He smiled at her, but from sobered eyes. Confused by his evident seriousness, she made one more attempt, and laughed: "Well, if you won't tell me who you are, won't you please tell me what you are?"
The door swung open then, and on the heels of her question came voices from without. One voice rose high above the rest, and they heard: "Aw, come on; le's have jus' one more little drag at th' bottle!"
VB looked at Gail a bit wildly.
Those words meant that out there whisky was waiting for him, and at its mention that searing thing sprang alive in his throat!
"What am I?" he repeated dully, trying to rally himself. "What am I?" Unknowingly his fingers gripped her arm. "Who knows? I don't!"
And he flung out of the place, wanting but one thing—to be with the Captain, to feel the stallion's nose in his arms, to stand close to the body which housed a spirit that knew no defeat.
As he strode past the bonfire a man's face leered at him from the far side. The man was Rhues.