towers

834 the two towers
to him. His master would not go to Mordor alone. Sam
would go with him – and at any rate they would get rid of
Gollum.
Gollum, however, did not intend to be got rid of, yet. He
knelt at Frodo’s feet, wringing his hands and squeaking. ‘Not
this way, master!’ he pleaded. ‘There is another way. O yes
indeed there is. Another way, darker, more difficult to find,
more secret. But Sméagol knows it. Let Sméagol show you!’
‘Another way!’ said Frodo doubtfully, looking down at
Gollum with searching eyes.
‘Yess! Yess indeed! There was another way. Sméagol found
it. Let’s go and see if it’s still there!’
‘You have not spoken of this before.’
‘No. Master did not ask. Master did not say what he meant
to do. He does not tell poor Sméagol. He says: Sméagol, take
me to the Gate – and then good-bye! Sméagol can run away
and be good. But now he says: I purpose to enter Mordor
this way. So Sméagol is very afraid. He does not want to lose
nice master. And he promised, master made him promise, to
save the Precious. But master is going to take it to Him,
straight to the Black Hand, if master will go this way. So
Sméagol must save them both, and he thinks of another way
that there was, once upon a time. Nice master. Sméagol very
good, always helps.’
Sam frowned. If he could have bored holes in Gollum with
his eyes, he would have done. His mind was full of doubt.
To all appearances Gollum was genuinely distressed and
anxious to help Frodo. But Sam, remembering the overheard
debate, found it hard to believe that the long submerged
Sméagol had come out on top: that voice at any rate had not
had the last word in the debate. Sam’s guess was that the
Sméagol and Gollum halves (or what in his own mind he
called Slinker and Stinker) had made a truce and a temporary
alliance: neither wanted the Enemy to get the Ring; both
wished to keep Frodo from capture, and under their eye, as
long as possible – at any rate as long as Stinker still had a