of
     “The summer is getting on down below,” thought Bilbo, “and haymaking
is going on and picnics. They will be harvesting and blackberrying,
before we even begin to go down the other side at this rate.” And the
others were thinking equally gloomy thoughts, although when they had
said good-bye to Elrond in the high hope of a midsummer morning, they’
had spoken gaily of the passage of the mountains, and of riding swift
across the lands beyond. They had thought of coming to the secret door
in the Lonely Mountain, perhaps that very next first moon of Autumn-“
and perhaps it will be Durin’s Day” they had said. Only Gandalf had
shaken his head and said nothing. Dwarves had not passed that way for
many years, but Gandalf had, and he knew how evil and danger had grown
and thriven in the Wild, since the dragons had driven men from the
lands, and the goblins had spread in secret after the battle of the
Mines of Moria. Even the good plans of wise wizards like Gandalf and
of good friends like Elrond go astray sometimes when you are off on
dangerous adventures over the Edge of the Wild; and Gandalf was a wise
enough wizard to know it.
     He knew that something unexpected might happen, and he hardly dared to
hope that they would pass without fearful adventure over those great