Strung Out in Silhouette Against the Sun

The first sentence of Outer Dark (which I think sets the tone and ethos of the narrative that follows):
THEY CRESTED OUT on the bluff in the late afternoon sun with their shadows long on the sawgrass and burnt sedge, moving single file and slowly high above the river and with something of its own implacability, pausing and grouping for a moment and going on again strung out in silhouette against the sun and then dropping under the crest of the hill into a fold of blue shadow with light touching them about the head in spurious sanctity until they had gone on for such a time as saw the sun down altogether and they moved in shadow altogether which suited them very well.
–Cormac McCarthy, Outer Dark, 4. Capitalization and emphasis in the original typography.

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