Harold:
Harold watched as Grandpa Fordo raised his cane valiantly over his head and issued a challenge to the wolves lurking in the forest. Although he did not say so aloud, Harold completely agreed with his father’s sentiments. The Harfoot was not an aggressive Hobbit by nature, except when the safety of his children was in jeopardy. His family was the most important thing that he had, and he was not going to sit idle while wolves gobbled up May and Henry. Those scoundrels had better flee while they can, thought Harold, before I get to them and make them feel sorry.
Astride Daisy, Harold rode towards the dismal forest. He gritted his teeth in frustration to hear Kalimac’s sardonic reply to the passionate challenge of Grandpa Fordo. Harold hardly regarded this as an “escapade”, as Kalimac had so coolly put it. As Kalimac passed Fordo who was riding on Stout, Harold thought he saw the Fallohide stick his nose high into the air
How can he let old disputes impede our progress when our children’s lives are at stake? Maybe he should put his pride away for a moment and concentrate on finding our young ones!
Now, more than ever, Harold hoped that May and Henry were doing their job. When he’d told them that they’d be responsible for the Whitfoot children he never imagined that something like this would happen. They’re good lads and lasses; they’ll be fine, Harold told himself. He sincerely hoped that the four children were the only ones trapped in the forest.
Reaching into his pocket, Harold fingered his trusty sling as well as a few rocks that he had gathered by the road. In Bree, he had been quite the expert with it, using the weapon to pick off crows from Kalimac’s vegetable patch even from a great distance. Somehow Harold figured that these animals would be more difficult to subdue than a mere witless crow. He had also draped his scythe over his shoulder suspended from a rope, the one he used to cut grain in the fields back home. Back then, he couldn’t have imagined using it to fight for the lives of his children, nor did he ever want to be asked to do so again.
As the Hobbits proceeded onward, Harold became anxiously aware of the dark trees looming above. The forest was a quilt of shadow and mystery and seemed mysteriously frightening, perhaps even more so than normal because of the terrifying ordeal that lay ahead of him. But Harold suppressed his fear with anger, which flowed like a river through him. Those wolves will not lay a single paw on any of the children, vowed Harold. I may not be the strongest Hobbit, but I certainly am the most determined you are ever likely to meet. With a fervor, Harold entered the gloomy wood, his father riding beside him. For once in his life, Harold reflected, he and his father saw things exactly the same.
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