broad-bladed swords, not with the curved scimitars usual with Orcs:
and they had bows of yew, in length and shape like the bows of Men.
Upon their shields they bore a strange device: a small white hand in
the centre of a black field; on the front of their iron helms was set
an S-rune, wrought of some white metal.
     'I have not seen these tokens before,' said Aragorn. 'What do they
mean?'
     'S is for Sauron,' said Gimli. 'That is easy to read.'
     'Nay!' said Legolas. 'Sauron does not use the Elf-runes.'
     'Neither does he use his right name, nor permit it to be spelt or
spoken,' said Aragorn. 'And he does not use white. The Orcs in the
service of Barad-d?r use the sign of the Red Eye.' He stood for a
moment in thought. 'S is for Saruman, I guess,' he said at length.
'There is evil afoot in Isengard, and the West is no longer safe. It
is as Gandalf feared: by some means the traitor Saruman has had news
of our journey. It is likely too that he knows of Gandalf's fall.
Pursuers from Moria may have escaped the vigilance of L?rien, or they
may have avoided that land and come to Isengard by other paths. Orcs
travel fast. But Saruman has many ways of learning news. Do you
remember the birds?'