"Gas stoves can't cook nothin' so there's any taste to it.

That there's the first real meal I've et in six months.

Light a match and turn on the gas and call that a fire! Hunh! Good old sage er greasewood fer Casey Ryan, from here on!" He laid back against the sandy sidehill, tilted his hat over his eyes and crossed his legs luxuriously.

He was in no hurry to continue his journey.

Now that he and the desert were alone together, haste and Casey Ryan held nothing in common.