"I'm going uphill again," said I, "to see the sunset. How quickly
the sky has cleared! It almost seems as if some invisible broom had
made a clean sweep of the clouds." To which the young man answered:
"It was a birch-broom. I see the marks of it."
We climbed the hill side by side; it did not seem at all strange at
the time. When we reached the summit, the sun was setting in fullest
glory, and we were silent. Suddenly he cried:
"Let us be fire-worshippers! There is more of God in that great
light than in all the gospels of mankind."
"What a queer, comforting thing," said I, "to hear from a stranger
in a wood."
It struck me afterwards that perhaps I, too, had said a queer thing;
but we seemed to understand each other. Presently we sat down again,
and he talked to me about the Parsees; he appears to know a great
deal about them.
We narrowly escaped a second run downhill; again the wind seized my
hat, but he nimbly caught it on the wing.
"Why don't you do as I do?" he asked, passing his fingers through
his hair. "It's a great mistake to wear a hat, especially if one has
a turn for trespassing.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48