CHAPTER XVIII
The Lie
VB's eyes burned after Gail as she drove away. He followed the car in its flight until it disappeared over the hump in the road; then continued staring in that direction with eyes that did not see—that merely burned like his throat.
Jed came up the gulch with a load of wood, and VB still stood by the gate.
"I never can get used to these here city ways," he grumbled, "no more'n can these ponies."
VB noticed casually that a tug had been broken and was patched with rope.
"Runaway?" he asked, scarcely conscious of putting the question.
"Oh, Bob Thorpe's girl come drivin' her automobile along fit to ram straight through kingdom come, an' don't turn out till she gets so close I thought we was done for; to be sure, I did. Peter, here, took a jump an' busted a tug." He looked keenly at VB. "Funny!" he remarked. "She didn't see me, I know. An' she looked as if she'd been cryin'!"
He could not know the added torture those words carried to the heart of the young fellow battling there silently, covering up his agony, trying to appear at ease.
For the thirst had returned with manifold force, augmenting those other agonies which racked him. All former ordeals were forgotten before the fury of this assault. By the need of stimulant he was subjected to every fiendish whim of singing nerves; from knowing that in him was a love which must be killed to save a woman from sacrifice arose a torment that reached into his very vitals.