hobbit

As for the Master he saw there was nothing else for it but to obey the general clamour,
for the moment at any rate, and to pretend to believe that Thorin was what he said. So
he gave up to him his own great chair and set Fili and Kili beside him in places of
honour. Even Bilbo was given a seat at the high table, and no explanation of where he
came in-no songs had alluded to him even in the obscurest way-was asked for in the
general bustle.
Soon afterwards the other dwarves were brought into the town amid scenes of
astonishing enthusiasm. They were all doctored and fed and housed and pampered in
the most delightful and satisfactory fashion. A large house was given up to Thorin and
his company; boats and rowers were put at their service; and crowds sat outside and
sang songs all day, or cheered if any dwarf showed so much as his nose.
Some of the songs were old ones; but some of them were quite new and spoke
confidently of the sudden death of the dragon and of cargoes of rich presents coming
down the river to Lake-town. These were inspired largely by the Master and they did not
particularly please the dwarves, but in the meantime they were well contented and they
quickly grew fat and strong again.
Indeed within a week they were quite recovered, fitted out in fine cloth of their proper
colours, with beards combed and trimmed, and proud steps. Thorin looked and walked
as if his kingdom was already regained and Smaug chopped up into little pieces.
Then, as he had said, the dwarves' good feeling towards the little hobbit grew stronger
every day. There were no more groans or grumbles. They drank his health, and they
patted him on the back, and they made a great fuss of him; which was just as well, for he
was not feeling particularly cheerful. He had not forgotten the look of the Mountain, nor
the thought of the dragon, and he had besides a shocking cold. For three days he
sneezed and coughed, and he could not go out, and even after that his speeches at
banquets were limited to "Thag you very buch."
In the meanwhile the Wood-elves had gone back up the Forest River with their cargoes,
and there was great excitement in the king's palace. I have never heard what happened
to the chief of the guards and the butler. Nothing of course was ever said about keys or
barrels while the dwarves stayed in Lake-town, and Bilbo was careful never to become
invisible. Still, I daresay, more was guessed than was known, though doubtless Mr.
Baggins remained a bit of a mystery. In any case the king knew now the dwarves'
errand, or thought he did, and he said to himself:
"Very well! We'll see! No treasure will come back through Mirkwood without my having
something to say in the matter. But I expect they will all come to a bad end, and serve
them right!" He at any rate did not believe in dwarves fighting and killing dragons like
Smaug, and he strongly suspected attempted burglary or something like it which shows
he was a wise elf and wiser than the men of the town, though not quite right, as we shall
see in the end. He sent out his spies about the shores of the lake and as far northward
towards the Mountains as they would go, and waited.
At the end of a fortnight Thorin began to think of departure. While the enthusiasm still
lasted in the town was the time to get help. It would not do to let everything cool down
with delay. So he spoke to the Master and his councillors and said that soon he and his
company must go on towards the Mountain.
Then for the first time the Master was surprised and a little frightened; and he wondered
if Thorin was after all really a descendant of the old kings.
He had never thought that the dwarves would actually dare to approach Smaug, but
believed they were frauds who would sooner or later be discovered and be turned out.
He was wrong. Thorin, of course, was really the grandson of the King under the
Mountain, and there is no knowing what a dwarf will not dare and do for revenge or the
recovery of his own. But the Master was not sorry at all to let them go. They were