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the land of shadow 1215
bread, and he made a pillow of his cloak for his master’s
head. Frodo was too weary to debate the matter, and Sam
did not tell him that he had drunk the last drop of their water,
and eaten Sam’s share of the food as well as his own. When
Frodo was asleep Sam bent over him and listened to his
breathing and scanned his face. It was lined and thin, and yet
in sleep it looked content and unafraid. ‘Well, here goes,
Master!’ Sam muttered to himself. ‘I’ll have to leave you for
a bit and trust to luck. Water we must have, or we’ll get no
further.’
Sam crept out, and flitting from stone to stone with more
than hobbit-care, he went down to the water-course, and
then followed it for some way as it climbed north, until he
came to the rock-steps where long ago, no doubt, its spring
had come gushing down in a little waterfall. All now seemed
dry and silent; but refusing to despair Sam stooped and
listened, and to his delight he caught the sound of trickling.
Clambering a few steps up he found a tiny stream of dark
water that came out from the hill-side and filled a little bare
pool, from which again it spilled, and vanished then under
the barren stones.
Sam tasted the water, and it seemed good enough. Then
he drank deeply, refilled the bottle, and turned to go back.
At that moment he caught a glimpse of a black form or
shadow flitting among the rocks away near Frodo’s hidingplace.
Biting back a cry, he leapt down from the spring and
ran, jumping from stone to stone. It was a wary creature,
difficult to see, but Sam had little doubt about it: he longed
to get his hands on its neck. But it heard him coming and
slipped quickly away. Sam thought he saw a last fleeting
glimpse of it, peering back over the edge of the eastward
precipice, before it ducked and disappeared.
‘Well, luck did not let me down,’ muttered Sam, ‘but that
was a near thing! Isn’t it enough to have orcs by the thousand
without that stinking villain coming nosing round? I wish he
had been shot!’ He sat down by Frodo and did not rouse
him; but he did not dare to go to sleep himself. At last when