Saruman appearing to the Three Walkers

[littlemanpoet]

I always thought (maybe I read this in LOTR) that Saruman ACTUALLY DID GO IN PERSON to the edge of Fangorn wood because he was so eager to get his hands on the hobbits and, he hoped, the ring.

If it really was Saruman, wouldn't he have tried a little harder to thwart them (doing more than just scaring off the horses) or at least indicated later that he had seen them? The whole incident is scary but seems rather pointless, unless I'm missing something.

I have this notion (I hope it's from the book) that Saruman was not exactly the most courageous wizard on the block, and faced with the Three Travelers, he would just as soon make it hard for them to go anywhere fast, knowing who they are. And as to not giving any indication at Orthanc, it's possible that Tolkien overlooked this, but I place my money on Saruman being at bay and not having the luxury of stopping in the middle of his carefully worded spell to say, "oh, oy, by the way, I know you three!"
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