return

1324 the return of the king
thieving: not above a mile from the end of Bywater. But he
comes around to me, when he gets a chance, and I see he’s
better fed than some of the poor bodies. All against The Rules,
of course. I’d have had him with me, but that wasn’t allowed.’
‘Thank’ee indeed, Mr. Cotton, and I’ll never forget it,’ said
Sam. ‘But I want to see him. That Boss and that Sharkey, as
they spoke of, they might do a mischief up there before the
morning.’
‘All right, Sam,’ said Cotton. ‘Choose a lad or two, and
go and fetch him to my house. You’ll not have need to go
near the old Hobbiton village over Water. My Jolly here will
show you.’
Sam went off. Merry arranged for look-outs round the
village and guards at the barriers during the night. Then
he and Frodo went off with Farmer Cotton. They sat with
the family in the warm kitchen, and the Cottons asked a few
polite questions about their travels, but hardly listened to the
answers: they were far more concerned with events in the
Shire.
‘It all began with Pimple, as we call him,’ said Farmer
Cotton; ‘and it began as soon as you’d gone off, Mr. Frodo.
He’d funny ideas, had Pimple. Seems he wanted to own
everything himself, and then order other folk about. It soon
came out that he already did own a sight more than was good
for him; and he was always grabbing more, though where he
got the money was a mystery: mills and malt-houses and
inns, and farms, and leaf-plantations. He’d already bought
Sandyman’s mill before he came to Bag End, seemingly.
‘Of course he started with a lot of property in the Southfarthing
which he had from his dad; and it seems he’d been
selling a lot o’ the best leaf, and sending it away quietly for a
year or two. But at the end o’ last year he began sending
away loads of stuff, not only leaf. Things began to get short,
and winter coming on, too. Folk got angry, but he had his
answer. A lot of Men, ruffians mostly, came with great waggons,
some to carry off the goods south-away, and others to