Chapter 2. After the Convocation Ended

The Great Convocation in Thain Peregrin's first year as Thain had gone much better than his Steward, Reginard, had expected. In fact, the occasion had gone much better than Thain Peregrin himself had any call to anticipate. 

Pippin had ordered the summoning of Shire-folk representing the entire Shire. In practical terms, the crowd had comprised all the Tooks and servants and other folk living or working in the Great Smials and the good citizens of Tuckborough, for starters. The announcement had gone out to Tooklanders living in outlying areas, both Tooks and others. Pippin had also sent word to the Mayor, along with the request that Samwise extend an invitation to any other Shire-folk he felt ought to attend, for the convocation would include a Major Announcement that would likely have a widespread effect across the Shire. Lastly, the heads of all the Great Families in the Four Farthings as well as Buckland had been invited to attend. 

The summons had not included the reason for gathering hobbits from every corner of the Shire on the large field to one side of the Great Smials. Gossip and speculation had run wild. However, almost no one (except for those already in the know) had been prepared for the young Thain's admission in front of this great crowd that all the gold he supposedly held – the vast and fabled treasure-hoard of the Tooks – was gone. 

Regi had expected the worst and yet, somehow, seen the best of Hobbits this day. The initial accusations that Pippin was responsible for the disappearance of the Treasury died away in the face of the new Thain's sincerity, regret, and determination. Instead of pulling apart after hearing Pippin's devastating news, Shire-folk had pulled together. 

Astonishingly, rather than being left with nothing but a bitter taste in his mouth, Regi now contemplated the untidy pile of coins spilling over the surface of the tablecloth covering the head table. After telling of the disappearance of the Treasury some time before his father, Thain Paladin, had ascended to the Thainship, Pippin had admitted that, due to recent circumstances, he hadn't tuppence to rub together, much less the resources needed to keep the Tookland stumbling along the path that had been set before them. 

In the silence that had followed this confession, a farmer had risen from the picnic blankets where his family had eaten and then listened to Pippin's speech. He'd threaded his way through the picnickers and then skirted the tables where the more highly placed guests sat, ending at the head table, where he nodded to the Thain. As everyone including the Thain and Steward waited to hear what he had to say, the farmer almost apologetically moved Pippin's plate and cup aside and then dumped the contents of his coin purse – comprising a handful of coppers and a silver penny or two – onto the table. 

'It's not much,' the humble farmer had said to the startled Thain, 'but it'll help a bit, I warrant.' 

This generous act led others to rise from their places at tables or on picnic blankets spread upon the large meadow to one side of the Great Smials to accommodate the immense crowd of Shire-folk. Soon, a procession of farmers, shepherds, woodcutters, potters, ropers, gardeners, thatchers, and more, even gentlehobbits came forward in an orderly line to contribute to the collection. By the time the last hobbit reached the head tables, the pile of coin had overflowed one table and all but filled another.

It was, Regi believed, the first time he'd ever seen Pippin at a loss for words. 

And now, after the departure of the invited guests, dignitaries and commoners alike, Regi still sat at his place, last of all to leave. Servants were clearing the tables around him. Some bore away stacks of plates and bins of used cutlery from the field to the flagstone yard between the Smials and the stables, entering the Smials through one of the ground-floor entrances and carrying their burdens on to the kitchens for washing. Other workers began to collect and carry off chairs, some belonging to the Smials and others borrowed from the townsfolk of Tuckborough or the surrounding farms. Eventually Regi's chair and the table where he sat would be wanted, along with all the tables carried out to the meadow to accommodate many more hobbits than would fit in the great room. Despite the enormous size of the Great Smials' banquet hall, suited to Convocations of Tooks and banquets and balls and other gatherings, many more Shire-folk had attended this particular gathering than would even begin to fit therein. 

At least the weather had cooperated. Though his plans had included setting up pavilions in the event of inclement weather, none had been needed. In the end, the canvas structures had remained furled in their storage spaces, and setting up tables and benches and chairs, and laying out cloths for the overflow crowd to sit on the grassy field, had gone faster than anticipated since no workers had to be spared to erect the pavilions. Disassembling the seating for the convocation should go equally quickly. 

And so, Regi thought incongruously, idly watching the efficient bustle on all sides of where he sat, the ongoing drought that is currently threatening the crops and grazing lands has its uses after all. 

'Sir,' a quiet voice spoke at his elbow. The Steward looked around to see Sandy, the Thain's personal hobbitservant. The hobbits of the Thain's escort loomed behind him, seeming taller and bulkier in contrast to the slight, unassuming fellow, along with several brawny doorwards. 'The Thain sent me,' Sandy added in explanation, and nodded at the pile of coins still filling the Thain's recently vacated place at table. 

Well, yes, it wouldn't do to just leave the coins sitting there, now would it? 

Regi rose from the table. He offered to help, but Sandy thanked him and told him they had it sorted. The hobbitservant seemed to have everything well in hand. In short, at a quiet word from Sandy, those with him took up the tablecloth from all sides and hefted the heavy collection of coins between them. Regi sat down again to wait for them to return for the other tablecloth-full of coins.

After Sandy and his helpers returned for the rest of the unexpected bounty, Regi followed them and their burden – blessing, rather he told himself – into the Smials, to be safely tucked away in an out-of-the-way storehole until the windfall could be transported to the hidden storage-hole secreted in the high Green Hills that had once upon a time held the wealth of the Tookland. At least, until Mistress Lalia, or her son Thain Ferumbras, had spirited the treasure away to another location. Or perhaps the two of them had conspired together to make the Treasury disappear. Or – and the thought was both inconceivable and unsurprising – perhaps they'd managed to squander all of Tookland's wealth after old Thain Fortinbras died.

Regi wouldn't have put it past Lalia the Fat, once her husband was no longer there to restrain her worst impulses, to spend recklessly, indulging herself and her son and her favourites amongst the Smials Tooks. And after Lalia died, well, Ferumbras had paid more time and attention to the pastime of fishing than to the business of Tookland. Had anyone at all been paying attention to income and expenditures? What had Regi's father Adelard, the previous Steward under Ferumbras and then Paladin, been thinking?

After Ferumbras died, Paladin and Adelard had ridden to the hidden storage-hole that had guarded the Tooks' treasure for uncounted years.

Only to find the treasure gone. Had it been stolen? They found no evidence of such a catastrophe. Had it all been spent? There seemed to be no way of knowing.

When Paladin had succeeded Ferumbras, Adelard had advised him to continue in Ferumbras's footsteps as if nothing had changed. He couldn't say what had happened to the Treasury. He'd done his best to keep the ledgers over his time as Tookland's Steward – but he'd admitted to Paladin, and later to his son Regi, how he was haunted at the possibility that Lalia had withheld information about her own spending. 

When it came to official business, Adelard had always been required to consult Lalia and, later, Ferumbras on anything that needed to be done that would incur any expense. Lalia had always argued about the cost, while Ferumbras had waved a hand and told him to do what needed doing. Adelard regularly informed Lalia (and later Ferumbras) of costs incurred, and about a week after one of these meetings, he'd receive the funds he'd requested for further dispersal.

In practical terms, after Fortinbras died, Adelard had no direct access to the Tooks' stockpile of gold and silver.

In practical terms, after Ferumbras died, the Tooks' stockpile of gold and silver was gone, well out of Paladin's reach.

Then, after Paladin died... well, although young Thain Peregrin was in similar straits to the situation his father had faced, he'd made a clean breast of it to the entire Shire, for all practical purposes.

'Here we are,' Sandy said, opening the door and waving the tablecloth-and-more-bearing hobbits through.

Regi entered behind them. He might have expected dust and cobwebs in this unused storeroom deep in the Great Smials, but the room had been thoroughly swept and dusted. Eight small chests were lined up beside a table equipped with a paper and pencil and several stacks of small, empty sacks. 'Copper,' Sandy said pointing to the first five chests, going on to identify the last three chests as intended for silver coins.

'And gold?' Regi said, eyebrow raised. The number of gold coins mixed in with the unexpected shower of generosity resting in the tablecloth would probably not fill a single desk drawer.

The hobbitservant shrugged. 'It was easier to bring in eight chests of the same size,' he said, 'than it would have been to try and estimate sizes.' He sighed. 'I'm sure we'll have no trouble with the coins overflowing, not even the coppers.' He turned to the doorwards, thanked them for their help, and dismissed them.

As Regi watched, Sandy and the escort counted out the coins from the tablecloth and sorted them by the hundred into sacks. Each sack was carefully tied closed to secure the contents and then laid in the appropriate chest. Throughout the process, Regi tracked the amounts on the paper until every coin had been accounted for. Lastly, he added up the totals for future reference and nodded to himself, his cheeks puffing as he blew out a suppressed breath. Not quite what we'd anticipated from the All-Shire Race prizes, but better than we were when the day started... when we were facing the weeks from now until harvest with nothing but the taste of dust in our mouths.

Aloud, Regi told Sandy and his helpers, 'I thank you.' To Ferdi, the head of escort, he added, 'Do you think we need to put a guard on the door?'

'This deep in the Smials?' Ferdi said. He rubbed his chin and gave the matter some thought. 'I doubt any Outsiders could find their way to this place.'

Regi nodded. Folk living in the main Shire, including Tooks, generally saw locks as unnecessary, even pretentious. The fact that Bucklanders kept their doors locked at night was a black mark against them in the eyes of most Tooklanders. 'True,' he answered. 'Still...'

Though the hobbits of the escort had been in the thick of the Tookish resistance to Lotho and his ruffians, all of them looked surprised at the Steward's caution. Regi's next words cleared their confusion. 'Peregrin is in enough trouble as it is, what with folk suspecting he had something to do with the disappearance of the Treasury. If, for any reason, the count should go short...'

Now it was the head of escort's turn to nod thoughtfully. Ferdi stroked his chin, exchanged glances with Hilly and Tolly. 'If you expect me to set a guard on this door and keep a Messenger at the Thain's beck and call...'

'What if we were to stack these chests in the Thain's suite?' Regi said. 'Someone's almost always there, and the Messenger standing outside the door to the Thain's study can see anyone who goes in or out of the apartments...' In the back of his mind, he was thinking, We need to add more hobbits to the Thain's escort. Paladin cut back on the number to save on costs, but is it truly a savings if the hobbits of the escort are run ragged and cannot fulfil their responsibilities? He suppressed a wry smile at the further thought of Pippin's reaction to expanding the escort.

'If that will set your mind at ease...?' Ferdi said dubiously. To Hilly and Tolly, he said, 'You take one chest between you to begin with; Reg and I will take another.'

'Wait...' Regi forestalled him. He took his handkerchief out of his pocket, scooped the small pile of gold coins on the table into the square of cloth, and tied up the corners. He nodded to Ferdi to open the nearest chest and deposited the bundle on top of the coins, followed by the paper containing the totals. He slipped the pencil in his pocket. Waste not, want not.

'Four trips will do it,' Regi said. Eight chests of coin, mostly copper, to see Tookland through until harvest-time. Will it be enough? It'll have to do.

When they entered the Thain's quarters, Sandy directed Tolly and Hilly to lay their heavy chest of copper coins against a blank space of wall in the large sitting room just inside the entrance, and Ferdi and Regi to set their chest beside it. After three more trips there and back again, depositing four chests in each of the two stacks, the hobbitservant laid an embroidered cloth over the two top chests. 'There,' he said. 'One would think they've been there all this time.' 

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Author's note: Some ideas were drawn from 'A Conspiracy Unmasked' in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

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