Page 17 (1/2)

The Scouring of the Shire

It was after nightfall when, wet and tired, the travellers came at last to the Brandywine, and they found the way barred At either end of the Bridge there was a great spiked gate; and on the further side of the river they could see that soht-sided s, bare and dilooate and called, but there was at first no answer; and then to their surprise sohts in the ent out A voice shouted in the dark:

&039;Who&039;s that? Be off! You can&039;t come in! Can&039;t you read the notice: No admittance between sundown and sunrise?&039;

&039;Of course we can&039;t read the notice in the dark&039; Sam shouted back &039;And if hobbits of the Shire are to be kept out in the wet on a night like this, I&039;ll tear down your notice when I find it&039;

At that aslammed, and a crowd of hobbits with lanterns poured out of the house on the left They opened the further gate, and soe When they saw the travellers they see!&039; said Merry, recognizing one of the hobbits &039;If you don&039;t know ht to I am Merry Brandybuck, and I should like to knohat all this is about, and what a Bucklander like you is doing here You used to be on the Hay Gate&039;

&039;Bless me! It&039;s Master Merry, to be sure, and all dressed up for fighting!&039; said old Hob &039;Why, they said you was dead! Lost in the Old Forest by all accounts I&039;m pleased to see you alive after all!&039;

&039;Then stop gaping at ate!&039; said Merry

&039;I&039;m sorry, Master Merry, but we have orders&039;

&039;Whose orders?&039;

&039;The Chief&039;s up at Bag End&039;

&039;Chief? Chief? Do you mean Mr Lotho?&039; said Frodo

&039;I suppose so, Mr Baggins; but we have to say just "the Chief" nowadays&039;

&039;Do you indeed!&039; said Frodo &039;Well, I ains at any rate But it is evidently high time that the family dealt with him and put him in his place&039;

A hush fell on the hobbits beyond the gate &039;It won&039;t do no good talking that way,&039; said one &039;He&039;ll get to hear of it And if youMan&039;

&039;We shall wake him up in a way that will surprise him,&039; said Merry &039;If youruffians out of the wild, then we&039;ve not co the notice in the light of the lanterns, he tore it down and threw it over the gate The hobbits backed away and made no move to open it &039;Coh&039;

Merry and Pippin cliate, and the hobbits fled Another horn sounded Out of the bigger house on the right a large heavy figure appeared against a light in the doorway

&039;What&039;s all this,&039; he snarled as he ca? You clear out, or I&039;ll break your filthy little necks!&039; Then he stopped, for he had caught the gleam of swords

&039;Bill Ferny,&039; said Merry, &039;if you don&039;t open that gate in ten seconds, you&039;ll regret it I shall set steel to you, if you don&039;t obey And when you have opened the gates you will go through thehway-robber&039;

Bill Ferny flinched and shuffled to the gate and unlocked it &039;Giveit at his head and then darted out into the darkness As he passed the ponies one of theht hiht and was never heard of again

&039;Neat work, Bill,&039; said Sa Man,&039; said Merry &039;We&039;ll see the Chief later In the ht, and as you seee Inn and built this dismal place instead, you&039;ll have to put us up&039;

&039;I am sorry, Mr Merry,&039; said Hob, &039;but it isn&039;t allowed&039;

&039;What isn&039;t allowed?&039;

Taking in folk off-hand like and eating extra food, and all that, said Hob

&039;What&039;s the matter with the place?&039; said Merry &039;Has it been a bad year, or what? I thought it had been a fine summer and harvest&039;

&039;Well no, the year&039;s been good enough,&039; said Hob &039;We grows a lot of food, but we don&039;t rightly knohat becoatherers" and "sharers", I reckon, going round counting andthan sharing, and we never see ain&039;

&039;Oh co &039;This is all too tiresoive us a room to lie down in It&039;ll be better than many places I have seen&039;

The hobbits at the gate still see broken; but there was no gainsaying four such masterful travellers, all ar Frodo ordered the gates to be locked again There was souard, while ruffians were still about Then the four couard-house and made thely place, with a ood fire In the upper rooms were little rows of hard beds, and on every wall there was a notice and a list of Rules Pippin tore them down There was no beer and very little food, but hat the travellers brought and shared out they allmost of next day&039;s allowance of wood on the fire

&039;Well nohat about a s in the Shire?&039; he said

&039;There isn&039;t no pipe-weed now,&039; said Hob, &039;at least only for the Chief&039;s on-loads of it went away down the old road out of the Southfarthing, over Sarn Ford way That would be the end o&039; last year, after you left But it had been going away quietly before that, in a small way That Lotho-&039;

&039;Now you shut up, Hob Hayward!&039; cried several of the others &039;You know talk o&039; that sort isn&039;t allowed The Chief will hear of it, and we&039;ll all be in trouble&039;

&039;He wouldn&039;t hear naught, if some of you here weren&039;t sneaks,&039; rejoined Hob hotly

&039;All right, all right!&039; said Sah I don&039;t want to hear no more No welcome, no beer, no smoke, and a lot of rules and orc-talk instead I hoped to have a rest, but I can see there&039;s work and trouble ahead Let&039;s sleep and forget it till !&039;

The new &039;Chief&039; evidently had ood fortyEnd, but someone made the journey in a hurry So Frodo and his friends soon discovered

They had notdown to Crickhollow together first, and resting there a bit But now, seeing what things were like, they decided to go straight to Hobbiton So the next day they set out along the Road and jogged along steadily The wind had dropped but the sky was grey The land looked rather sad and forlorn; but it was after all the first of Nove-end of Autu on, and sreat cloud of it was going up far away in the direction of the Woody End

As evening fell they were drawing near to Froght on the Road, about twenty-two ht; The Floating Log at Frogood inn But as they cae theyno road; and behind it stood a large band of Shirriffs with staves in their hands and feathers in their caps, looking both important and rather scared

&039;What&039;s all this?&039; said Frodo, feeling inclined to laugh

This is what it is, Mr Baggins, said the leader of the Shirriffs, a two-feather hobbit: &039;You&039;re arrested for Gate-breaking, and Tearing up of Rules, and Assaulting Gate-keepers, and Trespassing, and Sleeping in Shire-buildings without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food&039;

&039;And what else?&039; said Frodo

&039;That&039;ll do to go on with,&039; said the Shirriff-leader

&039;I can add so your Chief Na you Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools&039;

&039;There now, Mister, that&039;ll do It&039;s the Chief&039;s orders that you&039;re to co to take you to Bywater and hand you over to the Chief&039;s Men; and when he deals with your case you can have your say But if you don&039;t want to stay in the Lockholes any longer than you need, I should cut the say short, if I was you&039;

To the discomfiture of the Shirriffs Frodo and his cohter &039;Don&039;t be absurd!&039; said Frodo &039;I aoing to Bag End on business, but if you insist on going too, well that is your affair&039;

&039;Very well, Mr Baggins,&039; said the leader, pushing the barrier aside &039;But don&039;t forget I&039;ve arrested you&039;

&039;I won&039;t,&039; said Frodo &039;Never But Iany further today, so if you&039;ll kindly escort ed&039;

&039;I can&039;t do that, Mr Baggins The inn&039;s closed There&039;s a Shirriff-house at the far end of the village I&039;ll take you there &039;

&039;All right,&039; said Frodo &039;Go on and we&039;ll follow&039;

Sa the Shirriffs up and down and had spotted one that he knew &039;Hey, come here Robin Smallburrow!&039; he called &039;I want a ith you&039;

With a sheepish glance at his leader, who looked wrathful but did not dare to interfere, Shirriff Sot down off his pony

&039;Look here, Cock-robin!&039; said Saht to haveMr Frodo and all And what&039;s all this about the inn being closed?&039;

&039;They&039;re all closed,&039; said Robin &039;The Chief doesn&039;t hold with beer Leastways that is how it started But now I reckon it&039;s his Men that has it all And he doesn&039;t hold with folk o to the Shirriff-house and explain their business&039;

&039;You ought to be asha to do with such nonsense,&039; said Sam &039;You used to like the inside of an inn better than the outside yourself You were always popping in, on duty or off&039;

&039;And so I would be still, Sam, if I could But don&039;t be hard on me What can I do? You knoent for a Shirriff seven years ago, before any of this began Gavefolk, and hearing the news, and knohere the good beer was But now it&039;s different&039;

&039;But you can give it up, stop Shirriffing, if it has stopped being a respectable job,&039; said Sam

&039;We&039;re not allowed to,&039; said Robin

&039;If I hear not allowed ry&039;

&039;Can&039;t say as I&039;d be sorry to see it,&039; said Robin lowering his voice &039;If we all got angry together soht be done But it&039;s these Men, Sam, the Chief&039;s Men He sends them round everywhere, and if any of us s hi, old Will Whitfoot the Mayor, first, and they&039;ve taken a lotworse Often they beat &039;em now&039;

&039;Then why do you do their work far themorton?&039;

&039;No one did We stay here in the big Shirriff-house We&039;re the First Eastfarthing Troop now There&039;s hundreds of Shirriffs all told and they want ainst their will, but not all Even in the Shire there are so And there&039;s worse than that: there&039;s a few as do spy-work for the Chief and his Men&039;

&039;Ah! So that&039;s how you had news of us, is it?&039;

&039;That&039;s right We aren&039;t allowed to send by it now, but they use the old Quick Post service, and keep special runners at different points One cae", and another took it on fro you was to be arrested and taken to Bywater, not direct to the Lockholes The Chief wants to see you at once, evidently&039;

&039;He won&039;t be so eager when Mr Frodo has finished with hie-house It had only one storey, but it had the saly pale bricks, badly laid Inside it was da bare table that had not been scrubbed for weeks The food deserved no better setting The travellers were glad to leave the place It was about eighteen miles to Bywater, and they set off at ten o&039;clock in theThey would have started earlier, only the delay so plainly annoyed the Shirriff-leader The ind had shifted northward and it was turning colder, but the rain was gone

It was rather a coh the few folk that caet-up&039; of the travellers did not see was allowed A dozen Shirriffs had been told off as escort to the &039;prisoners&039;; but Merry made them march in front, while Frodo and his friends rode behind Merry, Pippin, and Sa, while the Shirriffs stu to look stern and important Frodo, however, was silent and looked rather sad and thoughtful

The last person they passed was a sturdy old gaffer clipping a hedge &039;Hullo, hullo!&039; he jeered &039;Noho&039;s arrested who?&039;

Two of the Shirriffs immediately left the party and went towards him &039;Leader!&039; said Merry &039;Order your fellows back to their places at once, if you don&039;t want me to deal with them!&039;

The two hobbits at a sharp word froet on!&039; said Merry, and after that the travellers saw to it that their ponies&039; pace was quick enough to push the Shirriffs along as fast as they could go The sun ca and sweating

At the Three-Farthing Stone they gave it up They had done nearly fourteen miles with only one rest at noon It was now three o&039;clock They were hungry and very footsore and they could not stand the pace

&039;Well, cooing on&039;

&039;Good-bye, Cock-robin!&039; said Saon, if you haven&039;t forgotten where that is Don&039;t dawdle on the way!&039;

&039;You&039;re breaking arrest, that&039;s what you&039;re doing,&039; said the leader ruefully, &039;and I can&039;t be answerable&039;

&039;We shall break a good s yet, and not ask you to answer,&039; said Pippin &039;Good luck to you!&039;

The travellers trotted on, and as the sun began to sink towards the White Downs far away on the western horizon they came to Bywater by its wide pool; and there they had their first really painful shock This was Frodo and Sam&039;s own country, and they found out now that they cared about it more than any other place in the world Many of the houses that they had knoereSome seemed to have been burned down The pleasant row of old hobbit-holes in the bank on the north side of the Pool were deserted, and their little gardens that used to run down bright to the water&039;s edge were rank eeds Worse, there was a whole line of the ugly new houses all along Pool Side, where the Hobbiton Road ran close to the bank An avenue of trees had stood there They were all gone And looking with dis End they saw a tall chi out black s air

Saht on, Mr Frodo!&039; he cried &039;I&039;affer&039;

&039;We ought to find out first e&039;re in for, Sauess that the "Chief" will have a gang of ruffians handy We had better find sos are round here&039;

But in the village of Bywater all the houses and holes were shut, and no one greeted them They wondered at this, but they soon discovered the reason of it When they reached The Green Dragon, the last house on the Hobbiton side, now lifeless and with broken s, they were disturbed to see half a dozen large ill-favoured Men lounging against the inn-wall; they were squint-eyed and sallow-faced

&039;Like that friend of Bill Ferny&039;s at Bree,&039; said Saard,&039; muttered Merry

The ruffians had clubs in their hands and horns by their belts, but they had no other weapons, as far as could be seen As the travellers rode up they left the wall and walked into the road, blocking the way

&039;Where d&039;you think you&039;re going?&039; said one, the largest andof the crew &039;There&039;s no road for you any further And where are those precious Shirriffs?&039;

&039;Co nicely,&039; said Merry &039;A little footsore, perhaps We promised to wait for them here&039;

&039;Garn, what did I say?&039; said the ruffian to histhose little fools Soht to have been sent&039;

&039;And what difference would that have made, pray?&039; said Merry &039;We are not used to footpads in this country, but we kno to deal with them&039;

&039;Footpads, eh?&039; said the e it, or we&039;ll change it for you You little folk are getting too uppish Don&039;t you trust too much in the Boss&039;s kind heart Sharkey&039;s come now and he&039;ll do what Sharkey says&039;

&039;And what may that be?&039; said Frodo quietly

&039;This country wants waking up and setting to rights,&039; said the ruffian, &039;and Sharkey&039;s going to do it; and er Boss And you&039;ll get one before the year is out, if there&039;s anyor two, you little rat-folk&039;

&039;Indeed I alad to hear of your plans,&039; said Frodo &039;I am on my way to call on Mr Lotho, and he may be interested to hear of thehed &039;Lotho! He knows all right Don&039;t you worry He&039;ll do what Sharkey says Because if a Boss gives trouble, we can change him See? And if little folks try to push in where they&039;re not wanted, we can put them out of mischief See?&039;

&039;Yes, I see,&039; said Frodo &039;For one thing, I see that you&039;re behind the times and the news here Much has happened since you left the South Your day is over, and all other ruffians&039; The Dark Tower has fallen, and there is a King in Gondor And Isengard has been destroyed, and your precious ar in the wilderness I passed hiers will ride up the Greenway now not bullies froard&039;

The ar in the wilderness!&039; he er it,in this fat little country where you have lazed long enough And&039; �C he snapped his fingers in Frodo&039;s face �C &039;King&039;s ers! That for them! When I see one, I&039;ll take notice, perhaps&039;

This was too hts went back to the Field of Cor-bearer &039;little cock-a-whoop&039; He cast back his cloak, flashed out his sword, and the silver and sable of Gondor gleamed on hier of the King,&039; he said &039;You are speaking to the King&039;s friend, and one of the most renowned in all the lands of the West You are a ruffian and a fool Down on your knees in the road and ask pardon, or I will set this troll&039;s bane in you!&039;

The sword glinted in the westering sun Merry and Sam drew their swords also and rode up to support Pippin; but Frodo did notBreeland peasants, and bullying bewildered hobbits, had been their work Fearless hobbits with bright swords and grireat surprise And there was a note in the voices of these newcomers that they had not heard before It chilled them with fear

&039;Go!&039; said Merry &039;If you trouble this village again, you will regret it&039; The three hobbits ca away up the Hobbiton Road; but they blew their horns as they ran

&039;Well, we&039;ve come back none too soon,&039; said Merry

&039;Not a day too soon Perhaps too late, at any rate to save Lotho,&039; said Frodo &039;Miserable fool, but I am sorry for him&039;

&039;Save Lotho? Whatever do you mean?&039; said Pippin &039;Destroy him I should say&039;

&039;I don&039;t think you quite understand things, Pippin,&039; said Frodo &039;Lotho never s to coht now The ruffians are on top, gathering, robbing and bullying, and running or ruining things as they like, in his naer He&039;s a prisoner in Bag End now, I expect, and very frightened We ought to try and rescue hiered!&039; said Pippin &039;Of all the ends to our journey that is the very last I should have thought of: to have to fight half-orcs and ruffians in the Shire itself �C to rescue Lotho Piht?&039; said Frodo &039;Well, I suppose itof hobbits, not even if they have gone over to the other side Really gone over, Iruffians&039; orders because they are frightened No hobbit has ever killed another on purpose in the Shire, and it is not to begin now And nobody is to be killed at all, if it can be helped Keep your tempers and hold your hands to the last possible moment!&039;

&039;But if there are many of these ruffians,&039; said Merry, &039;it will certainlyYou won&039;t rescue Lotho, or the Shire, just by being shocked and sad, my dear Frodo&039;

&039;No,&039; said Pippin &039;It won&039;t be so easy scaring them a second ti? Evidently there are other ruffians near at hand They&039;ll be ht to think of taking cover soht After all we&039;re only four, even if we are armed&039;

&039;I&039;ve an idea,&039; said Sao to old Tom Cotton&039;s down South Lane! He alas a stout fellow And he has a lot of lads that were all friends of mine&039;

&039;No!&039; said Merry &039;It&039;s no good "getting under cover" That is just what people have been doing, and just what these ruffians like They will simply come down on us in force, corner us, and then drive us out, or burn us in No, we have got to do so at once&039;

&039;Do what?&039; said Pippin

&039;Raise the Shire!&039; said Merry &039;Now! Wake all our people! They hate all this, you can see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few fools that want to be ioing on But Shire-folk have been so co they don&039;t knohat to do They just want a o up in fire The Chief&039;s Men must know that They&039;ll try to staot a very short time

&039;Sam, you can make a dash for Cotton&039;s farm, if you like He&039;s the chief person round here, and the sturdiest Coive them all some music they have never heard before&039;

They rode back to the alloped off down the lane that led south to Cotton&039;s He had not gone far when he heard a sudden clear horn-call go up ringing into the sky Far over hill and field it echoed; and so co was that call that Sam hihed

&039;On, lad! On!&039; he cried &039;We&039;ll be going back soon&039;

Then he heard Merry change the note, and up went the Horn-cry of Buckland, shaking the air

Awake! Awake! Fear, Fire, Foes! Awake!

Fire, Foes! Awake!

Behind hi of doors In front of his barked; feet caot to the lane&039;s end there was Far To towards him They had axes in their hands, and barred the way

&039;Nay! It&039;s not one of them ruffians,&039; Sam heard the farmer say &039;It&039;s a hobbit by the size of it, but all dressed up queer Hey!&039; he cried &039;Who are you, and what&039;s all this to-do?&039;

&039;It&039;s Saee I&039;ve come back&039;

Farht &039;Well!&039; he exclaiht, and your face is no worse than it was, Saear You&039;ve been in foreign parts, seely We feared you were dead&039;

&039;That I ain&039;t!&039; said Sam &039;Nor Mr Frodo He&039;s here and his friends And that&039;s the to-do They&039;re raising the Shire We&039;re going to clear out these ruffians, and their Chief too We&039;re starting now&039;

&039;Good, good!&039; cried Farun at last! I&039;ve been itching for trouble all this year, but folks wouldn&039;t help And I&039;ve had the wife and Rosie to think of These ruffians don&039;t stick at nothing But come on now, lads! Bywater is up! We must be in it!&039;