towers

the palantír 773
about him. At first the globe was dark, black as jet, with the
moonlight gleaming on its surface. Then there came a faint
glow and stir in the heart of it, and it held his eyes, so that
now he could not look away. Soon all the inside seemed on
fire; the ball was spinning, or the lights within were revolving.
Suddenly the lights went out. He gave a gasp and struggled;
but he remained bent, clasping the ball with both hands.
Closer and closer he bent, and then became rigid; his lips
moved soundlessly for a while. Then with a strangled cry he
fell back and lay still.
The cry was piercing. The guards leapt down from the
banks. All the camp was soon astir.
‘So this is the thief !’ said Gandalf. Hastily he cast his cloak
over the globe where it lay. ‘But you, Pippin! This is a grievous
turn to things!’ He knelt by Pippin’s body: the hobbit
was lying on his back, rigid, with unseeing eyes staring up at
the sky. ‘The devilry! What mischief has he done – to himself,
and to all of us?’ The wizard’s face was drawn and haggard.
He took Pippin’s hand and bent over his face, listening for
his breath; then he laid his hands on his brow. The hobbit
shuddered. His eyes closed. He cried out; and sat up, staring
in bewilderment at all the faces round him, pale in the
moonlight.
‘It is not for you, Saruman!’ he cried in a shrill and toneless
voice, shrinking away from Gandalf. ‘I will send for it at once.
Do you understand? Say just that!’ Then he struggled to get
up and escape, but Gandalf held him gently and firmly.
‘Peregrin Took!’ he said. ‘Come back!’
The hobbit relaxed and fell back, clinging to the wizard’s
hand. ‘Gandalf !’ he cried. ‘Gandalf ! Forgive me!’
‘Forgive you?’ said the wizard. ‘Tell me first what you have
done!’
‘I, I took the ball and looked at it,’ stammered Pippin; ‘and
I saw things that frightened me. And I wanted to go away,
but I couldn’t. And then he came and questioned me; and he
looked at me, and, and, that is all I remember.’