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After doing some twelve miles, they halted A short way back the road had bent a little northward and the stretch that they had passed over was now screened froht This proved disastrous They rested for some minutes and then went on; but they had not taken ht they heard the sound that all along they had secretly dreaded: the noise ofback they could see the twinkle of torches co round the bend less than afast: too fast for Frodo to escape by flight along the road ahead

‘I feared it, Sam,’ said Frodo ‘We’ve trusted to luck, and it has failed us We’re trapped’ He looked wildly up at the frowning wall, where the road-builders of old had cut the rock sheer for many fathoms above their heads He ran to the other side and looked over the brink into a dark pit of glooround beneath the wall of rock and bowed his head

‘Seems so,’ said Sam ‘Well, we can but wait and see’ And with that he sat down beside Frodo under the shadow of the cliff

They did not have to wait long The orcs were going at a great pace Those in the foremost files bore torches On they ca Now Sa that it would hide his face when the torches reached them; and he set their shields before their knees to hide their feet

‘If only they are in a hurry and will let a couple of tired soldiers alone and pass on!’ he thought

And so it see, panting, holding their heads down They were a gang of the s to their Dark Lord’s wars; all they cared for was to get theup and down the line, went two of the large fierce uruks, cracking lashes and shouting File after file passed, and the tell-tale torchlight was already some way ahead Saone by Then suddenly one of the slave-drivers spied the two figures by the road-side He flicked a whip at them and yelled: ‘Hi, you! Get up!’ They did not answer, and with a shout he halted the whole company

‘Co’ He took a step towards thenized the devices on their shields ‘Deserting, eh?’ he snarled ‘Or thinking of it? All your folk should have been inside Udûn before yesterday evening You know that Up you get and fall in, or I’ll have your numbers and report you’

They struggled to their feet, and keeping bent, li like footsore soldiers, they shuffled back towards the rear of the line ‘No, not at the rear!’ the slave-driver shouted ‘Three files up And stay there, or you’ll know it, when I co over their heads; then with another crack and a yell he started the coain at a brisk trot

It was hard enough for poor Sam, tired as he was; but for Frodo it was a torhtmare He set his teeth and tried to stop his led on The stench of the sweating orcs about hiasp with thirst On, on they went, and he bent all his will to draw his breath and to ; and yet to what evil end he toiled and endured he did not dare to think There was no hope of falling out unseen Now and again the orc-driver fell back and jeered at them

‘There now!’ he laughed, flicking at their legs ‘Where there’s a whip there’s a will, ive you a nice freshener now, only you’ll get as much lash as your skins will carry when you coood Don’t you knoe’re at war?’

They had gone so slope into the plain, when Frodo’s strength began to give out and his avered He lurched and stumbled Desperately Sah he felt that he could hier At any moment now he knew that the end would come: his master would faint or fall, and all would be discovered, and their bitter efforts be in vain ‘I’ll have that big slave-driving devil anyway,’ he thought

Then just as he was putting his hand to the hilt of his sword, there came an unexpected relief They were out on the plain now and drawing near the entrance to Udûn Soe-end, the road fro fro all the roads troops wereand the Dark Lord was speeding his forces north So it chanced that several co, in the dark beyond the light of the watch-fires on the wall At once there was great jostling and cursing as each troop tried to get first to the gate and the ending of their h the drivers yelled and plied their whips, scuffles broke out and some blades were drawn A troop of heavy-ar line and threw them into confusion

Dazed as he ith pain and weariness, Sarasped quickly at his chance, and threw hi Frodo doith hi Slowly on hand and knee the hobbits crawled away out of the turmoil, until at last unnoticed they dropped over the further edge of the road It had a high kerb by which troop-leaders could guide the, and it was banked up some feet above the level of the open land

They lay still for a while It was too dark to seek for cover, if indeed there was any to find; but Saet further away froht

‘Come on, Mr Frodo!’ he whispered ‘One more crawl, and then you can lie still’

With a last despairing effort Frodo raised hiled on for maybe twenty yards Then he pitched down into a shallow pit that opened unexpectedly before the

Chapter 3

MOUNT DOOM

Saed orc-cloak under his rey robe of Lórien; and as he did so his thoughts went out to that fair land, and to the Elves, and he hoped that the cloth woven by their hands ht have some virtue to keep them hidden beyond all hope in this wilderness of fear He heard the scuffling and cries die down as the troops passed on through the Isen of many companies of various kinds they had not been missed, not yet at any rate