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the passing of the grey company 1013
long, I fear, ere Théoden sits at ease again in Meduseld.
Many hopes will wither in this bitter Spring.’
Soon all were ready to depart: twenty-four horses, with
Gimli behind Legolas, and Merry in front of Aragorn. Presently
they were riding swiftly through the night. They had
not long passed the mounds at the Fords of Isen, when a
Rider galloped up from the rear of their line.
‘My lord,’ he said to the king, ‘there are horsemen behind
us. As we crossed the fords I thought that I heard them. Now
we are sure. They are overtaking us, riding hard.’
Théoden at once called a halt. The Riders turned about
and seized their spears. Aragorn dismounted and set Merry
on the ground, and drawing his sword he stood by the king’s
stirrup. Éomer and his esquire rode back to the rear. Merry
felt more like unneeded baggage than ever, and he wondered,
if there was a fight, what he should do. Supposing the king’s
small escort was trapped and overcome, but he escaped into
the darkness – alone in the wild fields of Rohan with no idea
of where he was in all the endless miles? ‘No good!’ he
thought. He drew his sword and tightened his belt.
The sinking moon was obscured by a great sailing cloud,
but suddenly it rode out clear again. Then they all heard the
sound of hoofs, and at the same moment they saw dark
shapes coming swiftly on the path from the fords. The moonlight
glinted here and there on the points of spears. The
number of the pursuers could not be told, but they seemed
no fewer than the king’s escort, at the least.
When they were some fifty paces off, Éomer cried in a
loud voice: ‘Halt! Halt! Who rides in Rohan?’
The pursuers brought their steeds to a sudden stand. A
silence followed; and then in the moonlight, a horseman could
be seen dismounting and walking slowly forward. His hand
showed white as he held it up, palm outward, in token of
peace; but the king’s men gripped their weapons. At ten
paces the man stopped. He was tall, a dark standing shadow.
Then his clear voice rang out.