After a week of rest in Lake-town, the company set out again. They travelled in boats up the long lake, past marshes and reeds and the ruins of an old town that had been destroyed by Smaug long ago. At the head of the lake, they left the boats and struck out overland towards the Mountain.
The Lonely Mountain rose before them, huge and dark against the sky. Its slopes were bare and rocky, scarred by old landslides and the marks of dragon-fire. No birds flew near it. No animals lived on its slopes. It was a dead place, a place of waiting and watching.
The company approached with caution, keeping to the shadows and moving only at night. At last, they came to the hidden door—the one marked on Thorin's map. It was high on the mountainside, overlooking a narrow valley, and it was sealed so perfectly that even Bungo, with his sharp hobbit eyes, could barely see the crack where the door should be.
"Durin's Day," said Thorin. "We must wait for Durin's Day."
They set up camp in the valley below, hidden among the rocks. Each day, they watched the door, waiting for the sign. Each evening, as the sun set, they looked for the last light to fall on the keyhole. But nothing happened.
Days passed. Their food grew low. The dwarves grew restless, and arguments broke out. Bungo kept to himself, watching the door and thinking about dragons.
Then, one afternoon, they heard a knock.
It was a strange sound, sharp and clear against the silence of the mountain. They looked up and saw a thrush perched on a rock near the door, tapping its beak against the stone.
"The thrush!" cried Balin. "Elrond said the thrush would knock!"
They scrambled up the slope just as the sun sank towards the horizon. Its last rays fell upon the mountainside—and there, where there had been nothing before, was a keyhole, glowing with golden light.
Thorin stepped forward, the key trembling in his hand. He inserted it into the hole and turned. With a groan of ancient stone, the door swung open.
Before them lay darkness—the darkness of the Mountain, where the dragon slept on his hoard.
"Well," said Bungo, swallowing hard. "Here goes nothing."
And he stepped inside.