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'Well, Mr. Frodo,' Maggot went on, 'I'm glad that you've had the sense to come back to Buckland. My advice is: stay there! And don't get mixed up with these outlandish folk. You'll have friends in these parts. If any of these black fellows come after you again, I'll deal with them. I'll say you're dead, or have left the Shire, or anything you like. And that might be true enough; for as like as not it is old Mr. Bilbo they want news of.'
'Maybe you're right,' said Frodo, avoiding the farmer's eye and staring at the fire.
Maggot looked at him thoughtfully. 'Well, I see you have ideas of your own,' he said. 'It
is as plain as my nose that no accident brought you and that rider here on the same
afternoon; and maybe my news was no great news to you, after all. I am not asking you to
tell me anything you have a mind to keep to yourself; but I see you are in some kind of
trouble. Perhaps you are thinking it won't be too easy to get to the Ferry without being
caught?'
