And, Alderman, meseemeth we shall do amiss if we bid not
the Earl-folk of Shadowy Vale to be our fellows in arms in this
adventure. For look you, how few soever they be, they will be sure
to know the ways of our foemen, and the mountain passes, and the
surest and nighest roads across the necks and the mires of the waste;
and though they be not a host, yet shall they be worth a host to us?'
When men heard his words they shouted for joy of them; for hatred of
the Dusky Men who should so mar their happy life in the Dale was
growing up in them, and the more that hatred waxed, the more waxed
their love of those valiant ones.
Now Red-coat of Waterless spake again: he was a big man, both tall
and broad, ruddy-faced and red-haired, some forty winters old. He
said:
'Life hath been well with us of the Lower Dale, and we deem that we
have much to lose in losing it. Yet ill would the bargain be to buy
life with thralldom: we have been over-merry hitherto for that.
Therefore I say, to battle! And as to these men, these well-wishers
of Face-of-god, if they also are minded for battle with our foes, we
were fools indeed if we did not join them to our company, were they
but one score instead of six.
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