“To the sheriff’s office,” said Pell.
“What?”
“If Jenney is appointed sheriff to succeed Churchill, where is the machinery to fight Fownes? He could laugh at us. Therefore Jenney must not be appointed.”
“But how can that be averted?”
“I think,” he said, “the sole hope lies in yourself.”
“In me!”
“You must find a man, a man of courage, of public spirit. You must find a man who can be relied upon and whose name will carry weight with the Governor.... When you find him, you must go to the Capitol and make the Governor appoint him—and you must act at once.”
“I?... I go to the Governor?”
“You.... If you could carry a petition, signed by a number of citizens, it would strengthen you, but I don’t see how that can be done.... And yet—and yet——”
“It must be done.... Secretly.”