The Hobbit

for him to slide out of it. And after all that last question had not been a genuine riddle according to
     the ancient laws.
    But at any rate Gollum did not at once attack him. He could see the sword in Bilbo’s hand. He sat still, shivering and whispering.
     At last Bilbo could wait no longer.
    “Well?” he said. “What about your promise? I want to go. You must show me the way.”
    “Did we say so, precious? Show the nassty little Baggins the way out, yes, yes. But what has it got in its pocketses, eh?
     Not string, precious, but not nothing. Oh no! gollum!”
    “Never you mind,” said Bilbo. “A promise is a promise.”
    “Cross it is, impatient, precious,” hissed Gollum. “But it must wait, yes it must. We can’t go up the tunnels so hasty. We
     must go and get some things first, yes, things to help us.”
    “Well, hurry up!” said Bilbo, relieved to think of Gollum going away. He thought he was just making an excuse and did not
     mean to come back. What was Gollum talking about? What useful thing could he keep out on the dark lake? But he was wrong. Gollum did mean to come back. He was angry now and hungry. And he was a miserable
     wicked creature, and already he had a plan.
    Not far away was his island, of which Bilbo knew nothing, and there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and
     one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful. He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring.
    “My birthday-present!” he whispered to himself, as he had often done in the endless dark days. “That’s what we wants now,
     yes; we wants it!”
    He wanted it because it was a ring of power, and if you slipped that ring on your finger, you were invisible; only in the
     full sunlight could you be seen, and then only by your shadow, and that would be shaky and faint.
    “My birthday-present! It came to me on my birthday, my precious.” So he had always said to himself. But who knows how Gollum
     came by that present, ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who
     ruled them could not have said. Gollum used to wear it at first, till it tired him; and then he kept it in a pouch next his
     skin, till it galled him; and now usually he hid it in a hole in the rock on his island, and was always going back to look
     at it. And still sometimes he put it on, when he could not bear to be parted from it any longer, or when he was very, very,
     hungry, and tired of fish. Then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins. He might even venture into places
     where the torches were lit and made his eyes blink and smart; for he would be safe. Oh yes, quite safe. No one would see him, no one would notice him, till he had his fingers on their throat. Only a few
     hours ago he had worn it, and caught a small goblin-imp. How it squeaked! He still had a bone or two left to gnaw, but he
     wanted something softer.
    “Quite safe, yes,” he whispered to himself. “It won’t see us, will it, my precious? No. It won’t see us, and its nassty little
     sword will be useless, yes quite.”
    That is what was in his wicked little mind, as he slipped suddenly from Bilbo’s side, and flapped back to his boat, and went
     off into the dark. Bilbo thought he had heard the last of him. Still he waited a while; for he had no idea how to find his
     way out alone.
    Suddenly he heard a screech. It sent a shiver down his back. Gollum was cursing and wailing away in the gloom, not very far
     off by the sound of it. He was on his island, scrabbling here and there, searching and seeking in vain.
    “Where iss it? Where iss it?” Bilbo heard him crying. “Losst it is, my precious, lost, lost! Curse us and crush us, my precious
     is lost!”
    “What’s the matter?” Bilbo called. “What have you lost?”
    “It mustn’t ask us,” shrieked Gollum. “Not its business, no, gollum! It’s losst, gollum, gollum, gollum.”
    “Well, so am I,” cried Bilbo, “and I want to get unlost. And I won the game, and you promised. So come along! Come and let
     me out, and then go on with your looking!” Utterly miserable as Gollum sounded, Bilbo could not find much pity in his heart,
     and he had a feeling that anything Gollum wanted so much could hardly be something good. “Come along!” he shouted.
    “No, not yet, precious!” Gollum answered. “We must search for it, it’s lost, gollum.”
    “But you never guessed my last question, and you promised,”