Casey saw all sorts and sizes of cars pass to and fro, and most of them stopped at his door, for gas or for water or oil, or perhaps merely to inquire inanely if they were on the right road to Needles or to Los Angeles, as the case might be.  Any fool, thought Casey, would know without asking, since there was no other road, and since the one road was signed conscientiously every mile or two.  But he always grinned good-naturedly and told them what they wanted him to tell them, and if they shifted money into his palm for any reason whatever he brought out his green glass pitcher and his green glass tumbler and gave them a drink all around and wished them luck.

There were strip-down Fords that tried to look like sixes, and there were six-cylinder cars that labored harder than Fords.  There were limousines, sedans, sport cars,—­and they all carried suitcases and canvas rolls and bundles draped over the hoods, on the fenders and piled high on the running boards.

Sometimes he would find it necessary to remove a thousand pounds or so of ill-wrapped bedding from the back of a tonneau before he could get at the gas tank to fill it, but Casey never grumbled.  He merely retied the luggage with a packer’s hitch that would take the greenhorn through his whole vocabulary before he untied it that night, and he would add two bits to the price of the gas because his time belonged to Bill, and Bill expected Casey’s time to be paid for by the public.

One day when it was so hot that even Casey was limp and pale from the heat, and the proprietor of the Oasis had forsaken the strip of shade on his porch and had chased his dog out of the dirt hollow it had scratched under the house and had crawled under there himself, a party pulled slowly up to the garage and stopped.  Casey was inside sitting on the ground and letting the most recently filled water bag drip down the back of his neck.  He shouted to Juan, but Juan had gone somewhere to find himself a cool spot for his siesta, so Casey got slowly to his feet and went out to meet Trouble, sopping his wet hair against the back of his head with the flat of his hand before he put on his hat.  He squinted into the sunshine and straightway squared himself for business.

This was a two-ton truck fitted for camping.  A tall, lean man whose overalls hung wide from his suspenders and did not seem to touch his person anywhere, climbed out and stood looking at the bare rims of two wheels, as if he had at that moment discovered them.

“Thinkin’ about the price uh tires, stranger?” Casey grinned cheerfully.  “It’s lucky I got your size, at that.  Fabrics and cords—­and the difference in price is more’n made up in wear.  Run yer car inside outa the sun whilst I change yer grief into joy.”

“I teen havin’ hard luck all along,” the man complained listlessly.  “Geewhillikens, but it shore does cost to travel!”

Casey should have been warned by that.  Bill would have smelled a purse lean as the man himself and would have shied a little.  But Casey could meet Trouble every morning after breakfast and yet fail to recognize her until she had him by the collar.