Chapter 18. ...and Found!
But when Eglantine led her small party of hobbits to the side-branching of the market where she'd seen Tolly, the green-sellers' place was empty of hobbits. Garlands bedecked with red bows still hung above the table, and the table was full of tied bunches of green boughs, and half of the buckets still held evergreens waiting to be sold, suggesting that the vendors had left in haste but might be hoped to return to selling sooner rather than later.
'Perhaps they're in the booth,' Bolham roared above the crowd noise, shoving his way past between the green-sellers' table and the next vendor to reach the canvas shelter at the back. But when he lifted the flap, the booth was empty, as well. And so The Red turned to address the adjacent vendor, tapped him on the shoulder to gain his attention, and bellowed a question. For his efforts, he received only a shrug in return.
Bolham then turned back to the watching Tooks and held up his hand – Wait! – before pushing between the canvas booths; quickly returning, he beckoned urgently, and so they all followed him to the passage that ran behind the vendors on this side of the side-branching street. On one side, brightly striped canvas paraded up and down the street, while the other side featured the doors and windows of the permanent structures. In the middle ran a small passageway, large enough for a cart, allowing the vendors to come and go easily without having to fight the crowds.
Bolham pointed to the cart tracks in the snow that ended behind the green-sellers' booth. 'This snow fell this morning!' he shouted. Thankfully, the crowd noise was not quite as overwhelming behind the row of booths. 'The tracks are fresh!'
'Where would they go?' Pippin returned at equal volume.
Bolham shrugged, but he was not at a loss; he led them along the passage to the nearby inn where he'd reserved a room for Gorbyl's family. Once they had all entered the building and the door was closed, the noise level dropped still further, allowing conversation in a slightly louder than normal voice.
'Jabo!' Bolham boomed. An apron-clad hobbit appeared almost at once, his stout figure testifying to the bounty and quality of the table he provided.
'Red!' he said. 'We hadn't planned any meals today from third breakfast until teatime! We figured folk would buy the market fare...'
'Have you seen Gorbyl?' Bolham interrupted. 'We're looking for someone who was at his booth just a little while ago.'
'Nae, but Wallas was here earlier,' Jabo said. 'Said something about Gorbyl being under the weather, and he was taking the old hobbit homewards, and I should tell you if you'd arrange to sell the rest of what they brought, you could use the coin to help those who need it... So I sent one of my lads to look for you...'
'Was anyone else with him? A stranger to you? A Took, perhaps?' Bolham asked. 'We're looking for someone who was seen at the green-sellers' table.'
'Just Wallas,' the innkeeper answered. 'I should imagine they would have parted ways when their business was finished, if they were doing business, that is. Or...' He scratched the back of his neck and thought further. 'If ye think he would've stayed longer for some reason or was somehow attached to or associated with Wallas or Gorbyl, then Wallas might have left the stranger – if there was one – to watch over Gorbyl and the childer whilst he was fetching the pony and cart to bring them, as I said earlier, homewards.'
'Where's homewards?' Pippin asked urgently.
Bolham nodded. 'I'll take you there myself,' he said. He thanked Jabo and then turned back to the Tooks. 'We'll go first to the farm for ponies; they'll be faster than walking.' And then to Eglantine and Diamond, he said, 'Mistresses, I'm sure that Jabo would be glad to offer you a table and a pot o' tea, should you wish it. Or, if you'd prefer to walk the market and enjoy the lantern-lighting and the evening festivities, I can ha' my tweens show you around so you don't miss anything!'
'But...' Eglantine protested, subsiding at the intensity in Bolham's gaze, meeting hers.
The Red shook his head and said, 'We don't know that the stranger – if he is your Tolly – went home with Gorbyl, or if he went somewhere else when the green-gatherers returned to the Wood. But rest assured, Mistress; we'll ride to their smial and ask them about what they know of the hobbit – how they met him, where he might be found, what he said to them when he was seen with them at the market...'
Pippin touched his mother's arm and leaned in to speak in her ear. 'We don't even know for certain if the hobbit you saw is him, Mum,' he said, 'or merely someone with a strong resemblance. It'll be bad enough if two of us show up at the green-seller's door, and the hobbit you saw was not Tolly, and it's all a misunderstanding...'
Eglantine opened her mouth to argue, for she was sure of what she'd seen, but Pippin forestalled her, adding, 'Even if it is true – and if Tolly happens to be at their smial with them – we'll be putting the hobbit on the spot enough as it is. For how will he ever be able to explain his disappearance?' Troubled, he shook his head and muttered, 'I cannot begin to imagine...'
'Not two but four of us,' Hilly said behind him, and Pippin turned and glared at the escort for his obvious eavesdropping. But Hilly was not to be put off. 'Pip,' he said, using the familiar term of address rather than speaking as a hobbit of the escort. 'He's my brother! ...or he may be...' he added a little less certainly. 'And if, by chance, he is, you might want Haldi along to take a message to somebody somewhere or other...' For you won't easily pry me away from Tolly's side, if it is Tolly, went unsaid but was clearly understood by all.
Pippin's reasons for limiting the size of the search party had been eminently sensible, Eglantine had to admit, as were Hilly's reasons for doubling the size of the party, even without her help. Giving in to the logic that had been set before her, she took Diamond's hand, tried to smile, and said, 'Well, my dear. Would you care for a warming cup before we go out again?'
***
The lane to Bolham's farm branched off the main road just over a mile from the northern edge of the town. By sticking to the back passages behind the market booths, the searchers were able to move relatively quickly through the town. After passing the last building on the road that led northwards out of town and leaving the celebrating crowds behind them, Bolham set a rapid pace that soon had Pippin, with his compromised lungs, out of breath.
Frowning in concern, The Red slowed, but Pippin shook his head and, gasping, waved Hilly and Haldi ahead. 'Order the ponies!' he panted. The escort took off at a run.
'D'ye need a healer's attention?' Bolham said, slowing further to a stop. 'Breathing the icy air... I ought to have...'
'No,' Pippin said, straightening. 'I'm well,' he insisted. Though he continued to speak in gasps, the side of his mouth twisted in a half smile. 'You'd think... since I insist... the hobbits... of my escort... must... be able... to run well... that... I'd set... the same requirement... for myself...'
'Never mind that,' Bolham interrupted, though he had the good sense not to aggravate the young Thain by telling him to save his breath. 'I'm sure you would if you could.'
Pippin gave him a sharp glance, but The Red merely said, 'It's something, having a wife that's a healer... My Aggie could tell, the first time ye met... But o' course, since it's none of our business, we saw no need to talk about it...'
When, several minutes later, he had finally recovered his breath, the Thain was able to laugh, though it was hardly a cheerful sound. 'You north-Tooks are blessed,' he said. 'Why, I'm half-tempted to remove to the north-Farthing and change my name to north-Took! I don't know how much you've heard about the Talk of the Tooks...'
'I've heard enough,' Bolham said grimly. 'We don't have that problem here, so much. O we'll gossip with the best o' them, but those who engage in harmful talk are likely to find themselves shunned. I won't put up with it!'
'O my,' Pippin said softly. 'The Thain's power doesn't quite extend that far... though sometimes I wish it might.'
'It's a solemn responsibility and, thus, a heavy burden to bear,' Bolham said. 'And I have to be mindful and thorough lest I judge in error. But I'm the plainspoken sort, and if folk want my respect and my business, they'll do their best to follow the same path!'
He broke off the thought as he looked up the road. 'But here come your hobbits, and they've got our ponies with 'em. What did they tell the others, I wonder...?' The last thing they needed was for a horde of Tooks to follow them to the green-gatherers' little cot, demanding answers, frightening the childer and badgering old Gorbyl, especially if the hobbit was unwell.
'Not a thing,' Pippin was able to assure him. 'Haldi wouldn't tell his father what was for tea if he thought the old hobbit didn't need to know, and as for Hilly – this may or may not be his brother we're talking about. And the hobbit may not even be at the green-sellers' smial! In any event, he'd say nothing that might hurt Tolly – or even someone mistaken for Tolly.' He shook his head. 'For you know as well as I do, I think, that if a rumour should start that Tolly's alive and to be found at Gorbyl's smial in Bindbole Wood, you'd have a whole host of Tooks descending upon the place... And some might not be so easily put off.' Whatever else he might have said was interrupted by the arriving escort and ponies.
'Ah,' Bolham said, nodding his appreciation that he and the Thain were reading from the same page, after a manner of speaking. But after they'd mounted their ponies and before setting out, he added, much lower, 'I had a brother once...'
The four investigators rode in a line along the narrow track through the Wood that ran past Gorbyl's holding, with Bolham in the lead and Pippin behind him, followed by the escort. By keeping their ponies moving at an easy trot, they were able to cover the same distance in perhaps an hour that would likely have taken Gorbyl's family half a day on foot.
Pulling up just outside the clearing, Bolham said, 'I half-expected to find them still on the way, but they must've made haste.... P'rhaps Wallas put the childer along with Gorbyl in the cart and trotted alongside the pony, to bring the old hobbit more quickly to home and hearth...' He pointed to the roof of the cot. 'Smoke's rising from the chimney, so I'll warrant we'll find them at home.'
They dismounted, and Pippin suddenly took charge. He indicated that Haldi should tie up the ponies, and gestured to Hilly to come forward, saying to Bolham, 'You knock upon the door, in case Tolly is not there with them; but I'd like Hilly standing at your side, in case he might be...'
Bolham could see the logic in this approach, and nodded. 'Come, lad,' he said to Hilly.
Walking in step, with Pippin following behind the other two, the tall figures crossed the clearing and stepped up onto the veranda. Bolham rapped at the door.
Not long after, Wallas opened the door and stared at The Red. 'Bolham?' he said in patent surprise.
'Wallas,' Bolham began, and stopped, unsure of how to proceed. The Tooks with him were as still and silent as if they'd been struck dumb. Overcome by disappointment, no doubt, at having their hopes dashed once again.
Wallas continued, 'Did you not get my message? I asked Jabo to tell you...'
But even as he was speaking, the green-gatherer's gaze fell upon the hobbit standing beside Bolham. 'I...' he said uncertainly.
His eyes blinked rapidly; he seemed to fight for breath and his face lost all colour as he swayed in the open doorway. 'H-How...?' he stammered, and then said, his voice shaking, 'How do I know you?'
'He's your brother,' Pippin replied from behind Hilly and Bolham.
Tolly – for it was Tolly, unlikely as the idea had seemed up until this moment – now looked at the Thain with wide eyes, and then the found hobbit seemed to crumple together. Indeed, he would have fallen heavily if Hilly and Bolham hadn't moved quickly to catch him and ease him down.
Almost immediately, a shrieking ball of fury launched itself at Hilly, slamming into him and knocking him from his feet. Small fists pummelled him as he lay half in a daze, and a childish voice cried, 'Don't you hurt my da! Don't you hurt my da!'
Bolham reached down and scooped the fighting child to his chest, calling Lark's name and trying to calm her. 'Shhh. Shhh. We're not hurting him, lass. We're here to help him! Shhh, now.'
Though stunned by the turn of events, Hilly regained his feet with catlike agility and immediately bent over his unconscious brother.
As Bolham continued to rock the sobbing child in his arms, he stared at the crumpled figure on the floor and the Tookish escort now crouching beside him, softly calling his brother's name as he took up the limp hand nearest him. Tolly! Tolly, it's me! Hilly! Can you hear me? Speak to me, Tolly! His resemblance to the found Took was unmistakeable now that Bolham saw them together.
But the stricken hobbit showed no signs of hearing his brother's pleas.
Beyond them, The Red could see old Gorbyl, pale and ominously still. The old hobbit lay before the kitchen fire, rolled up in blankets, with the wide-eyed lads standing stunned and silent by his side.
Seeing the children's pillars of security crashing down around them, Bolham held little Lark a little tighter; then he turned and ordered Haldi, who had come up behind them, 'Ride to the farm for the healer! Hurry!'
At the escort's hesitation, he added impatiently, 'I know you proud Tooks listen to none but your Thain, but go, fellow!' His lips curled in a wry smile as Pippin urged, 'Yes, go!' and Haldi spun and sprinted to the ponies.
To Pippin, just beyond the threshold, Bolham said, 'Come in and close the door! We're letting all the warm out and the cold in!' As Pippin moved to comply, they heard a sudden outburst of galloping hoofs in the clearing that quickly diminished with distance.
Once Pippin was inside and had shut the door firmly behind himself, the young Thain said, 'I'm sorry to have to disagree, Red, but the Tooks don't even listen to the Thain most of the time. Only the Steward.'
Still cuddling Lark close to his chest, Bolham moved to the hearth where Gorbyl lay and the boys stood uncertainly at his side. As he eased himself and his burden to the floor, he replied, 'Perhaps you ought to reconsider, then, and move north, and change your name to north-Took after all...'
***