return

the land of shadow 1213
range send out spurs that nearly meet. That must be twenty
leagues at least from the bridge back by the Tower. It might
be a good point at which to cross. But of course, if we get
there, we shall be further than we were from the Mountain,
sixty miles from it, I should think. I guess that we have gone
about twelve leagues north from the bridge now. Even if all
goes well, I could hardly reach the Mountain in a week. I am
afraid, Sam, that the burden will get very heavy, and I shall
go still slower as we get nearer.’
Sam sighed. ‘That’s just as I feared,’ he said. ‘Well, to say
nothing of water, we’ve got to eat less, Mr. Frodo, or else
move a bit quicker, at any rate while we’re still in this valley.
One more bite and all the food’s ended, save the Elves’
waybread.’
‘I’ll try and be a bit quicker, Sam,’ said Frodo, drawing a
deep breath. ‘Come on then! Let’s start another march!’
It was not yet quite dark again. They plodded along, on
into the night. The hours passed in a weary stumbling trudge
with a few brief halts. At the first hint of grey light under the
skirts of the canopy of shadow they hid themselves again in
a dark hollow under an overhanging stone.
Slowly the light grew, until it was clearer than it yet had
been. A strong wind from the West was now driving the
fumes of Mordor from the upper airs. Before long the hobbits
could make out the shape of the land for some miles about
them. The trough between the mountains and the Morgai
had steadily dwindled as it climbed upwards, and the inner
ridge was now no more than a shelf in the steep faces of the
Ephel Dúath; but to the east it fell as sheerly as ever down
into Gorgoroth. Ahead the water-course came to an end in
broken steps of rock; for out from the main range there
sprang a high barren spur, thrusting eastward like a wall.
To meet it there stretched out from the grey and misty
northern range of Ered Lithui a long jutting arm; and between
the ends there was a narrow gap: Carach Angren, the
Isenmouthe, beyond which lay the deep dale of Udûn. In