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Frodo turned back and found Gollum wasn’t there. “Smeagol!” he called out, “Where are you?” No answer. He called again and again, but no answer came. The longer Frodo called the more Gollum wasn’t there. “I wonder where he’s gone. I hope he didn’t go on without us.”
Then there was a loud rumble, like a crash just beyond the bushes.
“Did you hear that?” Sam said, shuttering.
“Hear what?” Frodo said.
“That noise. It was like a rumbling something.”
“Maybe that was my tummy. Do we have any more to eat, Sam?”
“No, you ate all the Lembras bread already. Oh! There it is again!”
“I heard it this time. Are you sure it isn’t my tummy? I need something to eat very badly.”
Sam was trembling. “Do you – do you think it’s – it’s a –Heffalump?!”
Frodo thought that maybe it was, but he didn’t have time to say so, because just at that moment, a huge animal burst through the trees, striding the bushes and rushing passed them as if behind schedule for something.
Frodo and Sam screamed.
“Run! Run!” cried Frodo.
“Don’t let him hurt me!” shouted Sam.
The two scampered through the wood, not thinking about where they were going, only what they were leaving behind, and by doing so, running and running as fast as their legs would carry them, until they ran smack into a tall man with a bow and sword.
“Well, what do we have here?” the man said.
Frodo and Sam stood still and stared at him, not knowing what to say.
The man called to other men, all with bows and swords, though some had axes instead of swords, and none of them looked to have any food on them. “What are you doing here? Are you on your way somewhere?”
“No,” said Frodo. “We were just Taking A Stroll.”
“Out for some fresh air, you know?” said Sam.
“You will have to come with us,” the man said. “We will be going to a Secret Place. Normally, I would have you blindfolded, but if you promise to not tell anyone where we go, I won’t do that.”
“No, no. We won’t tell anyone anything,” said Sam.
“I won’t remember a thing about it,” said Frodo.