u come from, nor who brang you
up, nor what church set you afloat, but I know enough by all my
grandmother taught me--even if I hadn't been a-listenin' off and on for
two years back to Mr. Brownleigh, our missionary--to know you're a
dangerous man to have at large. I'd as soon have a mad dog let loose.
Why, what you preach ain't the gospel, an' it ain't the truth, and the
time has come for you to know it, an' own it and recant. Recant! That's
what they call it. That's what we're here to see 't you do, or we'll
know the reason why. That's the _dynamics_ of it. See?"

The minister saw. He saw the deep, muddy water-hole. He saw nothing
more.

"Folks are all too ready to believe them there things you was gettin'
off without havin' 'em _preached_ to justify 'em in their evil ways. We
gotta think of those poor ignorant brothers of ours that might listen to
you. See? That's the _altruism_ of it!"

"What do you want me to do?" The wretched man's tone was not merely
humble--it was abject. His grand Prince Albert coat was torn in three
places; one tail hung down dejectedly over his hip; one sleeve was
ripped half-way out. His collar was unbuttoned and the ends rode up
hilariously over his cheeks. His necktie was gone. His sleek hair stuck
out in damp wisps about his frightened eyes, and his hat had been "stove
in" and jammed down as far as it would go until his ample ears stuck out
like sails at half-mast. His feet were imbedded in the heavy mud on the
margin of the water-hole, and his fine silk socks, which had showed at
one time above the erstwhile neat tyings, were torn and covered with
mud.

"Well, in the first place," said Jasper Kemp, with a slow wink around at
the company, "that little matter about hell needs adjustin'. Hell ain't
no superstition. I ain't dictatin' what kind of a hell there is; you can
make it fire or water or anything else you like, but _there is a hell_,
an' _you believe in it_. D'ye understand? We'd just like to have you
make that statement publicly right here an' now."

"But how can I say what I don't believe?" whined West, almost ready to
cry. He had come proudly through a trial by Presbytery on these very
same points, and had posed as being a man who had the courage of his
convictions. He could not thus easily surrender his pride of original
thought and broad-mindedness. He had received congratulations from a
number of noble martyrs who had left their chosen church for just such
reasons, congra