Or perhaps he dreaded to hear that it was gone.
His glance went dismally over the bare stretches he had used for his field.

The wind had levelled the loose dirt over the tracks, so that the field looked long deserted and added its mite to his depressed mood.

He hesitated, almost minded to turn back.

What was the use of tormenting himself further?
But then it occurred to him that his whole world lay as forlornly empty before him as this field and hangar, and that one place was like another to him, who had lost his hold on everything worth while.

He had a vague notion to invoke the aid of the law to hold Bland and the plane, wherever he might be located, but he was not feeling particularly friendly toward the law just now, and the idea remained nebulous and remote.