lung-bursting

Updated: August 22, 2026

When, after what seemed like an eternity of lung-bursting struggles, he came out upon the bare summit of the ridge, his tongue was like a dry stick in his mouth, refusing to shape the curses that his soul was heaping upon the alcohol which had made him a wind-broken, gasping weakling in the prime of his manhood. For, after all the agonizing strivings, he was too late.

Francis Lynde - The Taming of Red Butte Western