"It's a long way to the crest," he said.
"Ah—and the fellows who never get there?"
"I don't understand."
"If God be only beyond the crest, how shall they fare?"
Tommy was silent, looking away down the dusky valley.
He saw a light or two glimmering among the trees.
"It's time I went back," he muttered, but sat where he was.
"You see what I mean?" continued the stranger. "There is only one crest worth striving for, and that is always beyond our reach, and God is beyond it and above it, all right. But there's many a poor fellow who would have his back to it now if he were not sure that God was also on the upland road, among the tramps."
Tommy was silent, plucking uncomfortably at the grass.
"You haven't thought much about these things?"