was
held up and highjacked. If he were apprehended by officers who were
honestly discharging their duty, Casey was to do thus-and-so, and
presently be free to drive on with his load. If he were highjacked
(Casey gritted his teeth and said he hoped the highjacker would be
Smiling Lou), he was to permit himself to be robbed, worm himself as
far as possible into their confidence and return for further orders.
If Mack Nolan should chance to be absent from the cabin, then Casey was
to wait until he returned. And Nolan intimated that hereafter the
making of moonshine might be a part of Casey's duties. Then, without
warning, Mack Nolan struck at the heart of Casey's worry.
"I don't want to dictate to any man in family affairs, Ryan. But I've
got to speak of one other matter," he said diffidently. "I suppose
naturally you'll want to go home and let your wife know you're still
alive, anyway. But if you can manage to keep your present business a
secret for the time being, I think you'd better do it. You said you
were planning to be away on a trip for some time, I remember. If you
can just let it go that way, or say that you are prospecting over here,
I wish you would. Think you can manage that all right?"
"I'd rather manage a six-horse team of bronk mules," Casey admitted.
"But after the way the missus thinks I lied to 'er about takin' the
next train home from Barstow, anything I say 'll be used agin' me. My
wife's got brains. She ain't put it down that the trains have quit
runnin'. Accordin' to her figures, Casey's lied and he's in a hole
again, an' it'll be up to her an' Jack to run windlass an' pull 'im
out. Don't matter what I say she won't believe me anyhow--so Casey
won't say nothin'. Can't lie with your mouth shut, can yuh?"
"Oh, yes, it's been done," Mack Nolan chuckled. "Now we'll set down
the serial numbers and the bank name of this 'jack',--and here's your
expense money separate. And if there's anything that isn't clear to
you, Ryan, speak up. You won't hear from me again, probably, until
you're back from this fishing trip."
Casey thought that everything was perfectly clear, and rashly he said
so, as he started off.
From Barstow to Victorville, from Victorville to Camp Cajon Casey drove
expectantly, hoping to meet Smiling Lou. He scanned each car that
approached and slowed for every meeting like a searching party or a man
who is lost and wishes to inquire the way. His pace would have been
law-abiding in Los Angeles at five o'clock on Broadway between Fourth
and Eighth streets. Goggled women tourists eyed him curiously, and one
car stopped full to see what he wanted. But his "Tom Pepper" rode safe
under the tarp behind him, and the "Three Star Hennessey" beaded
daintily with the joggling it got, and Casey was neither halted nor
questioned as he passed.
At Camp Cajon Casey stopped and cooked an early supper, because the
summer crowd was there and a real bootlegger would have considered
stopping rather unsafe. Casey boiled coffee over one of the camp
fireplaces and watched furtively the sunburned holiday group nearest.
He placed his supper on one of the round, cement tables near the car,
and every man who passed that way Casey watched unblinkingly while he
ate.
He succeeded in making three different parties swallow their supper in
a hurry and pack up and leave, glancing back uneasily at Casey as they
drove away. But Casey himself was unmolested, and no one asked about
his load.
From Camp Cajon to San Bernardino Casey drove furiously, remembering
young Kenner's desire for speed. He stopped there for the night, and
nearly had a fight with the garage man where he put up, because he
showed undue caution concerning the safety of his car from prowlers
during the night.
He left the car there that day and returned furtively after dark,
asking the night man if he had seen any saps around his car. The night
man looked at him uncomprehendingly.
"I dunno--nothin's been picked up since I come on at six. We ain't
responsible for lost articles, anyway. See that sign?"
Casey grunted, cranked up and drove away, wondering whether the night
man was as innocent as he tried to act.
From San Bernardino to Los Angeles Casey drove placidly as a load of
oranges in February. He put up at a cheap place on San Pedro Street,
with his car in the garage next door and a five-dollar tip in the palm
of a rat-faced mechanic with Casey's injunction to clean 'er dingbats
and keep other people away.
He did not go out to see the Little Woman, after all. He had sent her
a wire from Goffs the day before, saying that he was prospecting with a
fellow and he hoped she was well. This, after long pondering, had
seemed to him the easiest way out of an argument with the Little Woman.
The wire had given no address whereby she might reach him, but the
omission was not the oversight Casey hoped she would consider it. He
wanted to be reassuring without starting anything.
Los Angeles with no Little Woman at his elbow was a dismal hole, and
Casey got out of it as soon as possible. As per instructions, he drove
down to San Diego, ventured perilously close to the Mexico line, fooled
around there for a day looking for trouble, failed to find so much as a
frown and drove back.
He headed straight for San Bernardino, which was Smiling Lou's
headquarters. He killed time there and met the sheriff on the street
the day he arrived. The sheriff had a memory trained to hold faces
indefinitely. He smiled a little, made a polite gesture in the general
direction of his hat and passed on. Casey swore to himself and
resolved to duck guiltily around the nearest corner if he saw the
sheriff coming his way again.
On the day when his time limit expired Casey drove up the gulch to
Nolan's camp. In the car behind him rode undisturbed his Canadian
Club, Garnkirk, Three-Star Hennessey, Cognac and Tom Pepper; bottles,
labels, government seals and all. Nolan was walking over from the
tunnel when Casey arrived. He smiled inquiringly as he shook hands,--a
ceremony to which Casey was plainly unaccustomed.
"What luck, Ryan? I beat you back by about two hours. Getting things
ready to begin making it. Did they catch you all right?"
"Naw!" Casey spat disgustedly. "Never seen a booze peddler, never seen
a cop look my way. I went around actin' like I just killed a man an'
stole a lady's diamonds, and the sheriff at San Berdoo TIPS 'IS HAT TO
ME, by golly! Drove through L. A. hella-whoopin' an' not a darned
traffic cop knowed it was Casey Ryan. You can ask anybody if I didn't
do every thing possible to git in bad or give bootleggers a tip I was
one of 'em.
"You can't git Casey Ryan up agin' the gang you're after, Mr. Nolan.
Only way Casey Ryan can git up agin' the law is to go along peaceable
tryin' to please the missus an' mindin' his own business. I coulda
peddled that damn' hootch on a hangin' tray like circus lemonade. I
coulda stood on the corner in any uh them damned towns with the hull
works piled out on a table in front of me, an' I coulda hollered my
damn' head off; an' Smilin' Lou woulda passed me by like I was sellin'
chewin' gum and shoe strings."
Mack Nolan looked at Casey, turned and went into the cabin, sat down on
the edge of the bed and laughed until the tears dripped over his
lashes. Casey Ryan followed him, and sat on the edge of the table with
his arms folded. Whenever Mack Nolan lifted his face from his palms
and looked at Casey, Casey swore. Whereat Mack Nolan would give
another whoop.
You can't wonder if relations were somewhat strained, between them for
the rest of that day.