The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but
not quite straight into the side of the hill -- The Hill, as all
the people for many miles round called it.
The Hobbit
“No.”
“But---”
“What the Bagginses do is their business, lass -- but this is not Bag End, and there’ll be no animals here unless they give wool, meat, or eggs, and that’s the end of it.”
“But---”
“No arguments, now. Run along.”
Fourteen-year-old May Gamgee sighed heavily and left the parlor to help prepare supper. Bell looked up from her knitting and gave her husband a knowing look.
“They’ll all be after you for a pup, now, you know. That little ’un of Mr. Frodo’s is too cute for its own good.”
“Too cute,” Hamfast Gamgee agreed, “and too smart. That scrap o’ dog knows enough to stay out of my way, luckily, or else I’d---”
“You’d do nothing,” Bell laughed merrily. “You’re as fond of her as Sam and the girls, and it’s plain to see. That tiny thing has charmed the lot of you.”
“Nonsense,” the Gaffer muttered. “Pure nonsense.” He fussed with his pipe. “And what about that there Ranger stayin’ up there?”
“What about him? Sam says he’s very kind, and simply adores Mr. Frodo. No harm came of their campin’ with him last year now, did it?”
“No,” the Gaffer scowled, “but I plan to keep an eye on him, just the same.”
“You do that.”
The Gaffer glanced slyly at his wife. “So that pup hasn’t charmed you a bit, then, has she?”
“Not a bit,” Bell smiled, getting to her feet. “Now wash up for supper.”
~*~
The next day after luncheon, Frodo begged Aragorn to take a walk with him, so he could finally show the Ranger all his favorite trees and special places.
“I know you’re a secret,” Frodo said, “but just a short walk? Maybe up around the back of The Hill? We can walk for a bit along The Water. You left last time before I could show you anything.”
“I’d love to,” Aragorn laughed. “And I’m not that much of a secret, at least not in the Shire -- just my name.”
Frodo sighed. “Will you ever tell me about it?”
“Perhaps,” the Ranger said thoughtfully.
After leaving Scamp inside Bag End, and waving goodbye to Sam and his dad working in the flower garden, Frodo and Aragorn had an enjoyable walk together in the countryside north and west of The Hill. They ate a snack under a tree where The Water wound north towards Rushock Bog and Long Cleve, and at last started back towards Bag End.
“This is nice,” Frodo grinned. “We haven’t had any time to talk.”
Aragorn burst out laughing. “Frodo, we’ve done nothing but talk since yesterday morning. I’ve answered so many questions for you, my throat is hoarse!”
“You know what I mean,” Frodo insisted, “just us, alone. Without anyone else around.”
“You’re right,” Aragorn smiled.
They were walking up Hill Lane when Frodo suddenly noticed the Ranger’s clothing for the first time. His garb had scarcely changed since the previous fall, and the layered tunic and shirt hardly seemed light enough for such an intensely hot summer. At least, Frodo thought, the Ranger hadn’t needed to ask for his cloak back -- yet. He took a small sip from the water bottle Aragorn had insisted he bring and held it up, but the man shook his head.
“Aren’t you hot?” Frodo asked, amazed. The sun had been beating down on them all day, making his head ache a little -- he could hardly wait to get home to a cool bath.
“It’s an odd thing,” Aragorn replied, “but I don’t feel the heat or the cold as much as most other men -- or hobbits -- do. Gandalf says it has something to do with my ancestry, which is rather… unusual.”
“That’s lucky,” Frodo said. “That must be why you recovered so quickly after being in that freezing pond for so long.”
“Perhaps,” the Ranger said with a smile, “but I have to admit that was the coldest I’ve ever been! There was one time, though, when I was caught in a blizzard in the mountains south of Rivendell, that…”
As Aragorn told his story, Frodo began to have trouble concentrating on the Ranger’s words; as a matter of fact, he could scarcely hear him. Everything was starting to sound strange and distant, like being underwater. And his vision was growing strange, as well. Everything had a sort of yellow cast to it, colors pale and images blurring. What…
~*~
Frodo felt a small, wet tongue licking his face. “Stop that, Scamp,” he muttered. “What are you---” He opened his eyes, and saw Aragorn bending over him.
“Easy now,” Aragorn said softly, removing a cloth from Frodo’s forehead. “You’re all right, little one. Just a bit too much sun.”
Frodo blinked in confusion, startled by the sudden dimness. Looking around, he realized that he was lying on the thick straw that made up the floor of Bag End’s deepest cellar, the one containing large blocks of ice to help preserve meats and dairy products during the summer. Aragorn helped him to sit up, then pressed him to drink from a large glass of water into which chips of ice had been placed.
“Just a little at a time.”
Frodo drank as much as Aragorn would let him, feeling slightly dizzy. Sam was sitting on a nearby straw-covered block of ice, looking at him anxiously.
“What happened?” Frodo asked.
“The heat was just too intense,” the Ranger said. “Your body needed to cool down, and I thought this would be the best place to bring you.”
“All I remember is everything starting to sound and look strange.”
“You fainted,” Aragorn said. “We were nearly home, so I carried you the rest of the way. Bilbo had gone out, but luckily Sam and his father were just outside. They unlocked the front door so I could bring you down here. You began to come around as soon as you were out of the sun.” He grinned. “Scamp nearly went crazy when I brought you in. She somehow knew that something was wrong.”
Frodo smiled and patted the dog, who wagged her tail at him.
“She’s not the only one who got upset,” Sam added, with a grin.
“Sam’s father thought I’d harmed you, Frodo,” Aragorn sighed. “I never realized just how menacing a pitchfork could be.”
“Master Hamfast came at you with a pitchfork?” Frodo asked, amazed, trying to picture the elderly hobbit confronting the tall Ranger.
“A lot of folks are looking out for you,” the Ranger said quietly. “You have good friends.”
“I know,” Frodo said gratefully, taking another drink. “But Estel, I’ve been out in the heat before. I know it’s hot this summer, but the sun never made me faint.”
“Let me guess,” Aragorn said. “You usually spend days as hot as this either here at Bag End, which stays nice and cool even in the summer, or splashing around in that pond I passed on my way here. Am I right?”
“Yes,” Frodo replied. “We all practically live in the pool during the summer. Except Sam -- he doesn’t like water much.”
“Hobbits and water just don’t go together,” Sam said firmly.
“If you can’t be in the water during the heat,” Aragorn continued, “or safe at home, you need to be in the shade as much as possible, and drink a lot more than you usually do.”
“I will.” Frodo gulped down more water. “It feels so nice in here. How did you even know about this cellar and the ice?”
“You don’t remember,” the Ranger said, “but when you were so ill last spring, we used some of this ice to bring down your fever.”
“Did you? That was---”
Just then, they heard a muffled barking coming from somewhere behind them.
Frodo looked around. “Where did Scamp go?”
“It sounds as if she’s back there,” Aragorn said, pointing. Unlike every other part of Bag End, lined with wood, brick, or plaster, the back wall of this cellar consisted of a single stone, smooth and -- to a hobbit -- massive. The bottom several feet of the stone, from one end to the other, was obscured by boxes and barrels, and it was this area from which the barking seemed to be coming.
“Scamp must have dug a hole behind the stone wall, somehow,” Frodo said with a grin. “So that’s where she’s been disappearing to. She discovered this nice, cool room, and then just couldn’t help finding someplace to dig.”
Aragorn smiled back. “Maybe she found one of your trolls.”
“Is everything all right in here?”
“Fine, Bilbo,” Aragorn said as Bilbo came down the steps into the cellar. “Frodo had a bit too much sun, and the ice is helping him to cool off.”
Bilbo quickly knelt and felt Frodo’s face, which was still slightly flushed.
“I’m all right,” Frodo assured him. “Really. I feel fine now.”
Aragorn gestured to the back wall. “What’s behind the stone? We think Scamp dug her way back there.”
Bilbo looked confused. “I wasn’t aware that there was anything back there. This cellar is as far as my father had The Hill excavated. When the workmen uncovered that huge stone, they saw no point in trying to go any farther.”
Frodo, meanwhile, had gotten to his feet and began to pull barrels and boxes away from the wall, even though the exertion made him feel a bit dizzy.
“Here it is!” Frodo said. Between the solid stone and the brick which insulated the cellar, a space of several feet of well-packed earth had been left untouched -- until now. Frodo got on his knees and investigated a small hole just above the ground. “Scamp somehow found the only part of Bag End not sealed, and decided to excavate.” He reached a hand into the hole, then his whole arm.
“There’s a space back here, Bilbo,” Frodo said, feeling about in the dark hole. “There’s a dirt floor and… ah, there you are.” He triumphantly pulled Scamp out of the hole. “So this is where you’ve been digging, you scoundrel.” He looked up at Bilbo. “There must be a large, empty space behind the stone; when Scamp was barking, she sounded as if she was far away.” He grinned. “Let’s see what’s back there!”
“I’m very curious about this, myself,” Bilbo nodded. “But you’re not to lift another finger, Frodo lad. Sit down and rest, and I’ll get a few shovels and some lanterns.”
“Ah, the famous Baggins adventurous spirit in action,” Aragorn grinned. “I’ll help you, Bilbo.”
“I’ll get shovels,” Sam said excitedly, racing up the steps.
~*~
It didn’t take long for the two hobbits and one Ranger to enlarge the hole Scamp had made so that it was big enough for even Aragorn to crawl through. The pup appeared delighted with the whole enterprise, and kept dashing in and out of the ever-widening hole.
“That’s it,” Bilbo said at last, breathing hard. He scraped away a last bit of dirt, and tried to peer into the dark hole. “There does seem to be a chamber of some kind behind this wall. Who would have guessed?”
“Here, Bilbo,” Frodo said, handing his uncle a lit lantern. He gave another to Aragorn, and he and Sam shared the third. Bilbo bent down and disappeared into the cavity. An excited Frodo and Sam followed, and Aragorn crawled through last.
The dark, musty space behind the stone was not large, perhaps roughly eight feet square, and Aragorn found that the ceiling was high enough to allow him to stand up straight. The walls and ceiling were a packed tumble of dirt and rocks and tree roots, and the floor was littered with small stones and drifts of soil.
Bilbo, Aragorn, and Frodo held their lanterns high and looked around them, amazed. Colored lights seemed to be sparkling everywhere.
“What is causing this?” Bilbo asked, puzzled. “I don’t see anything embedded in the walls or floor that could be reflecting the lanterns’ light. Look at all these colors!”
“Mr. Bilbo,” Sam whispered, “Mr. Frodo, look!”
Bilbo turned around, as did the others, and for the first time they beheld what was on this side of the enormous stone. The front of the stone, which faced the cellar, was smooth and featureless, but the back…
“Oh,” Frodo breathed, his eyes dazzled.
“Would you just look at that!” Sam said.
“Amazing,” Bilbo said. “Estel, have you ever seen anything like this before? Estel?”
The Ranger was staring, thunderstruck, at what was before them.
“Mr. Estel, are you all right?”
“Yes,” Aragorn whispered at last, unable to tear his eyes away from the stone. “Bilbo, please -- may I be left alone in here… for awhile?”
“Of course.” Bilbo put his lantern on the ground near the Ranger. “Frodo, Sam, let’s---”
Frodo had started to feel dizzy again, and worse than before. He swayed slightly, and felt Bilbo take the lantern from his hand and steady him. Aragorn knelt in front of Frodo and looked at him closely.
“Frodo, you should lie down for a few hours at least, and keep drinking as much water as you can.”
Frodo shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“He’ll be all right, Bilbo,” Aragorn assured the old hobbit. “He’s not yet fully recovered from the heat, and the air in this chamber is not the best.”
“I want to stay,” Frodo protested.
“You’re as stubborn as any Baggins who ever lived, my boy,” Bilbo chuckled, “but this stone isn’t going anywhere. Let’s leave Estel to study it.” He led Frodo back to the hole in the wall. “Come on, Sam, you can return later after supper. Don’t tell anyone about this until we know what it means, agreed?”
“You can count on me,” Sam declared. “Come on, Mr. Frodo… bend down a bit more… let Mr. Bilbo help you…”
Aragorn was left alone. He arranged the lanterns as best he could to throw maximum light on the stone, then just gazed for a long time at the sight before him, shaking his head in wonder.
“I don’t believe it,” he murmured in amazement. “How can this be?”
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