"No takers on that offer?" Eodwine queried around the pair of tables.
"Father, you made them up," said Gudryn, "and you're the one who knows about them pressed into a gang of ruffians, so I think you should tell it."
Eodwine's eyes went wide. "You have strong feelings about this, don't you, my dear?" Gudryn nodded her head, grinning. "Well then, I had better finish - well, at least continue - what I started.
"Now, Gob was mild and Twiddle was alert. How could such a pair be pressed into a gang of ruffians, you might wonder. Well, it was the likes of old Bill Ferny who didn't like anybody much anyway, and this pair even less than most because, well, everybody who was respected didn't mind the way Gob and Twiddle acted, getting away with little work and many pranks, which, mind you, never hurt a soul. After all, their pranks were all for fun and not for spite. And that was something Ferny didn't get. So Ferny didn't like them, and knew they were soft, so he wanted to make them work hard, because he thought that would be suffering for them, and he knew just the thing to do it.
"When Sharky went hiring no-goods for his band of bullies in the Shire during the War, why, old Ferny got his gang together and picked a moment when our Gob and Twiddle were alone if the fields by a mild stream with a pair of fishing poles in the water. They were both snoring away, but Ferny new Twiddle was a light sleeper and had two ruffians sit on him quick, a grimy hand over poor Twiddle's mouth so he couldn't holler or move. But Gob slept like a baby. Ferny got curious about their fishing habits and checked their lines, which didn't seem to have any drag on them. Sure enough, there wasn't hook or bait on either line. The poles were just for show.
"'Daft, I tell you!' Ferny cried. That woke up Gob, but he didn't startle. Well, Ferny gave him a kick in the side. Gob crumpled in, having never felt anything so fierce as that before. There was more surprise and sadness in his eyes than anger or anything else, for Gob had never thought that anybody would be so mean. After all, nobody had ever been mean to him, and being mean to another had never occurred to Gob.
"At any rate, Ferny had Gob and Twiddle hauled off and tied up until they were deep in the Shire. Finally they let them loose, but Ferny kept them under watch. Gob and Twiddle eyed each other only a little bit, but said nary a word to each other. They knew each other so well that they didn't need any words, they both knew the other's mind. They would bide an wait their chance to run free, or if not that, then prank their way to making Ferny and his boys so frustrated with the two that they'd get sick of them and send them home.
"But Gob and Twiddle hadn't met Sharky yet."
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