Canby said no more, but it passed through his mind that Wallie would not, either, if there was a way for him to prevent it.
CHAPTER XV
COLLECTING A BAD DEBT
Wallie and Pinkey picked up a few stray cattle on their way to the homestead on Skull Creek. It was late in the afternoon when they reached it, so they decided to spend the night there. The corral was down in places, but with a little work it was repaired sufficiently to hold the cattle they put in it.
As Pinkey had prophesied, it gave Wallie the "blues" to look at the place where he had worked so hard and from which he had hoped so much. He felt heartsick as he saw the broken fence-posts and tangled wire, the weeds growing in his wheat-field, the broken window-panes, and the wreckage inside his cabin.
The door had been left open and the range stock had gone in for shelter, while the rats and mice and chipmunks had taken possession. Such of his cooking utensils as remained had been used and left unwashed, and the stove was partially demolished.
The only thing which remained as he had left it was the stream of salt water that had cut a deeper channel for itself but had not diminished in volume.
"I'll go over to Canby's and hit the cook for some grub and be back pronto," said Pinkey.