towers

journey to the cross-roads 915
of the mountains stood out, dark and black amid the shadows,
thrusting westward.
‘Which way do we go from here?’ asked Frodo. ‘Is that the
opening of – of the Morgul Valley, away over there beyond
that black mass?’
‘Need we think about it yet?’ said Sam. ‘Surely we’re not
going to move any more today, if day it is?’
‘Perhaps not, perhaps not,’ said Gollum. ‘But we must go
soon, to the Cross-roads. Yes, to the Cross-roads. That’s the
way over there, yes, Master.’
The red glare over Mordor died away. The twilight deepened
as great vapours rose in the East and crawled above
them. Frodo and Sam took a little food and then lay down,
but Gollum was restless. He would not eat any of their food,
but he drank a little water and then crawled about under
the bushes, sniffing and muttering. Then suddenly he disappeared.
‘Off hunting, I suppose,’ said Sam and yawned. It was his
turn to sleep first, and he was soon deep in a dream. He
thought he was back in the Bag End garden looking for
something; but he had a heavy pack on his back, which made
him stoop. It all seemed very weedy and rank somehow, and
thorns and bracken were invading the beds down near the
bottom hedge.
‘A job of work for me, I can see; but I’m so tired,’ he kept
on saying. Presently he remembered what he was looking for.
‘My pipe!’ he said, and with that he woke up.
‘Silly!’ he said to himself, as he opened his eyes and wondered
why he was lying down under the hedge. ‘It’s in your
pack all the time!’ Then he realized, first that the pipe might
be in his pack but he had no leaf, and next that he was
hundreds of miles from Bag End. He sat up. It seemed to be
almost dark. Why had his master let him sleep on out of turn,
right on till evening?
‘Haven’t you had no sleep, Mr. Frodo?’ he said. ‘What’s
the time? Seems to be getting late!’