Watching and listening, he felt that the time dragged.

Yet the shadows cast by the sun showed him that, no matter how tense he felt and how the moments seemed hours, they were really flying.
Suddenly Jean's ears rang with the vibrant shock of a rifle report.

He jerked up, strung and thrilling.

It came from in front of the store.
It was followed by revolver shots, heavy, booming.

Three he counted, and the rest were too close together to enumerate.