Frodo met Gen and Brend outside Brandy Hall the next night. “Are you still sure we won’t get caught?” Gen asked. “Farmer Maggot has a bow and arrow on a hook in his barn I saw it through the open door last night. He was heading for it to use it, until he saw who you were.”

Frodo sent him a mischievous grin. “Then he’ll know it’s us this time, and he won’t even think about shooting us. And if he won’t shoot us, then we don’t have anything to worry about.” He looked at them and smiled encouragingly. “Last night was just a slip up. It won’t happen again. We’re too good for that,” he assured them.

The ferry landed and they trudged up the long road to the farm.

“Shh!” Frodo hissed when they came in sight of the house, and Brend was whispering too loudly. “He’ll hear you!”

They fell silent as they snuck into their normal tree grove. All was quiet in the house. Mostly. They could hear Farmer Maggot snoring through the open window.

“All right, go now!” Frodo whispered the order and the three of them hurried out to the mushroom patch.

A dog inside began to bark, and the snoring stopped.

This time the Farmer gave a warning shout, and lifted his lantern high in the air to get a good look at the three tweens dashing off down the lane. And he knew who one of them was. Nobody in Buckland could mistake the thin form of Frodo Baggins.

* * *

“Who was it this time?” Mrs. Maggot asked when her husband entered the house a few moments later.

“Frodo Baggins and his group again,” the farmer remarked angrily. “Takin’ all o’ my best mushrooms! One even snatched the pouch of pipeweed I left out side accidentally.” He sank into a chair at the end of the table and said, “If they come around again, I’ll set my dogs on ‘em and give ‘em a wopping they won’t easily ferget.”

Mrs. Maggot shook her head and clicked her tongue. “That lad needs parents,” she said. “And I know Mr. and Mrs. Brandybuck are doin’ their best, but they ain’t the kind o’ people as is right for him.”

“What, you sayin’ old Mad Baggins should take him in?” Farmer Maggot stated incredulously.

Mrs. Maggot shrugged. “Perhaps. He seemed to know how to handle the boy, which is somethin’ I don’t think his Brandybuck relatives can do.”

“Well, the lad is mostly Baggins, and they’re a stubborn lot. Mayhap you’re right.”

“I know I am.”

* * *

Merry and Frodo met Brend and Gen in a rarely used mathom-room the next day.

“You got the mushrooms?” Frodo asked Gen.

Gen brought out a sack full of mushrooms. “I counted three hundred and ninety seven,” he said. “I think that’s the record number for tweens at Brandy Hall, Fro. Should last us quite a while if we eat them sparingly.” He looked at the food, his mouth watering.

Frodo shook his head. “Once more, then we’ll lay off raiding the poor farmer till next season.”

“When?” Brend asked, tossing little Merry a mushroom, a carrot, and a toy harp he’d found on a shelf.

“We should wait till Friday. That will give us four nights.” Frodo calculated the days on his fingers. “That will make my aunt happier and maybe the farmer will forget about us.”

“All right. Now, have a mushroom, Frodo,” Brend said. He reached into his pocket. “And maybe later, when Merry’s not around…” He held out the pouch of pipeweed.

“Where did you get that?” Frodo demanded, eyes widening.

“Brend, you know our Da’s won’t let us smoke yet!” Gen said.

“Put it in your pocket! Don’t let Merry see it,” Frodo said, then repeated his initial question.

“Was lying on a log, as if Farmer Maggot was coming back to it and forgot.”

“Fro! I found a strange hat!” Merry said, coming up to them wearing a hobbit-sized hat imitating the pointy grey hat of a wizard named Gandalf.

“Who’s is it, Fro?” Merry asked, and Frodo laughed.

“That was mine when I was little!” Frodo exclaimed. “Uncle Bilbo had it made for me when I’d first met Gandalf the Wizard, and wanted a hat just like his.”

“You’ve met Gandalf, the wizard that sent Mr. Bilbo on his adventures?” Gen questioned.

“Why of course!” Frodo replied. “He’s always coming to visit Uncle Bilbo.”

“Can I have it, Fro?” Merry asked, looking eagerly up at his cousin.

“Sure,” Frodo replied. He turned to Gen. “You hide the food again. I’ve got to get Merry back to Aunt Esme, but I”ll meet you at Brend’s apartment later.”

And the three parted ways.