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A Healer's Tale  by Lindelea


Chapter 37. Dog of a Different Colour

The steady rapping at the door was not a hand Frodo recognised. It was not Hamfast Gamgee's businesslike pull at the bell, nor young Samwise's quiet tap-tap-tap, nor the sharp, insistent noise of Lobelia's umbrella denting the paint. It didn't sound like anyone he knew, neighbour or tradesman, relation or friend.

'Frodo!' Bilbo's voice echoed down the tunnel from his study. 'If you would, dear boy...'

'I've got it!' Frodo called back in the same instant, and he jerked the door open. His mouth opened as his head fell back, gazing up... up... up... to the beaming face of a Man, a stranger, and Pippin's face above his, shining with mischief and merriment, his fingers twined through the stranger's hair, his legs wrapped around the stranger's neck like the ends of a short muffler. As if this weren't enough, the Man had a sheepdog at his side, attached to a frayed rope. The dog had scrambled to his feet as the door opened, and now his mouth opened, his tongue lolled out and he panted at Frodo, showing off his wolfish teeth. Only Pippin's presence kept the tween from slamming the door.

'Hullo, Frodo!' Pippin chirped brightly.

'Pippin?' Frodo said hoarsely. He cleared his throat and began again. 'What in the world...?'

'If it's the baker's lad, tell him we want half again as many currant buns!' Bilbo called from the study. 'We ran short, last time.'

'It's not!' Frodo called back, scarcely able to take his eyes off the strange sight before him. Pippin riding a Man as if he sat a very tall pony... or a horse! 'It's Pippin! And a stranger!'

'A Ranger!' Bilbo called back. 'What do you mean, Frodo? A Ranger would hardly be knocking at my door in broad daylight!' His voice approached rapidly, until he was standing just behind Frodo, gaping at the Man. 'You're no Ranger!' he said.

The Man bowed politely, though he winced a little as Pippin crowed and clung more tightly to his hair to keep his balance. 'Robin son of Jack, at your service,' he said. They hadn't walked far before he'd decided he'd never reach Bywater, at the speed Pippin could walk, at least not this week, and so he'd swung the lad up onto his shoulders and made short work of the miles with his long strides.

'I should say so!' Bilbo replied, before making a hasty bow and speaking the proper response.

'Hullo, Uncle Bilbo!' Pippin said.

Robin smiled. He had endured a lengthy discourse on exactly what the relationship was between his wandering young friend and the hobbits who stood before him, and while Bilbo was nowhere near to being the young one's uncle, he appreciated the brevity of the address.

'Hullo yourself, you young rascal!' Bilbo returned the greeting. 'Just what brings you here to our door, and by this mode of conveyance? I thought your mother taught you not to talk to strangers!'

'He's not a stranger!' Pippin said confidently. 'I know his name!'

Bilbo was somewhat taken aback, but on second thought he knew the Man's name as well, and the fellow certainly knew his manners where Shire-folk were concerned.

'So,' he said, addressing this new acquaintance. 'What brings you to my door? Did Paladin hire you to bring his son to me? I had a letter to tell me to expect a visit, for there was something Pippin wanted to talk to me about, but I was expecting the whole family, not just the one young cousin!'

'Pippin himself brings me to your door,' Robin said. 'But not in the way you mention... I stumbled over him in a field, making a beeline for the South Farthing, and determined enough to march all the way there, but for the fact he told me he was intending to go to Hobbiton.' With a wry look he added, 'He told me everything and anything except for where he belonged, for he said he had to see you before he could go back home. I figured I had better help him along, then, in order to bring him sooner back to the bosom of his family. And as I was on my way to the Bywater Market, I told him I'd show him the right way to go.'

'On your way to the market?' Bilbo said shrewdly, looking at the Man's backpack. 'Are you a peddler?'

The Man grinned. 'Robin Tallfellow, wandering conjurer, at your service!' he said with another sweeping bow. 'I know all sorts of tricks and illusions, guaranteed to make you laugh or gasp in wonder.' He reached up to loosen Pippin's hold on his hair. 'If I had my cap handy, I'd pull a rabbit from it, just to make you laugh!'

'He can, too!' Pippin said excitedly. 'He can pull all sorts of things out of his hat, and his pockets, even when they're empty!'

'A rabbit might come in handy at that,' Bilbo said. 'Lovely in a stew...'

'Not this rabbit!' Pippin said in horror. 'Mopsy's a pet! He's very bright, for a bunny. Robin's taught him wonderful tricks!'

'No rabbit, then,' Bilbo said instantly. 'But tell me, young Pip, do your parents know you've gone a-wandering?'

Pippin shrugged. 'They're all off to tea at the neighbour's,' he said. 'They left me sleeping, and probably meant to come back before I wakened.'

'Tea?' Frodo said quizzically. It was barely noon.

'Speaking of tea,' Robin said, reaching up to lift Pippin from his shoulders, 'I must be at Bywater Market soon, or I'll lose the best of my crowd. Folk'll be ready to sit down and watch a few tricks after the better part of their shopping's done...'

'Won't you stay?' Bilbo said hastily. 'Where are my manners? Here you rescue our lad from wandering in the wilderlands, and we leave you standing on the doorstep!'

'Another time, perhaps,' Robin said with a bow. 'I really must be going...' He gave the sheepdog's rope to Pippin, pulled a cap from his pocket and put it on, bowed and pulled at the bill of the cap in a polite manner.

'Come back then, when market's done,' Bilbo said, not to be put off. 'We'll feed you a fine supper for your trouble, and there's even a bed in your size, if you planned to stop over until the morning.'

'I had planned to sleep under the stars, by the Water,' the Man said, 'and then walk on to Waymoot, but... a bed in my size?' He was intrigued. This hobbit had enough Mannish visitors to warrant such a bed?

'Yes,' Bilbo said, sticking his thumbs in his waistcoat and rocking back on his heels. 'You're not the only conjuror to rap upon my door...'

***

As the Man's whistle receded down Bagshot Row, Bilbo bent to address Pippin. 'Are you hungry, lad?'

To his surprise, Pippin put his head on one side as if to consider. 'A little,' the lad said. 'Robin shared his bread with me.' The three large loaves of bread had been the Man's provisions for the next few days, though he hadn't told the young hobbit so. Pippin had eaten his fill... which meant that Robin's "larder" was empty, another reason for his haste to reach the market. If he didn't gather a tidy sum of coin in his hat from an appreciative audience, he might not eat the next day! The Man was doubly grateful for Bilbo's offer of dinner and a place to sleep.

'Well then,' Bilbo said in a hearty tone, taking the sheepdog's rope and pushing Pippin into the smial. 'You go and wash your hands, and I'll meet you in the kitchen!'

Turning back to Frodo, he lowered his voice. 'Who knows what his parents are thinking,' he muttered. 'He thinks it's teatime... perhaps his head is muddled from the sun. But at the pace a Man could walk, Pippin might have left just after second breakfast, and no one's missed him yet.' He started to offer the rope to Frodo, about to tell the tween to shut up the dog in the coach house until they figured out what to do with him, but Frodo interrupted.

'Or perhaps he left yesterday teatime,' Frodo said, watching the dog warily, 'and fell asleep before dark, and woke in daylight not knowing how long he'd slept...'

'Sharp lad!' Bilbo said approvingly, but sobered. 'If that's the case, Eglantine must be beside herself, by now, and I'd imagine there are hobbits crawling over all the hills around Whitwell, shouting Pippin's name and looking for signs of his passing!' He straightened, retaining the rope. 'In that case, I think you had better jog on down to the village, find the quick post rider, and send a message on to Paladin that his son is safe, and we'll be bringing him home on the morrow.' He dug in a pocket, taking out a handful of coins, which he extended to Frodo.

'On the morrow?' Frodo said, taking the handful.

'Well, we've promised his rescuer supper and Gandalf's bed to sleep on,' Bilbo said. 'It would hardly be hospitable to be away from home when he returns for his reward.'

'When he returns?' Frodo said. 'You think he will?'

'I do,' Bilbo said. 'He had a hungry look in his eye, and Pippin said he shared his bread... I wonder just how much bread was left when Pippin was done?'

***

It hardly seemed right, to eat at noontide, knowing that young Ferdi only sipped at a little boiled water in the other room, and plaintively asked for more. But Woodruff had stood firm. 'Small sips,' she said. 'And then we'll see what's what. You may have more water, after you've had a nice little sleep.'

'I don't want to go to sleep,' Ferdi said, and looking to his father, he whispered, 'Is it that I'm dying, then? Will I wake?'

'Och noo, laddie,' Ferdinand said, scarcely able to force out the words. 'Tha willna dee, laddie-my-own. I willna allow the Reaper to ta'e thee... He'll ha' to ta'e me first.' Very carefully, he nestled his son under his arm and began to croon one of the old songs.

Tears spilled from the young hobbit's eyes, but as the song went on his lids grew heavier, finally closing, and he fell into sleep. Rosemary, who'd come from the kitchen to take her place in the other chair by the bed, covered her face and wept silently.

The lullaby wafted to the kitchen, where Nell put down her fork and buried her face in her hands, sobbing, and Eglantine wiped away a tear. 'Come now, dearie,' she said, holding out her arms, and Nell got up from her seat, stumbled over to her mother, and was enveloped in loving arms.

'If he dies it's my fault,' she sobbed. 'If he dies...'

'Hush now,' Eglantine said. 'Hush now.'

Paladin didn't chide his middle daughter for speaking nonsense, he merely drew now-sobbing Vinca to himself, rocking her in silence, while Esmeralda embraced Pearl with one arm and Merry with the other, and all sat in silence while the food grew cold on the serving plates.

***

Bilbo extended the rope once more to Frodo. They could shut the dog up in the unused stables. Bilbo's father had kept a team of ponies, but Bilbo had no need to ride or drive anywhere; if he wanted to wander, he had two good feet, after all, and all his walking kept him young and fit for his years, or so he told himself. 'On your way past the coach house, if you wouldn't mind...' he said, but at the look on the tween's face he pulled back. 'I say, lad, what is the matter?' he demanded. 'You're not sickening with something...'

Just then Hamfast Gamgee came whistling round the corner from the Old Orchard, where he'd been mowing. He stopped short to see the sheepdog.

'Here now,' he said sharply, his good humour evaporating, nearly forgetting himself in his consternation. 'Mr. Bilbo, it's not my place to say something, but you haven't gone and got yourself a dog, to dig in the tater bed and roll on the petunee's?'

Lop's tongue lolled out over his teeth and he tilted his head to one side, one ear pricked up and the other falling over in a clownish way, and even Frodo laughed, cautiously.

'No, Master Hamfast, he's merely an honoured guest, come to visit for the day,' Bilbo said, 'and at the moment we were discussing just where he ought to pass the time, and what to feed him, and that sort of thing.'

'Feed him oliphaunts, I don't wonder,' Hamfast said darkly.

Lop waved his silky tail in apparent appreciation of the joke. Perhaps it was only the repetition of that lovely word that reminded him of dinner. He reached to nudge the hand that held the rope, and Bilbo laughed.

'He said "if you please" just as clear as if he could talk,' he said. 'But there seems to be a dearth of oliphaunts hereabouts, just at present. Will you settle for a bit of bread-and-butter, lad?'

'That's all he had along the way,' Pippin piped up from behind him. He'd been waiting in the kitchen for ever so long, and hearing voices had returned to the front door. 'Robin shared his bread with the both of us, at least until the bread was gone.'

'Ahhhh,' Bilbo said significantly. Yes, he had better cook a hearty dinner for the visiting Man, and pack away a few provisions in the morning, to send him off properly. He stroked a silky ear, and the dog leaned into the touch with a low, groaning sound.

'Well if you'll just keep him out of the garden beds I'll be that obliged,' Hamfast said, touching the bill of his cap, and then Bell Gamgee's voice was heard, calling her family to table, and Hamfast excused himself.

'We'll keep you out of the garden beds, won't we, lad?' Bilbo said to the dog. 'You'll be safe enough, shut up in the stables, I don't wonder, just until we take you home on the morrow...' He brought his hand away and a frown creased his brow. 'Cannot bring you in the smial, reeking as you do...'

'He's a good, clean dog!' Pippin protested, but Bilbo's expression was abstracted as he placed the smell on his fingers. Suddenly he looked to Frodo, and his lips formed the word fox, though he did not say it aloud, not wanting to alarm the young one.

Frodo felt his blood run cold, and he looked at the dog with new eyes. Had he somehow broken free, to guard Frodo's little cousin from foxes and the like? 'There's a good dog,' he said tentatively, and Lop's tail moved gently back and forth, and he reached to lay a whisper of a caress against Frodo's hand with his tongue.

Frodo drew back, but then he forced himself to reach out, to stroke the silky head, and not to quail when the dog leaned towards him.

'A bath is in order, I think,' Bilbo said, 'especially if you're to sit at table.'

'Sit at table?' Frodo said in utter astonishment.

'Not on a chair,' Bilbo said, 'but then, he's tall enough, he doesn't need a chair now, does he? Still, I think our lad here has earned the feast I intend to spread in his honour.'

And so after Frodo returned from his errand, sending out the quick post rider with his reassuring message to Pippin's parents, they bathed the sheepdog. Lop stood still for the bath, but only because Pippin told him he must. And after they'd soaped him and rubbed away as much of the fox musk as they could and then rinsed him with buckets of clear water, he returned the favour, shaking with vigour and soaking Bilbo, Frodo, and Pippin. And so the four of them needed to be rubbed dry, and then they sat down to their luncheon with a good will, Lop at the place of honour to Bilbo's right, enjoying his plate of stew with as much appreciation as the hungriest hobbit.

And after the eating was done, Bilbo and Frodo did the washing up (it was Salsify's half day, and a good thing, too, for she'd have been beside herself to see a dog at table) while Pippin watched over Lop, to keep him out of mischief. As it was, when Bilbo and Frodo returned to the parlour where they'd left the two, they found the dog lying on his side, acting as a pillow. He did not rise to greet them, for that would have disturbed his young master, but his tail quivered gently in greeting.

'Good lad,' Bilbo murmured, rubbing the floppy ear.

'I never knew dogs could be so...' Frodo said.

Bilbo cocked an eye at the tween. 'Didn't you?' he said, and suddenly he remembered a tale or two Rory Brandybuck had told him, when he was considering Frodo's adoption. 'Well, this dog's business runs rather more to guarding lambs than running off young hobbits,' he said. 'I remember on our last visit to Whittacres, Paladin had to shut him up to keep him from following young Pippin everywhere. He noticed that you weren't all that easy when the dog was around.'

'No,' Frodo said. 'I wasn't.' He knelt to stroke the silky coat, that smelled something like the fancy soap found in Bilbo's bath room. The tail thumped softly on the rug.

'Good lad,' Bilbo said, as if to the dog, but there was a gleam of satisfaction in his eye as Frodo sat himself down to give Lop's ears a good rub. 'I'll be in the study if I'm wanted.'





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