Now the sergeant led them somewhat athwart the said mountain till
they began to go down, and saw below them a country of little hills
much covered with wood, and in a while, and ere it was noon, they
were among the said woods, which were grown mostly with big trees, as
oak here and beech there, and the going was good for them.
CHAPTER IV. OF THE SLAYING OF FRIEND AND FOE
So came they, three hours after noon, to where was a clearing in the
woodland, and a long narrow plain some furlong over lay before them,
with a river running along it, and the wood rose on the other side
high and thick, so that the said plain looked even as a wide green
highway leading from somewhence to somewhither.
At the edge hereof their way-leader, the sergeant, bade draw rein,
and said: Lords, we are now in the lands of the Red Hold, and
therein is mickle peril and dread to any save stout hearts as ye be;
but meseems we are so steaded, that whatever may come out of the
Black Valley of the Greywethers to the Red Hold, ye now may scarce
miss. Yonder along this plain to the north lies the way to the said
Hold, and any man coming from the head of the valley is sure to come
by the way we have come, and will pass us not many yards at the worst
from where we now be.
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