yuh out?"

"Clean as a last year's bone in a kioty den," Casey declared, hiding
his satisfaction as best he could. "Never got my roll though."

"He wouldn't--not with you workin' on the inside. Guess it must be
kinda touchy around here right now. New officers, mebby. He wouldn't
a' cleaned us out if we'd a' been safe. He never came into camp
before--not when I've been here. Made that same play to you, didn't
he--about givin' yourself up in the morning? Uh course yuh know what
that means--DON'T!"

"He shore is foxy, all right," Casey commented with absolute sincerity.
"You can ask anybody if he didn't pull it off like the pleasure was all
his'n. No L. A. traffic cop ever pinched me an I looked like he
enjoyed it more."

"Oh, Lou's cute, all right. They don't any of 'em put anything over on
Lou. You must be new at the business, ain't yuh?"

"Second trip," Casey informed him with an air of importance--which he
really felt, by the way. "What Casey's studyin' on now, is the next
move. No use hangin' around here empty. What do YOU figger on doin'?"

"Well, Lou didn't give no tip--not to me, anyway. So I guess it'll be
safe to drive on in to the city and load up again. I got a feller with
me--he caught a ride in to San Berdoo; left just before you drove in.
Know where to go in the city? 'Cause I can ride in with you, an' let
him foller."

"That'll suit me fine," Casey declared. And so they left it for the
time being, and Cassidy went back to bed.

A great load had dropped from Casey's shoulders, and he was asleep
before Jim Cassidy had ceased to turn restlessly in his blankets.
Getting the White Mule out of his car and into the car of Smiling Lou
had been the task which Nolan had set for him. What was to happen
thereafter Casey could only guess, for Nolan had not told him. And such
was the Casey Ryan nature that he made no attempt to solve the problems
which Mack Nolan had calmly reserved for himself.

He did not dream, for instance, that Mack Nolan had watched him load
the stuff into Smiling Lou's car. He did know that an unobtrusive
Cadillac roadster was parked at the next campfire. It had come in half
an hour behind him, but the driver had not made any move toward camping
until after dark. Casey had glanced his way when the car was parked
and the driver got out and began fussing around the car, but he had not
been struck with any sense of familiarity in the figure.

There was no reason why he