In Tatters by Kathryn Ramage

The music and dancing stopped abruptly, and there was suddenly a great deal of commotion as everyone on the Green and around it rushed toward the far side of the mill, where the Rushock stream fed into the Bywater Pool, and the great millwheel turned. Beyond lay a path that ran along the edge of the Pool.

It was too dark and the crowd was too great to see much, but Frodo could hear someone splashing in the water, and over the multitude of excited voices, a girl was yelping, "Oh, help him! Help him afore he drowns!"

He pressed on through the crowd and reached the millwheel in time to see a trio of hobbits half-carrying a soaking wet and bedraggled figure swiftly away toward the Inn with shouts for blankets and hot brandy.

"What's happened? Who was that?" A dozen other people were also asking these same questions but, to his surprise, Frodo received an answer.

"It's Hastred Sandyman, Mr. Baggins, the miller's cousin. Someone pushed him into the Pool."

He turned to find a large and heavy-set hobbit standing behind him. The top half of the hobbit's head was covered by a pointed knit cap pulled down to his nose, but Frodo recognized the voice as that of Robin Smallburrows, the local sherriff and a friend of Sam's.

"Is he all right, Sherriff?" Frodo asked.

"Looked like a drowned rat when they pulled 'm out of the water, but I expect he'll be fine once he's dried off and warmed up a bit," Robin said with complacent good humor as he pulled the cap off his head. "That water's awful cold this time of year."

"Do you know how it happened?"

"All I got out of Miss Laurel Deeproot, who was with him, is that somebody was hiding in the bushes along the path and pushed him in. She didn't see who." Robin lowered his voice, for there were a number of people around them, eager for news. "But I'm wondering if she mightn't've done it herself. It's my idea Hasty took a liberty with the girl, more'n she wanted, and she gave him a shove--not meaning to send him into the Pool, I'd say, seeing the state she's in. If that's so, a dunking's just what he deserved..." Which explained to Frodo why Robin did not seem alarmed by the incident, "but as she says there was somebody else, I'll have to look into it."

"May I speak to her?" Frodo requested.

Robin shook his head apologetically. "Not just now. Her brother's seeing her home."

"Could he-?"

"Oh, he might've done it if he'd known what Hasty was about with his sister, but I think he'd say so right out if that was so. Nobody'd blame him. I was just going after Hasty to hear his side of it. As I see you've taken an interest, whyn't come with me, Mr. Baggins--and you too, Sam?" Frodo had lost sight of his friends in the crowd, but Sam came up to join them at this moment. Robin frowned, somewhat puzzled as he looked over his friend's costume.

Frodo looked around quickly, but saw no sign of Merry and Pippin. He accepted the sherriff's offer, and he and Sam accompanied Robin across the Green to the Ivy Bush Inn.




Hastred Sandyman sat shivering under blankets before the roaring fire in the Inn's common-room. A puddle of muddy water had formed on the floor beneath his chair. His cousin Ted sat beside him, pouring mugs of hot brandy down Hastred's throat, while the trio of rescuers were at the bar, being treated to ales by the innkeeper.

Frodo stopped in the entry-hall to remove his broad-brimmed hat and hang it on a hook. Sam and Robin went on ahead. As Sam went into the room with Robin, Ted looked up and grinned unpleasantly. "Come to play at being shirriffs, have you, Sam Gamgee? You and your Mr. Baggins, the famous hobbit detective?" But he looked abashed when Frodo came in after them.

"Yes, we have, with Shirriff Smallburrows' kind permission," Frodo answered, pointedly ignoring the sneer in Ted's question. "You seem to have gotten here very quickly, Ted. You weren't there to help your cousin out of the Pool, were you?" Hasty's rescuers, he observed, had left muddy tracks on the floor when they'd brought him in. There was still mud on their feet, the cuffs of their trousers were wet, and they had more splashes of mud and water on their clothes. Ted's clothes, on the other hand, were clean and quite dry.

"I was at the mill when I heard the splashing and shouting, and I came as soon as I heard it was Hasty," Ted replied. "Now you've come nosing in, are you going to get the one who pushed 'm?"

"We mean to, Ted, so stop your fretting. Did you see who pushed you, Hasty?" Robin asked.

"Not 'xactly," Hasty said through chattering teeth, "but-"

"It was Nelda!" cried Ted. "There's your answer, and you needn't go detecting further."

"Nelda Milkwort?" said Sam, and turned to Hasty. "But why should Nelda want to push you? I thought you was keeping company with her?"

"I was, but we broke it off last week. I was dancing with Laurel Deeproot tonight, you saw, and Nelda wouldn't stand for it. After we left the dance, Laurel and I was heading off on the path by the water, for a walk by ourselves. And all of a sudden, there comes somebody in a red cloak out o' the bushes, and gives me a shove--and into the Pool I go!"

"How d'you know it was her, Hasty?" Robin persisted. "Did you see her face?"

"No," Hasty admitted. "It was too dark, and her hood was pulled up over her face. But I got hold of this-!" One hand shot out from beneath the blankets to hold up a long, soggy strip of red flannel. "I grabbed at this scrap of her cloak when she pushed me, and it came off in my hand. I han't let go of it since."

"There, you see! Nelda's in her red cloak tonight!" Ted yelped triumphantly. "It's her, all right, and make no mistake! Now, what're you going to do about it, Sherriff?"
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