"
So he turned and went his ways; and Ralph also ran to his horse,
whereby was David already in the saddle, and so mounted, and the whole
rout moved slowly from out of Vale Turris, Ralph going ever by David.
The company was now a great one, for many wains were joined to them,
laden with meal, and fleeces, and other household stuff, and withal
there was a great herd of neat, and of sheep, and of goats, which the
Lord's men had been gathering in the fruitful country these two days;
but the Lord was tarrying still in the tower.
CHAPTER 40
They Ride Toward Utterness From Out of Vale Turris
So they rode by a good highway, well beaten, past the Tower and over
the ridge of the valley, and came full upon the terrible sight
of the Great Mountains, and the sea of woodland lay before them,
swelling and falling, and swelling again, till it broke grey against
the dark blue of the mountain wall. They went as the way led,
down hill, and when they were at the bottom, thence along their
highway parted the tillage and fenced pastures from the rough
edges of the woodland like as a ditch sunders field from field.
They had the wildwood ever on their right hand, and but a little
way from where they rode the wood thickened for the more part into
dark and close thicket, the trees whereof were so tall that they
hid the overshadowing mountains whenso they rode the bottoms,
though when the way mounted on the ridges, and the trees gave
back a little, they had sight of the woodland and the mountains.
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