nine o'clock
Again we made a turn , and the view broadened out . To the east the whole landscape sloped toward the sun , against whose rays the brilliance of the woods faded , though still amid the green one could see , to north or to south , the yellow , the orange , or the dotted scarlet of the flaming maples . The easterly view was less distinct ; in the distant blue the hills flattened to a fairly low horizon . But while , still marching , I idly gazed , my eye was caught by an odd trick of the sun which , now at nine o'clock well on its upward way , yet seemed to illuminate the bottom of a cloud that hung near the sky line . It was a sunset effect impossible by day , but there was the distinctly gleaming band . And then I knew -- Champlain ! It was the lake , turning faintly silver further north or further south .