It was the first time that he had ever used
such a term toward the outlaw. The poor outcast felt that one word,
'friend,'--uttered as it had been with such peculiar emphasis--more
than any other experience in his whole chequered and evil life. His
face quivered with emotion, and his eyes became moist with tears.
Yes, that word strung his nerves up to cords of steel, and set a seal
upon his resolutions that nothing upon earth could move.
The morning broke cheerfully enough. Troops of shining white clouds
held themselves shyly aloof in the liquid blue sky. The ice upon
Silent Lake gleamed and sent out radiating lines of light, fine as
the threads of a spider's net. Troops of blue jays went in silly
procession from tree to tree, and some of them came about the camp of
the robbers and began feasting upon the morsels of fish and meat
scattered around. Roland was early astir; and he saw the sun through
the pines, its face seeming as if covered with blood. This was not an
auspicious sign; and little as our hero was given to belief in omens,
he could not help being impressed by the spectacle.
But when the great orb got above the tops of the trees its face
changed from quivering crimson to brass; and with the change the
foreboding passed from the mind of our hero.
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