"Fifteen, then!" The senator's eyes narrowed. "Twenty? Come, now! How's that? Burroughs will pay it. No one else has got that, Charlie."
"If Burroughs is good for twenty thousand, he's good for more."
"How much do you want? Spit it out!" The briber was disgusted. This was not the Blair whom he had known in Fort Benton days.
"I'm not soliciting nor making a proposition. But if my vote is worth anything it's worth twenty-five thousand—yes, thirty thousand dollars!" Blair, for the first time, looked Burroughs' manager in the eye. If he got that sum he could leave Montana—and not alone!
"Are you mad?" Moore was aghast. Even his own rapacity had not thought to hold up Burroughs for such a sum. Thirty thousand dollars for speaking a man's name in joint assembly! Thus he interpreted selling a vote.
"No, I'm not mad. But that is my price." Blair also rose, unexpectedly committed to a fixed statement.
"You'll never get it!" roared Moore. "I'll see you damned first! We'll find others who aren't so high-priced! You have over-reached this time, Charlie Blair!" And they parted in unfriendly fashion.
The next day the Honorable Mr. Moore notified Mrs. Latimer that all she had done for Mr. Burroughs would avail nothing if she failed to secure the vote of Senator Blair.