Chapter 12. Lives

A short silence fell, and then Faramir leaned forward. ‘You said,’ he began slowly, thinking through his question, ‘I know we were talking about how Tooks crept out of Tookland to gather information for the Thain, but no one ever talked about where they went or who they talked to...?’

‘That’s right,’ Regi said. ‘That way, if one were captured and questioned, no matter how they pressed him, he couldn’t betray anyone else to Lotho, except perhaps – should the questioning be so severe he could not resist giving answers –’ Farry found himself blinking a little at the thought, but the other hobbits in the room were nodding grimly. Every one of the Tooks there knew from personal experience that Men were capable not only of great deeds but also dreadful doings. Even Faramir.

‘He could only betray the hobbits he visited, who had collected the information he sought,’ the lad said at last, a question in his voice.

‘That’s right, Farry,’ Regi confirmed. ‘That policy of Paladin’s probably saved a few hobbits a great deal of trouble, and perhaps even their lives, for some Tooks were taken in their forays outside of the Tookland, and the hobbits they’d talked to were marched to the Lockholes. As time went on, the ruffians' treatment grew worse, and they began to beat their prisoners.’ He smiled without humour. ‘Including a Shirriff who’d enthusiastically thrown in his lot with Lotho and done immeasurable harm up to that point. Gordibald, when they’d mistreated him long enough, threw them his name as you’d throw a bone to an attacking dog, and to his relief and shame, they took it.’

‘It wasn’t true?’ Farry said, incredulous. ‘He named an innocent hobbit to the ruffians?’

‘Hardly innocent,’ Tolly said, but his tone was troubled, and another short silence fell as they all pondered the irony of a hobbit being punished for his deeds by those he’d benefitted with his performance of those same deeds.

‘Some escaped, thankfully, before they could be questioned,’ Ferdi said. ‘And in my case, they were so pleased to have captured the Fox, they thought only of finishing me before I could slip out of their hands, and so they did not question me – and that mistake on their part, I’m glad to say, kept Rosie safe, and her family with her.’

‘Thain Paladin, who never left Tuckborough during the Troubles, was the only one who had the whole plan in his head, all the names and places and strategies. Not even I knew the half of what went into Tookland’s defences,’ Regi said. ‘For I travelled about, inside the borders, but the ruffians were always testing the traps, and there was always a small chance I might be captured. Thus,’ he said, ‘I knew which of our people were stealing out of the Tookland, but for the most part I had no idea where they were sent, or who they talked to.’

‘We talked to the Thain alone on our return,’ Ferdi assented, ‘and he used what we told him to formulate his plans going forwards.’

‘And glad I was to see any of you return,’ Regi said, shaking his head in remembrance. ‘It was never a sure thing.’

But Farry had seized on another idea. ‘Traps, you said,’ he murmured. ‘Testing the traps. What traps?’

Regi smiled faintly. ‘We hadn’t the resources to build habitations and plough new fields and dig new wells during the Troubles,’ he said obliquely, and at Farry’s blank look, he winked and added, ‘we kept the engineers plenty busy contriving ways to keep the ruffians from crossing the borders.’

‘All around the borderlands,’ Ferdi agreed.

Pippin sat up suddenly. ‘I remember!’ he said. ‘You told me it was fortunate I ran into you, when I rode from Bywater to Tuckborough across the fields, to bring back an army of Tooks and drive out the ruffians for good! You said something about laying traps, and that I’d never get past them without a guide.’ He turned to Regi. ‘As a matter of fact, I seem to remember you saying that Ferdi was quite brilliant in laying traps for unwelcome guests, and so the Sackville-Bagginses hadn’t come for tea with the Thain and Mistress in quite a while!’

The laughter that arose was welcome in the midst of such a grim discussion, and when it died down, the mood seemed lighter. ‘So what were the traps?’ Farry asked again.

‘Well,’ Ferdi said, and looked from Hilly to Tolly. ‘Every hunter worth his salt knows how to set a snare...’

‘The principle’s the same, whatever the size of the game,’ Tolly quoted, ending in another hearty laugh. 

There ensued a discussion of snares and trip-wires and loops and bent-sapling traps. ‘Of course, it all required ongoing maintenance,’ Ferdi said. ‘For example, a young tree, bent for too long a time, will lose its ability to spring upright again, so those traps had to be refashioned every few days.’

‘And the other traps had to be moved, lest the ruffians learn to avoid them,’ Hilly added. ‘And we had to make sure the caps on the pits remained covered with leaves, or grass, and that no larger animals had blundered into them. Though the deer and other animals never did; they seemed much wiser than the ruffians we caught.’

‘Pits?’ Farry said, intrigued. He was next entertained by an account of all the well-diggers in the Tookland being employed to dig and reinforce dry-wells (‘Well, they were supposed to be dry, anyhow,’ Regi said) that were twice the height of a ruffian in depth, and a little more than a ruffian’s height in width, with walls too smooth to climb. These were covered with a lattice of woven willow, which was concealed under a covering of leaves (in the woods) or thin, grassy sod (in open land).

‘Wouldn’t it be awkward if a hobbit fell in?’ Farry said. ‘Or did you know where all the traps were?’

‘No one could know where all the traps were,’ Hilly said. ‘But those of us skulking about the borderlands, watching for encroaching ruffians, were also responsible to set up the movable traps and make sure the pits were covered, so we had a better idea of where they all were than those benighted ruffians ever did.’

‘And the design of the pits allowed for a hobbit’s weight, but not that of a Man,’ Regi said. ‘Quite brilliant, actually. Hobbits running from a pursuer could lead him into a trap; they could run quite safely over a pit, with the cap springing under his feet, but holding his weight, but then it would splinter under the weight of the ruffian, dumping him into the pit – where he’d stay until his fellows could rescue him.’ He laughed. ‘Eventually, they learned to carry ropes with them.’

‘Eventually,’ Tolly said with a grin. ‘At least, we never found any remains of Men in the pits when we filled them all in again.’

‘Filled them in again?’ Farry said.

Tolly laughed. ‘O aye!’ he said. ‘You didn’t think we’d leave the traps to mar the land after hobbits drove the ruffians out of the Shire, did you?’

‘As it was, the Tooks took their traps down too soon,’ Regi said. ‘We might have left them a little longer, and avoided some of the troubles that lingered.’

‘I remember,’ Pippin said. ‘Merry and I spent some time chasing ruffians all over, including in the Tookland, as we scoured them out of the Shire.’

‘Like the ones who attacked the farm where Aunty Tilly was hiding?’ Farry said, remembering a story he’d heard told more than once in Buckland. Ferdi had gone out to gather information, but he’d brought back much more, one trip: Estella Bolger, seeking refuge from Lotho’s determination to have her for his own. Because of the urgent nature of the news he was bringing the Thain, he’d left her with a farm family in the wild Green Hills, disguised as a half-grown lad, and there she had stayed until the Troubles were ended.

‘Any road, the pits were filled in, those that didn’t fill with water, anyhow, and the ones that did fill with water, the well-builders constructed a stone surround and roof for each, along with a bucket, rope and crank,’ Regi said.

Ferdi added, ‘And you can see those wells still standing today, in the middle of nowhere (for as you know, Farry, the borders of the Tookland run through some of the wildest country in the Shire as well as roads and farm fields and settlements). Even to this day, they’re there to provide a cool, fresh drink to any hunter or forester who might pass through the area. I do believe the Mayor oversees them, does he not?’

Pippin nodded. ‘His Shirriffs keep an eye on the wells and let him know when a well is in need of repair – a rotted rope, a damaged bucket, roof needing repair, and such. Samwise has told me about it – he’s bemused at the idea of maintaining wells in the wildest parts of the Shire, though he also says, considering the times he wished for water in his travels, he won’t begrudge other travellers who are seeking to quench their thirst.’

‘I should like to see one of these wells,’ Farry said after another short silence. ‘I’d like to look down those smooth walls, all the way down to the water, and imagine how it was when Tooks were keeping the borders. And draw a bucket of fresh water, and drink a toast to the memory of their deeds.’

‘Perhaps I can take you into the wild country to see one,’ Pippin said, ‘next half-holiday, or if I can get away before that.’

‘You, Pip?’ Hilly said boldly. ‘Shirking your duties? You know that half-holidays almost invariably involve some speech or other on the part of the Thain to open the celebration!’

‘Perhaps I can ask the Mayor to open such a celebration for me,’ Pippin said mildly. ‘That’s part of the business of being Mayor, after all. And then I can slip away, and...’

‘And how would you know to find a well in the middle of the wild Green Hills, any road?’ Ferdi challenged, rearing back in his chair and fixing a gimlet eye on his young, sometimes-impetuous cousin. All they needed was for the Thain to lose himself, with his son, in trackless territory, spurring a massive Muster and hunt for them. And hopefully they’d be found before they starved to death, or worse.

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