Prophet wrenched at the knob. The guest banged his fist against
a panel. "Let it be opened unto me!" he shouted.

His voice served as his guaranty; Usial Britt opened the door and
slammed it shut so suddenly after the Prophet had entered that it was
necessary to reopen the portal and release the tail of Elias's robe.

CHAPTER VI

"THE HORNET" GOES TO PRESS

Vaniman did not go on his way at once, though, by his daily routine, he
was headed toward his bit of recreation which cheered the end of his
day of occupation. Every afternoon he dropped in at the office of Notary
Amos Hexter--"Squire" Hexter, the folks of Egypt called him--and played
euchre with the amiable old chap. After the euchre, the Squire and Frank
trudged over to the Hexter home; the cashier boarded with the Squire and
his wife, Xoa.

In his general uneasiness, in his hankering for any sort of information
that would help his affairs, the young man was tempted to follow the
provocative Elias and pin him down to something definite; the flashes of
shrewd sanity in the fanatic's mouthings had encouraged Frank to believe
that the Prophet was not quite as much of an ingenuous lunatic as his
gab and garb suggested.

Right away, curiosity of another sort added its impulse.

Usial's windows were uncurtained, though the grime on them helped to
conceal activities within by a sort of ground-glass effect. But Vaniman
could see well enough to understand what was going on. Every once in a
while a canvas flap came over in a half circle across Vaniman's line
of vision through one of the windows. Then a hairy arm turned a crank
briskly; a moment later the arm pulled at a horizontal bar with vigor.

It was plain that Usial Britt was printing.

Vaniman had seen the shoemaker's printing equipment in common with
everybody else who dropped into the shop. There were a few cases of worn
type; there was a venerable Washington hand press. Vaniman had even been
down on his knees, by Usial's invitation, and had peered up at the under
surface of the imposing stone.

When Tasper Britt wanted a burial lot in the Egypt cemetery of a size
sufficient to set off his statue in good shape, he secured a hillock in
which some of the patriarchs of the pioneers had been interred. There
was no known descendants to say him nay. A fallen slate slab that had
been long concealed in the tangled grass was tossed over the cemetery
fence by the men who cleared up the hillock. Usial Britt cons