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‘ “What!” cried Glóin. “One of those simpletons down in the Shire? What use on earth, or under it, could he possibly be? Let him smell as he may, he would never dare to come within smelling distance of the nakedest dragonet new from the shell!”

‘ “Now, now!” I said, “that is quite unfair. You do not know much about the Shire-folk, Glóin. I suppose you think them simple, because they are generous and do not haggle; and think them timid because you never sell them any weapons. You are mistaken. Anyway, there is one that I have my eye on as a companion for you, Thorin. He is neat-handed and clever, though shrewd, and far from rash. And I think he has courage. Great courage, I guess, according to the way of his people. They are, you might say, ‘brave at a pinch’. You have to put these Hobbits in a tight place before you find out what is in them.”

‘ “The test cannot be made,” Thorin answered. “As far as I have observed, they do all that they can to avoid tight places.”

‘ “Quite true,” I said. “They are a very sensible people. But this Hobbit is rather unusual. I think he could be persuaded to go into a tight place. I believe that in his heart he really desires to – to have, as he would put it, an adventure.”

‘ “Not at my expense!” said Thorin, rising and striding about angrily. “This is not advice, it is foolery! I fail to see what any Hobbit, good or bad, could do that would repay me for a day’s keep, even if he could be persuaded to start.”

‘ “Fail to see! You would fail to hear it, more likely,” I answered. “Hobbits move without effort more quietly than any Dwarf in the world could manage, though his life depended on it. They are, I suppose, the most soft-footed of all mortal kinds. You do not seem to have observed that, at any rate, Thorin Oakenshield, as you tramped through the Shire, making a noise (I may say) that the inhabitants could hear a mile away. When I said that you would need stealth, I meant it: professional stealth.”

‘ “Professional stealth?” cried Balin, taking up my words rather differently than I had meant them. “Do you mean a trained treasure-seeker? Can they still be found?”

‘I hesitated. This was a new turn, and I was not sure how to take it. “I think so,” I said at last. “For a reward they will go in where you dare not, or at any rate cannot, and get what you desire.”

‘Thorin’s eyes glistened as the memories of lost treasures moved in his mind; but “A paid thief, you mean,” he said scornfully. “That might be considered, if the reward was not too high. But what has all this to do with one of those villagers? They drink out of clay, and they cannot tell a gem from a bead of glass.”

‘ “I wish you would not always speak so confidently without knowledge,” I said sharply. “These villagers have lived in the Shire some fourteen hundred years, and they have learned many things in the time. They had dealings with the Elves, and with the Dwarves, a thousand years before Smaug came to Erebor. None of them are wealthy as your forefathers reckoned it, but you will find some of their dwellings have fairer things in them than you can boast here, Thorin. The Hobbit that I have in mind has ornaments of gold, and eats with silver tools, and drinks wine out of shapely crystal.”

‘ “Ah! I see your drift at last,” said Balin. “He is a thief, then? That is why you recommend him?”

‘At that I fear I lost my temper and my caution. This Dwarvish conceit that no one can have or make anything “of value” save themselves, and that all fine things in other hands must have been got, if not stolen, from the Dwarves at some time, was more than I could stand at that moment. “A thief ?” I said, laughing. “Why yes, a professional thief, of course! How else would a Hobbit come by a silver spoon? I will put the thief’s mark on his door, and then you will find it.” Then being angry I got up, and I said with a warmth that surprised myself: “You must look for that door, Thorin Oakenshield! I am serious.