The Return Of The Shadow Part 27

So great was the delight of the hobbits at this announcement that Gandalf took off his hat and bowed. 'I am used to taking care of hobbits,' he said, 'when they wait for me and don't run off on their own. But I only said: I think I shall have to come. It may only be for part of the way. We have not made any definite plans yet. Very likely we shan't be able to make any.'

'How soon do you think we shall start?' asked Frodo.

'I don't know. It depends on what news we get. Scouts will have to go out and find out what they can - especially about the Black Riders.'

'I thought they were all destroyed in the flood!' said Merry. 'You cannot destroy the Ringwraiths so easily,' said Gandalf. 'The power of their master is in them, and they stand or fall by him. They were unhorsed, and unmasked, and will be less dangerous for a while; yet it would be well to find out if we can what they are doing. In time they will get new steeds and fresh disguise. But for the present you should put all troubles out of your thoughts, if you can.'

The hobbits did not find this easy to do. They continued to think and talk mainly of the journey and the perils ahead of them. Yet such was the virtue of the land of Elrond that in all their thoughts there came no shadow of fear. Hope and courage grew in their hearts, and strength in their bodies. In every meal, and in every word and song they found delight. The very breathing of the air became a joy no less sweet because the time of their stay was short.

The days slipped by, though autumn was fast waning, and each morning dawned bright and fair. But slowly the golden light grew silver, and the leaves fell from the trees. The winds blew cold from the Misty Mountains in the East. The Hunters' Moon grew round in the evening sky, putting to flight the lesser stars, and glittering in the falls and pools of the River. But low in the South one star shone red. Every night as the moon waned again it shone brighter. Frodo could see it through his window deep in the sky, burning like a wrathful eye watching, and waiting for him to set out.

At the end of the text my father wrote: 'New Moon Oct. 24. Hunters' Moon Full Nov. 8'. See p. 434, note 19.

The ma.n.u.script is interrupted here by a heading, 'The Ring Goes South', but without new chapter number, and what follows was written continuously with what precedes.

It will be seen that by far the greater part of the content of the 'The Council of Elrond' in FR is absent; but while the past and present texture of the world is so much thinner in the original form, the discussion of what to do with the Ring is in its essential pattern of argument already present.

Gandalf says that the road to the Fiery Mountain lies through Boromir's land. It may well be that at this stage the geography of the . lands south and east of the Misty Mountains was still fairly sketchy, even though Fangorn Forest, the Dead Marshes, the Land of Ond (Gondor), and 'the South Mountains' have appeared in name (pp. 397 - 8, 401). Further aspects of this question appear in the next chapter.

It is curious that although Elrond says at the outset that Boromir brings tidings that must be considered, we are not told what these tidings were. In the original draft for the Council (p. 398) it is said that the men of Ond 'are besieged by wild men out of the East'; and in the text just given (p. 403) Elrond says that they are 'still faithful amid a host of foes'. Odo Bolger has at long last disappeared (at least by that name); and Folco has been renamed Faramond. That name has appeared in the papers dated August 1939, but there it was proposed for Frodo himself (p. 373). The Fellows.h.i.+p of the Ring now changes again, and not for the last time: as may readily be supposed, the achievement of the final composition of the 'Nine Walkers' caused my father great difficulty. In the first draft for the Council of Elrond (p. 397) there were to be: Gandalf. Trotter. Frodo. Sam. Merry. Folco. Odo. Glorfindel. Burin son of Balin. (9) In the rejected page of the text just given (p. 406) the Company becomes: Gandalf. Trotter. Frodo. Sam. Merry. Faramond. Glorfindel. (7) A note to this page proposes that the Company consist only of hobbits, with Gandalf at least at first, but without Glorfindel. In the replacement text (p.408) Gandalf suggests: Gandalf. Trotter. Frodo. Sam. Merry. Faramond. Boromir. (7) - and this was indeed the composition in the original narrative of the southward journey as far as Moria.

The continuation of the story in the original ma.n.u.script ('The Ring Goes South') is given in the next chapter; but before concluding this, there must be given the remarkable outline of future events found on the back of a rejected page of the text of the Council of Elrond (see p.406). This clearly belongs in time with the ma.n.u.script in which it is included, In the outline of the further course of the story dated August 1939 (p. 381, $9) there is no suggestion of the reappearance of Gollum before Mordor is reached; and the reference in this one to Frodo's hearing the patter of Gollum's feet in the Mines shows that it preceded the first draft of the Moria chapter.

Gollum must reappear at or after Moria. Frodo hears patter.

Fangorn Forest. In some way - hears voice, or sees something off path, or? alarmed by Gollum - Frodo must get separated from the rest.

Fangorn is an evergreen (oak holly?) forest. Trees of vast height. (Beleghir [pencilled above: Anduin] Great River divides into many channels.) Say 500 - 1000 feet. It runs right up to the [Blue >] Black Mountains, which are not very high (run NEN - SWW [i.e. North-east by North - South-west by West]) but very steep on N. side.

If Treebeard comes in at all - let him be kindly and rather good? About 50 feet high with barky skin. Hair and beard rather like twigs. Clothed in dark green like a mail of short s.h.i.+ning leaves. He has a castle in the Black Mountains and many thanes and followers. They look like young trees [? when] they stand.

Make Frodo be terrified of Gollum after a meeting in which Gollum pretended to make friends, but tried to strangle Frodo in his sleep and steal the Ring. Treebeard finds him lost and carries him up into the Black Mountains. It is only here that Frodo finds he is friendly.

Treebeard brings him on the way to Ond. His scouts report that Ond is besieged, and that Trotter and four [written above: 3?] others have been captured. Where is Sam? (Sam is found in the Forest. He had refused to go on without Frodo and had remained looking for him.) The tree-giants a.s.sail the besiegers and rescue Trotter &c. and raise siege.

(If this plot is used it will be better to have no Boromir in party. Subst.i.tute Gimli? son of Gloin - who was killed in Moria. But Frodo can bear messages from Boromir to his father the K[ing] of Ond.) Next stage - they set out for the Fire Mountain. They have to skirt Mordor on its west edge.

In this brief sketch we see the very starting-point, in written expression, of two fundamental 'moments' in the narrative of The Lord of the Rings: the separation of Frodo from the Company (subsequently rejoined by Sam), and the a.s.sault by the 'tree-giants' of Fangorn on the enemies of Gondor; but such narrative frame as they were given here was entirely ephemeral. We meet also a further early image of Giant Tree- beard: still of vast height, as in the text given on pp. 382 - 4, where his voice came down to Frodo 'out of the tree-top', but no longer hostile, the captor of Gandalf (p. 363), 'pretending to be friendly but really in league with the enemy' (p. 384). Boromir is now said to be the son of the King of Ond; but the death of Gimli in Moria was an idea never further developed. Here is the first appearance of an Elvish name, Beleghir, of the Great River, which flowed through Fangorn Forest (see p. 410). The Forest 'runs right up to the [Blue >] Black Mountains'; cf. the outline for the Council of Elrond (p. 397), in which Gandalf says that Giant Tree- beard 'haunts the Forest between the River and the South Mountains'. But of Lothlorien and Rohan there is as yet not a hint.

NOTES.

1. The last sheet of the original chapter (see p. 213) had ended with the words 'a strong king whose realm included Esgaroth, and much land to the south of the great falls' at the foot of the page (numbered 'IX.8'), and the reverse was left blank. The first version of the continuation was written out (in a rapid scribble in ink) independently of the old text; the second, also very rough and nearly all in pencil, starts on the unused verso side of 'IX.8', on which however my father wrote in preparation 'IX.9', although at that time he did not use the page. When he returned to it later he did not change the chapter-number but continued the numeration 'IX.10' etc.; this however was mere absentmindedness, since the chapter could not possibly at this time still be numbered 'IX'.

2. The reference is to the end of The Hobbit; cf. p. 15 and note 3.

3. In the first version Gloin does not admit to any falling short of the skill of the forefathers: 'He began to speak of new inventions and of the great works at which the folk of the Mountain were now labouring; of armour of surpa.s.sing strength and beauty, swords more keen and strong... - The sentence You should see the waterways of Dale, Frodo, and the fountains and the pools!' goes back to the first draft; in FR (p. 242) the word 'mountains' is an obvious error which has never been corrected.

4. This name is found only in the first of the two texts, but it appears later on in the second (p. 395).

5. Cf. pp. 211, 214, 363. - Peregrin disappeared out of the s.h.i.+re when he was 33, at which time Frodo was only two years old (see p. 387, note g).

6. When my father wrote this pa.s.sage he evidently had in mind, at least as one possibility, a comic song, received with the 'ringing laughter' that wakened Frodo; for at the top of the page he wrote 'Troll Song' - a pa.s.sing idea before it was given far more appositely to Sam in the Trollshaws. But he also wrote 'Let B[ilbo] sing Tinuviel', and the word '? Messenger'. This is a reference to the poem Errantry (published in The Oxford Magazine 9 November 1933, and with many further changes in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ( 1962)). Bilbo's song Earendil was a mariner derived (in a sense) from Errantry, and the earliest text of it still begins: There was a merry messenger, a pa.s.senger, a mariner, he built a boat and gilded her and silver oars he fas.h.i.+on d her...

7. In the first text the dwarf with Gloin is named Frar; in the margin is pencilled Burin son of Balin. Frar appears also in the outline for the Council of Elrond on p. 397, again replaced by Burin.

8. The presence of an Elf of Mirkwood was an addition to the second text.

9. As written, the first text read here: 'two of Elrond's own kinsfolk the Pereldar or halfelven folk...' Pereldar was struck out, probably at once. In the Quenta Silmarillion the Pereldar or 'Half-eldar' are the Danas (Green-elves): V.215. The Danas were also called 'the Lovers of Luthien' (ibid.). In LR (Appendix A I (i)) Elros and Elrond are called Peredhil 'Half-elven'; an earlier name for them was Peringol, Peringiul (V.152).

10. The Grey Havens are first named in the third phase version of 'Ancient History', p. 319.

.11. The square brackets are in the original.

12. As note 11.

13. The text stands thus, with two pa.s.sages both beginning 'Yet of late we have received secret messages from Mordor', but neither rejected.

14. The name Boromir of the second son of Bor, killed in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, had appeared in the later Annals of Beleriand and in the Quenta Silmarillion (V. I34, 287, 310). For the etymology of the name see V.353, 373.

15. This sentence is a subsequent correction of 'But the faces of those that were seated in the room were grave.' In a rejected opening of the text Gandalf says: 'We had better make our way to Elrond's chamber at once', and in the western wing of the house he knocks at a door and enters 'a small room, the western side of which opened onto a porch beyond which the ground fell sheer to the foaming river.' In the revised opening as printed the Council of Elrond takes place in the porch (as in FR, p. 252), though it was still described here as a 'room', until this correction was made.

16. This first appearance of Gimli son of Gloin was a pencilled alteration, but not from much later.

17. In the previous account of those present at the Council (p. 395) the three counsellors of Rivendell are Erestor, called 'an Elf', and 'two other kinsmen of Elrond, of that half-elvish folk whom the Elves named the children of Luthien' - which seems however to imply that Erestor also was Elrond's kinsman.

18. In FR (p. 253) Galdor, here the precursor of Legolas, is the name of the Elf from the Grey Havens who bore the errand of Cirdan. Galdor had not at this time become the name of the father of Hurin and Huor; in the Quenta Silmarillion he was still named Gumlin.

19. The first reference to the Dead Marshes.

20. My father bracketed the pa.s.sage from 'Ever since I have worn shoes' to 'hurt in some way', and wrote in the margin (with a query) that it should be revealed later that Trotter had wooden feet. - This is the first appearance of the story that it was Trotter who found Gollum (in the version of 'Ancient History' in the third phase (p. 320) Gandalf still told Frodo that he had himself found Gollum, in Mirkwood); and Trotter's experience of Mordor, several times mentioned or hinted at (see pp. 223, 371), is explained at the same time.

21. Written in the margin against this paragraph: 'Gandalf's captivity'.

22. See pp. 118 - 20.

23. An earlier form of this pa.s.sage makes Gandalf reply to Elrond: 'I knew of him. But I had quite forgotten him. I must go and see him as soon as there is a chance.' This was changed - at the time of writing - to the pa.s.sage given, in which Gandalf says that he actually visited Tom Bombadil after the attack on Crickhollow - the first appearance of an idea that will be met again, though the meeting of Gandalf and Bombadil never (alas!) reached narrative form. Cf. the isolated pa.s.sage given on pp. 213 - 14, where Gandalf says at Rivendell: 'Why did I not think of Bombadil before! If only he was not so far away, I would go straight back now and consult him.' Cf. also p. 345 and note i r. - Gandalf does not mention Odo here, and it becomes clear at the end of this chapter that he had been removed from Rivendell (see pp. 407, 409).

24. In the third phase version of 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony' it is still apparent that Tom Bombadil was known to visit the inn at Bree (p. 334).

25. In rough drafting of this pa.s.sage my father wrote: 'and in the end he would come in person; and the Barrow-wights would', striking out these last words as he wrote and changing them to: 'and even on his own ground Tom Bombadil alone could not withstand that onset unscathed.' - 'Lord of the Ring' was first written 'Lord of the Rings', but changed immediately.

26. Erestor changed from Clorfindel, which was changed from Elrond. Cf. P. 396.

27. This reply to Erestor was first given to Gandalf, for Erestor addressed his question to him: 'Can you solve this riddle, Gandalf?' To which Gandalf answered: 'No! I cannot. But I can choose, if you wish me to choose.' The pa.s.sage was then changed at once to the form given.

28. In The Hobbit Thrain was not the father of Thror, but his son. This is a complex question which will be discussed in Vol. VII.

29. In the dungeons of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood in FR (p. 282).

30. As this pa.s.sage was first written, Gloin says that the messages from Mordor offered the Dwarves 'a ring'; and that they were offered peace and friends.h.i.+p if they could obtain Bilbo's ring, or even tell where he was to be found. As altered subsequently, his words approach what he tells in FR (p. 254); and the story in the first draft for the Council (p. 398), that the Dwarves still possessed some of their ancient Rings, that Dain had one, and that Sauron was demanding them back, has already been abandoned.

31. Cf. p. 371, at the end of the outline $2.

32. The chapter 'The Council of Elrond' in FR (II.2) ends here.

33. 'Trotter would also be useful' was changed to 'Trotter will also be essential', and probably at the same time my father wrote in the margin: 'Trotter is connected with the Ring.' This alteration thus comes from somewhat later, when he was reaching the conception of Aragorn and his ancestry. See note 34.

34. Trotter was of course still a hobbit. In the margin my father wrote against this pa.s.sage: 'Correct this. Only Trotter is of ancient race' (i.e. Trotter is a Numenorean, but Boromir is not).

XXIV. THE RING GOES SOUTH.

As I have said, this next stage in the story was written continuously on from the first version of 'The Council of Elrond'. After the description of the red star in the South (FR p. 287) there is a heading 'The Ring Goes South', but no new chapter-number, and the pagination is continuous with what precedes.

I give now the text of this earliest version of 'The Ring Goes South' (which extends somewhat into the next chapter in FR, II.4 'A Journey in the Dark'). This is an outstandingly difficult ma.n.u.script, and difficult to represent. I think that it was not based on any preliminary notes or sketches, except in one pa.s.sage,(1) that my father wrote it ab initio as a full narrative; and this being so it is remarkable how much of its wording survived into the final form, despite the radical differences that Trotter was still the hobbit Peregrin and that neither Dwarf nor Elf was present. The company, as already noticed, consisted of Gandalf, Boromir, and five hobbits - even though one of them, to be sure, was no inexperienced hobbit of the s.h.i.+re.

My father wrote nearly all of it in ink, but he wrote extremely fast (though with patience - and some aid from the text of FR - all but a few words can be puzzled out), so fast that he often left to stand what he had written but rejected, while racing on to a new phrasing or formulation; and the expression is often rough and unfinished. Subsequently he went over it in pencil, but the great majority of these pencilled alterations belong, I feel sure, to a time very close to the original writing, and some of them demonstrably so. A few are certainly later, and introduce references to Gimli and Legolas that are chronologically and structurally irrelevant. There are also some alterations in red ink, but these only concern certain place-names.

In the text as printed here, I adopt pencilled alterations that seem certainly 'early'. few affect the narrative in any important respect, and where they do the original text is given in the notes. The notes are here an integral part of the representation of the ma.n.u.script.

The Ring goes South.

When Frodo had been about a fortnight in Rivendell and November was already a week old or more(2) the scouts began to return.

Some had been northwards as far as the Dimrill-dales,(3) and some had gone southwards almost as far as the River Redway. A few had pa.s.sed the mountains both by the High Pa.s.s and Goblin Gate (Annerchin), and by the pa.s.sage at the sources of the Gladden. These were the last to return, for they had descended into Wilderland as far as the Gladden Fields,(4) and that was a great way from Rivendell even for the swiftest Elves. But neither they nor those who had received the aid of the Eagles near Goblin Gate (5) had discovered any news - except that the wild wolves called wargs were gathering again and were hunting once more between the Mountains and Mirkwood. No sign of the Black Riders had been found - except on the rocks below the Ford the bodies of four [written above: several] drowned horses, and [?one] long black cloak slashed and tattered.

'One can never tell,' said Gandalf, 'but it does look as if the Riders were dispersed - and have had to make their way as best they could back to Mordor. In that case there will still be a long while before the hunt begins again. And it will have to come back here to pick up the trail - if we are lucky and careful, and they do not get news of us on the way. We had better get off as soon as possible now - and as quietly.'

Elrond agreed, and warned them to journey by dusk and dark as often as might be, and to lie hid when they could in the broad daylight. 'When the news reaches Sauron,' he said, 'of the discomfiture of the Nine Riders, he will be filled with a great anger. When the hunt begins again, it will be far greater and more ravenous.'

'Are there still more Black Riders then?' asked Frodo.

'No! There are but Nine Ringwraiths. But when they come forth again, I fear they will bring a host of evil things in their train, and set their spies wide over the lands. Even of the sky above you must beware as you go your way.'

There came a cold grey day in mid November.(6) The East wind was streaming through the bare branches of the trees, and seething in the firtrees on the hills. The hurrying clouds were low and sunless. As the cheerless shadows of the early evening began to fall, the adventurers made ready to depart. Their farewells had all been said by the fire in the great hall, and they were waiting only for Gandalf, who was still in the house speaking some last words in private with Elrond. Their spare food and clothes and other necessaries were laden on two sure-footed ponies. The travellers themselves were to go on foot; for their course was set through lands where there were few roads and paths were rough and difficult. Sooner or later they would have to cross the Mountains. Also they were going to journey for the most part by dusk or dark.(7) Sam was standing by the two pack-ponies sucking his teeth and staring moodily at the house - his desire for adventure was at a low ebb. But in that hour none of the hobbits had any heart for their journey - a chill was in their hearts, and a cold wind in their faces. A gleam of firelight came from the open doors; lights were glowing in many windows, and the world outside seemed empty and cold. Bilbo huddled in his cloak stood silent on the doorstep beside Frodo. Trotter sat with his head bowed to his knees.(8) At last Elrond came out with Gandalf. 'Farewell now!' he said. 'May the blessing of Elves and Men and all free folk go with you. And may white stars s.h.i.+ne on your journey! '

'Good... good luck!' said Bilbo, stuttering a little (from the cold perhaps). 'I don't suppose you will be able to keep a diary, Frodo my lad, but I shall expect a full account when you get back. And don't be too long: I have lived longer than I expected already. Farewell! '

Many others of Elrond's household stood in the shadows and watched them go, bidding them farewell with soft voices. There was no laughter, and no songs or music. Silently at last they turned away, and leading their ponies they faded swiftly into the gathering dusk.

They crossed the bridge and wound slowly up the long steep paths out of the cloven vale of Rivendell, and came at length to the high moors, grey and formless under misty stars. Then with one last look down at the lights of the Last Homely House below they strode on, far on into the night.

At the Ford they left the west road that crossed the River; and turning left went on by narrow paths among the folded lands. They were going South. Their purpose was to hold this course for many miles and days on the western side of the Misty Mountains. The country was much wilder and rougher than in the green valley of the Great River in Wilderland on the eastern side of the range and their going would be much slower; but they hoped in this way to escape the notice of enemies. The spies of Sauron had hitherto seldom been seen in the western regions; and the paths were little known except to the people of Rivendell. Gandalf walked in front and with him went Trotter who knew this country even in the dark. Boromir as rearguard walked behind.

The first part of their journey was cheerless and grim and Frodo remembered little of it, except the cold wind. It blew icy from the eastern mountains for many sunless days and no garment seemed able to keep out its searching fingers. They had been well furnished with warm clothes in Rivendell, and had jackets and cloaks lined with fur as well as many blankets, but they seldom felt warm either moving or at rest. They slept uneasily during the middle of the day, in some hollow of the land, or hidden under the tangled thorn-bushes that grew in great thickets in those parts. In the late afternoon they were roused, and had their chief meal: usually cold and cheerless and with little talk, for they seldom risked the lighting of a fire. In the evening they went on again, as nearly due south as they could find a way.

At first it seemed to the hobbits that they were creeping like snails and getting nowhere; for each day the land looked much as it had done the day before. Yet all the while the Mountains which south of Rivendell bent westward were drawing nearer. More and more often they found no paths and had to make wide turns to avoid either steep places, or thickets, or sullen treacherous swamps. The land was tumbled in barren hills and deep valleys filled with turbulent waters.

But when they had been about ten days on the road the weather grew better. The wind suddenly veered southward. The swift flowing clouds lifted and melted away, and the sun came out. There came a dawn at the end of a long stumbling night march. The travellers reached a low ridge crowned with ancient holly trees, whose pale fluted trunks seemed to have been formed out of the very stone of the hills. Their berries shone red in the light of the rising sun. Far away south Frodo saw the dim shapes of mountains, that seemed now to lie across their path. To the left of this distant range a tall peak stood up like a tooth: it was tipped with snow but its bare western shoulder glowed redly in the growing light.

Gandalf stood by Frodo's side and looked out under his hand. 'We have done well,' he said. 'We have reached the borders of the country called Hollin: many Elves lived here once in happier days. Eighty leagues we have come,(9) if we have come a mile, and we have marched quicker than winter from the North. The land and weather will be milder now - but perhaps all the more dangerous.' 'Danger or not, a real sunrise is mighty welcome,' said Frodo, throwing back his hood and letting the morning light play on his face.

'The Mountains are in front of us' eastward,' said Faramond. 'It seems we are turning eastward'.

'No, it is the mountains that have turned,' said, Gandalf.(10) 'Don't you remember Elrond's map in Rivendell?'

'No, I did not look very carefully at it,' said Faramond. 'Frodo has a better head for things of that sort.'

'Well, anyone who did look at the map,' said Gandalf, 'would see that away there stands Taragaer or Ruddyhorn,(11) - that mountain with the red side. The Misty Mountains divide there and between their arms lies the land (12) of Caron-dun the Red Valley.(13) Our way lies there: over the Red Pa.s.s of Cris-caron,(14) under Taragaer's side, and into Caron-dun and down the River Red- way (15) to the Great River, and...' He stopped.

'Yes, and where then?' asked Merry.

'To the end of the journey - in the end,' said Gandalf. 'But at first the evergreen forest of Fangorn, through the midst of which runs the Great River.(16) But we will not look too far ahead. Let us be glad that the first stage is safely over. I think we will rest here for a whole day. There is a wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall any country before it wholly forgets the Elves, if once they have dwelt there.'

That morning they lit a fire in a deep hollow shrouded by two great holly trees, and their supper was merrier than it had been since they left the house of Elrond. They did not hurry to bed ' ' afterwards, for they had all the night to sleep in and did not mean to go on until the evening of next day. Only Trotter was moody and restless. After a while he left the company and wandered about on the ridge, looking out on the lands south and west. He came back and stood looking at them.

'What is the matter?' said Merry. 'Do you miss the east wind?' 'No indeed,' answered Trotter. 'But I miss something. I know Hollin fairly well, and have been here in many seasons. No people dwell here now, but many other things live here, or used to - especially birds. But now it is very silent. I can feel it. There is no sound for miles round, and your voices seem to make the ground echo. I cannot make it out.'

Gandalf looked up quickly. 'But what do you think the reason is?' he asked. 'Is there more in it than surprise at seeing a whole party of hobbits (not to mention Boromir and me) where people are so seldom seen? '

'I hope that is it,' said Trotter. 'But I get a feeling of watchfulness and of fear that I have never had here before.'

'Very well! Let us be more careful,' said Gandalf. 'If you bring a Ranger with you, it is best to pay attention to him - especially if the Ranger is Trotter, as I have found before. There are some things that even an experienced wizard does not notice. We had better stop talking now, and rest quietly and set a look-out.' It was Sam's turn to take the first watch, but Trotter joined him. The others soon fell asleep, one by one. The silence grew till even Sam felt it. The breathing of the sleepers could be plainly heard. The swish of a pony's tail and the occasional movements of his feet became loud noises. Sam seemed to hear his very joints creaking if he stirred or moved. Over all hung a blue sky as the sun rode high and clear. The last clouds melted. But away in the south-east a dark patch grew and divided, flying like smoke to the north and west.

'What's that?' said Sam in a whisper to Trotter. Trotter made no answer, for he was gazing intently at the sky, but before long Sam could see what it was for himself. The clouds were flocks of birds going at great speed - wheeling and circling, and traversing all the land as if they were searching for something.

'Lie flat and still,' hissed Trotter, drawing Sam down into the shade of a holly-bush - for a whole regiment of birds had separated from the western flock and came back flying low right over the ridge where the travellers lay. Sam thought they were some kind of crows of a large size. As they pa.s.sed overhead one harsh croak was heard.

Not till they had dwindled in the distance would Trotter move. Then he went and wakened Gandalf.

'Regiments of black crows are flying to and fro over Hollin,' he said. 'They are not natives to this place. I do not know what they are after - possibly there is some trouble going on away south: but I think they are spying out the land. I think too that I have seen hawks flying higher in the sky. That would account for the silence.(17) We ought to move again this evening. I am afraid that Hollin is no longer wholesome for us: it is being watched.'

'And in that case so is the Red Pa.s.s, and how we can get over it without being seen I don't know,' said Gandalf. 'But we will think about that when we get nearer. About moving on from here tonight: I am afraid you are right.'

'It is as well that we let our fire make little smoke,' said Trotter. 'It was out again (I think) before the birds came over. It must not be lit again.'

'Well, if that is not disappointing!' said Faramond. The news had been broken to him as soon as he woke (in the late afternoon): no fire, and a move again by night. 'I had looked forward to a real good meal tonight, something hot. All because of a pack of crows! ' 'Well, you can go on looking forward,' said Gandalf. 'There may be many unexpected feasts ahead of you! Personally I should like a pipe of tobacco in comfort, and warmer feet. However, we are certain of one thing, at any rate: it will get warmer as we go south.'

'Too warm, I shouldn't wonder!' said Sam to Frodo. 'Not but what I would be glad to see that Fiery Mountain, and see the road's end ahead, so to speak. I thought that there Ruddyhorn or whatever its name is might be it, till Mr. Gandalf said not.' Maps conveyed nothing to Sam, and all distances in these strange lands seemed so vast that he was quite out of his reckonings.

The travellers remained hidden all that day. The birds pa.s.sed over every now and again; but as the westering sun grew red they vanished southwards.(18) Soon afterwards the party set out again, and turned now a little eastward making for the peak of Taragaer which still glowed dully red in the distance. Frodo thought of Elrond's warning to watch even the sky above, but the sky was now clear and empty overhead, and one by one white stars sprang forth as the last gleams of sunset faded.