"Agreed, my colonel, agreed! I have no objection to your doubling, or even quadrupling, my fee. You shall find me in that, as in all other matters, perfectly amenable to reason. Only I must have time. Haste would ruin us. I repeat that I have a plan by which I am certain to get the girl into my possession—a plan the execution of which I will entrust to no other hands but my own. But I conclude as I began—I must have time."
"And how much time?" exclaimed Le Noir, again losing his patience.
"Easy, my patron. That I cannot tell you. It is imprudent to make promises, especially to you, who will take nothing into consideration when they cannot be kept," replied Black Donald, coolly.
"But, sir, do you not know that I am ordered to Mexico, and must leave within three days? I would see the end of this before I go," angrily exclaimed Le Noir.
"Softly, softly, my child the colonel! 'Slow and sure!' 'Fair and easy goes far in a day!'"
"In a word, will you do this business for me and do it promptly?"
"Surely, surely, my patron! But I insist upon time."
"But I go to Mexico in three days."
"All honor go with you, my colonel. Who would keep his friend from the path of glory?"
"Perdition, sir, you trifle with me."