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refuse entry to the servants of Saruman for Gandalf was not at liberty to
warn them, and when he had gone off to Isengard
Saruman was still recognised as an ally.
Some while ago one of Saruman's most trusted servants (yet a ruffianly fellow,
an outlaw driven from
Dunland, where many said that he had Orc-blood) had returned from the borders
of the Shire, where he had been negotiating for the purpose of "leaf" and
other supplies. Saruman was beginning to store Isengard against war.
This man was now on his way back to continue the business, and to arrange for
the transport of many goods
before autumn failed. He had orders also to get into the Shire if possible
and learn if there had been any
18
departures of persons well-known recently. He was well supplied with maps,
lists of names, and notes concerning the Shire.
This Dunlending was overtaken by several of the Black Riders as they
approached the Tharbad crossing.
In an extremity of terror he was haled to the Witch-king and questioned. He
saved his life by betraying Saruman.
The Witch-king thus learned that Saruman knew well all along where the Shire
was, and knew much about it, which he could and should have told to Sauron's
servants if he had been a true ally. The Witch-king also obtained much
information, including some about the only name that interested him:
Baggins
. It was for this reason that Hobbiton was singled out as one of the points
for immediate visit and enquiry.
The Witch-king had now a clearer understanding of the matter. He had known
something of the country long ago, in his wars with the Dúnedain, and
especially of the Tyrn Gothad of Cardolan, now the Barrow-downs, whose evil
wights had been sent there by himself. Seeing that his Master suspected some
move between the
19
Shire and Rivendell, he saw also that Bree (the position of which he knew)
would be an important point, at least for information. He put therefore the
Shadow of Fear on the Dunlending, and sent turn on to Bree as an agent.
20
He was the squint-eyed southerner at the Inn.
21
In version B it is noted that the Black Captain did not know whether the Ring
was still in the Shire; that he had to find out. The Shire was too large for a
violent onslaught such as he had made on the Stoors; he must use as much
stealth and as little terror as he could, and yet also guard the eastern
borders. Therefore he sent some of the Riders into the Shire, with orders to
disperse while traversing it; and of these Khamûl was to find
Hobbiton (see note 1), where "Baggins" lived, according to Saruman's papers.
But the Black Captain established a camp at Andrath, where the Greenway passed
in a defile between the Barrow-downs and the South Downs;
22
and from there some others were sent to watch and patrol the eastern borders,
while he himself visited the
Barrow-downs. In notes on the movements of the Black Riders at that time it is
said that the Black Captain stayed there for some days, and the Barrow-wights
were roused, and all things of evil spirit, hostile to Elves and
Men, were on the watch with malice in the Old Forest and on the Barrow-downs.
(iii)
Concerning Gandalf, Saruman and the Shire
Page 263
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Another set of papers from the same period consists of a large number of
unfinished accounts of Saruman's earlier dealings with the Shire, especially
as they concerned the "Halflings' leaf," a matter that is touched on in
connection with the "squint-eyed southerner" (see pp. 362-3). The following
text is one version among many, but though briefer than some is the most
finished.
Saruman soon became jealous of Gandalf, and this rivalry turned at last to a
hatred, the deeper for being concealed, and the more bitter in that Saruman
knew in his heart that the Grey Wanderer had the greater strength, and the
greater influence upon the dwellers in Middle-earth, even though he hid his
power and desired neither fear nor reverence. Saruman did not revere him, but
he grew to fear him, being ever uncertain how much Gandalf perceived of his
inner mind, troubled more by his silences than by his words.
So it was that openly he treated Gandalf with less respect than did others of
the Wise, and was ever ready to gainsay him or to make little of his counsels;
while secretly he noted and pondered all that he said, setting a watch, so far
as he was able, upon all his movements.
It was in this way that Saruman came to give thought to the Halflings and the
Shire, which otherwise he would have deemed beneath his notice. He had at
first no thought that the interest of his rival in this people had any
connexion with the great concerns of the Council, least of all with the Rings
of Power, For indeed in the beginning it had no such connexion, and was due
only to Gandalf's love for the Little People, unless his heart had some deep
premonition beyond his waking thought. For many years he visited the Shire
openly, and would speak of its people to any who would listen; and Saruman
would smile, as at the idle tales of an old land-rover, but he took heed
nonetheless.
Seeing then that Gandalf thought the Shire worth visiting, Saruman himself
visited it, but disguised and in the utmost secrecy, until he had explored and
noted all its ways and lands, and thought then he had learned all that there
was to know of it. And even when it seemed to him no longer wise nor
profitable to go thither, he still had spies and servants that went in or kept
an eye upon its borders. For he was still suspicious. He was himself so far
fallen that he believed all others of the Council had each their deep and far-
reaching policies for their own enhancement, to which all that they did must
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