Ah, ah the buffalo!"

He nodded here and there as men entered; but he did not stir from his
seat. He smoked incessantly, and his eyes faced the door of the bar-room
that entered upon the street. There was no doubt in the minds of any
present that the promised excitement would occur. Shon McGann was as
fearless as he was gay. And Pipi Valley remembered the day in which he
had twice risked his life to save two women from a burning building--Lady
Jane and another. And Lady Jane this evening was agitated, and once or
twice furtively looked at something under the bar-counter; in fact, a
close observer would have noticed anger or anxiety in the eyes of the
daughter of Dick Waldron, the keeper of the Saints' Repose. Pierre would
certainly have seen it had he been looking that way. An unusual
influence was working upon the frequenters of the busy tavern. Planned,
premeditated excitement was out of their line. Unexpectedness was the
salt of their existence. This thing had an air of system not in accord
with the suddenness of the Pipi mind. The half-breed was the only one
entirely at his ease; he was languid and nonchalant; the long lashes of
his half-shut eyelids gave his face a pensive look. At last King Kinkley
walked over to him and said: "There's an almighty mysteriousness about
this event which isn't joyful, Pretty Pierre. We want to see the muss
cleared up, of course; we want Shon McGann to act like a high-toned
citizen, and there's a general prejudice in favour of things bein' on the
flat of your palm, as it were. Now this thing hangs fire, and there's a
lack of animation about it, isn't there?"

To this, Pretty Pierre replied: "What can I do? This is not like other
things; one had to wait; great things take time. To shoot is easy; but
to shoot is not all, as you shall see if you have a little patience.
Ah, my friend, where there is a woman, things are different. I throw a