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.'