CHAPTER XI: ON THE DOORSTEP

The company rows up the Long Lake into the River Running until the Lonely Mountain looms ahead. Men from Lake-town deliver ponies and supplies but refuse to stay near the Dragon’s shadow. The land grows barren as they enter the Desolation of Smaug, and they camp near Ravenhill with spirits low.

Thorin sends Balin, Fili, Kili, and Bilbo south to scout the Front Gate. From concealment they see smoke and steam issuing from the cavern mouth where the river springs, and ominous crows circle. Concluding they can do no good there, they return discouraged.

Bilbo, studying Thorin’s map and Elrond’s moon-letters, urges a search on the western slopes. Fili, Kili, and Bilbo discover a faint track to a narrow ledge and a hidden, grassy bay whose smooth rock-face suggests the secret door. Tools fail against the magic-sealed stone, so they camp on the “doorstep,” while hope wanes and tempers fray.

As autumn nears its end, Bilbo keeps watch and senses he is waiting for something. At sunset he notes a new moon and hears a thrush cracking a snail on a stone. Remembering the moon-letter’s riddle, Bilbo summons the dwarves. A final red sun-ray pierces the clouds, striking the rock; a flake splits and a keyhole appears.

At Bilbo’s cry, Thorin fits the map’s key into the hole and turns it just as the light fades. Cracks outline a five-by-three-foot door, which swings inward without a sound, releasing deep darkness. The secret entrance to the halls under the Mountain stands open, and the next stage of their quest begins.