Chapter 21. Back from the Brink

26 September, mid-morning

The view from the top of the large hill was spectacular; it seemed as if all of the Tookland was laid out before them, green hills rolling away on every side. Why, Paladin could see Tuckborough, tucked into the side of Great Hill to the east of where he sat his pony, and Whitwell lay just to the other side of the hill facing him, and his farm beyond, and the marshland to the west, where Ferdi and Tolly had been headed before they inexplicably interrupted their journey to climb this height.

To gain a better view? View of what?

It struck Paladin that this hill, next largest in the Green Hills to Great Hill, commanded a fine vantage of the surrounding countryside, quiet and a little out of the way (unlike Great Hill, which housed not only Tuckborough on one side but the Great Smials on another), the grass on the hill kept in check by the occasional flock of sheep. Had Ferdi and Tolly turned aside from their path to follow a Man or Men up the hillside, to inquire about their business? And what sort of business would a Man or Men have, climbing a hill in the midst of the wild Green Hill country, with no smial in the immediate area, just paths winding through the valleys?

He frowned as his gaze dropped from the panorama before him, to the blackened circle that remained of the fire where they’d found the lads sleeping. What business indeed?

He didn’t like it. No, not at all. Any Man on legitimate business in the Tookland would be found on a path, not upon a windswept hilltop.

He lifted his eyes from the fire circle to see the progress of the hobbits who were quartering the ground, but no, it was apparent that they’d still found nothing of note. He thought again about Daw’s observations as they’d reached the spot where Ferdi and Tolly had turned aside from the track that led to the marshes. Horse hoofs and ponies’ intermingled, so as to make it difficult to say which had preceded the others. More than one horse, Daw had said. As many as three or even four, he’d thought. And Daw’s uncle had found sign of horses descending again, more than one though how many more he could not be sure, and no sign of the ponies descent. By rights they ought to have found the ponies here upon the hilltop, or at least some sign of the beasts.

His thoughts were interrupted by a shout from one of the younger hobbits, Daw’s nephew Dally it was. He’d reached the western edge of the hill, where the land fell away sharply. ‘Here!’ the searcher cried again, waving an imperative arm.

Paladin turned his pony’s head that way and nudged the beast into motion. The rest of the ponies, hobbled, continued their grazing nearby with no apparent interest in the proceedings, and no inclination to approach the edge of the precipice, for ponies are sensible creatures on the whole, much more sensible than the hobbit who, having gained the others’ attention, now lay on his belly to creep to the edge.

Paladin nudged the pony to a trot, though he had no intention of approaching too closely, and the other searchers converging on the spot broke into a run.

‘Get back, Dally!’ Daw cried sharply. ‘Are ye daft?’

Paladin pulled his pony to a stop, well back from the edge, and slid from the saddle. He was close enough now to hear Dally’s reply, though the young hobbit wasn’t shouting, more like thinking aloud.

‘Some sign here,’ the lad said. ‘And…’ But he shook his head and pushed himself backward again. ‘Cannot see past the overhang…’

‘Overhang!’ Daw panted, having reached the place at his fastest pace, but he had enough strength to seize his nephew, pull him further back from the edge, and give him a good shaking when he deemed they were on safe ground once more. ‘Ye daft coney, y’never venture out on an overhang! Not if ye don’t want t’be testin’ yer wings!’

‘There’s signs,’ Dally said stubbornly. ‘I couldn’t see below, but the signs…’

With a grumble Daw released the lad and crouched. ‘Likely spoilt,’ he muttered, but soon he was following with eye and extended hand, held before him perhaps for perspective or focus, some disturbance of the ground near the overhang.

The other searchers, arriving on the spot, stayed well back.

At last he straightened with a grunt and turned to Paladin. ‘It may well be that they went over,’ he said. ‘Something went over, any road.’

‘As there’s no sign of the ponies on any of the paths descending,’ Paladin said, ‘and they’re not here on the hilltop, I'd say “go down and around” and see just what went over, then.’

***

The sleepers awakened shortly before elevenses, really awakened, Eglantine was glad to hear, not just half-awake and half-dreaming. They were wide awake, and ravenous, and consequently somewhat put out by Haldi’s insistence on shooing Pimpernel from the room so that he could conduct a thorough examination before allowing them to dress.

Nell emerged into the kitchen with a shining face. ‘He’s awake!’ she said.

‘So I heard,’ Eglantine said dryly. At hearing voices raised in argument, she’d draped her dustcloth over the back of a chair and hurried to the kitchen, and was at the moment breaking eggs into a bowl while fat melted in the frying pan. ‘Quick now, slice the bread and lay the butter on thick! Sounds as if there’s no time to wait for toasted bread this morning. Vinca! Get out the applesauce, and the platter of cold meat and cheese we laid out earlier. I've got the kettle on…’

When healer and sleepers emerged, not too much later, the tea was steeping and Eglantine was scooping fluffy scrambled eggs into a serving bowl. ‘Aggie-mum!’ Ferdi said, settling his braces on his shoulders before he took the bowl from her, to carry it to the table. He inhaled deeply. ‘Ah, smells so good I could bury my face in the bowl!’

‘Just like the pigs,’ Tolly said with a laugh.

‘Only comelier,’ Ferdi returned.

‘Much comelier!’ Nell said, taking the bowl of eggs from Ferdi and plonking it down on the table. ‘Now sit! Eat! Before you fade away to naught!’

‘Naught much chance of that,’ Tolly punned, but he was quick to take a place at table and was soon loading his plate with eggs, buttered bread, slices of ham and apple compote.

Ferdi was quick to follow, and soon he and Tolly were arguing over something-or-other as he poured out steaming tea into their mugs, and stopped…

‘But won’t you be joining us?’ he said. ‘Surely this is not all for us!’

‘Of course it is!’ Eglantine said, and laughed. It was so good to see them on their feet, recovered from whatever it was that had laid them low. Or perhaps on their feed was a better word for it. Haldi beamed from the doorway, and when Eglantine caught his eye he mouthed, No worse for the worry. She nodded in satisfaction, though a part of her still wondered what, exactly, had been the matter and how, exactly, they had been laid low. And recovered again. She remembered their pale countenances, their sunken and hollowed eyes, and Pervinca’s unthinking, They look dead…!

But now Pervinca was laying more places. ‘Of course it isn’t!’ she said. ‘We’ve been working our fingers to the bone all the morning, and if it were not for elevenses we’d probably drop in our tracks from exhaustion.’

Ferdi arose abruptly, went to Pimpernel and seized her hand, beginning an intense scrutiny.

‘What in the world are you doing?’ that lass laughed.

‘Fingers to the bone,’ he echoed, and kissed her fingertips gently. ‘This will never do.’ Another kiss, and he added, ‘There, is that better?’

She snatched her hand away with a blush and then gave her beloved a push. ‘Go! Eat! I'm coming.’

Haldi, Eglantine and the lasses took their places and loaded their plates. Eglantine had the feeling the old healer was watching his former charges closely, though he appeared to be giving strict attention to his plate.

‘Elevenses!’ Tolly said. ‘I cannot remember the last time I slept until elevenses!’

‘You’ve been ill,’ Haldi said.

Tolly laughed. ‘I cannot remember being taken ill!’ he said. ‘Indeed, I feel well! Better, even!’

Ferdi drew a deep breath. ‘The air is fresh as springtime,’ he said. ‘But perhaps it’s because I dreamt of springtime.’

Nell blushed, but perhaps it was only too understandable, for springtime would bring a wedding, and more…

Eglantine frowned briefly, for Ferdi’s dreams had not sounded at all pleasant, not the little bit she’d overheard, but then, he’d slept deeply over the past night, and perhaps it was the most recent dreams he was remembering. And maybe that was for the best, after all.

She found herself wondering what Dinny and the searchers had found. Any sign of Ferdi’s ponies? Surely they had not been spirited away on the wind! They must have left some sign of their passing. She applied herself, then, to her meal, for there was work a-plenty waiting to fill the time before late nooning, when the hired hobbits would be coming in from the field and looking for a hot and wholesome meal.