The prospect of following the Songburrow Strollers into Bree was not something Gormbard was looking forward to. The last thing he wanted to do was be spotted by the other members of the Lowbanks family or the Town Watch. But if he told Master Foxtail the reasons for this reluctance then his secret past would come out and the fresh start he had hoped for and his reputation here in The Shire would be ruined. Gormbard tried to think of a compromise. The only idea he could come up with was a risky one, if he could get some kind of proof of what the Mathom Hunters were up to then it may save him from having to go to Bree. But this meant that he would have to go to Songburrow and into the Mathom Hunters Hall itself.
Gormbard had promised himself that he would never return to his old criminal ways and breaking into a burrow was certainly not the best way start to his new respectable life. But the prospect of a return to Bree proved too much and Gormbard reluctantly set out for Songburrow.
Arriving at night the Hall was easy to find, as it was the largest occupied burrow in the village. Gormbard tried one of the windows and found it was not latched. It was a tight squeeze even for a Hobbit and Gormbard was thankful that he was not as stout as some Hobbits. He had appeared to have entered in through a pantry window; carefully he opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. There were many rooms in the sizable burrow and Master Foxtail had been right about the amount of Mathoms this group had amassed. Each room was full of mathoms of all descriptions. Each room was decorated with expensive looking bookshelves.
Gormbard thought how easy it would be to simply take quite a number of items back to the Mathom House but he did not want to start on a slippery slope into his old ways. He would merely have a look round for anything that may give some clue as to the groups plans. Nothing would get stolen or broken,
no one would be the wiser and Gormbard could carry on reputation intact and no trip to Bree.
He had spent a few minutes going through various rooms at what must have been the rear of the burrow as none had any windows of sufficient size to let any of the moonlight in. It was pitch black and Gormbard had needed to use his special burglars lamp. The lamp was similar to a regular lamp apart from the fact that it was made from tin rather than clear panes of glass. This allowed him to instantly open and close the front as and when he needed light without the need to extinguish and relight the wick each and every time, very useful for a Burglar who is sneaking about.
As he approached what must have been the main room of the hall Gormbard heard voices. He quickly snapped shut his lamp and ducked behind a large keg of ale. There was the flicker of fire and candlelight in the room opposite and from the range of voices he heard Gormbard estimated that there must have been at least six to eight Hobbits present. Gormbard started to panic, this was not what he planned for he had hoped that they would all still be over near Buckland not back here in Songburrow. There was little hope of conducting a search unseen now so his only course of action was to try and make it to the front door from where he hid.
As Gormbard made his way across the room a Hobbit appeared in the doorway, she stopped suddenly when she saw Gormbard. Gormbard took the initiative and made a dive for the front door, thankfully it was not locked and Gormbard ran out into the night. Gormbard could hear voices behind him in the distance looking for him but Gormbard had a head start and he used the low walls surrounding the nearby fields to screen his escape.
