The truth about Biden’s classified documents 👤🔒

𝖶𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗅𝖺𝗌𝗌𝗂𝖿𝗂𝖾𝖽 𝖽𝗈𝖼𝗎𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗌? 𝖬𝗂𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖠𝗆𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗉𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝗎𝗍, 𝗐𝗁𝗂𝗅𝖾 𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝖺 𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍𝗎𝗇𝖾… 𝗐𝗁𝗂𝖼𝗁 𝗌𝗂𝖽𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖻𝖾 𝗈𝗇? [Main Logotype (Dark Green) | EMA]( What was in Biden’s classified documents? Frankly, it doesn’t matter. [This is the REAL scandal](. It was just at this moment that Bilbo suddenly discovered the weak point in his plan. Most likely you saw it some time ago and have been laughing at him; but I don't suppose you would have done half as well yourselves in his place. Of course he was not in a barrel himself, nor was t anyone to pack him in, even if t had been a ! It looked as if he would certainly his s this time (nearly of them had already disappeared through the dark trap-door), and utterly left behind and have to stay lurking as a permanent burglar in the elf-caves for ever. For even if he could have escaped through the upper gates at once, he had precious sm of ever finding the dwarves again. He did not k the way by land to the place w the barrels were collected. He wondered what on earth would happen to them without him; for he had not had time to tell the dwarves that he had learned, or what he had meant to do, once they were out of the wood. While these thoughts were passing through his mind, the elves being very merry began to sing a song round the river-door. Some had already gone to haul on the ropes which pulled up the portcullis at the water-gate so as to let out the barrels as as they were afloat below. the very last barrel was being rolled to the doors! In despair and not king what else to do, poor little Bilbo caught hold of it and was pushed over the edge with it. Down into the water he fell, splash! into the cold dark water with the barrel on top of him. He came up again spluttering and clinging to the wood like a rat, but for his efforts he could not scramble on top. Every time he tried, the barrel rolled round and ducked him under again. It was rey empty, and floated light as a cork. Though his ears were full of water, he could hear the elves still singing in the cellar above. Then suddenly the trapdoors fell to with a boom and their voices faded away. He was in the dark tunnel, floating in icy water, alone- cannot count s that are packed up in barrels. Very a grey patch came up in the darkness ahead. He heard the creak of the water-gate being hauled up, and he found that he was in the midst of a bobbing and bumping mass of casks and tubs pressing toher to pass under the arch and out into the stream. He had as much as he could do to prevent himself from being hustled and battered to bits; but at last the jostling crowd began to break up and swing , one by one, under the stone arch and away. Then he saw that it would have been no good even if he had managed to astride his barrel, for t was no room to spare, not even for a hobbit, between its top and the suddenly stooping roof w the gate was. Out they went under the overhanging branches of the trees on either . Bilbo wondered what the dwarves were feeling and whether a lot of water was ting into their tubs. Some of those that bobbed along by him in the gloom seemed pretty low in the water, and he guessed that these had dwarves inside. I do hope I put the lids on tight enough! he thought, but before long he was worrying too much about himself to remember the dwarves. He managed to keep his head above the water, but he was shivering with the cold, and he wondered if he would die of it before the luck turned, and how much longer he would be able to hang on, and whether he should risk the of letting go and trying to swim to the . The luck turned right before long: the eddying current carried several barrels c ashore at one point and t for a while they stuck against some root. Then Bilbo took the of scrambling up the side of his barrel while it was held steady against another. Up he crawled like a drowned rat, and lay on the top spread out to keep the balance as best he could. The breeze was cold but better than the water, and he hoped he would not suddenly roll again when they started once more. Before long the barrels broke again and turned and twisted down the stream, and out into the main current Then he found it quite as difficult to stick on as he had feared; but he managed it somehow, though it was miserably uncomfortable. Luckily he was very light, and the barrel was a good big one and being rather leaky had shipped a sm amount of water. the same it was like trying to ride, without bridle or stirrups, a round-bellied pony that was always thinking of rolling on the grass. In this way at last Mr. Baggins came to a place w the trees on either hand grew thinner. He could see the paler sky between them. The dark river ed suddenly wide, and t it was joined to the main water of the Forest River flowing down in haste from the king's doors. T was a dim sheet of water no longer overshadowed, and on its sliding surface t were dancing and broken reflections of clouds and of stars. Then the hurrying water of the Forest River swept the company of casks and tubs away to the north , in which it had eaten out a wide bay. This had a shingly shore under hanging s and was wed at the eastern end by a little jutting cape of hard rock. On the show shore most of the barrels ran aground, though a few went on to bump against the stony pier. T were people on the look-out on the s. They quickly poled and pushed the barrels toher into the shows, and when they had counted them they roped them toher and left them till the morning. Poor dwarves! Bilbo was not so badly . He slipped from his barrel and waded ashore, and then sneaked along to some huts that he could see near the water's edge. He no longer thought twice about picking up a supper uninvited if he got the , he had been obliged to do it for so long, and he k too well what it was to be rey hungry, not merely politely interested in the dainties of a well-filled larder. Also he had caught a glimpse of a fire through the trees, and that appealed to him with his dripping and ragged clothes clinging to him cold and clammy. T is no need to tell you much of his adventures that night, for we are drawing near the end of the eastward journey and coming to the last and est adventure, so we must hurry on. Of course helped by his magic ring he got on very well at first, but he was given away in the end by his wet footsteps and the trail of drippings that he left wver he went or sat; and also he began to snivel, and wver he tried to hide he was found out by the terrific explosions of his suppressed sneezes. Very t was a fine commotion in the village by the riverside; but Bilbo escaped into the woods carrying a loaf and a leather bottle of wine and a pie that did not belong to him. The rest of the night he had to pass wet as he was and far from a fire, but the bottle helped him to do that, and he actuy dozed a little on some dry s, even though the year was ting late and the air was chilly. He woke again with a speciy loud sneeze. It was already grey morning, and t was a merry racket down by the river. They were making up a raft of barrels, and the raft-elves would be steering it down the stream to Lake-town. Bilbo sneezed again. He was no longer dripping but he felt cold over. He scrambled down as as his stiff legs would take him and managed just in time to on to the mass of casks without being noticed in the general bustle. Luckily t was no sun at the time to cast an awkward shadow, and for a mercy he did not sneeze again for a good while. T was a mighty pushing of poles. The elves that were standing in the show.water heaved and shoved. The barrels lashed toher creaked and fretted.. This is a heavy load! some grumbled. They float too deep-some of these are empty. If they had come ashore in the daylight, we might have had a look inside, they said. No time ! cried the raftman. Shove ! And they went at last, slowly at first, until they had passed the point of rock w other elves stood to fend them with poles, and then quicker and quicker as they caught the main stream and went sailing away down, down towards the Lake. They had escaped the dungeons of the king and were through the wood, but whether alive or dead still remains to be seen. The day grew lighter and warmer as they floated along. After a while the river rounded a steep shoulder of land that came down upon their left. Under its rocky feet like an inland cliff the deepest stream had flowed lapping and bubbling. Suddenly the cliff fell away. The shores sank. The trees ended. Then Bilbo saw a sight: The lands ed wide about him, filled with the waters of the river which broke up and wandered in a hundred winding courses, or halted in marshes and pools dotted with isles on every side: but still a strong water flowed on steadily through the midst. And far away, its dark head in a torn cloud, t loomed the Mountain! Its nearest neighbours to the North-East and the tumbled land that joined it to them could not be seen. alone it rose and looked across the marshes to the forest. The Lonely Mountain! Bilbo had come far and through many adventures to see it, and he did not like the look of it in the least. As he listened to the talk of the raftmen and pieced toher the scraps of information they let f, he realized that he was very fortunate ever to have seen it at , even from this distance. Dreary as had been his imprisonment and unpleasant as was his position (to say nothing of the poor dwarves underneath him) still, he had been more lucky than he had guessed. The talk was of the trade that came and went on the waterways and the growth of the on the river, as the roads out of the East towards Mirkwood vanished or fell into disuse; and of the bickerings of the Lake-men and the Wood-elves about the upkeep of the Forest River and the care of the s. Those lands had changed much since the days when dwarves dwelt in the Mountain, days which most people remembered as a very shadowy tradition. They had changed even in recent years, and since the last s that Gandalf had had of them. floods and rains had swollen the waters that flowed east; and t had been an earthquake or two (which some were inclined to attribute to the dragon-uding to him chiefly with a curse and an ominous nod in the direction of the Mountain). The marshes and bogs had spread wider and wider on either side. Paths had vanished, and many a rider and wanderer too, if they had tried to find the lost ways across. The elf-road through the wood which the dwarves had followed on the advice of Beorn came to a doubtful and little used end at the eastern edge of the forest; the river ered any longer a safe way from the skirts of Mirkwood in the North to the mountain-shadowed plains beyond, and the river was guarded by the Wood-elves' king. So you see Bilbo had come in the end by the road that was any good. It might have been some comfort to Mr. Baggins shivering on the barrels, if he had kn that s of this had reached Gandalf far away and given him anxiety, and that he was in fact finishing his other business (which does not come into this tale) and ting ready to come in search of Thorin's company. But Bilbo did not k it. he k was that the river seemed to go on and on and on for ever, and he was hungry, and had a nasty cold in the nose, and did not like the way the Mountain seemed to frown at him and threaten him as it drew ever nearer. After a while, however, the river took a more southerly course and the Mountain receded again, and at last, late in the day the shores grew rocky, the river gatd its wandering waters toher into a deep and rapid flood, and they swept along at speed. The sun had set when turning with another sweep towards the East the forest-river rushed into the Long Lake. T it had a wide mouth with stony clifflike gates at either side whose feet were piled with shingles. The Long Lake! Bilbo had imagined that any water that was not the sea could look so big. It was so wide that the opposite shores looked sm and far, but it was so long that its northerly end, which pointed towards the Mountain, could not be seen at . from the map did Bilbo k that away up t, w the stars of the Wain were already twinkling, the Running River came down into the lake from Dale and with the Forest River filled with deep waters what must once have been a deep rocky vey. At the southern end the doubled waters poured out again over high waterfs and ran away hurriedly to unkn lands. In the still evening air the noise of the fs could be heard like a distant roar. Not far from the mouth of the Forest River was the strange town he heard the elves speak of in the king's cellars. It was not built on the shore, though t were a few huts and buildings t, but right out on the surface of the lake, protected from the swirl of the entering river by a promontory of rock which formed a calm bay. A . bridge made of wood ran out to w on huge piles made of forest trees was built a busy wooden town, not a town of elves but of Men, who still dared to dwell under the shadow of the distant dragon-mountain. They still throve on the trade that came up the river from the South and was carted past the fs to their town; but in the days of old, when Dale in the North was rich and prosperous, they had been wealthy and powerful, and t had been fleets of boats on the waters, and some were filled with and some with warriors in armour, and t had been wars and deeds which were a legend. The rotting piles of a er town could still be seen along the shores when the waters sank in a drought. But men remembered little of that, though some still sang old songs of the dwarf-kings of the Mountain, Thror and Thrain of the race of Durin, and of the coming of the Dragon, and the f of the lords of Dale. Some sang too that Thror and Thrain would come back one day and would flow in rivers through the mountain-gates, and that land would be filled with song and laughter. But this pleasant legend did not much affect their daily business. As as the raft of barrels came in sight boats rowed out from the piles of the town, and voices hailed the raft-steerers. Then ropes were cast and oars were pulled, and the raft was drawn out of the current of the Forest River and towed away round the high shoulder of rock into the little bay of Lake-town. T it was moored not far from the shoreward head of the bridge. men would come up from the South and take some of the casks away, and others they would fill with goods they had brought to be taken back up the stream to the Wood-elves' . In the meanwhile the barrels were left afloat while the elves of the raft and the boatmen went to feast in Lake-town. They would have been surprised, if they could have seen what happened down by the shore, after they had gone and the shades of night had fen. First of a barrel was cut loose by Bilbo and pushed to the shore and ed. Groans came from inside, and out crept a most unhappy dwarf. Wet straw was in his draggled beard; he was so sore and stiff, so bruised and buffeted he could hardly stand or stumble through the show water to lie groaning on the shore. He had a famished and a savage look like a dog that has been chained and forgotten in a kennel for a week. It was Thorin, but you could have told it by his en chain, and by the colour of his dirty and tattered sky-blue hood with its tarnished silver tassel. It was some time before he would be even polite to the hobbit. Well, are you alive or are you dead? asked Bilbo quite crossly. Perhaps he had forgotten that he had had at least one good meal more than the dwarves, and also the use of his arms and legs, not to speak of a er owance of air. Are you still in prison, or are you ? If you want food, and if you want to go on with this silly adventure - it's yours after and not mine-you had better slap your arms and rub your legs and try and help me the others out while t is a ! Thorin of course saw the sense of this, so after a few more groans he got up and helped the hobbit as well as he could. In the darkness floundering in the cold water they had a difficult and very nasty job finding which were the right barrels. Knocking outside and cing discovered about six dwarves that could answer. They were unpacked and helped ashore w they sat or lay muttering and moaning; they were so soaked and bruised and cramped that they could hardly yet realize their release or be properly thankful for it. Dwalin and Balin were two of the most unhappy, and it was no good asking them to help. Bifur and Bofur were less knocked about and drier, but they lay down and would do nothing. Fili and Kili, however, who were young (for dwarves) and had also been packed more neatly with plenty of straw into smer casks, came out more or less smiling, with a bruise or two and a stiffness that wore . I hope I smell the smell of apples again! said Fili. My tub was full of it. To smell apples everlastingly when you can scarcely move and are cold and sick with hunger is maddening. I could eat anything in the wide world , for hours on end-but not an apple! With the willing help of Fili and Kili, Thorin and Bilbo at last discovered the remainder of the company and got them out. Poor fat Bombur was asleep or senseless; Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin and Gloin were waterlogged and seemed half alive; they had to be carried one by one and laid helpless on the shore. Well! we are! said Thorin. And I suppose we ought to thank our stars and Mr. Baggins. I am sure he has a right to expect it, though I wish he could have arranged a more comfortable journey. Still- very much at your service once more, Mr. Baggins. No doubt we sh feel properly gful, when we are fed and recovered. In the meanwhile what next? I suggest Lake-town, said Bilbo, What else is t? Nothing else could, of course, be suggested; so leaving the others Thorin and Fili and Kili and the hobbit went along the shore to the bridge. T were guards at the head of it, but they were not keeping very careful watch, for it was so long since t had been any real need. Except for occasional squabbles about river-tolls they were s with the Wood-elves. Other folk were far away; and some of the younger people in the town ly doubted the existence of any dragon in the mountain, and laughed at the greybeards and gammers who said that they had seen him flying in the sky in their young days. That being so it is not surprising that the guards were drinking and laughing by a fire in their hut, and did not hear the noise of the unpacking of the dwarves or the footsteps of the four scouts. Their astonishment was enormous when Thorin Oakenshield stepped in through the door. Who are you and what do you want? they shouted leaping to their feet and gipping for weapons. Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain! said the dwarf in a loud voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gleamed on his neck and waist: his eyes were dark and deep. I have come back. I wish to see the Master of your town! Then t was tremendous excitement. Some of the more foolish ran out of the hut as if they expected the Mountain to go en in the night and the waters of the lake to turn yellow right away. The captain of the guard came forward. And who are these? he asked, pointing to Fili and: Kili and Bilbo. The sons of my father's daughter, answered Thorin, Fili and Kili of the race of Durin, and Mr. Baggins who has travelled with us out of the West. If you come in peace lay down your arms! said the captain. We have none, said Thorin, and it was true enough: their knives had been taken from them by the wood-elves, and the sword Orcrist too. Bilbo had his short sword, as usual, but he said nothing about that. We have no need of weapons, who return at last to our own as spoken of old. Nor could we fight against so many. Take us to your master! Then the more reason for taking us to him, burst in Fili, who was ting impatient at these solemnities. We are worn and famished after our long road and we have sick comrades. make haste and let us have no more words, or your master may have something to say to you. Follow me then, said the captain, and with six men about them he led them over the bridge through the gates and into the market-place of the town. This was a wide circle of quiet water surrounded by the t piles on which were built the er houses, and by long wooden quays with many steps and ladders going down to the surface of the lake. From one h shone many lights and t came the sound of many voices. They passed its doors and stood blinking in the light looking at long tables filled with folk. I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain! I return! cried Thorin in a loud voice from the door, before the captain could say anything. leaped to their feet. The Master of the town sprang from his chair. But none rose in er surprise than the raft-men of the elves who were sitting at the lower end of the h. Pressing forward before the Master's table they cried: [𝖡𝗂𝖽𝖾𝗇 𝗈𝗇 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖦𝗅𝗈𝖻𝖺𝗅 𝖥𝗎𝗇𝖽]( Porter Stansberry The day after the battle with the spiders Bilbo and the dwarves made one last despairing effort to find a way out before they died of hunger and thirst. They got up and staggered on in the direction which eight out of the thirteen of them guessed to be the one in which the path lay; but they found out if they were right. Such day as t ever was in the forest was fading once more into the blackness of night, when suddenly out sprang the light of many torches round them, like hundreds of red stars. Out leaped Wood-elves with their bows and spears and ced the dwarves to halt. T was no thought of a fight. Even if the dwarves had not been in such a state that they were actuy glad to be captured, their sm knives, the weapons they had, would have been of no use against the arrows of the elves that could hit a bird's eye in the dark. So they simply ped dead and sat down and waited- except Bilbo, who popped on his ring and slipped quickly to one side. That is why, when the elves bound the dwarves in a long line, one behind the other, and counted them, they found or counted the hobbit. Nor did they hear or feel him trotting along well behind their torch-light as they led their prisoners into the forest. Each dwarf was blindfold, but that did not make much difference, for even Bilbo with the use of his eyes could not see w they were going, and neither he nor the others k w they had started from anyway. Bilbo had he could do to keep up with the torches, for the elves were making the dwarves go as as ever they could, sick and weary as they were. The king had ordered them to make haste. Suddenly the torches ped, and the hobbit had just time to catch them up before they began to cross the bridge. This was the bridge that led across the river to the king's doors. The water flowed dark and swift and strong beneath; and at the far end were gates before the mouth of a huge cave that ran into the side of a steep slope covered with trees. T the beeches came right down to the , till their feet were in the stream. Across this bridge the elves thrust their prisoners, but Bilbo hesitated in the rear. He did not at like the look of the cavern-mouth and he made up his mind not to desert his s just in time to scuttle over at the heels of the elves, before the gates of the king cd behind them with a clang. Inside the passages were lit with red torch-light, and the elf-guards sang as they marched along the twisting, crossing, and echoing paths. These were not like those of the goblin-cities: they were smer, less deep underground, and filled with a cleaner air. In a h with pillars hewn out of the living stone sat the Elvenking on a chair of carven wood. On his head was a crown of berries and red s, for the autumn was come again. In the spring he wore a crown of woodland flowers. In his hand he held a carven staff of oak. The prisoners were brought before him; and though he looked grimly at them, he told his men to unbind them, for they were ragged and weary. Besides they need no ropes in , said he. T is no escape from my magic doors for those who are once brought inside. Long and searchingly he questioned the dwarves about their doings, and w they were going to, and w they were coming from; but he got little more s out of them than out of Thorin. They were surly and angry and did not even pretend to be polite. What have we done, O king? said Balin, who was the eldest left. Is it a crime to be lost in the forest, to be hungry and thirsty, to be trapped by spiders? Are the spiders your tame beasts or your pets, if killing them makes you angry? Such a question of course made the king angrier than ever, and he answered: It is a crime to wander in my realm without . Do you for that you were in my kingdom, using the road that my people made? Did you not three times pursue and trouble my people in the forest and ' rouse the spiders with your riot and clamour? After the disturbance you have made I have a right to k what brings you , and if you will not tell me , I will keep you in prison until you have learned sense and manners! Then he ordered the dwarves each to be put in a sepa cell and to be given food and drink, but not to be owed to pass the doors of their little prisons, until one at least of them was willing to tell him he wanted to k. But be did not tell them that Thorin was also a prisoner with him. It was Bilbo who found that out. Poor Mr. Baggins - it was a weary long time that he lived in that place alone, and always in hiding, daring to take his ring, hardly daring to sleep, even tucked away in the darkest and remotest comers he could find. For something to do he took to wandering about the Elven-king's palace. Magic shut the gates, but be could sometimes out, if he was quick. Companies of the Wood-elves, sometimes with the king at their head, would from time to time ride out to hunt, or to other business in the woods and in the lands to the East. Then if Bilbo was very nimble, he could slip out just behind them; though it was a dangerous thing to do. More than once he was nearly caught in the doors, as they clashed toher when the last elf passed, yet he did not dare to march among them because of his shadow (altoher thin and wobbly as it was in torch-light), or for fear of being bumped into and discovered. And when he did go out, which was not very often, he did no good. He did not wish to desert the dwarves, and indeed he did not k w in the world to go without them. He could not keep up with the hunting elves the time they were out, so he discovered the ways out of the wood, and was left to wander miserably in the forest, terrified of losing himself, until a came of returning. He was hungry too outside, for he was no hunter; but inside the caves he could pick up a living of some sort by stealing food from store or table when no one was at hand. I am like a burglar that can't away, but must go on miserably burgling the same house day after day, he thought. This is the dreariest and dullest part of this wretched, tiresome, uncomfortable adventure! I wish I was back in my hobbit-hole by my own warm fireside with the lamp shining! He often wished, too, that he could a message for help sent to the wizard, but that of course was quite impossible; and he realized that if anything was to be done, it would have to be done by Mr. Baggins, alone and unaided. Eventuy, after a week or two of this sneaking sort of , by watching and following the guards and taking what s he could, he managed to find out w each dwarf was kept. He found their twelve cells in different parts of the palace, and after a time he got to k his way about very well. What was his surprise one day to overhear some of the guards talking and to learn that t was another dwarf in prison too, in a speciy deep dark place. He guessed at once, of course, that that was Thorin; and after a while he found that his guess was right. At last after many difficulties he managed to find the place when no one was about, and to have a word with the chief of the dwarves. Thorin was too wretched to be angry any longer at his misfortunes, and was even beginning to think of telling the king about his treasure and his quest (which shows how low-spirited he had become), when he heard Bilbo's little voice at his keyhole. He could hardly believe his ears. however he made up his mind that he could not be mistaken, and he came to the door and had a long whispered talk with the hobbit on the other side. So it was that Bilbo was able to take secretly Thorin's message to each of the other imprisoned dwarves, telling them that Thorin their chief was also in prison c at hand, and that no one was to reveal their errand to the long, not yet, not before Thorin gave the word. For Thorin had taken heart again hearing how the hobbit had rescued his companions from the spiders, and was determined once more not to ransom himself with promises to the king of a share in the treasure, until hope of escaping in any other way had disappeared; until in fact the remarkable Mr. Invisible Baggins (of whom he began to have a very high opinion indeed) had altoher failed to think of something clever. The other dwarves quite agreed when they got the message. They thought their own shares in the treasure (which they quite regarded as theirs, in spite of their plight and the still unconquered dragon) would suffer ly if the Wood-elves claimed part of it, and they trusted Bilbo. Just what Gandalf had said would happen, you see. Perhaps that war part of his reason for going and leaving them. Bilbo, however, did not feel nearly so hopeful as they did. He did not like being depended on by everyone, and he wished he had the wizard at hand. But that was no use: probably the dark distance of Mirkwood lay between them. He sat and thought and thought, until his head nearly burst, but no bright idea would come. One invisible ring was a very fine thing, but it was not much good among fourteen. But of course, as you have guessed, he did rescue his s in the end, and this is how it happened. One day, nosing and wandering about. Bilbo discovered a very interesting thing: the gates were not the entrance to the caves. A stream flowed under part of the lowest regions of the palace, and joined the Forest River some way further to the east, beyond the steep slope out of which the main mouth ed. W this underground watercourse came forth from the hillside t was a water-gate. T the rocky roof came down c to the surface of the stream, and from it a portcullis could be dropped right to the bed of the river to prevent anyone coming in or out that way. But the portcullis was often , for a good of went out and in by the water-gate. If anyone had come in that way, he would have found himself in a dark rough tunnel leading deep into the heart of the hill; but at one point w it passed under the caves the roof had been cut away and covered with oaken trapdoors. These ed upwards into the king's cellars. T stood barrels, and barrels, and barrels; for the Wood-elves, and especiy their king, were very fond of wine, though no vines grew in those parts. The wine, and other goods, were brought from far away, from their kinsfolk in the South, or from the vineyards of Men in distant lands. Hiding behind one of the largest barrels Bilbo discovered the trapdoors and their use, and lurking t, listening to the talk of the king's servants, he learned how the wine and other goods came up the rivers, or over land, to the Long Lake. It seemed a town of Men still throve t, built out on bridges far into the water as a protection against enemies of sorts, and especiy against the dragon of the Mountain. From Lake-town the barrels were brought up the Forest River. Often they were just tied toher like big rafts and poled or rowed up the stream; sometimes they were loaded on to flat boats. When the barrels were empty the elves cast them through the trapdoors, ed the water-gate, and out the barrels floated on the stream, bobbing along, until they were carried by the current to a place far down the river w the jutted out, near to the very eastern edge of Mirkwood. T they were collected and tied toher and floated back to Lake-town, which stood c to the point w the Forest River flowed into the Long Lake. For some time Bilbo sat and thought about this water-gate, and wondered if it could be used for the escape of his s, and at last he had the despe beginnings of a plan. The evening meal had been taken to the prisoners. The guards were tramping away down the passages taking the torch-light with them and leaving everything in darkness. Then Bilbo heard the king's butler bidding the chief of the guards good-night. come with me, he said, and taste the wine that has just come in. I sh be hard at work tonight clearing the cellars of the empty wood, so let us have a drink first to help the labour. Very good, laughed the chief of the guards. I'll taste with you, and see if it is fit for the king's table. T is a feast tonight and it would not do to send up poor stuff! When he heard this Bilbo was in a flutter, for he saw that luck was with him and he had a at once to try his despe plan. He followed the two elves, until they entered a sm cellar and sat down at a table on which two large flagons were set. they began to drink and laugh merrily. Luck of an unusual kind was with Bilbo then. It must be potent wine to make a wood-elf drowsy; but this wine, it would seem, was the heady vintage of the gardens of Dorwinion, not meant for his soldiers or his servants, but for the king's feasts , and for smer bowls, not for the butler's flagons. Very the chief guard nodded his head, then he laid it on the table and fell asleep. The butler went on talking and laughing to himself for a while without seeming to notice, but his head too nodded to the table, and he fell asleep and snored beside his . Then in crept the hobbit. Very the chief guard had no keys, but Bilbo was trotting as as he could along the passage towards the cells. The bunch seemed very heavy to his arms, and his heart was often in his mouth, in spite of his ring, for he could not prevent the keys from making every and then a loud clink and clank, which put him in a tremble. First he unlocked Balin's door, and locked it again carefully as as the dwarf was outside. Balin was most surprised, as you can imagine; but glad as he was to out of his wearisome little stone room, he wanted to and ask questions, and k what Bilbo was going to do, and about it. No time ! said the hobbit. You must follow me! We must keep toher and not risk ting sepad. of us must escape or none, and this is our last . If this is found out, goodness ks w the king will put you next, with chains on your hands and feet too, I expect. Don't argue, t's a good fellow! Then he went from door to door, until his following had grown to twelve-none of them any too nimble, what with the dark, and what with their long imprisonment. Bilbo's heart thumped every time one of them bumped into another, or grunted or whispered in the dark. Drat this dwarvish racket! he said to himself. But went well, and they met no guards. As a matter of fact t was a autumn feast in the woods that night, and in the hs above. Nearly the king's folks were merrymaking. At last after much blundering they came to Thorin's dungeon, far down in a deep place and fortunately not far from the cellars. Upon my word! said Thorin, when Bilbo whispered to him to come out and join his s, Gandalf spoke true, as usual. A pretty fine burglar you make, it seems, when the time comes. I am sure we are for ever at your service, whatever happens after this. But what comes next? Bilbo saw that the time had come to explain his idea, as far as he could; but he did not feel at sure bow the dwarves would take it. His fears were quite justified, for they did not like it a bit, and started grumbling loudly in spite of their danger. We sh be bruised and battered to pieces, and drowned too, for certain! they muttered. We thought you had got some sensible notion, when you managed to hold of the keys. This is a mad idea! Very well! said Bilbo very downcast, and also rather annoyed. Come along back to your nice cells, and I will lock you in again, and you can sit t comfortably and think of a better plan-but I don't suppose I sh ever hold of the keys again, even if I feel inclined to try. That was too much for them, and they calmed down. In the end, of course, they had to do just what Bilbo suggested, because it was obviously impossible for them to try and find their way into the upper hs, or to fight their way out of gates that cd by magic; and it was no good grumbling in the passages until they were caught again. So following the hobbit, down into the lowest cellars they crept. They passed a door through which the chief guard and the butler could be seen still happily with smiles upon their faces. The wine of Dorwinion brings deep and pleasant dreams. T would be a different expression on the face of the chief guard next day, even though Bilbo, before they went on, stole in and kindheartedly put the keys back on his belt. That will him some of the trouble he is in for, said Mr. Baggins to himself. He wasn't a bad fellow, and quite decent to the prisoners. It will puzzle them too. They will think we had a very strong magic to pass through those locked doors and disappear. Disappear! We have got to busy very quick, if that is to happen! Balin was told to watch the guard and the butler and give warning if they stirred. The rest went into the adjoining cellar with the trapdoors. T was little time to . Before long, as Bilbo k, some elves were under orders to come down and help the butler the empty barrels through the doors into the stream. These were in fact already standing in rows in the middle of the floor waiting to be pushed . Some of them were wine-barrels, and these were not much use, as they could not easily be ed at the end without a of noise, nor could they easily be secured again. But among them were several others which had been used for bringing other stuffs, butter, apples, and sorts of things, to the king's palace. They found thirteen with room enough for a dwarf in each. In fact some were too roomy, and as they climbed in the dwarves thought anxiously of the shaking and the bumping they would inside, though Bilbo did his best to find straw and other stuff to pack them in as cosily as could be managed in a short time. At last twelve dwarves were stowed. Thorin had given a lot of trouble, and turned and twisted in his tub and grumbled like a large dog in a sm kennel; while Balin, who came last, made a fuss about his air-holes and said he was stifling, even before his lid was on. Bilbo had done what he could to c holes in the sides of the barrels, and to fix on the lids as safely as could be managed, and he was left alone again, running round putting the finishing touches-to the packing, and hoping against hope that his plan would come . It had not been a-bit too . a minute or two after Balin's lid had been fitted on t came the sound of voices and the flicker of lights. A number of elves came laughing and talking into the cellars and singing snatches of song. They had left a merry feast in one of the hs and were bent on returning as as they could. W's old Galion, the butler? said one. I haven't seen him at the tables tonight. He ought to be to show us what is to be done. I sh be angry if the old slowcoach is late, said another. I have no wish to waste time down while the song is up! Ha, ha! came a cry. 's the old villain with his head on a jug! He's been having a little feast to himself and his the captain. Shake him! Wake him! shouted the others impatiently. Gon was not at d at being shaken or wakened, and still less at being laughed at. You're late, he grumbled. am I waiting and waiting down , while you fellows drink and make merry and r tasks. Sm wonder if I f asleep from weariness! Sm wonder, said they, when the explanation stands c at hand in a jug! Come give us a taste of your sleeping-draught before we f to! No need to wake the turnkey yonder. He has had his share by the looks of it. Then they drank once round and became mighty merry of a sudden. But they did not quite their wits. us, Galion! cried some, you began your feasting early and muddled your wits! You have stacked some full casks instead of the empty ones, if t is anything in weight. on with the work! growled the butler. T is nothing in the feeling of weight in an idle toss-pot's arms. These are the ones to go and no others. Do as I say! So they sang as first one barrel and then another rumbled to the dark ing and was pushed over into the cold water some feet below. Some were barrels rey empty, some were tubs neatly packed with a dwarf each; but down they went, one after another, with many a clash and a bump, thudding on top of ones below, smacking into the water, jostling against the ws of the tunnel, knocking into one another, and bobbing away down the current. 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