Presently his eyes, trained to observe all things, noticed a change in the air.

A gray tint, so far a matter of quality rather than color, was coming into it, and his heart leaped with joy.

Absorbed in his vital struggle he had failed to reckon the passage of time.

The day was closing and blessed, covering night was at hand.

Robert loved the day and the sun, but darkness was always a friend of those who fled, and now he prayed that it would come thick and dark.
The sun still hung over the eastern shores, red and blazing, but before long it went down, seeming to sink into the lake, and the night that Robert had wished, heavy and black, swept over the earth.