The Hobbit JR Tolkien - Mr Collins

when they asked him how he did it, hesaid: “Oh, just crept along, you know—very carefully and quietly.”“Well, it is the first time that even amouse has crept along carefully andquietly under my very nose and not beenspotted,” said Balin, “and I take off myhood to you.” Which he did.“Balin at your service,” said he.“Your servant, Mr. Baggins,” saidBilbo.Then they wanted to know all about hisadventures after they had lost him, and hesat down and told them everything—except about the finding of the ring (“notjust now” he thought). They wereparticularly interested in the riddlecompetition,and shuddered mostappreciatively at his description of