When the Mouth of Sauron brought out Frodo's belongings, I felt my heart sink. I flashed back to the image of Sam banging on the doors of the Orc tower at the end of TTT and thought that he had been unable to rescue Frodo. I also found myself wondering even more what had happened to Sam after the fateful events of Cirith Ungol. At any rate, those who were not present at that scene might have thought Sam was captured as well.
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He signed to one of his guards, and he came forward bearing a bundle swathed in black cloths. The Messenger put these aside, and there to the wonder and dismay of all the Captains he held up first the short sword that Sam had carried, and next a grey cloak with an elven-brooch, and last the coat of mithril-mail that Frodo had worn wrapped in his tattered garments.
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Since Gandalf et al would have no way of knowing that Sam traded swords with Frodo, the appearance of Sam's sword with the other "tokens" would have been an alarm signal that they had both been captured. But as the conversation progresses, I agree with
arcticstorm that it becomes more apparent that the Mouth was only referring to Frodo in his bluff. And I think that Gandalf was aware of the bluff.
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It seemed then to Gandalf, intent, watching him as a man engaged in fencing with a deadly foe, that for the taking of a breath the Messenger was at a loss; yet swiftly he laughed again.
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Gandalf has been watching the Mouth's responses closely throughout. His last exchange with MoS almost seems to have been a test to see if he was bluffing about having Frodo prisoner or not. When MoS is at a loss to respond, I think that was all Gandalf needed to figure out the bluff. Of course, I wasn't as quick and needed to charge on to the next chapter to find out what happened to Sam, all the while mourning Frodo in the Dark Tower.
Some interesting discussion on the age of MoS:
Magic in Middle Earth
I'd always thought the horse was a real one, possibly one of the horses stolen from the Rohirrim, then made to look frightening by sorcery. No real evidence for that theory though, other than Éomer's speech to Gimil in TTT.
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Some years ago the Lord of the Black Land wished to purchase horses of us at great price, but we refused him. for he puts beasts to evil use. Then he sent plundering Orcs, and they carry off what they can, choosing always the black horses: few of these are now left. For that reason our feud with the Orcs is bitter.
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