- "'And here’s the burglar!' said Bilbo stepping down into the middle of them, and slipping off the ring.  Bless me, how they jumped! Then they shouted with surprise and delight. Gandalf was as  astonished as any of them, but probably more pleased than all the others. He called to Balin and told  him what he thought of a look-out man who let people walk right into them like that without warning.  It is a fact that Bilbo’s reputation went up a very great deal with the dwarves after this. If they had still  doubted that he was really a first-class burglar, in spite of Gandalf’s words, they doubted no longer. Balin was the most puzzled of all; but everyone said it was a very clever bit of work." The Hobbit, Chapter 6 ("Out of the Frying-Pan Into the Fire"), pg. 86