[Firefoot]

Sondo was absolutely furious. How much thought did it take to realize that you couldn’t have a fistfight on a raft? Now, everyone was in the water and the raft with all remaining supplies was floating away. Sondo could hardly be called a good swimmer, but the concept was not unknown to him and he could at least stay afloat without difficulty. With shaky strokes he took off toward the raft after only a moment’s hesitation. Without looking closely he saw that there was another hobbit swimming just behind him, also intent on the raft. Slowly the pair gained on it, and they ended up quite a way down stream before actually catching it. Fortunately, it had tipped but not flipped, and the supplies which had been secured to the raft had not been lost.

Upon catching the raft, Sondo knew that the next step had to be turning it to shore so that they could go back and rescue the other hobbits. Now that he had leisure to look, he saw that the hobbit who had joined him was Reggie.

“Reggie,” he said, “go to the other side of the raft. We need to get up at the same time so it won’t tip.” Sondo was out of breath from the swim but his voice still conveyed a no-nonsense tone. Reggie obeyed without question and the pair was able to simultaneously hoist themselves up onto the raft. Sondo was now thankful that they were about the same size and weight. He looked despairingly back up stream. Though peaceful seeming, the Brandywine’s current was strong, and the hobbits stuck in the river were dwindling.

“Now, we need to get the raft to shore and hurry back to help the others,” instructed Sondo. Reggie was one step ahead and held up the rope which had previously been used to tie the raft to the stream. Reggie had tied a loop in the end so that they could hopefully hook something on shore. He asked, “How about this?” and gave an experimental throw towards shore. The loop caught on a piece of driftwood, but as soon as tension was applied the log snapped.

“Try again,” encouraged Sondo. Reggie tossed the rope, and this time it caught a peculiarly shaped stone sticking up on shore. They held their breaths, and fortunately, the rope held. They swung around to the bank as the rope tightened, and soon they were able to hop onto dry ground. Sondo hurried upstream to unhook the rope from the rock, retrieved it, and sprinted back to where Reggie was holding the raft by the shore. Sondo took the rope, saying, “Go on ahead - see if you can help. I’ll follow soon.” Reggie nodded and hurried off as fast as he could. Sondo deftly tied the rope around a tree so that it ran from tree to mast, suitably securing the raft. He gave a quick tug to make sure the knot would hold and hurried after Reggie. He was already weary from the strenuous swim to catch the raft and his run from raft to rock and back, and now he was slowed by the need to take care not to stumble over a tree root in his fatigue. This was not how adventuring was supposed to go! He was already imagining the things he would say to Sam and Bingo. They had not even left the Shire yet, and already they were having difficulties! He hoped that things would be under control at the scene of the spill. Haste was needed, and so he dug in for a last spurt before finally arriving.