The Hobbit / Хоббит. 10 класс - Страница 16

К оглавлению

16

“Thank you very much,” said Bilbo with a bow. “But I don’t think I should leave my friends, after all we have gone through together. And I promised to wake old Bombur at midnight, too! Really I must go, and quickly.”

So they provided an escort for him, and as he went both the king and Bard saluted him with honour. As they passed through the camp, an old man wrapped in a dark cloak rose from a tent door where he was sitting and came towards them.

“Well done, Mr Baggins!” he said, clapping Bilbo on the back. “There is more about you than anyone expects!” It was Gandalf. For the first time for many days Bilbo was really happy. But there was no time for all the questions that he immediately wished to ask. “All in good time!” said Gandalf. “Things are going to the end now, if I am not mistaken. There is an unpleasant time just in front of you; but keep your heart up! There is news that even the ravens have not heard. Good night!”

Puzzled but cheered Bilbo hurried on. He came back on time.

At midnight he woke up Bombur; and soon he was fast asleep forgetting all his worries till the morning. As a matter of fact he was dreaming of eggs and bacon.

Chapter 17
The Clouds Burst

Next day the trumpets rang early in the camp. Soon a single runner hurried along the narrow path. At a distance he stood and hailed them, asking Thorin to listen to another offer, because matters were changed.

“Tell them to come few in number and weaponless, and I will hear,” he called to the messenger. About midday a group of twenty men approached the Gate. The dwarves saw that among them were both Bard and the Elvenking, before whom an old man wrapped in cloak and hood carried a wooden box.

“Hail Thorin!” said Bard. “Are you still of the same mind?”

“Did you come to ask me idle questions? Still the elves have not gone!” answered Thorin.

“Is there then nothing for which you would give any of your gold?” asked Bard.

“Nothing that you or your friends have to offer,” said Thorin.

“What about the Arkenstone of Thrain?” said Bard, and at the same moment the old man opened the box and showed the jewel. The light leapt from his hand, bright and white in the morning.

Thorin was shocked. No one spoke for a long while. At last Thorin said: “That stone was my father’s, and is mine. Why should I purchase my own?” Then he added: “But how did you get it?”

“We are not thieves,” Bard answered. “Your own we will give back in return for our own.”

“How did you get it?” shouted Thorin in rage.

“I gave it them!” said Bilbo in a dreadful fright.

“You! You!” cried Thorin, turning upon him and grasping him with both hands. “You miserable hobbit!” he shouted, and he shook poor Bilbo like a rabbit.

“Where is Gandalf? He chose you! I will throw you to the rocks!” he cried and lifted Bilbo in his arms.

“Stay! Here is Gandalf!” said a voice. The old man with the box took off his hood and cloak. “If you don’t like my Burglar, please don’t damage him. Put him down, and listen first to him!”

So Thorin dropped Bilbo on the top of the wall.

“O!” said Bilbo. “I am sure this is all very uncomfortable. Please remember – you told me that I could choose my own fourteenth share. Perhaps I took it too literally. The time was when you thought that I had helped you. So I have disposed of my share as I wished!”

“So,” said Thorin gloomily, “I will let you go at that – and I hope not to meet you again!” Then he turned and spoke over the wall. “I am betrayed,” he said. “I will redeem the Arkenstone, the treasure of my house. For it I will give one fourteenth share of the treasure in silver and gold; but that will be the promised share of this traitor, and with that reward he will go away, and you can divide it. Take him, if you wish him to live.

“Get down now to your friends!” he said to Bilbo, “or I will throw you down.”

“What about the gold and silver?” asked Bilbo.

“That will follow after,” said he. “Get down!”

“Until then we keep the stone,” cried Bard.

“You don’t behave as King under the Mountain,” said Gandalf. “But things may change.”

“They may indeed,” said Thorin. He was already thinking of how to get the Arkenstone back and not to pay for it.

And so Bilbo was swung down from the wall, and left with nothing for all his trouble. The dwarves in their hearts felt shame and pity.

“Good-bye!” Bilbo cried to them. “We may meet again as friends.”

“Go away!” called Thorin.

“At noon we will return,” said Bard, “and see if you have brought the gold and silver for the stone. Good-bye!” With that they went back to the camp; but Thorin sent messengers by Rac telling Dain of what had happened, and asking him to hurry.

That day passed and the night. The next day the air was dark and gloomy. The morning was still early when Dain arrived.

The dwarves are really strong for their height, but most of these were strong even for dwarves. Their caps were of iron and they had iron shoes, and their faces were grim. Trumpets called men and elves to arms. Bard went out to meet the dwarves, and with him went Bilbo.

“We are sent from Dain son of Nain,” the dwarves said. “We are going to our relatives in the Mountain.”

Bard, of course, refused to allow the dwarves to go straight on to the Mountain. He was going to wait until Thorin had brought the gold and silver in exchange for the Arkenstone. The dwarves had brought with them a great store of supplies. So they could stand a siege for weeks.

This was, in fact, Thorin’s plan; but for the moment the way was blocked, so after angry words the dwarf-messengers retired. Bard then sent messengers at once to the Gate; but they found no gold or payment.

Suddenly darkness came! A black cloud hurried over the sky.

“Halt!” cried Gandalf, who appeared suddenly, and stood alone, with arms uplifted, between the advancing dwarves and the men and elves awaiting them. “Halt!” he called in a voice like thunder. “The Goblins are coming! Bolg of the North is coming. O Dain! You killed his father in Moria. Look! The bats are above his army like a black sea. They ride on wolves and Wargs are in their train!” Amazement and confusion fell upon them all. The darkness grew. The dwarves gazed at the sky. The elves cried.

“Come!” called Gandalf. “There is yet time for council. Let Dain son of Nain come swiftly to us!”

So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves.

Gandalf together with the Elvenking, Bard, and Dain realized that the Goblins were the foes of all, and at their coming all other quarrels were forgotten. Now it was necessary to lure the goblins into the valley between the arms of the Mountain.

Soon the bat-cloud came, flying lower, and whirled above them.

“To the Mountain!” called Bard. “To the Mountain! Let us take our places while there is yet time!”

On the Southern spur the Elves were set; on the Eastern spur were men and dwarves. But Bard and some of the nimblest of men and elves climbed to the height of the Eastern shoulder to get a view to the North. Soon they could see the lands before the Mountain’s feet black with a hurrying mass. Soon the goblin army rushed into Dale. Their banners were countless, black and red.

It was a terrible battle, and it was the most dreadful of all Bilbo’s experiences. Actually I must say he put on his ring and vanished from sight. But a magic ring is not a complete protection in a battle, it can’t stop flying arrows and wild spears; but it helps in getting out of the way.

The elves were the first to attack the goblin army. Their hatred for the goblins is cold and bitter. As soon as their enemies were in the valley, they sent against them a shower of arrows and spears. Then with cries of “Moria!” and “Dain, Dain!” the dwarves of the Iron Hills attacked the goblins; and beside them came the men of the Lake with long swords. Panic came upon the goblins. Already many of them were flying back down the river to escape from the trap. Just then another big group of goblins appeared from the other side of the Mountain and already many of them were on the slopes above the Gate. The goblins gathered again in the valley.

Soon actual darkness was coming into a stormy sky; while still the great bats whirled about the heads and ears of elves and men. Now Bard was fighting to defend the Eastern spur; and the elf-lords were at bay about their king upon the southern arm. Suddenly there was a great shout, and from the Gate came a trumpet call. They had forgotten Thorin! Part of the wall fell outward with a crash into the pool. The King under the Mountain leaped out, and his companions followed him. They were in shining armour. Then the goblins who were higher on the Mountain started dropping stones onto them.

Thorin brandished his axe with mighty strokes.

“To me! To me! Elves and Men! To me!” he cried.

Down rushed all the dwarves of Dain to his help. Down too came many of the Lake-men, for Bard could not restrain them; and out upon the other side came many of the spearmen of the elves. Once again the goblins were stricken in the valley. But soon the attackers were attacked again.

On all this Bilbo looked with sadness from Ravenhill. He was among the elves because he preferred to defend the Elvenking. Gandalf, too, was there, sitting on the ground, preparing, I suppose, some last blast of magic before the end. “It will be soon,” thought Bilbo. But suddenly he gave a great cry: he had seen a sight that made his heart leap.

16