Chapter 11: On the Doorstep

After two days of rowing they could see the Lonely Mountain towering grim and tall before them. At the end of the third day they drew in to the left or western bank and disembarked. Here they were joined by the horses with other provisions and necessaries and the ponies, and two more horses, for their own use that had been sent to meet them. They packed what they could on the ponies and the rest was made into a store under a tent, but none of the men of the town would stay with them even for the night so near the shadow of the Mountain.

"Not at any rate until the songs have come true!" said they. So their escort left them, making off swiftly back toward Lake Town.

The next day they set out again. Legolas and Dawn rode behind, each leading a pony heavily laden beside them; the others were some way ahead picking out a slow road, for there were no paths.

It was a weary journey, and a quiet and stealthy one. They reached the skirts of the Mountain without meeting any danger or any sign of the Dragon other than the wilderness he had made about his lair. The Mountain lay dark and silent before them and ever higher above them. They made their first camp on the western side of the great southern spur.

Before setting out to search the western spurs of the Mountain for the hidden door, Thorin sent out a scouting expedition to spy out the land to the South where the Front

Gate stood. For this purpose he chose Balin and Fili and Kili, and with them went Dawn and Legolas. They marched under the grey and silent cliffs to the edge of a valley.

"There lies all that is left of Dale," said Balin pointing toward the ruins of a city in the valley. "The mountain's sides were green with woods and all the sheltered valley rich and pleasant in the days when the bells rang in that town."

They made their way around toward the front gate until they could look out and see the dark cavernous opening in a great cliff-wall between the arms of the Mountain. Out of it the waters of the Running River sprang; and out of it too there came a steam and a dark smoke. Nothing moved in the waste, save the vapour and the water.

"Let us return!" Balin said with a shudder. "We can do no good here!"

"It looks like the dragon may definitely be in there," Dawn said. "By the looks of the smoke."

"That does not prove it," said Balin, "though I don't doubt you are right. But he might be gone away some time, or he might be lying out on the mountain-side keeping watch, and still I expect smokes and steams would come out of the gates: all the halls within must be filled with his foul reek."

"What we, the elves, have learned of our journey to the edges of Smaug's territory," Legolas said. "Is that Smaug rarely leaves the halls of Erebor. And when he does it is to mostly feed or to pillage and gather more treasure."

They made their way back to the camp. They moved their camp then to the western slope where the secret door was thought to be. Day by day they toiled in parties searching for paths up the mountain-side. If the map was true, somewhere high above the cliff at the valley's head must stand the secret door. Day by day they came back to their camp without success.

But at last unexpectedly they found what they were seeking. Fili, Kili, Legolas and Dawn went back one day down the valley and scrambled among the tumbled rocks at its southern corner. About midday, creeping behind a great stone that stood alone like a pillar, Dawn and Legolas came on what looked like rough steps going upwards. Following these excitedly they and the dwarves found traces of a narrow track, often lost, often rediscovered, that wandered on to the top of the southern ridge and brought them at last to a still narrower ledge, which turned north across the face of the Mountain. Looking down they saw that they were at the top of the cliff at the valley's head and were gazing down on to their own camp below. No sign was there of post or lintel or threshold, nor any sign of bar or bolt or key-hole; yet they did not doubt that they had found the door at last.

They beat on it, they thrust and pushed at it, they implored it to move and yet it did not budge. At last tired out they rested on the grass at its feet, and then at evening began their long climb down.

There was excitement in the camp that night. In the morning they prepared to move once more. Only Bofur and Bombur were left behind to guard the ponies, horses and such stores as they had brought with them from the river. The others went down the valley and up the newly found path, and so to the ledge.

There they made their third camp. They explored the ledge beyond the opening and found a path that led higher and higher on to the mountain; but they did not dare to venture very far that way, nor was there much use in it. The dwarves tried the secret of the door and had no more success than Fili, Kili, Dawn and Legolas had. They tried to use what tools they had brought with them to open the door and that did not work either.

Legolas sat beside Dawn as she looked at the map. "Let me see," he said as she handed him the map.

"Tomorrow begins the last week of autumn," said Thorin.

"And winter comes after autumn," said Bifur.

"And next year after that," said Dwalin, "and our beards will grow till they hang down the cliff to the valley before anything happens here. What is our burglar …"

"Ah, ha," Legolas said as he smiled.

"What," the dwarves said.

"Dawn," Legolas said, "what was the line about the thrush."

"Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole," Dawn said. "Why?"

Legolas turned and smiled at Thorin. "The keyhole will present itself at that exact moment. Not before and not after. It is only seen at that time once a year."

And so they waited as the sun turned west. As the sun began to dip, Legolas walked over to the door and found there was a pale and faint thin new moon above the rim of Earth. He listened and heard a sharp crack. Then he spotted it on the grey stone in the grass was an enormous thrush. Crack! It had caught a snail and was knocking it on the stone. Crack! Crack!

"Bring the key," Legolas said as Dawn and the dwarves, even Bofur and Bombur, gathered around him. "Now wait. As the sun sets the keyhole will be shown."

The sun sank lower and lower and finally sank into a belt of reddened cloud and disappeared. Then suddenly a red ray of the sun escaped like a finger through a rent in the cloud. A gleam of light came straight through the opening into the bay and fell on the smooth rock-face. The old thrush gave a sudden trill. There was a loud crack. A flake of rock split from the wall and fell. A hole appeared suddenly about three feet from the ground.

Thorin stepped up and drew the key on its chain from round his neck. He put it to the hole. It fitted and it turned! Snap! The gleam went out, the sun sank, the moon was gone, and evening sprang into the sky.

Now they all pushed together, and slowly a part of the rock-wall gave way. Long straight cracks appeared and widened. A door five feet high and three broad was outlined, and slowly without a sound swung inwards. It seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapour from the hole in the mountain-side, and deep darkness in which nothing could be seen lay before their eyes, a yawning mouth leading in and down.