goat's job I'm fer it," he said. "Casey Ryan ain't the
man t' set in the shade whilst there's men runnin' loose he's darned
anxious t' meet."

"I've been thinking over the deal those fellows pulled on you. If the
man Kenner had left you the booze and dope he told you was in the car,
I'd say it was a straight case of a sticky-fingered officer letting a
bootlegger by with part of his load, and a later attack of cold feet on
the part of the bootlegger. But they didn't leave you any booze. So I
have doped it this way, Ryan.

"The thing's deeper than it looked, yesterday. Those two were working
together, part of a gang, I should say, with a fairly well-organized
system. By accident--and probably for a greater degree of safety in
getting out of the city, Kenner invited you to ride with him. He
wanted no argument with that traffic cop--no record made of his name
and license number. So he took you in. When he found out who you were,
he knew you were at outs with the law. He knew you as an experienced
desert man. He had you placed as a valuable member of their gang, if
you could be won over and persuaded to join them.

"As soon as possible he got you behind the wheel--further protection to
himself if he should meet an officer who was straight. He felt you out
on the subject of a partnership. And when you met Smiling Lou--well,
this Kenner had decided to take no chance with you. He still had hopes
of pulling you in with them, but he was far from feeling sure of you.
He undoubtedly gave Smiling Lou the cue to make the thing appear an
ordinary case of highjacking while he ditched his whole load so that
there would be no evidence against him if he lost out and you turned
nasty.

"I'm absolutely certain, Casey, that if you had not been along, Smiling
Lou would not have touched that load. They'd probably have stopped
there for a talk, exchanged news and perhaps perfected future plans,
and parted like two old cronies. It's possible, of course, that
Smiling Lou might have taken some whisky back with him--if he had
needed it. Otherwise, I think they split more cash than booze, as a
rule."

Casey sat up. "Well, they coulda played me for a sucker easy enough,"
he admitted reluctantly. "An' if it'll be any help to yuh, Mr. Nolan,
I'll say that I never seen the money passed from Kenner to Smilin' Lou,
an' I never seen a bottle unloaded from the car. I heard 'em yes. An'
I'll say there was a bunch of 'em all right. But