At two o'clock the next afternoon, the Smith outfit came back, limping along on three bare rims.

Casey's jaw dropped a little when he saw them coming, but nature had made him an optimist.

Now, perhaps, that hungry-looking Smith would dig into his pocket and find the price of new tires.

It had been Casey's experience that a man who protested the loudest that he was broke would, if held rigidly to the no-credit rule, find the money to pay for what he must have.

In his heart he believed that Smith had money dangling somewhere in close proximity to his lank person.
But if Smith had any money he did not betray the fact.