towers

the uruk-hai 583
daring to breathe, he drew the knot of the wrist-cord up and
down against the blade of the knife. It was sharp and the
dead hand held it fast. The cord was cut! Quickly Pippin
took it in his fingers and knotted it again into a loose bracelet
of two loops and slipped it over his hands. Then he lay very
still.
‘Pick up those prisoners!’ shouted Uglúk. ‘Don’t play any
tricks with them! If they are not alive when we get back,
someone else will die too.’
An Orc seized Pippin like a sack, put its head between his
tied hands, grabbed his arms and dragged them down, until
Pippin’s face was crushed against its neck; then it jolted off
with him. Another treated Merry in the same way. The Orc’s
clawlike hand gripped Pippin’s arms like iron; the nails bit
into him. He shut his eyes and slipped back into evil dreams.
Suddenly he was thrown on to the stony floor again. It
was early night, but the slim moon was already falling westward.
They were on the edge of a cliff that seemed to look
out over a sea of pale mist. There was a sound of water falling
nearby.
‘The scouts have come back at last,’ said an Orc close at
hand.
‘Well, what did you discover?’ growled the voice of Uglúk.
‘Only a single horseman, and he made off westwards. All’s
clear now.’
‘Now, I daresay. But how long? You fools! You should
have shot him. He’ll raise the alarm. The cursed horsebreeders
will hear of us by morning. Now we’ll have to leg it
double quick.’
A shadow bent over Pippin. It was Uglúk. ‘Sit up!’ said the
Orc. ‘My lads are tired of lugging you about. We have got to
climb down, and you must use your legs. Be helpful now.
No crying out, no trying to escape. We have ways of paying
for tricks that you won’t like, though they won’t spoil your
usefulness for the Master.’
He cut the thongs round Pippin’s legs and ankles, picked