So say I, who was once a master of law." Said the long-hoary elder: "And I command thee to rest; I who was once the king of a mighty folk." In sooth Hallblithe was now exceeding weary; so he laid him down and slept sweetly in the stony wilderness amidst those three seekers, the old, the sad, and the very old.
When he awoke he felt well and strong again, and he leapt to his feet and looked about him, and saw the three seekers stirring, and he deemed by the sun that it was early morning.

The sad man brought forth bread and water and wine, and they broke their fast; and when they had done he spake and said: "Abideth now in wallet and bottle but one more full meal for us, and then no more save a few crumbs and a drop or two of wine if we husband it well." Said the second elder: "Get we to the road, then, and make haste.

I have been seeking, and meseemeth, though the way be long, it is not utterly blind for us.

Or look thou, Raven-son, is there not a path yonder that leadeth onward up to the brow of the ghyll again?
and as I have seen, it leadeth on again down from the said brow." Forsooth there was a track that led through the stony tangle of the wilderness; so they took to the road with a good heart, and went all day, and saw no living thing, and not a blade of grass or a trickle of water: nought save the wan rocks under the sun; and though they trusted in their road that it led them aright, they saw no other glimpse of the Glittering Plain, because there rose a great ridge like a wall on the north side, and they went as it were down along a trench of the rocks, albeit it was whiles broken across by ghylls, and knolls, and reefs.
So at sunset they rested and ate their victual, for they were very weary; and thereafter they lay down, and slept as soundly as if they were in the best of the halls of men.

On the morrow betimes they arose soberly and went their ways with few words, and, as they deemed, the path still led them onward.