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The Choices of Master Saround and theover him, so intent upon her victim that she took no heed of Sam and his cries, until he was close at hand As he rushed up he saw that Frodo was already bound in cords, wound about hireat forelegs was beginning half to lift, half to drag his body away

On the near side of hiround, his elven-blade, where it had fallen useless frorasp Sam did not wait to wonder as to be done, or whether he was brave, or loyal, or filled with rage He sprang forith a yell, and seized his ed No onslaught e world of beasts; where some desperate s upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallendream by his slance upon hireater than any she had known in countless years, the shining sword bit upon her foot and shore away the claw Sas, and with a quick upthrust of his other hand stabbed at the clustered eyes upon her lowered head One great eye went dark

Now the ht under her, for theand of her claws Her vast belly was above hiht, and the stench of it almost smote him down Still his fury held for onehiht elven-blade across her with desperate strength

But Shelob was not as dragons are, no softer spot had she save only her eyes Knobbed and pitted with corruption was her age-old hide, but ever thickened frorowth The blade scored it with a dreadful gash, but those hideous folds could not be pierced by any strength of e the steel or the hand of Beren or of Turin wield it She yielded to the stroke, and then heaved up the great bag of her belly high above Sam&039;s head Poison frothed and bubbled froe bulk down on hiain Too soon For Sa his oord, with both hands he held the elven-blade point upwards, fending off that ghastly roof; and so Shelob, with the driving force of her own cruel will, with strength greater than any warrior&039;s hand, thrust herself upon a bitter spike Deep, deep it pricked, as Sauish had Shelob ever known, or drea world of wickedness Not the doughtiest soldier of old Gondor, nor the e Orc entrapped, had ever thus endured her, or set blade to her beloved flesh A shudder went through her Heaving up again, wrenching away fro backwards in a convulsive leap

Sam had fallen to his knees by Frodo&039;s head, his senses reeling in the foul stench, his two hands still gripping the hilt of the sword Through the mist before his eyes he are diht tohimself out of the swoon that was upon him Slowly he raised his head and saw her, only a few paces away, eyeing hireen ooze trickling fro belly splayed upon the ground, the great bows of her legs quivering, as she gathered herself for another spring ¨C this ti to death: no little bite of poison to still the struggling of her meat; this time to slay and then to rend

Even as Sa his death in her eyes, a thought came to him, as if some remote voice had spoken, and he fuht: cold and hard and solid it seemed to his touch in a phantom world of horror, the Phial of Galadriel

&039;Galadriel!&039; he said faintly, and then he heard voices far off but clear: the crying of the Elves as they walked under the stars in the beloved shadows of the Shire, and the h his sleep in the Hall of Fire in the house of Elrond

Gilthoniel A Elbereth!

And then his tongue was loosed and his voice cried in a language which he did not know:

A Elbereth Gilthoniel

o uruthos!

A tiro nin, Fanuilos!

And with that he staggered to his feet and was Saain

&039;Now come, you filth!&039; he cried &039;You&039;ve hurt oing on; but we&039;ll settle with you first Coain!&039;

As if his indolass blazed suddenly like a white torch in his hand It fla froht No such terror out of heaven had ever burned in Shelob&039;s face before The beams of it entered into her wounded head and scored it with unbearable pain, and the dreadful infection of light spread fros, her sight blasted by inner lightnings, herher an to crawl, claw by claards the opening in the dark cliff behind

Sa like a drunken man, but he came on And Shelob cowed at last, shrunken in defeat, jerked and quivered as she tried to hasten fro a trail of green-yellow slime, she slipped in, even as Sas Then he fell to the ground

Shelob was gone; and whether she lay long in her lair, nursing her malice and her misery, and in slow years of darkness healed herself froer like death she spun once lens of the Mountains of Shadow, this tale does not tell

Sa of the Nameless Land fell upon the place of battle, he crawled back to his master

&039;Master, dear master,&039; he said, but Frodo did not speak As he had run forward, eager, rejoicing to be free, Shelob with hideous speed had co him in the neck He lay now pale, and heard no voice, and did not move

&039;Master, dearsilence waited, listening in vain

Then as quickly as he could he cut away the binding cords and laid his head upon Frodo&039;s breast and to his mouth, but no stir of life could he find, nor feel the faintest flutter of the heart Often he chafed his master&039;s hands and feet, and touched his brow, but all were cold

&039;Frodo, Mr Frodo!&039; he called &039;Don&039;t leave o where I can&039;t follow! Wake up, Mr Frodo! O wake up, Frodo, ed over hint, and he ran about histhe stones, and shouting challenges Presently he ca looked at Frodo&039;s face, pale beneath him in the dusk And suddenly he saw that he was in the picture that was revealed to him in thefast asleep under a great dark cliff Or fast asleep he had thought then &039;He&039;s dead!&039; he said &039;Not asleep, dead!&039; And as he said it, as if the words had set the venoain, it seereen

And then black despair carey hood over his head, and night came into his heart, and he knew no more

When at last the blackness passed, Sam looked up and shadoere about hiing on he could not tell He was still in the same place, and still his master lay beside him dead The mountains had not crumbled nor the earth fallen into ruin

&039;What shall I do, what shall I do?&039; he said &039;Did I co?&039; And then he re words that at the ti of their journey: I have soh, sir, if you understand

&039;But what can I do? Not leave Mr Frodo dead, unburied on the top of the o on? Go on?&039; he repeated, and for a moment doubt and fear shook hiot to do? And leave hi to Frodo he composed his body, and folded his cold hands upon his breast, and wrapped his cloak about him; and he laid his oord at one side, and the staff that Faraiven at the other

&039;If I&039;o on,&039; he said, &039;then I must take your sword, by your leave, Mr Frodo, but I&039;ll put this one to lie by you, as it lay by the old king in the barrow; and you&039;ve got your beautiful lass, Mr Frodo, you did lend it to me and I&039;ll need it, for I&039;ll be always in the dark now It&039;s too good for ave it to you, but maybe she&039;d understand Do you understand, Mr Frodo? I&039;ve got to go on&039;

But he could not go, not yet He knelt and held Frodo&039;s hand and could not release it And ti hisa debate

Now he tried to find strength to tear hieance If once he could go, his anger would bear hi, until he had him at last: Gollum Then Gollum would die in a corner But that was not what he had set out to do It would not be worth while to leave hiswould They had better both be dead together And that too would be a lonely journey

He looked on the bright point of the sword He thought of the places behind where there was a black brink and an eness There was no escape that way That was to do nothing, not even to grieve That was not what he had set out to do &039;What aain, and now he seeh Another lonely journey, and the worst

&039;What? Me, alone, go to the Crack of Doorew &039;What? Me take the Ring froave it to him&039;

But the answer caave him companions, so that the errand should not fail And you are the last of all the Company The errand must not fail&039;

&039;I wish I wasn&039;t the last,&039; he groaned &039;I wish old Gandalf was here or somebody Why ao wrong And it&039;s not formyself forward&039;

&039;But you haven&039;t put yourself forward; you&039;ve been put forward And as for not being the right and proper person, why, Mr Frodo wasn&039;t as you ht say, nor Mr Bilbo They didn&039;t choose themselves&039;

&039;Ah well, I must make up o wrong: that&039;d be Saee all over

&039;Let me see now: if we&039;re found here, or Mr Frodo&039;s found, and that Thing&039;s on hiet it And that&039;s the end of all of us, of Lorien, and Rivendell, and the Shire and all And there is no time to lose, or it&039;ll be the end anyway The war&039;s begun, andthe Eneet advice or permission No, it&039;s sit here till they coets It: or take It and go&039; He drew a deep breath &039;Then take It, it is!&039;

He stooped Very gently he undid the clasp at the neck and slipped his hand inside Frodo&039;s tunic; then with his other hand raising the head, he kissed the cold forehead, and softly drew the chain over it And then the head lay quietly back again in rest No change came over the still face, and by that more than by all other tokens Sam was convinced at last that Frodo had died and laid aside the Quest

&039;Good-bye, ive your Sam He&039;ll coes it And then he&039;ll not leave you again Rest you quiet till I coh you! And if the Lady could hear ive ain Good-bye!&039;

And then he bent his own neck and put the chain upon it, and at once his head was bowed to the ground with the weight of the Ring, as if a great stone had been strung on hirew in hiot to his feet and found that he could walk and bear his burden And for a moment he lifted up the Phial and looked down at his ently noith the soft radiance of the evening-star in suain, pale but beautiful with an elvish beauty, as of one who has long passed the shadows And with the bitter coht and stu dark

He had not far to go The tunnel was some way behind; the Cleft a couple of hundred yards ahead, or less The path was visible in the dusk&039; a deep rut worn in ages of passage, running now gently up in a long trough with cliffs on either side The trough narrowed rapidly Soon Saht of broad shallow steps Now the orc-toas right above hilowed Noas hidden in the dark shadow under it He was co to the top of the steps and was in the Cleft at last

&039;I&039;veto hih he had done his best to think it out, what he was doing was altogether against the grain of his nature &039;Have I got it wrong?&039; he ht I to have done?&039;

As the sheer sides of the Cleft closed about him, before he reached the actual su into the Nameless Land, he turned For a moment, motionless in intolerable doubt, he looked back He could still see, like a sloouess where Frodo lay He fancied there was a gliround down there, or perhaps it was soh stony place where all his life had fallen in ruin

&039;If only I could have o back and find him!&039; Then at last he turned to the road in front and took a few steps: the heaviest and the most reluctant he had ever taken

Only a few steps; and now only a few h place again And then suddenly he heard cries and voices He stood still as stone Orc-voices They were behind hi feet and harsh shouts: Orcs were co up to the Cleft from the far side, fro feet and shouts behind He wheeled round He saw s away below there as they issued from the tunnel At last the hunt was up The red eye of the tower had not been blind He was caught

Now the flicker of approaching torches and the clink of steel ahead was very near In a minute they would reach the top and be on hi up his ood How could he escape, or save hi He was not aware of any thought or decision He si in his hand The head of the orc-coht before hied, and a single ht At once he are that hearing was sharpened while sight was dis about hiue; while he hirey hazy world, alone, like a s down his left hand, was like an orb of hot gold He did not feel invisible at all, but horribly and uniquely visible; and he knew that so for him

He heard the crack of stone, and the ul Vale; and doay under the rock the bubbling e; and voices in the dungeons of the tower; and the cries of the Orcs as they ca in his ears, the crash of the feet and the rending claainst the cliff But they ures in a mist, only dreams of fear with pale fla to creep away into some cranny and to hide

He listened The Orcs frohted one another, and both parties were now hurrying and shouting He heard them both clearly, and he understood what they said Perhaps the Ring gave understanding of tongues, or si, especially of the servants of Sauron its ave heed, he understood and translated the thought to hireatly in power as it approached the places of its forging; but one thing it did not confer, and that was courage At present Sa low till all was quiet again; and he listened anxiously He could not tell how near the voices were, the words see! What are you doing up here? Had enough of war already?&039;

&039;Orders, you lubber And what are you doing, Shagrat? Tired of lurking up there? Thinking of coht?&039;

&039;Orders to you I&039;m in command of this pass So speak civil What&039;s your report?&039;

&039;Nothing&039;

&039;Hai! hai! yoi!&039; A yell broke into the exchanges of the leaders The Orcs lower down had suddenly seen soan to run So did the others

&039;Hai! Hola! Here&039;s soht in the road A spy, a spy!&039; There was a hoot of snarling horns and a babel of baying voices

With a dreadful stroke Sa mood They had seen his master What would they do? He had heard tales of the Orcs toup He flung the Quest and all his decisions away, and fear and doubt with them He knehere his place was and had been: at his h what he could do there was not clear Back he ran down the steps, down the path towards Frodo

&039;How ht &039;Thirty or forty from the tower at least, and a lot uess How et me? They&039;ll see the flaetwill ever h Pass andOf course not, for the Ring&039;ll be found, and there&039;ll be no s I can&039;t help it My place is by Mr Frodo They reat Lords and Ladies with all their wisdo-bearer Not without Mr Frodo&039;

But the Orcs were out of his diht now He had had no time to consider himself, but now he realized that he eary, weary als would not carry hi Where had they all got to in the ood way ahead still A cluster of figures round so this way and that, bent like dogs on a trail He tried to make a spurt