towers

806 the two towers
Hardly perceptibly his head moved to the left and the right,
and first one eye and then the other opened a slit. The hobbits
made no sign.
Suddenly, with startling agility and speed, straight off the
ground with a jump like a grasshopper or a frog, Gollum
bounded forward into the darkness. But that was just what
Frodo and Sam had expected. Sam was on him before he
had gone two paces after his spring. Frodo coming behind
grabbed his leg and threw him.
‘Your rope might prove useful again, Sam,’ he said.
Sam got out the rope. ‘And where were you off to in the
cold hard lands, Mr. Gollum?’ he growled. ‘We wonders,
aye, we wonders. To find some of your orc-friends, I warrant.
You nasty treacherous creature. It’s round your neck this
rope ought to go, and a tight noose too.’
Gollum lay quiet and tried no further tricks. He did not
answer Sam, but gave him a swift venomous look.
‘All we need is something to keep a hold on him,’ said
Frodo. ‘We want him to walk, so it’s no good tying his legs
– or his arms, he seems to use them nearly as much. Tie one
end to his ankle, and keep a grip on the other end.’
He stood over Gollum, while Sam tied the knot. The result
surprised them both. Gollum began to scream, a thin, tearing
sound, very horrible to hear. He writhed, and tried to
get his mouth to his ankle and bite the rope. He kept on
screaming.
At last Frodo was convinced that he really was in pain; but
it could not be from the knot. He examined it and found that
it was not too tight, indeed hardly tight enough. Sam was
gentler than his words. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ he said.
‘If you will try to run away, you must be tied; but we don’t
wish to hurt you.’
‘It hurts us, it hurts us,’ hissed Gollum. ‘It freezes, it bites!
Elves twisted it, curse them! Nasty cruel hobbits! That’s why
we tries to escape, of course it is, precious. We guessed they
were cruel hobbits. They visits Elves, fierce Elves with bright
eyes. Take it off us! It hurts us.’