Black Donald drew another chair up and sat down beside his patron.
"Well, colonel, I have contrived to see the girl as I told you," he began.
"But you have not done the deed! When will it be done?"
"Colonel, my patron, be patient! Within twelve days I shall claim the last instalment of the ten thousand dollars agreed upon between us for this job!"
"But why so long, since it is to be done, why not have it over at once?" said Colonel Le Noir, starting up and pacing the floor impatiently.
"Patience, my colonel! The cat may play with the mouse most delightfully before devouring it!"
"What do you mean?"
"My colonel, I have seen the girl, under circumstances that has fired my heart with an uncontrollable desire for her."
"Ha, ha ha!" scornfully laughed the colonel. "Black Donald, the mail robber, burglar, outlaw, the subject of the grand passion!"
"Why not, my colonel? Listen, you shall hear! And then you shall judge whether or not you yourself might not have been fired by the fascinations of such a witch!" said the outlaw, who straightway commenced and gave his patron the same account of his visit to Hurricane Hall that he had already related to his comrades.