“Has Ricketts power to do that?”
“No; but the sheriff has, and the sheriff is Ricketts’ man.”
“Official bribery, eh? Are you personally acquainted with the sheriff?”
“Yes; I voted for him.”
“Is he a man who would rather do right than wrong?”
“It depends how much money there is in either course.”
“Then I think our path is reasonably clear. If Ricketts can bribe him to do wrong, we can bribe him to do right.”
Armstrong shook his head doubtfully.
“It’s not so easy as you think. He would take our money all right, but he might not deliver the goods. He wouldn’t stay bought.”
“That is a useful thing to know. We’ll pay him half the money cash down, and the other half when he has delivered the goods. Would a hundred dollars be sufficient?”