The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trail of the White Mule, by B. M. Bower

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Title: The Trail of the White Mule

Author: B. M. Bower

Posting Date: November 19, 2008 [EBook #2063]
Release Date: February, 2000

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAIL OF THE WHITE MULE ***

Produced by Daniel Wentzell. HTML version by Al Haines.

THE TRAIL OF THE WHITE MULE

by

B. M. Bower

CHAPTER ONE

Casey Ryan, hunched behind the wheel of a large, dark blue touring car
with a kinked front fender and the glass gone from the left headlight,
slid out from the halted traffic, shied sharply away from a
hysterically clanging street car, crossed the path of a huge red truck
coming in from his right, missed it with two inches to spare and was
halfway down the block before the traffic officer overtook him.

The traffic officer was Irish too, and bigger than Casey, and madder.
For all that, Casey offered to lick the livin' tar outa him before
accepting a pale, expensive ticket which he crumbled and put into his
pocket without looking at it.

"What I know about these here fancy city rules ain't sufficient to give
a horn-toad a headache--but it's a darn sight more'n I care," Casey
declaimed hotly. "I never was asked what I thought of them tin signs
you stick up on the end of a telegraft pole, to tell folks when to go
an' when to quit goin'. Mebby it's all right fer these here city
drivers--"

"This'll mean thirty days for you," spluttered the officer. "I ought
to call the patrol right now--"

"Get the undertaker on the line first!" Casey advised him ominously.

Traffic was piling up behind them, and horns were honking a blatant
chorus that extended two blocks up the street. The traffic officer
glanced into the troubled gray eyes of the Little Woman beside Casey
and took his foot off the running board.

"Better go put up your bail and then forfeit it," he advised in a
milder tone. "The judge will probably remember you; I do, and my
memory ain't the best in the world. Twice you've been hooked for
speeding through traffic; and parking by fire-plugs and in front of the
No Park s