towers

Chapter 5
THE WINDOW ON THE WEST
It seemed to Sam that he had only dozed for a few minutes
when he awoke to find that it was late afternoon and Faramir
had come back. He had brought many men with him; indeed
all the survivors of the foray were now gathered on the slope
nearby, two or three hundred strong. They sat in a wide
semicircle, between the arms of which Faramir was seated on
the ground, while Frodo stood before him. It looked strangely
like the trial of a prisoner.
Sam crept out from the fern, but no one paid any attention
to him, and he placed himself at the end of the rows of men,
where he could see and hear all that was going on. He
watched and listened intently, ready to dash to his master’s
aid if needed. He could see Faramir’s face, which was now
unmasked: it was stern and commanding, and a keen wit lay
behind his searching glance. Doubt was in the grey eyes that
gazed steadily at Frodo.
Sam soon became aware that the Captain was not satisfied
with Frodo’s account of himself at several points: what part
he had to play in the Company that set out from Rivendell;
why he had left Boromir; and where he was now going. In
particular he returned often to Isildur’s Bane. Plainly he saw
that Frodo was concealing from him some matter of great
importance.
‘But it was at the coming of the Halfling that Isildur’s Bane
should waken, or so one must read the words,’ he insisted.
‘If then you are the Halfling that was named, doubtless you
brought this thing, whatever it may be, to the Council of
which you speak, and there Boromir saw it. Do you deny it?’
Frodo made no answer. ‘So!’ said Faramir. ‘I wish then to
learn from you more of it; for what concerns Boromir con-