Max knew he was now alone.
He could not weep.
His eyes were hot as burning coals.
If only the tear-drops would start, he felt that they would ease him; but no, his eyes were dry and his brain seemed scorched.
His tongue began to swell, and when he tried to speak it appeared to fill up his mouth.
The torches were extinguished, the place became quiet, and instinct told him that he was alone—alone with the dead.
Not a sound disturbed the silence.
A horrible thought passed through his burning brain.
“What if he were left there to starve to death beside his father’s body?”
Madcap Max was not a coward.