'Yes,' he said. 'they are quite
plain: a hobbits footprints. Pippin's, I think. He is smaller than the other. And look at
this!' He held up a thing that glittered in the sunlight. It looked like the new-opened
leaf of a beech tree, fair and strange in that treeless plain.
'The brooch of an elven-cloak!' cried Legolas and Gimli together.
'Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall,' said Aragorn. 'This did not drop by chance: it
was cast away as a token to any that might follow. I think Pippin ran away from the trail
for that purpose.'
'Then he at least was alive,' said Gimli. 'And he had the use of his wits, and of his legs
too. That is heartening. We do not pursue in vain.'
'Let us hope that he did not pay too dearly for his boldness,' said Legolas. 'Come! Let us
go on! The thought of those merry young folk driven like cattle burns my heart.'
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