|
|
'The secret will not reach the
Enemy from us,' said Gildor.
'The Enemy?' said Frodo. 'Then you know why I am leaving the Shire?'
'I do not know for what reason the Enemy is pursuing you,' answered Gildor; 'but I
perceive that he is--strange indeed though that seems to me. And I warn you that peril is
now both before you and behind you, and upon either side.'
'You mean the Riders? I feared that they were servants of the Enemy. What are the Black
Riders?'
'Has Gandalf told you nothing?'
'Nothing about such creatures.'
'Then I think it is not for me to say more--lest terror should keep you from your journey.
For it seems to me that you have set out only just in time, if indeed you are in time. You
must now make haste, and neither stay nor turn back; for the Shire is no longer any
protection to you.'
'I cannot imagine what information could be more terrifying that your hints and warnings,'
exclaimed Frodo. 'I knew that danger lay ahead, of course; but I did not expect to meet it
in our own Shire. Can't a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace?'
'But it is not your own Shire,' said Gildor. 'Other dwelt here before hobbits were; and
others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you:
you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.'
