hobbit

maddening. I could eat anything in the wide world now, for hours on end-but not an
apple!"
With the willing help of Fili and Kili, Thorin and Bilbo at last discovered the remainder of
the company and got them out. Poor fat Bombur was asleep or senseless; Dori, Nori,
Ori, Oin and Gloin were waterlogged and seemed only half alive; they all had to be
carried one by one and laid helpless on the shore.
"Well! Here we are!" said Thorin. "And I suppose we ought to thank our stars and Mr.
Baggins. I am sure he has a right to expect it, though I wish he could have arranged a
more comfortable journey. Still-all very much at your service once more, Mr. Baggins. No
doubt we shall feel properly grateful, when we are fed and recovered. In the meanwhile
what next?"
"I suggest Lake-town," said Bilbo, "What else is there?" Nothing else could, of course, be
suggested; so leaving the others Thorin and Fili and Kili and the hobbit went along the
shore to the great bridge. There were guards at the head of it, but they were not keeping
very careful watch, for it was so long since there had been any real need. Except for
occasional squabbles about river-tolls they were friends with the Wood-elves. Other folk
were far away; and some of the younger people in the town openly doubted the
existence of any dragon in the mountain, and laughed at the greybeards and gammers
who said that they had seen him flying in the sky in their young days. That being so it is
not surprising that the guards were drinking and laughing by a fire in their hut, and did
not hear the noise of the unpacking of the dwarves or the footsteps of the four scouts.
Their astonishment was enormous when Thorin Oakenshield stepped in through the
door.
"Who are you and what do you want?" they shouted leaping to their feet and gipping for
weapons.
"Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!" said the dwarf in a loud
voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gold gleamed
on his neck and waist: his eyes were dark and deep. "I have come back. I wish to see
the Master of your town!"
Then there was tremendous excitement. Some of the more foolish ran out of the hut as if
they expected the Mountain to go golden in the night and all the waters of the lake to
turn yellow right away. The captain of the guard came forward.
"And who are these?" he asked, pointing to Fili and: Kili and Bilbo.
"The sons of my father's daughter," answered Thorin, "Fili and Kili of the race of Durin,
and Mr. Baggins who has travelled with us out of the West."
"If you come in peace lay down your arms!" said the captain.
"We have none," said Thorin, and it was true enough: their knives had been taken from
them by the wood-elves, and the great sword Orcrist too. Bilbo had his short sword,
hidden as usual, but he said nothing about that. "We have no need of weapons, who
return at last to our own as spoken of old. Nor could we fight against so many. Take us
to your master!"
"He is at feast," said the captain.
"Then all the more reason for taking us to him," burst in Fili, who was getting impatient at
these solemnities. "We are worn and famished after our long road and we have sick
comrades. Now make haste and let us have no more words, or your master may have
something to say to you."
"Follow me then," said the captain, and with six men about them he led them over the
bridge through the gates and into the market-place of the town.
This was a wide circle of quiet water surrounded by the tall piles on which were built the
greater houses, and by long wooden quays with many steps and ladders going down to
the surface of the lake. From one great hall shone many lights and there came the