Next evening Shaw was again in the Windsor rotunda when whom should he see but George Lane, the famous rancher of Calgary. George Lane is a character in candour as well as a Croesus in cattle. The embodiment of geniality, he doesn’t expect the milk of human kindness to flow through or about a business transaction. He says:
“If after chewing the rag for a day or two I make a deal, and the other fellow says ‘Come and have a drink,’ I say to myself ‘George, you’re beat.’ If he offers me a second drink, I say, ‘George, you’re beat to death’.”
Shaw was surprised to see George Lane at Montreal in midwinter.
“What are you doing so far from home?” he asked the great cattle man. “I thought you’d be preventing your steers from freezing to death on the ranges.”
“I’ve been down to Quebec,” Lane replied.
“Quebec? But there are no cattle shipments at this time of year to take you to Quebec.”
“It’s been about cattle all the same,” said Lane. “Come up to my room. I’ve got to tell somebody something or bust, and it won’t do to tell it here, with so many people around. Come on up, quick.”
George Lane, cattleman, didn’t throw himself on the bed, but quickly announced,
“I’ve made half a million dollars to-day.”
Remembering the previous evening Shaw did not suppose this was a case for an alienist, and opened his ears for the facts.