To not reveal their intentions to anyone except
the chosen hobbit, Dwalin and Balin had agreed on not being seen by other
hobbits as they are not used to dwarves in their small village. Even though
hobbits are polite, they did not like unusual visitors in their village. They
wanted peace and quiet. Therefore, Dwalin and Balin set off to the chosen
hobbit's hole by lurking in the shadows and running along walls of other
hobbits' holes. They had come perhaps halfway when a hobbit suddenly stepped
out of his hole. Dwalin nearly bumped into him as he was not ready for anyone
to appear in his way. The moment the hobbit had come out of his home, he had
seen the dwarves and he was surprised to see such tall creatures in Hobbiton.
Even though he had never seen a real dwarf before, he could see that they were
dwarves because he had read about them and been told tales about them since he
was a little boy.
"Good day to you, sirs" he said, "might I ask what dwarves like
you are doing in Hobbiton?"
Dwalin did not know what to say, but he could obviously not mention the real
reason.
"Good day to you, hobbit. We have come to visit an old friend." he
said and was pleased that he had not revealed anything.
"I did not know that you had friends in Hobbiton, surely I would have
known if dwarves had been here before! Who is the chap? Perhaps it is someone I
know." said the hobbit.
Dwalin had never been especially good at lying and now he found that he had no
good answer. What could he say that would make the hobbit believe him and leave
them? Thinking as fast as he could, he imagined it would be better if he
answered than not saying anything at all.
"He is old and does not have many friends. I don't believe you would know
who it was."
Dwalin must have sounded doubtful because the hobbit looked him up and down and
said in a tone almost threatful, "I know most people around here, and
since this is a small village I know what everyone looks like. There are some
elderly hobbits here, yes, but none that have no friends."
