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"It is likely enough," said Aragorn;"yet I am not sure. I am thinking of the horses. You said last night, Gimli, that they were scared away. But I did not think so. Did you hear them, Legolas? Did they sound to you like beasts in terror?"
"No," said Legolas. "I heard them clearly. But for the darkness and our own fear I should have guessed that they were beasts wild with some sudden gladness. They spoke as horses will when they meet a friend that they have long missed."
"So I thought," said Aragorn;"but I ca
For some time the companions crawled and groped upon the ground. The tree stood mournfully above them, its dry leaves now hanging limp, and rattling in the chill easterly wind. Aragorn moved slowly away. He came to the ashes of the watch-fire near the river-bank, and then began to retrace the ground back towards the knoll where the battle had been fought. Suddenly he stooped and bent low with his face almost in the grass. Then he called to the others. They came ru
"Here at last we find news!" said Aragorn. He lifted up a broken leaf for them to see, a large pale leaf of golden hue, now fading and turning brown. "Here is a mallorn-leaf of Lorien, and there are small crumbs on it, and a few more crumbs in the grass. And see! there are some pieces of cut cord lying nearby!"
"And here is the knife that cut them!" said Gimli. He stooped and drew out of a tussock, into which some heavy foot had trampled it, a short jagged blade. The haft from which it had been snapped was beside it. "It was an orc-weapon," he said, holding it gingerly, and looking with disgust at the carved handle: it had been shaped like a hideous head with squinting eyes and leering mouth.
"Well, here is the strangest riddle that we have yet found!" exclaimed Legolas. "A bound prisoner escapes both from the Orcs and from the surrounding horsemen. He then stops, while still in the open, and cuts his bonds with an orc-knife. But how and why? For if his legs were tied, how did he walk? And if his arms were tied, how did he use the knife? And if neither were tied, why did he cut the cords at all? Being pleased with his skill, he then sat down and quietly ate some waybread! That at least is enough to show that he was a hobbit, without the mallorn-leaf. After that, I suppose, he turned his arms into wings and flew away singing into the trees. It should be easy to find him: we only need wings ourselves!"
"There was sorcery here right enough," said Gimli. "What was that old man doing? What have you to say, Aragorn, to the reading of Legolas. Can you better it?"
"Maybe, I could," said Aragorn, smiling. "There are some other signs near at hand that you have not considered. I agree that the prisoner was a hobbit and must have had either legs or hands free, before he came here. I guess that it was hands, because the riddle then becomes easier, and also because, as I read the marks, he wascarried to this point by an Orc. Blood was spilled there, a few paces away, orc-blood. There are deep prints of hoofs all about this spot, and signs that a heavy thing was dragged away. The Orc was slain by horsemen, and later his body was hauled to the fire. But the hobbit was not seen: he was not "in the open", for it was night and he still had his elven-cloak. He was exhausted and hungry, and it is not to be wondered at that, when he had cut his bonds with the knife of his fallen enemy, he rested and ate a little before he crept away. But it is a comfort to know that he had somelembas in his pocket, even though he ran away without gear or pack; that, perhaps, is like a hobbit. I sayhe , though I hope and guess that both Merry and Pippin were here together. There is, however, nothing to show that for certain."
"And how do you suppose that either of our friends came to have a hand free?" asked Gimli.
"I do not know how it happened," answered Aragorn. "Nor do I know why an Orc was carrying them away. Not to help them to escape, we may be sure. Nay, rather I think that I now begin to understand a matter that has puzzled me from the begi
"I do not know which daunts me more: Fangorn, or the thought of the long road through Rohan on foot," said Gimli.
"Then let us go to the forest," said Aragorn.
It was not long before Aragorn found fresh signs. At one point, near the bank of the Entwash, he came upon footprints: hobbit-prints, but too light for much to be made of them. Then again beneath the bole of a great tree on the very edge of the wood more prints were discovered. The earth was bare and dry, and did not reveal much.
"One hobbit at least stood here for a while and looked back; and then he turned away into the forest," said Aragorn.
"Then we must go in, too," said Gimli. "But I do not like the look of this Fangorn: and we were warned against it. I wish the chase had led anywhere else!"
"I do not think the wood feels evil, whatever tales may say," said Legolas. He stood under the eaves of the forest, stooping forward, as if he were listening, and peering with wide eyes into the shadows. "No, it is not evil; or what evil is in it is far away. I catch only the faintest echoes of dark places where the hearts of the trees are black. There is no malice near us; but there is watchfulness, and anger."
"Well, it has no cause to be angry with me," said Gimli. "I have done it no harm. '
"That is just as well," said Legolas. "But nonetheless it has suffered harm. There is something happening inside, or going to happen. Do you not feel the tenseness? It takes my breath."
"I feel the air is stuffy," said the Dwarf. "This wood is lighter than Mirkwood, but it is musty and shabby."