Chapter 3. Making Do

Eglantine hurried to the smial ahead of her daughters, and put water on to heat. A hot bath would be the best thing for Pip, soaked head-to-toe in the icy stream. Nell and Pearl half-carried their shivering little brother, while Vinca brought up the rear, and Lop ran circles about the children, waving his tail in excitement.

‘Out of those wet things, as your da said,’ she ordered, when they came in through the door. ‘And Pip! As soon as the water’s hot enough, it’ll be a bath for you! Nell, Vinca, see to it. Now, Pearl, I want you to fetch all the extra blankets in the press, and four bedsheets… We’ll make a bed here before the kitchen hearth that’s long enough for him to lie on, and to cover him I hope!’

By using several beds’ worth of linens and blankets, Eglantine was able to fashion a Man-sized pallet before the great hearth in the kitchen. It would complicate matters with meal preparations, but on the other hand it would enable her to keep their unexpected guest under her eye, and ensured that he would stay warm during the cool night hours.

It wasn’t long before they heard the sound of the pony’s slow clopping in the yard. Looking out the window, she saw half a dozen hobbits, three to a side to steady the Man, that he might not slip off to one side or the other, plus Paladin at the pony’s head and two hired hobbits carrying the Man’s pack between them.

‘Whoa, there!’ came her husband’s confident tones.

‘Blankets!’ Pearl cried, hurrying out into the yard with her arms full. ‘Mama says, slip them under him and use them like a litter to bring him in the smial…’

‘A goodly plan!’ Paladin approved. ‘Much easier than trying to gain purchase on his wet clothing, and less likely to drop him. I don’t like the thought of dragging him to his resting place, as we had to drag him up the stream bank.

‘Lay those blankets out, daughter, overlapping – that’s right. Now then, lads, look lively! We’ll just slip him off on the near side, ease him into the middle of Pearl’s “litter”, that’s it… gather round and everyone take hold… and now we’ll take him up, one, two, three!’

With four to a side and one supporting the Man’s head, they soon had him out of the yard and into the kitchen. They eased him to the floor next to the makeshift bed, whereupon Eglantine and Paladin quickly stripped off his soaking clothing. She moved aside so that they could roll him from the damp blanket litter onto the "bed", and then Paladin pulled up the covers, lying handy – two bedsheets that she’d hastily stitched together at the ends, and two blankets that she’d tacked together the same way. She hoped he wouldn’t get tangled in the bedlinens this way, should the fever start him thrashing restlessly.

He lay ominously still, his head dwarfing the pillows, breathing fast and shallow. Eglantine brushed his forehead with the back of her hand – hot! As she’d expected – and let her fingers rest on the pulse point of his throat. His heart was galloping, of course, and even though he wasn't a hobbit, and she wasn't sure how quickly a Man's heart ought to beat, this heartbeat seemed much too fast, in her opinion. All these were signs of high fever. She only hoped he wouldn’t begin to thrash in delirium, or worse, to convulse.

‘Pearl,’ she said, ‘a basin, and cool water, and cloths. We’ll want to keep a cool cloth on his head – I'm sure it should feel as if it were splitting, should he waken, poor fellow. And Dinny,’ to her husband, ‘please, send a hobbit for the healer? I really don’t know how to dose someone so…’

‘…large?’ Paladin finished helpfully. ‘What makes you think Woodruff or Mardi would know?’

‘Well, Woodruff was a healer’s assistant in the South Farthing before she came here, and they have more Men passing through there than in the Tookland,’ Eglantine said. ‘You never know what sorts of odd things she might have seen in those outlandish parts.’

‘And Mardi?’

‘Well, she says she’s taught him nearly all he ought to know. He’ll be finishing his apprenticeship in a few weeks, so he ought to be able to deal with any emergency that’s presented. Or so Woodruff maintains.’

‘I wonder,’ Paladin said, but he nodded to the hovering hobbits, who’d stood back and were watching the Man as if unsure of what they ought to do next. ‘All of you,’ he said. ‘Get some dry clothes on, and then Nod’ – this was the head hobbit – ‘send to Whitwell for the healer. Tell them “high fever” and no more than that. We don’t need the word spreading and crowds coming to look at the novelty of a Man in our kitchen! This is hardly Bag End, after all.’

‘Aye, Dinny,’ Nod said. ‘I’ll go myself, to make sure there’s no loose talk.’ He eyed the other hobbits sternly. ‘And the rest of you, so soon as you’re changed, it’s out to the field again! The hay won’t gather itself!’

There was a general murmur, and soon the kitchen was empty of all but Eglantine, Paladin, and their guest, until Pearl entered. ‘Here’s the cool water, Mama,’ she said.

‘Good,’ Eglantine said. ‘Lay it down here, and then get yourself away. If you’re to take this fever, you’ve likely already laid yourself open to it, but let us not open that door any further than we have.’

She dunked the cloth in the basin, wrung it out, and smoothed it over the hot forehead. Almost immediately the cloth began to warm. ‘I don’t like this,’ she said. ‘I don’t like it at all.’

Paladin bent closer. ‘What else can we do?’ he said.

Eglantine shook her head, plainly worried. ‘I wish I knew,’ she said. ‘I wish old Bilbo were here already. He’s had more to do with Men than most… But then, I don’t know if he’s ever dealt with a feverish Man, or no.’

‘At least he’s got a Man-sized bed in his smial, if he ever does have to deal with one!’ Paladin said. ‘He’s one ahead of us in that.’ He thought a moment. ‘Do you want me to send for him?’

Eglantine considered this. She knew that Paladin had wanted another week of haying before the old hobbit’s visit, but then, the haying might go by the wayside anyhow, what with this unusual and uninvited visitor. If Bilbo could do some good, and they didn’t invite him, but waited until the time set forth for his visit, well, she’d feel terrible!

‘Send him a message, rather,’ she said. ‘Tell him what’s what, give him the choice to come (if he thinks he can help) or to leave young Frodo and come by himself (as he might not want to risk Frodo coming down with fever), or to stay at home until we tell him the fever’s gone.’

Paladin nodded and started out of the kitchen, towards the study, where he kept his writing supplies.

‘Oh!’ Eglantine called after him. ‘And tell him Pip says this Man is an old friend! Perhaps that will help him make up his mind.’

She picked up the already warm cloth and swished it in the water again, wringing it and replacing it on the hot, pale forehead with a sigh, which was echoed by the Man.

‘Feels good, does it, to have the cool cloth?’ she said softly. She shook her head. ‘I wish I knew who you were, and how you came to be here.’

Her forehead creased in a puzzled frown. ‘And how in the world does young Pip know that you’re a friend of old Bilbo’s?’