return

1224 the return of the king
noted how his master’s left hand would often be raised as if
to ward off a blow, or to screen his shrinking eyes from a
dreadful Eye that sought to look in them. And sometimes his
right hand would creep to his breast, clutching, and then
slowly, as the will recovered mastery, it would be withdrawn.
Now as the blackness of night returned Frodo sat, his head
between his knees, his arms hanging wearily to the ground
where his hands lay feebly twitching. Sam watched him, till
night covered them both and hid them from one another. He
could no longer find any words to say; and he turned to his
own dark thoughts. As for himself, though weary and under
a shadow of fear, he still had some strength left. The lembas
had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain
down to die. It did not satisfy desire, and at times Sam’s
mind was filled with the memories of food, and the longing
for simple bread and meats. And yet this waybread of the
Elves had a potency that increased as travellers relied on it
alone and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the will,
and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb
beyond the measure of mortal kind. But now a new decision
must be made. They could not follow this road any longer;
for it went on eastward into the great Shadow, but the Mountain
now loomed upon their right, almost due south, and they
must turn towards it. Yet still before it there stretched a wide
region of fuming, barren, ash-ridden land.
‘Water, water!’ muttered Sam. He had stinted himself, and
in his parched mouth his tongue seemed thick and swollen;
but for all his care they now had very little left, perhaps half
his bottle, and maybe there were still days to go. All would
long ago have been spent, if they had not dared to follow the
orc-road. For at long intervals on that highway cisterns had
been built for the use of troops sent in haste through the
waterless regions. In one Sam had found some water left,
stale, muddied by the orcs, but still sufficient for their desperate
case. Yet that was now a day ago. There was no hope
of any more.
At last wearied with his cares Sam drowsed, leaving the