[Kalimac]

Ah, Dorathain, but consider where Gandalf is running off *to*. In "The Hobbit" we find out later that he's been helping to drive the Necromancer (AKA Sauron in embryo) out of Dol Guldur, surely a rather nippy and dangerous piece of work; faced with the choice between confronting Smaug and confronting the Necromancer, Smaug would (undoubtedly for the first time) begin to look comparatively attractive). As for Helm's Deep, he was scouting things out (and in very dangerous country, and unaided) so that they'd have some idea how things lay after the battle was over.

Incidentally, Gandalf didn't "send" the Dwarves off anywhere; in "The Quest of Erebor" the backstory is described a little more fully - Thorin & Co. had made up their minds to make a desperate bid to reclaim their treasure, and happened to encounter Gandalf in Bree, where he agreed to help them out a bit. He certainly didn't instigate the thing, and from the beginning gave Thorin warning that he had other pressing business and that they couldn't expect him to stay around very long. Though it's understandable that they were dismayed when he actually acted on these statements [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].

Akhtene - ia soglasna, you're right. In the end it was better for them (and Bilbo) to figure things out on their own. Gandalf always being there for them would have been the equivalent of the Eagles swooping in and saving everyone at the least sign of danger - how are they ever going to learn anything if there's that perpetual safety-net ready to catch them if they fall further than six inches?