A Rope to Hang Himself by Kathryn Ramage

Merry and Pippin returned to Gamwich the next afternoon; they'd ridden straight from Boundenby with the story of the drowned girl, and more information they'd learned from the bounder there. Without concern for maintaining their false names--for surely that was no longer important--they asked Mr. Bloomer where Frodo was. Once they were told that he was in his room with Mr. Gamgee, they went unabashedly up to the door and knocked.

Some minutes passed before Sam opened the door a crack and peeked out at them. "Oh, it's you." He turned back into the room to tell Frodo, "It's Pippin and Master Merry."

"Have you found what I was looking for?" Frodo called out to them.

"Yes! Wait `til you hear!"

"Then come in."

When they entered the room, Frodo was sitting on the bed in his loose dressing-gown, rubbing one wrist. He looked a little flushed. Since Sam was dressed, Merry was puzzled. "What've you been doing?"

"Relaxing a little before tea-time. We've got to find some way to occupy ourselves, since there's been little to do here lately as far as our investigation goes." Frodo fastened the cord of his dressing gown about his waist. "Now, what have you discovered?"

The two younger hobbits told their story in enthusiastic bursts, each wanting to be the one to deliver the most important news, but when Frodo heard the name of the girl, he wasn't at all surprised; he only nodded, as if it was exactly what he'd expected. Their other piece of information, that someone else they knew had also been asking about the girl's death, interested him more. "That's it then," he said. "There's one last thing I'd like to test before we're through. We'll have to visit the ropeyard, Sam, if your uncle and brother have no objection."

Frodo dressed quickly and all four hobbits went to the ropeyard. Ham and Uncle Andy had no objection to doing whatever Frodo wanted if it meant the murder was solved and the rope could be removed at last from their tree. Uncle Andy hated the sight of it. "When you're done, Mr. Baggins, you can burn it!" he said vehemently. "New rope it may be, but it's tainted. It can't be put to no other use, not a hanging rope."

"You won't see it again, Mr. Gamgee, after today," Frodo promised him. "But before we take it down, I have an experiment I'd like to attempt. Sam, will you untie that knot around the stump and lower the noose so that we can reach it?" While Sam did so, Frodo turned to his cousins. "Would either of you care to volunteer?"

Merry laughed. "To be hanged? No, thank you!"

"You won't be choked," said Frodo. "We'll fix the rope under your arms rather than around your neck. You might even find it fun." He smiled at Sam in a private joke, but Sam was busy working on a stubborn knot, one more difficult than any he'd had to deal with since his return to the Mousehole yesterday, and he didn't see.

Pippin stepped forward. "Oh, well, if it'll be fun, I'll give it a go."

Once Sam had unknotted the rope and lowered the noose far enough, Pippin pulled it down around his torso beneath his armpits; at Frodo's direction and under his uncle's and brother's bewildered and fascinated observation, Sam then tried to pull Pippin up. Hauling his hardest, he could just get Pippin off the ground, but not so high up as Malbo had been. It was only when Merry and Ham gave him a hand that they sent Pippin shouting and swinging up among the boughs of the tree.

"It's just as I thought," said Frodo. "The way that rope is wound around the tree, it needs more than one person to pull someone up. Two, at least. Perhaps three. It struck me quite early on that whoever undertook this hanging, there must have been several people involved. One person couldn't have done it all alone--They'd have to tie him, hold him steady, then pull him up. Malbo was drunk off his feet when they brought him here. Perhaps he was asleep or near it, and they carried him. Yes, that's how they would have managed it so quietly, and not wake you up, Ham. Malbo was past struggling. He mightn't even have known what was happening until he was pulled upwards."

"They brought him here because of the long ropes lying out?" asked Ham. He was taking an interest in the case, while Uncle Andy had wandered away, shaking his head, certain that Sam's fancy friends were all insane.

"Yes, I believe so," answered Frodo. "As your uncle has noted, it was a new rope. It couldn't be traced, as a rope brought from one of the local farms or homes might be. I don't believe they meant any malice to you or your uncle. While they could easily have carried one of your ropes off to hang Malbo at another tree farther away, I suspect they found it more convenient to commit theft and murder on the same spot."

"But who done it, Mr. Frodo?" asked Ham. "Who were these folk that come all this way to see Malbo hanged?"

"I'm afraid it's someone you know rather well," Frodo told him. "As for their reasons... well, one I know of certainly and the others I can only guess at. I'll know the whole story when I confront them."

Ham looked horrified. "It's not Maisie's dad and brother? I know Mose was angry when he heard why I was fighting with Malbo. He's that fond of his sister."

"No, it isn't the Bloomers," Sam assured his brother. "If you want to go courting Maisie, they won't stand in your way."

Ham blushed, but didn't deny that this was his intention.

"Can you let me down now?" requested Pippin, who was still dangling far above them.
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