The small company was traveling happily through a patch of woodland a half-mile back from Sam's old Gaffer's hole, sharing stories and laughing with every one.  Gandalf thought he heard noises every now and then, but shrugged it off, thinking it some animal of the forest.  After an hour though, it was obvious that everyone was hearing something by his or her body language.  Gandalf's eyebrows were slowly starting to bristle, not in anger but in some sort of anticipation.  Gimli's hand had slid to where he usually carried his axe, then pulled away remembering that he hadn't brought his axe along on what he thought would be a simple little walking party.

Even the hobbits were tensing up.  Sam was the worst, and insisted that he walked in front of the other hobbits, saying that it was 'his duty to protect the younger ones'.  Frodo didn't bother with saying that he was older than the rest, but remained alert. 

The stories continued again for a while, although the storyteller would stop and pause every now and then, afraid from their journey years ago that something was hunting them. 

All of a sudden, Gandalf halted, making the others stumble into each other.  Faramir asked, "What is going on?" to his father, who was closest at the moment.  Pippin was about to tell his son that nothing was going on, but was stopped when he heard the sound of hoof beats.  Frodo let out a gasp of terror and everyone else saw why.  A man, dressed in all black, was in front of them, bringing back the feeling of dread that it had years ago.