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of the guard came forward.
 And who are these? he asked, pointing to Fili and: Kili and Bilbo.
 The sons of my father s daughter, answered Thorin,  Fili and Kili
of the race of Durin, and Mr. Baggins who has travelled with us out of the
West.
 If you come in peace lay down your arms! said the captain.
 We have none, said Thorin, and it was true enough: their knives
had been taken from them by the wood-elves, and the great sword Orcrist
too. Bilbo had his short sword, hidden as usual, but he said nothing about
that.  We have no need of weapons, who return at last to our own as
spoken of old. Nor could we fight against so many. Take us to your master!
 He is at feast, said the captain.
 Then all the more reason for taking us to him, burst in Fili, who
was getting impatient at these solemnities.  We are worn and famished
after our long road and we have sick comrades. Now make haste and let
us have no more words, or your master may have something to say to
you.
 Follow me then, said the captain, and with six men about them he
led them over the bridge through the gates and into the market-place of
the town. This was a wide circle of quiet water surrounded by the tall
piles on which were built the greater houses, and by long wooden quays
with many steps and ladders going down to the surface of the lake. From
one great hall shone many lights and there came the sound of many
voices. They passed its doors and stood blinking in the light looking at
long tables filled with folk.
 I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!
I return! cried Thorin in a loud voice from the door, before the captain
could say anything. All leaped to their feet. The Master of the town sprang
from his great chair. But none rose in greater surprise than the raft-men
of the elves who were sitting at the lower end of the hall. Pressing forward
before the Master s table they cried:
 These are prisoners of our king that have escaped, wandering
vagabond dwarves that could not give any good account of themselves,
sneaking through the woods and molesting our people!
 Is this true? asked the Master. As a matter of fact he thought it far
more likely than the return of the King under the Mountain, if any such
person had ever existed.
 It is true that we were wrongfully waylaid by the Elven-king and
imprisoned without cause as we journeyed back to our own land, answered
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Thorin.  But lock nor bar may hinder the homecoming spoken of old. Nor
is this town in the Wood-elves realm. I speak to the Master of the town of
the Men of the lake, not to the raft-men of the king.
Then the Master hesitated and looked from one to the other. The
Elvenking was very powerful in those parts and the Master wished for no
enmity with him, nor did he think much of old songs, giving his mind to
trade and tolls, to cargoes and gold, to which habit he owed his position.
Others were of different mind, however, and quickly the matter was settled
without him. The news had spread from the doors of the hall like fire
through all the town. People were shouting inside the hall and outside it.
The quays were thronged with hurrying feet. Some began to sing snatches
of old songs concerning the return of the King under the Mountain; that it
was Thror s grandson not Thror himself that had come back did not bother
them at all. Others took up the song and it rolled loud and high over the
lake.
The King beneath the mountains,
The King of carven stone,
The lord of silver fountains
Shall come into his own!
His crown shall be upholden,
His harp shall be restrung,
His halls shall echo golden
To songs of yore re-sung.
The woods shall wave on mountains
And grass beneath the sun;
His wealth shall flow in fountains
And the rivers golden run.
The streams shall run in gladness,
The lakes shall shine and burn,
And sorrow fail and sadness
At the Mountain-king s return!
So they sang, or very like that, only there was a great deal more of
it, and there was much shouting as well as the music of harps and of
fiddles mixed up with it. Indeed such excitement had not been known in
the town in the memory of the oldest grandfather. The Wood-elves
themselves began to wonder greatly and even to be afraid. They did not
know of course how Thorin had escaped, and they began to think their
king might have made a serious mistake. As for the Master he saw there
was nothing else for it but to obey the general clamour, for the moment at
any rate, and to pretend to believe that Thorin was what he said. So he
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gave up to him his own great chair and set Fili and Kili beside him in
places of honour. Even Bilbo was given a seat at the high table, and no
explanation of where he came in-no songs had alluded to him even in the
obscurest way-was asked for in the general bustle.
Soon afterwards the other dwarves were brought into the town
amid scenes of astonishing enthusiasm. They were all doctored and fed
and housed and pampered in the most delightful and satisfactory fashion.
A large house was given up to Thorin and his company; boats and rowers
were put at their service; and crowds sat outside and sang songs all day,
or cheered if any dwarf showed so much as his nose.
Some of the songs were old ones; but some of them were quite
new and
spoke confidently of the sudden death of the dragon and of cargoes
of rich presents coming down the river to Lake-town. These were inspired
largely by the Master and they did not particularly please the dwarves, but
in the meantime they were well contented and they quickly grew fat and
strong again. Indeed within a week they were quite recovered, fitted out
in fine cloth of their proper colours, with beards combed and trimmed,
and proud steps. Thorin looked and walked as if his kingdom was already
regained and Smaug chopped up into little pieces.
Then, as he had said, the dwarves good feeling towards the little
hobbit grew stronger every day. There were no more groans or grumbles.
They drank his health, and they patted him on the back, and they made a
great fuss of him; which was just as well, for he was not feeling particularly
cheerful. He had not forgotten the look of the Mountain, nor the thought
of the dragon, and he had besides a shocking cold. For three days he
sneezed and coughed, and he could not go out, and even after that his
speeches at banquets were limited to  Thag you very buch.
In the meanwhile the Wood-elves had gone back up the Forest
River with their cargoes, and there was great excitement in the king s
palace. I have never heard what happened to the chief of the guards and
the butler. Nothing of course was ever said about keys or barrels while the
dwarves stayed in Lake-town, and Bilbo was careful never to become
invisible. Still, I daresay, more was guessed than was known, though
doubtless Mr. Baggins remained a bit of a mystery. In any case the king
knew now the dwarves errand, or thought he did, and he said to himself:
 Very well! We ll see! No treasure will come back through Mirkwood
without my having something to say in the matter. But I expect they will
all come to a bad end, and serve them right! He at any rate did not
believe in dwarves fighting and killing dragons like Smaug, and he strongly
suspected attempted burglary or something like it which shows he was a
wise elf and wiser than the men of the town, though not quite right, as
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we shall see in the end. He sent out his spies about the shores of the lake
and as far northward towards the Mountains as they would go, and waited.
At the end of a fortnight Thorin began to think of departure. While
the enthusiasm still lasted in the town was the time to get help. It would
not do to let everything cool down with delay. So he spoke to the Master
and his councillors and said that soon he and his company must go on
towards the Mountain.
Then for the first time the Master was surprised and a little frightened;
and he wondered if Thorin was after all really a descendant of the old [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]