"What an almanac you are, Miss!"

Pretty Pierre sipping his coffee here interrupted musingly: "But her
almanac is not always so reliable. So I think. When was I here last,
Ma'm'selle?"

With something like menace in her eyes Jen replied: "You were here six
months ago to-day, when you won thirty dollars from our Val; and then
again, just thirty days after that."

"Ah, so! You remember with a difference."

A moment after, Sergeant Tom being occupied in talking to Jen, Pierre
whispered to Peter Galbraith: "His horse--then the laudanum!"

Galbraith was puzzled for a moment, but soon nodded significantly, and
the sinister droop to his eyes became more marked. He turned to the
Sergeant and said, "Your horse must be fed as well as yourself, Sergeant
Tom. I'll look after the beast, and Jen will take care of you. There's
some fresh coffee, isn't there, Jen?"

Jen nodded an affirmative. Galbraith knew that the Sergeant would trust
no one to feed his horse but himself, and the offer therefore was made
with design.

Sergeant Tom replied instantly: "No, I'll do it if someone will show me
the grass pile."

Pierre slipped quietly from the counter, and said, "I know the way,
Galbraith. I will show."