towers

the black gate is closed 833
But I’d have to get a wash first, or he wouldn’t know me.
‘I suppose it’s no good asking ‘‘what way do we go now?’’
We can’t go no further – unless we want to ask the Orcs for
a lift.’
‘No, no!’ said Gollum. ‘No use. We can’t go further. Sméagol
said so. He said: we’ll go to the Gate, and then we’ll see.
And we do see. O yes, my precious, we do see. Sméagol
knew hobbits could not go this way. O yes, Sméagol knew.’
‘Then what the plague did you bring us here for?’ said
Sam, not feeling in the mood to be just or reasonable.
‘Master said so. Master says: Bring us to the Gate. So good
Sméagol does so. Master said so, wise master.’
‘I did,’ said Frodo. His face was grim and set, but resolute.
He was filthy, haggard, and pinched with weariness, but
he cowered no longer, and his eyes were clear. ‘I said so,
because I purpose to enter Mordor, and I know no other
way. Therefore I shall go this way. I do not ask anyone to go
with me.’
‘No, no, master!’ wailed Gollum, pawing at him, and seeming
in great distress. ‘No use that way! No use! Don’t take
the Precious to Him! He’ll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the
world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol. Don’t
let Him have it. Or go away, go to nice places, and give it
back to little Sméagol. Yes, yes, master give it back, eh?
Sméagol will keep it safe; he will do lots of good, especially
to nice hobbits. Hobbits go home. Don’t go to the Gate!’
‘I am commanded to go to the land of Mordor, and therefore
I shall go,’ said Frodo. ‘If there is only one way, then I
must take it. What comes after must come.’
Sam said nothing. The look on Frodo’s face was enough
for him; he knew that words of his were useless. And after all
he never had any real hope in the affair from the beginning;
but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long
as despair could be postponed. Now they were come to the
bitter end. But he had stuck to his master all the way; that
was what he had chiefly come for, and he would still stick