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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 -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 andutensils as remained had been used and left unwashed, and the stove was partially de which remained as he had left it was the stream of salt water that had cut a deeper channel for itself but had not dio over to Canby's and hit the cook for sorub and be back pronto," said Pinkey

Wallie nodded He was in no mood for conversation, for the realization of his failure was strong upon him, and he could not rid hi made a spectacle of himself before Helene Spenceley

The future looked utterly hopeless Without capital there seees His aunt had sent word in a roundabout way that if he wished to come back she would receive hi on as left of his doorstep, he awaited Pinkey's return, in an attitude of such dejection that that person commented upon it jocosely He rode up finally with a banana in each hip pocket that he had pilfered frohnuts in the crown of his hat and a cake in his shirt front

"I tried to get aith a pie, but it was too soft to carry, so I put a handful of salt under the crust and set it back," he said, as he disgorged his plunder "He charged me for the bread and meat, and wouldn't let me have no butter! It's fellers like the Canby outfit that spoil a country"

When they had eaten, they spread their saddle-blankets in the dooryard and with their saddles for pillows covered themselves with the slickers they carried and so slept soundly until