After escaping the vast tunnels of the Misty Mountains, a fierce game of riddles with Gollum, with goblins in hot pursuit Bilbo found himself alone in wooded area. He discovered he had come out the other side but there was no sign of his friends. He began to move forward but resolved to go back and search for his friends in the mountain when he heard voices. He still had the Ring on and as he slipped quietly forward he found himself directly in front of Balin, the lookout, who could not see Bilbo though he stared directly at him.
Bilbo decided to listen in on the conversation and discovered Gandalf was trying to convince the Dwarves to go back and look for the hobbit. "'After all he is my friend,' said the wizard, 'and not a bad little chap. I feel responsible for him. I wish to goodness you had not lost him'" (p. 102, The Hobbit). The Dwarves, on the other hand, were wondering why Bilbo had come at all as he had proved much more trouble than his worth. "Gandalf answered angrily: 'I brought him, and I don't bring things that are of no use'" (p. 103, The Hobbit) and the Wizard proceeded to ask Dori why he dropped Bilbo. Of course, with all the chaos and fighting goblins it was easy to lose a hobbit.
Dori was recounting the events, nearly losing his head by the wild swings of Gandalf and Thorin's swords, when Gandalf called for them to run. Ultimately Dori tried to place the blame of the disappearance on the burglar himself. "'And here's the burglar!' said Bilbo stepping down into the middle of them, and slipping off the ring" (p. 103, The Hobbit). Of course, this surprised everyone, including Gandalf. However, their respect for Bilbo as a burglar went up a great deal because of that. Poor Balin could not explain how he'd missed him when on lookout--Gandalf, for one, was not pleased by that. "He called to Balin and told him what he thought of a lookout man who let people walk right into them like that without warning" (p. 103, The Hobbit).
They all were very interested in Bilbo's tale of how he had escaped and Bilbo, being pleased with himself, happily obliged. Of course he did leave out one rather big detail: the finding of the Ring. Even so the Dwarves and Gandalf were taken by his tale of riddles in the dark, jumping over Gollum, elluding the goblin guards, and sneaking into their camp. And yet, Gandalf gave the hobbit a strange glance that led Bilbo to believe the Wizard hadn't quite believed his tale or at least guessed he'd left out some major points. But now it was Gandalf's turn to explain how he had rescued the Dwarves from their goblin tormentors and he happily obliged as well (apparently pleased with his own work).
After a short rest Gandalf ushered the company to move on knowing that once night fell the goblins would be out in force hunting them down. Goblins were excellent trackers so the only hope was to be far, far away. Everyone was tired and hungry, it had been several days since they ate and all their supplies were gone but Gandalf kept them moving. They passed over barren (as in no food) and treacherous (as in landslide) terrain and eventually made their way to an opening in the woods where no trees grew. "Somehow it struck all of them as not a nice place, although there was nothing wrong to see" (p. 109, The Hobbit).
That's when the howling started. It seemed they had stumbled upon a wolf-gathering spot and wolves were indeed gathering that particular night. Bilbo was beside himself, never actually seeing a wolf before but hearing all sorts of nasty tales about the. "'What shall we do, what shall we do!' he cried. "Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!' he said, and it became a proverb, though we now say 'out of the frying-pan into the fire' in the same sort of uncomfortable situations" (p. 109, The Hobbit). There really was nothing to do, with the wolves coming closer, other than climb the surrounding trees. Once again Bilbo was left behind and Dori, in the nick of time, climbed out of his tree and helped Bilbo up just as the wolves came snapping and snarling!
Hundreds of wolves, actually more commonly referred to as Wargs since these were evil wolves, came to the meeting place and they sniffed out every tree the company was hiding in and set guards. A great grey Warg began speaking in the their language and fortunately Gandalf could understand. In essence the Wargs were in league with the goblins who were coming to meet and attack some villages of Men. Thinking the company spies of the men they had no intention of letting escape. There was not much Gandalf could do being stuck in a tree but he was not the type to do nothing.
"He gathered the huge pine-cones from the branches of his tree. Then he set one alight with bright blue fire, and threw it whizzing down among the circle of the wolves. It struck one on the back, and immediately his shaggy coat caught fire, and he was leaping to and fro yelping horribly. Then another came, and another, one in blue flames, one in red, another in green. They burst on the ground in the middle of the circle and went off in coloured sparks and smokes" (p. 113, The Hobbit). A good thing Gandalf has skill with fire and light! If one of those sparks caught the hide of a Warg it was not long before the creature was up in flames. Bilbo and the Dwarves cheered as the Wargs were in a state of fright.
All of the commotion caught the attention of the Eagles. The Lord of the Eagles along with some of his people went to investigate. They did not love goblins and often swooped in to stave off any mischief; they thought the fire may have been goblin mischief. For indeed, being late summer and very dry, fire was now burning in several places as the goblins arrived on the scene. Once they understood what was happening they controlled the fire putting it out in some places and diverting it toward the trees. Gandalf and company were stuck in. The goblins began several nasty songs all about roasting the Dwarves alive and things were not looking good. Gandalf was just about to jump from his tree in attempt to take as many goblins with him as he could when the Eagles swooped down and plucked him away. The goblins were terribly surprised and disappointed.
The rest of the Eagles swooped around and picked up the Dwarves. Bilbo had to grab onto Dori's ankles otherwise he would have been forgotten and went for a dreadful ride to the Eagle's eryrie; especially since he was not fond of heights. Once settled high in the mountains they were all gathered before the Lord of the Eagles whom Gandalf was speaking. "As a matter of fact Gandalf, who had often been in the mountains, had once rendered a service to the eagles and healed their lord from an arrow-wound" (p. 120, The Hobbit). The Lord of the Eagles offered to take the company onward but not as far as Gandalf wished for that was near the dwellings of Men and they often shot arrows at the Eagles for fear of losing their sheep to them. Before they left the tired and hungry Dwarves, along with the Wizard and Hobbit, were brought much food and given a well-deserved night of rest.
Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 2941 (summer)
Today's reading comes from: The Hobbit, pages 101-121
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