THE HOBBIT Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Barrel Rider
Poor Mr. Baggins! He lived for a very long time in those caves. He was all alone, and he was always hiding. He did not take off his ring, not for a single moment. He slept in remote corners of the caves so the Elves would not find him. He was lonely and miserable.
Sometimes the Elves would leave the palace to hunt in the forest. Bilbo followed them from time to time, but it was a dangerous thing to do. When he was outside the gates, he realized there was nothing he could do! He did not know where he was, and he did not want to get lost in the forest. Most of all, he did not want to abandon the Dwarves. So he stayed in the Elf caves.
He was hungry most of the time. He was invisible, so he was able to steal food and drink when possible. But he was afraid the Elves would discover him. “I am like a burglar who can’t escape. I am forced to burgle the same house day after day,” he thought. “This is the most tedious part of this uncomfortable adventure!”
Bilbo was alone and scared, but he did not spend his time in the caves doing nothing. He was diligent, and soon he knew his way around the caves very well! He watched the guards, and he watched their movements. And finally, after about two weeks, Bilbo managed to discover where each of the Dwarves was kept. He found all of their cells in different parts of the palace.
Thorin was the last Dwarf Bilbo found. He was in a cell deep under the ground. When Bilbo found him, Thorin was desperate. He had lost all hope, and he was going to tell the Elf king everything about their journey. Until he heard Bilbo’s little voice in the keyhole! “Thorin! At last, I have found you!”
They talked for a long time. And soon, Thorin decided not to reveal anything to the Elf king. “I will never share my treasure with these Elves!“ said Thorin angrily. “Tell the other Dwarves, my dear Burglar Baggins, that they should not lose hope. I am sure you will find a way to break us out of these Elvish prison cells!”
Bilbo did what he was told - he talked to all of the Dwarves about Thorin’s decision. They agreed with Thorin about two things: one, that they would never share their portions of the treasure with any Elf! And two, that Bilbo would certainly find a way for all of them to escape. But Bilbo himself was not so sure!
So Bilbo sat and thought and thought, until his head was hurting. But he could not think of any great ideas. He had one invisible ring for himself, which was a wonderful thing. But it was not helpful for all fourteen of them. But of course, as you can imagine, Bilbo did rescue his friends in the end. And this is how it happened:
One day, while he was wandering through the caves, Bilbo discovered that the front gates were not the only entrance to the caves. There was a stream that flowed in the deepest part of the palace. The stream left the palace, and before it flowed into the principal Forest River, there was a watergate!
The gate was often open, because there was a lot of traffic and trade that went in and out through the watergate. The Elf king’s cellars were above the watergate. There the Elf king kept all his food and drink. Especially - wine! Barrels and barrels full of wine, food, fish and other supplies from Laketown, the town of men on the Long Lake near the eastern border of Mirkwood.
Laketown was a town that was built on bridges and piers on top of the water on Long Lake. It was built over the water to protect the men from all types of enemies - especially against the dragon of the Lonely Mountain.
The barrels from Laketown were tied together like big rafts and pushed up the river to the Elf king’s palace. When the barrels were empty, the Elves pushed them through trap-doors in the floor of the cellar. The barrels would fall into the stream. The Elves would then open the watergate and the empty barrels would flow along the river back to Laketown. Bilbo thought a lot about the watergate. And he thought a lot about the barrels. And soon, he had the beginning of a desperate plan!
One day, Bilbo discovered something important! The Elf guards were talking about a feast that the Elf king was going to have that night in the palace. “Come with me,” said one guard to another, “I will show you the new barrels of fine wine and delicious food that have arrived from Laketown. We can try some before the king drinks all the wine during the feast.”
An unusual kind of luck was with Bilbo that night. The guards went down into the cellars, with Bilbo close behind them. There, stacked one on top of the other, were dozens and dozens of barrels, full of food and wine for the feast. The Elf king’s guards were not supposed to drink this fine wine, but these guards were friends with the cellar guard. And soon they were all very drunk from the king’s fine wine!
Before long, both the king’s guards and the cellar guard were sleeping at the table. The king’s wine was really a very good, strong wine! This was Bilbo’s chance! In perfect Hobbit silence, Bilbo approached the sleeping guard, and soon he was without his prison keys! What an amazing display of Hobbit burglary!
One by one, Bilbo unlocked all the Dwarves from their prison cells. The last to be freed was Thorin. “Gandalf was right, after all!” cried Thorin. “There is no better burglar in all of Middle Earth! But what do we do now?” Bilbo saw that now was the time to explain his desperate plan. The Dwarves did not like his plan at all. They grumbled and complained, even though there was no other hope for them.
“We will be hurt!” cried some of the Dwarves. “We will all drown in the river!” cried others. Bilbo was very frustrated. “If that is how you will thank me, then come with me,” he said, “and I will return you to your cells in the Elf king’s dungeon!” The Dwarves calmed down considerably after Bilbo said those words to them. They were ready to listen now.
Bilbo and the Dwarves had to act quickly, before the king’s men came to get the food and wine. Bilbo led the Dwarves down to the cellars. And there, still snoring at the table, were the Elf guards. “No time now, my good Dwarves!” said Bilbo. “Into the barrels, as fast as you can!”
Bilbo really was a good Hobbit. Before he put the Dwarves into the barrels, he returned the prison keys back to the prison guard. “That will protect him from some of the trouble he will be in tomorrow,” thought Mr. Baggins. “That guard was a good Elf, after all. And he was very decent to my friends, the Dwarves.”
One by one, Bilbo helped the Dwarves climb into the barrels. These barrels were the ones to be returned that night to Laketown. Finally, after some complaining and grumbling, all the Dwarves were packed into barrels like sardines at the market. Thorin, of course, complained the most - his barrel was, in fact, a barrel full of sardines! Oh, the smell!!!
Only a moment after the last Dwarf was in his barrel, the king’s men came to the cellar to push the barrels into the stream, and off to Laketown. They saw the sleeping Elves and laughed at them. “Here they are!” they yelled. “This is why we did not see them at the feast! Come on, wake up! Help us push the barrels into the stream!”
They all laughed and drank one more cup of the king’s fine wine. Then they opened the trap-door and started rolling the barrels down into the cold water below. It was at that moment that Bilbo realized the weak point in his plan. Of course, he was not in a barrel himself!
Soon there would not be any barrels left! The Elves were rolling them through the trap-door and down into the stream. Now the very last barrel was being rolled through the trap-doors! In a desperate move, and not knowing what else to do, poor little Bilbo grabbed the barrel just as it was being pushed through the trap-door! Splash! Bilbo fell into the cold stream below, with the barrel on top of him!
Bilbo did not know how to swim - in fact, most Hobbits do not know how to swim. They do not love the water. But Bilbo did not let go of the barrel! He tried to climb up onto the barrel, but every time he tried, the barrel rolled over and pushed him back into the water. His mouth was full of water, his eyes were full of water and his ears were full of water.
Then suddenly, it became very dark. The Elves had closed the trap-doors! Bilbo was holding on desperately to his barrel in the icy water, all alone. He was all alone because you cannot count thirteen Dwarves packed in barrels as your friends in times like these. Soon, he heard the watergate open and he could see the light of day, and the light of freedom.
One by one, the barrels passed through the watergate and into the Forest River. Bilbo and the Dwarves were free! Once again, luck was with our Mr. Baggins. The barrels began to collect in a curve of the river. There, men from Long Lake were waiting. They tied the barrels together, like large rafts, and began pushing them down the river again. Bilbo was able to climb onto the top of his barrel. The wind was cold, but he preferred the cold wind to the icy water.
Finally, as night came, after many hours of bobbing and rolling and swaying on top of the raft of barrels, Bilbo and the Dwarves arrived at Long Lake. There the men of Laketown pushed the barrels to the shore. The next day they would bring them to the town and empty them, then fill them up again and return them to the Elf king’s palace.
Bilbo, wet and cold, managed to climb off the raft of barrels and find a safe place to sleep for the night. His magic ring made him invisible, but the lake men could easily see his wet footprints! He began to sneeze in loud Hobbit sneezes! Soon, the men protecting the barrels were in a great commotion! But he was able to escape into the woods and sleep behind a tree for the night.
He woke up with the gray morning, and a loud sneeze! He walked silently towards the lake. He was just in time! The lake men were pushing the barrels - with the Dwarves still inside - into the river. At the last moment, Bilbo ran and jumped onto the barrel raft! He had escaped! Scared and anxious for his friends, Bilbo rode the barrels towards Laketown.
