Starter issue or WTF

Bear with me: Car quit and coasted to the side.  I cranked it and it tried to start, then battery ran out. Towed it home. Removed the battery and ran cables from another vehicle to Vette battery cables directly;  head lights on, all guages worked, but turn the key and one big click then no power anywhere.  Thinking I may have overheated the solenoid or starter. Ideas? Seems like a short to me.  

Chances are you either melted a wire(or battery cable) or a fusable link.   Probably going to have to hook up a battery and get a test light(or volt meter) and start checking, Cranking on an engine draws a lot of amps, and gets the cables going to the starter and the ground cable hot...sometimes hot enough to burn apart.... the positive cable goes directly to the starter, the ground cable goes from the battery to the crossmember almost directly under the battery on the frame...  i would check those two first and go from there.. it is possible the the solenoid went "kaput" but if it was just the solenoid, you should still have power to the gauges...