Patmos had been led to believe that he would send those goats off on the train, and Casey did not know what would happen if he failed.

There were the heads of the six families, and all the children who were of walking age, grouped around the crates and Casey expectantly.
Casey went back to the garage safe and got what money he had, borrowed the balance from the male citizens of Patmos and prepaid the express.

Patmos helped to load them into the first express car going west, and Casey felt, he said, as if some one had handed him a million dollars in dimes.
Casey seemed to think that ended the story, but I am like the rest of you.
I wanted to know what the Smith family did, and J.Paul Smith, and whether Casey kept the truck and sold it to the man who hauled water.
"Who?
Me?
Say! D'you ever know Casey Ryan to ever come out anywheres but at the little end uh the horn?
Ain't I the bag holder pro tem ?" I don't know what he meant by that.

I think he was mistaken in the meaning of "pro tem." "You ask anybody.

Say, I got a letter sayin' in a gen'ral way that I'm a thief an' a cutthroat an' a profiteer an' so on, an' that I would have to pay fer the goat that was missin'-- that there was the one I give away--an' that the damages to the billy goat was worth twenty-five dollars and same would be deducted from the amount of the loan.