Sleep it off, Solomon, and join me when your brain is clear and your legs steady." Mahaffy jerked out an oath, and lifting himself off his chair, stood erect.

He snatched up his hat.
"Stuff your pistols into your pockets, and come on, Price!" he said, and stalked toward the door.
He flitted up the street, and the judge puffed and panted in his wake.
They gained the edge of the village without speech.
"There is mystery and rascality here!" said the judge.
"What do you know, Price, and where did you hear this ?" Mahaffy shot the question back over his shoulder.
"At Pegloe's, the Belle Plain overseer had just fetched the news into town." Again they were silent, all their energies being absorbed by the physical exertion they were making.

The road danced before their burning eyes, it seemed to be uncoiling itself serpentwise with hideous undulations.

Mr.Mahaffy was conscious that the judge, of whom he caught a blurred vision now at his right side, now at his left, was laboring painfully in the heat and dust, the breath whistling from between his parched lips.
"You're just ripe for apoplexy, Price!" he snarled, moderating his pace.
"Go on," said the judge, with stolid resolution.
Two miles out of the village they came to a roadside spring, here they paused for an instant.

Mahaffy scooped up handfuls of the clear water and sucked it down greedily.