They were weary. They had been riding for some hours and the sun was again
begginning to rise. Their horses were slow, and their stomachs rumbled, yet
they did not stop. Sam had an overwhelming urge to see what had happened to
his family, and pressed the weary company on. On the 4th night since their
departure they crossed the borders of Bree. Men were coming to and fro,
mingled with hobbits. The black wave had not yet hit them. Sams spirits
rose. HIs eyes lit up, he pressed the horses to go faster. "Sam, we must
stop for the night. I fear for the horses, we woukd be lost should they go
lame" said Frodo, and Sam knew he was right. They left the horses and
Marylyn in the care of the innkeeper whom frodo knew, and set out to find
sams family on foot. The men of bree were tall and broad and stared down on
frodo and sam from their height. The hobbits of bree were also quite broad
but somewhat shorter then frodo and sam who were bth quite tall as hobbits
go. The town was big, and they asked many people if they had heard the name
gamgee in the streets but so far none had. Nearly meal time it was, and
they were both quite hungry, as neither of them had eaten since the
previous day. They returned back to the inn for their meal. "Sam, sam! did
you find them?" Mary asked when she saw them. "no Marylyn, but were not
through looking just yet." They sat down to eat. When they were almost
through the inn keeper, a man called charles bertler, but charlbert to
them, came round to their meal table. "I have a message for you frodo." he
said. "slipped my mind when i ferst saw ye." he said. "Mithrandil passed
through this town some few nights ago, ere he searched for you, He acted
quite oddly you know, said there were terrible things afoot and that he
must find ye. Said that if i saw ye passin through i ought ter tell ye to
make for rivendell. Ere he might await you." "If he knew we had not yet
come here, why didnt he seek us out in hobbiton?" frodo asked, "well that
little sir, i dont know." he said and went about waiting. Frodo suddenly
fet very small in the dining hall of bree. The men were loud and rowdy,
having consumed much the town's pride of ale, and he felt an enormous
releif when his head hit the soft pillows of their hobbit room. Try as he
did sam coulkd not get to sleep. the second he closed his eyes the faces of
his relatives, bruised, bloody and crying to him appeared in his mind.
"Frodo?" "yes sam?" "I dont think we're going to find them." "whys that
sam?" "I just have the feeling their not here. I have the feeling theyre
not anywhere."
The next day they awoke to the rattling of a cart close to their window.
They got dressed, packed their things, and went for breakfast. They ate a
hardy meal of eggs and tomatoes, and loaded the rest of their stuff on to
the horses. They thanked CHarlbert and were on their way, continuing north,
towards the bree town of Tottlewood. They stopped at every cottage they
passed to ask if they had seen or heard of any gamgee but again, none had.
The went slowly this time, none of them talking much. They gazed at the
fields around them, starting to turn brown as autumn began, and the trees
with their colours as clear as red flame, heaving down upon them with every
breath of the wind. Sam remembered everything about his family, his little
cousin posey especially. She had been one of his favorites, and had babysat
her on many occasions. They used to joke together. He used to tell her
tales of a mysterious Tommy toad who lived in his attic and smiled every
time he heard her laugh. She was only 10. What has become of them? he
wondered. will i ever see any of them again? As the last light faded into
purple, they stopped to make camp. They lashed the horses to a nearby
fence, and set up a fire in the shelter of a great tree. They ate, still
speaking very little, and at last drifted off to sleep. The last thought
that Frodo remembered was something Gandalf had said to him. "even in the
gloom of the deepest nights of morder, just around the corner is the sun."
