Gnaws iron, bites steel;
     Grinds hard stones to meal;
     Slays king, ruins town,
     And beats high mountain down.”
     Poor Bilbo sat in the dark thinking of all the horrible names of all
the giants and ogres he had ever heard told of in tales, but not one
of them had done all these things. He had a feeling that the answer
was quite different and that he ought to know it, but he could not
think of it. He began to get frightened, and that is bad
     He flapped into the water and paddled to the bank; Bilbo could see his
eyes coming towards him. His tongue seemed to stick in his mouth; he
wanted to shout out: “Give me more time! Give me time!” But all that
came out with a sudden squeal was:
     “Time! Time!”
     Bilbo was saved by pure luck. For that of course was the answer.
     Gollum was disappointed once more; and now he was getting angry, and
also
     tired of the game. It had made him very hungry indeed. This time he
did not go back to the boat. He sat down in the dark by Bilbo. That
made the hobbit most dreadfully uncomfortable and scattered his wits.