The Hobbit

but find the men.
    At length he spoke again: “This is no time for angry words, Master, or for considering weighty plans of change. There is work
     to do. I serve you still—though after a while I may think again of your words and go North with any that will follow me.”
    Then he strode off to help in the ordering of the camps and in the care of the sick and the wounded. But the Master scowled
     at his back as he went, and remained sitting on the ground. He thought much but said little, unless it was to call loudly
     for men to bring him fire and food.
    Now everywhere Bard went he found talk running like fire among the people concerning the vast treasure that was now unguarded.
     Men spoke of the recompense for all their harm that they would soon get from it, and wealth over and to spare with which to
     buy rich things from the South; and it cheered them greatly in their plight. That was as well, for the night was bitter and
     miserable. Shelters could be contrived for few (the Master had one) and there was little food (even the Master went short).
     Many took ill of wet and cold and sorrow that night, and afterwards died, who had escaped uninjured from the ruin of the town;
     and in the days that followed there was much sickness and great hunger.
    Meanwhile Bard took the lead, and ordered things as he wished, though always in the Master’s name, and he had a hard task
     to govern the people and direct the preparations for their protection and housing. Probably most of them would have perished
     in the winter that now hurried after autumn, if help had not been to hand. But help came swiftly; for Bard at once had speedy
     messengers sent up the river to the Forest to ask the aid of the King of the Elves of the Wood, and these messengers had found a host already on
     the move, although it was then only the third day after the fall of Smaug.
    The Elvenking had received news from his own messengers and from the birds that loved his folk, and already knew much of what
     had happened. Very great indeed was the commotion among all things with wings that dwelt on the borders of the Desolation
     of the Dragon. The air was filled with circling flocks, and their swift-flying messengers flew here and there across the sky.
     Above the borders of the Forest there was whistling, crying and piping. Far over Mirkwood tidings spread: “Smaug is dead!”
     Leaves rustled and startled ears were lifted. Even before the Elvenking rode forth the news had passed west right to the pinewoods
     of the Misty Mountains; Beorn had heard it in his wooden house, and the goblins were at council in their caves.
    “That will be the last we shall hear of Thorin Oakenshield, I fear,” said the king. “He would have done better to have remained
     my guest. It is an ill wind, all the same,” he added, “that blows no one any good.” For he too had not forgotten the legend
     of the wealth of Thror. So it was that Bard’s messengers found him now marching with many spearmen and bowmen; and crows were
     gathered thick above him, for they thought that war was awakening again, such as had not been in those parts for a long age.
    But the king, when he received the prayers of Bard, had pity, for he was the lord of a good and kindly people; so turning
     his march, which had at first been direct towards the Mountain, he hastened now down the river to the Long Lake. He had not boats or rafts enough for his host, and they were forced to go the slower
     way by foot; but great store of goods he sent ahead by water. Still elves are light-footed, and though they were not in these
     days much used to the marches and the treacherous lands between the Forest and the Lake, their going was swift. Only five
     days after the death of the dragon they came upon the shores and looked on the ruins of the town. Their welcome was good,
     as may be expected, and the men and their Master were ready to make any bargain for the future in return for the Elvenking’s
     aid.
    Their plans were soon made. With the women and the children, the old and the unfit, the Master remained behind; and with him
     were some men of crafts and many skilled elves; and they busied themselves felling trees, and collecting the timber sent down
     from the Forest. Then they set about raising many huts by the shore against the oncoming winter; and also under the Master’s
     direction they began the planning of a new town, designed more fair and large even than before, but not in the same place.