noon
Then with a pick and shovel on his shoulder he began to climb the hill up which he had walked with his father when he was a lad . On the train homeward bound an idea had come to him . `` I will her among the bushes on the hillside that looks down into the fruitful valley , '' he told himself . The details of a religious discussion between two labourers that had gone on one day during the noon hour at the warehouse had come into his mind and as the train ran eastward he for the first time found himself speculating on the possibility of a life after death . Then he brushed the thoughts aside . `` Anyway if Cracked McGregor does come back it is there you will find him , sitting on the log on the hillside , '' he thought . With the tools on his shoulder McGregor climbed the long hillside road , now deep with black dust .