"I thought we had `em to rights," Sam said after he and Frodo had left the Binglebottoms. "He was just the sort for a fancy hanky--and the one he did have was even fancier than that one you've got there! But what did Mr. Ludovic mean by seeing the sights, if it wasn't spying? There's no 'sights' hereabouts but a flat field."
"Yes, that interested me too," Frodo agreed. "I wondered if they'd been trying to peek into the pony-pen, or else that Ludovic was hinting that they'd seen us in the dell. Then Medovic spoke of meeting some 'charming' something-or-other. He didn't finish the sentence, but its ending was easy to guess. I would say that the 'sights' those two were gazing upon were a pair of attractive pony-fancying ladies... or perhaps a pair of gents. At any rate, they weren't climbing trees." The crowd had now assembled along the upper end of the field to watch the first race, which would begin in a few minutes. "There might be a dozen MBs here today, Sam, but I think we'd best keep our attention on the two we know. Both Merry and Marly go to the Bucklebury tailor."
"I don't see Master Merry," said Sam. "But there's your cousin Marly."
Marleduc Brandybuck, a distant cousin of Frodo's and Merry's from the cadet branch of the family, was standing alone in the midst of the crowd and looking a little lost. Frodo and Sam headed toward him.
Marly's expression brightened when he saw them. "Hullo!" he called out. "I say, Frodo! You haven't seen Merry anywhere, have you? He disappeared just after you and Sam did."
"We were just looking for him ourselves. What's the trouble, Marly? You haven't changed your mind about a wager you've just placed, have you? You don't look like a hobbit who hopes to win."
"As a matter of fact, Frodo, I haven't placed any wagers yet. That's just it. I used to come here with my brother Eliduc and friends of ours when we were lads, you know, before I married Celie. I hadn't been back `til today since Eli died. It was kind of Merry to invite me along."
"But this all reminds you of your brother?" asked Frodo.
"Well, yes, it does, but Eliduc wouldn't mind me putting down some money in his memory. It's not that. It's different gambling when you're a respectably married hobbit with a wife and three little children."
Sam, with four little children, nodded sympathetically.
"Celie doesn't mind your gambling?" Frodo asked.
"Goodness, no! If she did, she would've said so before we went off. But when I saw Milo getting ready for the races, I couldn't help thinking how much trouble he got into before his luck changed for the better." Marly lowered his voice. "I'm not confident about that new pony of his, Frodo, and I'd say he isn't as sure of its winning either. If I wager on it simply out of family feeling, I might lose more than I want to. It could spoil the whole day. You'll say I'm being silly. Merry surely would."
"You don't have to place a large wager out of family feeling, Marly."
"What if there's another pony I favor?"
"Then put your money on it if you'd rather. Milo needn't ever know," Frodo assured him. "We won't carry tales."
"Which pony is it?" Sam asked.
"The one that belongs to Milo's friend, Mrs. Broombindle. Her daughter is certainly the lightest rider on the course today!"
"Then even if Milo does find out, he won't feel betrayed." But even as he encouraged Marly to bet as he liked, Frodo wondered what had cast Marly into such doubt in the first place. Had the two spoken while Milo was preparing his new pony in the pen, or had Marly uncovered some worrisome information elsewhere? What if Marly had gone up the oak tree to gain a better view of the area while searching for Merry, and instead seen something regarding Milo's pony that alarmed him? Could he have perhaps overheard Myrtle Broombindle and Mosco fixing up the race between themselves? If the young boy was so besotted with the older girl, he might agree to hold his pony back and let her win.
While Frodo was developing another ruse to find out if Marly had lost his handkerchief, Merry appeared from the cover of the trees along the river. He moved swiftly across the field in their general direction but he had an odd expression on his face and his thoughts seemed miles away; he didn't notice them until Marly hailed him.
At the sound of his name, Merry stopped in his tracks and turned to find his cousins and Sam. "Oh hullo, Marly. Why, Frodo--I didn't expect to see you again 'til the end of the day, after you dragged Sam off to goodness-knows-where. There's a lot of that sort of thing going on today."
"What sort of thing, Merry?"
"People dashing off into shrubbery and such-like. I thought we'd come to the Bridgefields to watch the races. At least, that what I came for. I couldn't say about anyone else."
Frodo didn't know what to make of these catty remarks. Merry had been as cheerful as his name during their ride up from Brandy Hall yesterday, and he'd been in a good mood when they'd parted less than an hour ago. But he wasn't happy now. Something had changed and Frodo didn't know what it could be, until he saw Pippin walking more slowly toward them from the same direction Merry had just come, accompanied by his North-Took cousin and betrothed, Diantha.
"Pip!" Frodo gave him a hug. "I didn't know you were back!" Pippin had been visiting his family in Tuckborough for the past month.
"I'm not," answered Pippin. "I mean, I haven't set foot in Buckland yet. I came up Stock-way and went straight to the river to wait for Di. You remember Di?"
"Yes, of course." Frodo gave her a polite bow. Diantha Took, a slight girl with red hair and freckles, was dressed in her usual boyish jacket and trousers and might easily be taken for a boy by anyone who didn't know her. Frodo noticed that the lower ends of her trousers were wet and her feet showed traces of mud. So did Pippin's.
"Miss Took," Sam added with a more wary form of courtesy; he believed the girl to be one of the worst mischief-makers in the Shire, and she and Pippin only encouraged each other.
"You came down the Brandywine all by yourself, Miss Took?" Marly asked her, surprised.
"All the way from Griddleford!" Di responded with a distinct note of pride. "I never rowed a boat before, but it was downstream so I only had to take care not to fall out into the water or run ashore before I wanted to. The hardest part was getting around that big island in the midst of the river and steering my way over from the Buckland side to this one before I went too far. Only think--I might've been swept all the way down and out of the Shire! But Pip wrote and told me to pull up on the shore before I got to the Bridge," she added. "He was standing right there and waving his arms, so I knew just where to stop."
"Griddleford," Frodo repeated the name of the village. "So you've been visiting your cousin." After Diantha's cousin Diamond had run away to marry Isigo Pumble last winter, Merry had hired Isigo as his land-agent for the northern part of Buckland and provided the newlyweds with a cottage at Griddleford, which was on the opposite bank of the Brandywine just north of Gridley Island.
"That's right! She's expecting now, for true this time--did you know? She says she'll have her baby just after midwinter. Her parents were furious when they heard," Di reported cheerfully. "They see now how she lied about having a baby before so she could get married, so they know they were tricked! But they can't do anything about it now. They aren't happy about me and Pippin either. Auntie Di was positively fuming when I told `em my news, and she and Diamond's mother still look like they want to be sick whenever they think about it. Poppa's delighted. He never thought he'd get me off his hands. I don't have the heart to tell him that it isn't a proper betrothal, only a favor to a friend. He wouldn't understand, and it'd spoil the fun of seeing the other Tooks so angry about it."
"Mother too," Pippin added in the same tone of gleeful relish. "You know how she feels about Di--the last girl in the world she wants to see me matched to! But Father says he's pleased and so do my sisters. It'd be a shame to explain things to them."
Diantha Took had agreed to betroth herself to Pippin to help him out; their alliance prevented the Tooks from trying to make other matches for him, as they'd tried do with her cousin Diamond. Since Di was as indifferent to boys as Pippin was to girls, their proposed marriage, if it ever came off, would be in name only.
"Now that you're here, are either of you going to place any wagers?" Merry asked impatiently. "There isn't much time before the first race."
"I've never gambled on how fast a pony could run before. I usually ride mine as fast as I can by myself." Diantha turned eagerly to Pippin. "What do I do? How do I pick out a good one?"
"Oh, that's easy. We always wager on our cousin Milo Burrows's pony."
"Is it the fastest?"
"Well, it usually wins. Come along--we'll put some money on Candlestick in this first race and maybe I can introduce you to Milo before it starts. And there's a friend of ours, a girl who rides in the races..."
The two went off together in search of a broker to take their wager. Marly made up his mind and followed, presumably to bet against family feeling. In spite of his remarks about what they were supposed to be here for, Merry showed no inclination to place a wager himself but, when he saw Milo and his sons taking Candlestick to the starting post, went over to them. Myrtle Broombindle and her mother had already joined the other racers at the starting post.
"Are we going to go watch the race?" Sam asked Frodo.
"You can if you want to," Frodo replied distractedly. After speaking to Merry and Pippin, a new idea had occurred to him. "I'd rather go and have a look at the view from that oak for myself, Sam, and see what can be seen."
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