"I was the only one whom he'd told, and I doubt that this first try was such as to encourage him to a repeat performance. Once he was finished, it was as if some irreparable breach of friendship had erupted between us. Although I hastened to smooth with some bluff, stoical observations the embarrassing silence which ensued, my attempts to put him at his ease failed miserably.
"He left us in a haste of desperation all the more remarkable for its contrast with the cheerful beginning of his stay. As he said goodbye he could not meet our gaze and turned and hustled away, as if ashamed, into the undergrowth. We've neither seen nor heard of him again."
13. The Inconclusive Validation of Egbert's Hypothesis
No one spoke up at once after the owl had stopped. The story had moved them so strongly that it was some time before they began to consider its implications for the task at hand. Egbert was first:
"The shaman's encounter is enlightening," he said, pulling thoughtfully at a whisker. "Do we think it possible that the boy could have succeeded where even this shaman failed? Should we assume that he could even find the tree when the shaman experienced so great a difficulty, having stood in its presence many times before without seeing it?"
The squirrel looked down at the bear and the lion, then over at Honorashious on his perch. None of the others seemed stimulated by these questions nor did they exhibit any inclination to respond. All appeared to contemplate the story and kept their thoughts to themselves.
"We must try at any rate," the squirrel muttered. He paused for a moment before continuing in a subdued but determined tone of voice: "We have no choice. Our difficulties in grasping the essence of the Hollowed Tree notwithstanding, we do have adequate information upon which to proceed. Leave the metaphysical implications aside; I think that we can find the Hollowed Tree and identify it. Once we have achieved that much–“
Egbert stopped abruptly, unable to finish his thought. The others had begun to stir now, his comments apparently having had some effect. The lion sat up; Boston looked absently about as if groping for words; Honorashious shifted his wings and lifted each massive claw in turn and giving it a shake. It was Henrietta, however, who broke the silence:
"Although I was spared the ordeal of witnessing the shaman's anguished confession," she said, "I have heard it all from Honorashious before. My impression of the shaman is that he appears to speak the truth–in so far as that is possible when the truth is so intricately intertwined with one's character and very existence as is the case here. The wolverine may lack sufficient insight to see clearly what is the deeper truth about the Hollowed Tree. Indeed, that he himself suspects so much, the contempt in which he holds his own actions would suggest. But as to all of the facts of its location, I do not doubt the shaman speaks the truth. I agree with Egbert. Find the tree."
"Now wait just a minute, ma'am," Boston spoke up seriously, his forehead wrinkled with concern. "There's got to be some motive for the boy's going to the tree and then going down it–am I right Judge?" He appealed for confirmation to Honorashious, but receiving none, continued: "Hence our desire to establish just how much the boy knew about the Hollowed Tree."
"Haarumph!" Honorashious grunted forcefully. "How much did he know indeed! This, my dear Percy, is clearly within the purview of the court! Haarumph!"
Percy, uncharacteristically lost in deep thought, failed to take offense at the owl's barbed remarks.
"How much did he know?" mused the lion absently, staring off into space. "I would say..." he paused for an instant and looked at Honorashious. "I would say, as much as any of us."
"Aaawwk!" The Sergeant Major, apoplectic, staggered on the railing in shock and disbelief. Unaware in his preoccupation of his nearness to the edge, he stepped into thin air and plunged suddenly, fluttering to the porch where he lay gasping in a crumpled heap, too upset to say a word.
"Haarumph! My word! Not everything, Percy? What of the law? What of the sanctity of the secrets of the jungle? Did you personally authorize it?"
Percy was unaffected by either the dramatics of the Sergeant Major or the owl's pointed questions. He sat calmly, as if considering.
"I think that, despite our best efforts, he knew as much as any. Maybe more. We let it out in little pieces–a little here, a little there. Over time, he must have heard it all," the lion said matter of factly and without the least emotion.
"Haarumph!" Honorashious grunted and hopped from one massive claw to the other in extreme agitation. "Haarumph!"
"I think it not so very difficult to discover a motive," Henrietta broke in impatiently. "To the inquiring mind such knowledge is as food and, once known, the act like thought in the swiftness of its execution. Do not let your sluggish, cadaverous blood blind you to the nature of others, especially the human. Once apprised of the Hollowed Tree, his going down it was as inevitable as if preordained!"
"Haarumph!" Honorashious grunted, livid in the face of such criticism coming from his wife and–worse yet–seemingly in support of the lion.
Boston sighed. "So you think he knew everything," he said regretfully. "Even about the metaphysical aspects of the tree?"
The lion nodded.
"Well," the bear said with solemn resignation, "I suppose Henrietta is right, then. He probably would have gone out and found it and gone down it no matter what."
"Hardly adequate motive!" spluttered Honorashious, unable to contain his contempt. "Why, such a lame-brained explanation would no more stand up under the most superficial cross examination imaginable than would a straw in a gale off the Horn of Sangfroid! Haarumph!"
"My dear husband, you stand too much on points of law. Do not miss the larger issue in your passion for litigation. Come, this is an unofficial business, after all."
"Haarumph!" Honorashious grunted, stung by his wife's continuing criticism. "My dear wife, the purview of the court is not exceeded in this case; and of the nature of this business, unofficial or official, I beg to differ–haarumph! The court will not confine itself to such narrow precepts; nor will it succumb to the bonds of friends and family and thereby compromise its most hallowed principles! Haarumph–haarumph!" The old horned owl was calming now, as if the words he spoke were vented steam. He went on in a calmer vein: "However–haarumph–it can not be denied that in the interest of furthering our mission here, further examination of the complex questions of motive and such would provide us with no advantage so great as to justify the time expended in their debate–haarumph!" The owl proudly stuck out his chest and with a little hop descended from his perch. He strutted somewhat pompously along the limb. "The Sergeant Major and I will accompany you. Haarumph!"
"Aye, Jedge!"
"We must begin our preparations immediately, to seek out, and find, the Hollowed Tree and the lost boy! Haarumph!"
14. The Search Begins in Earnest
The owl's peremptory declaration of his intent to accompany them was by no means greeted with universal approbation. Percy, for one, made no effort to hide his displeasure, professing sardonically his doubts as to the need for so high ranking a contingent. The owl's cheerily patronizing rejoinder could hardly have had a mollifying effect:
"Haarumph! None of that nonsense now, Perceival. Your full support and active participation in this endeavor is of the utmost importance to its success."
But strangely enough, it was Boston to whom this proposition was most unwelcome. For no matter how much he might enjoy the good company of his old friend, a long journey mediating disputes between an arrogant lion and a touchy and disputatious horned owl was a dreadful prospect indeed. He cast briefly and desperately about for some means of deflecting the owl from his intentions.
"Hold on now, old pardner," he said, affecting an unnatural, folksy intimacy. "How about the little lady?"
"Haarumph! Entirely out of the question! Henrietta would never consent to travel in our company without a retinue of accompanying baggage and attendants the sheer magnitude of which--haarumph--you can hardly imagine. No, Boston, we must trav
el light and hard on this journey. We have no time to waste on--haarumph--luxuries!"
"Good bear," Henrietta said sympathetically, "as you can see, such indirections are unlikely to effect that end which you desire. This bird is already far, far too caught up in the idea of this romance to glimpse such subtleties, as his misunderstanding of this simple hint would give the proof."
Truly, so preoccupied had Honorashious become suddenly with his plans for the impending journey, that he paid no attention whatsoever to these remarks and failed to catch the point of Boston's heavy handed hint.
"Sergeant Major!" he barked.
"Aye, Jedge!"
"Provisions for three weeks. One carrier. Weapons as required."
"Better take the armadillo, Jedge!"
"Very well. Haarumph! Muster the armadillos. Two--one to ride, one to pack."
"Aye Jedge!" the Sergeant Major said, bursting with pride and standing at attention so rigidly straight and brittle that he appeared in danger of shattering all to pieces at the slightest touch. He saluted abruptly, turned, and scurried back inside the tree whence there soon issued a great commotion of opening and closing of cabinet doors and items banging together.
"Egbert! I would request your--haarumph--assistance in the charting of a track to carry us most expeditiously into the interior Heartland.
"At your service, Judge" Egbert said cheerfully. "We have spent far too long, for my liking, in discussions and deliberations over relatively trivial matters." Alone of the group, Egbert was highly pleased to have the owl along. And in spite of his profession of impatience with the night's deliberations, in all reality no one obtained greater gratification from the debate of intractable issues than he. The debate on names had especially pleased him.
"Haarumph! The deliberations of the court are of the utmost importance, Egbert," admonished Honorashious as he preceded the squirrel through the door into the tree. "The court will not be constrained..."
The remainder of that night was devoted to preparations for the trip. Egbert and Honorashious, cloistered inside the owl's library, bent over a chart which they had spread across his writing desk. The Sergeant Major hurried noisily about in a high state of excitement, assembling such provisions and weaponry as he considered necessary for the undertaking. Henrietta assisted. The bear and the lion, who traveled light and, therefore, saw no need for preparations of any sort, lay about and napped beneath the tree.
Inside the library Honorashious had put on a pair of bifocals, and he and the squirrel bent over the chart. According to the shaman wolverine their goal lay to the east in the central interior. They would travel first for a day's journey through thick jungle and then through the savannah until they reached the Razorback mountain range.
"Haarumph! Negotiating the Razorbacks--haarumph--and I must rely on your expertise for the ground animals, Egbert--will present significant difficulties. We have very little choice in which path to take. A route to the south will allow us to avoid all but some minor hills at the tail of the mountain range. This southern route is the safest, but also the most lengthy; if we take this way we must extend our journey by two full days--Haarumph! To the northeast lies the most direct way. Here we can cross the mountains via a series of passes, albeit with some degree of difficulty to those on the ground--haarumph--and thereby shorten our trip significantly. I do not anticipate that the difficulty of climbing through these passes will present any problem whatsoever to a healthy bear and lion or--haarumph--" he nodded at Egbert "--squirrel. This route does present difficulties, however, of another nature. The problem with this way lies--"
"Hawg City!" Egbert exclaimed, finishing the owl's sentence.
Honorashious paused, attempting to gauge in the squirrel's countenance the degree to which this proposition affected him. The expression he discovered there reflected a repugnance similar to that elicited by a violation of the olfactory senses.
"Phew!" the squirrel said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "I know the way, Judge, having crossed the Razorbacks by this route once before.
"Haarumph! Good. Then you have visited the city before and are familiar with its ways?"
"My knowledge of Hawg City is limited to that gained through observations at a distance, observations which definitely do not encourage me to any closer inspection. From what I've seen the inhabitants of this city are in a sorry state indeed, wallowing in filth and urban decay of every imaginable description. Even from a distance the smell was well nigh unbearable. A thick blanket of noxious, brown haze covered the whole. There appeared to be a great disparity in the well being of the inhabitants with the most hideous of their dwelling areas located in the city's center. A severe urban blight diminished significantly near the edges, where it would seem the more well to do hogs live. Even so, the stench and waste from this city reach far beyond its outskirts, and to some degree they adversely affect the entire jungle."
"Haarumph! Indeed! I see that you are well versed in the problems endemic to Hawg City. All of these that you mention, however, worrisome though they may be--haarumph--haarumph--are of no great concern to us in this endeavor. The potential for the greatest harm comes, rather, from the inhabitants of this city. To wit, and frankly, I am most concerned by the predisposition of large numbers of these warthogs to anti-social behavior. We will be especially sensitive to any indecorous behavior, of course, due to the presence of the court--haarumph--not to mention the king. Our trip will be delayed significantly and the advantage of taking this route lost--haarumph--if the court is engaged in litigation due to some infraction or other on the part of the citizens of this city--haarumph!"
"With Boston and Percy at ground level we will have to exercise extreme caution," agreed the squirrel, "or else we are bound to be delayed by some kind of entanglement with these pestiferous animals." He pointed with a claw to the map. "If we want to avoid an incident, it will be necessary to skirt the environs here to the south."
The owl pondered this for a moment.
"We may--haarumph--as you say, diminish the dangers by taking this southern detour around the city; I would note, however, that the warthogs frequent this area as well--haarumph--and I would not be surprised to encounter them despite our best efforts--haarumph! Nevertheless, it's probably the best that we can do. It will lessen the chances of a problematic encounter, but not take us so far out of our way as to lengthen the journey unduly."
Egbert concurred with this analysis, and they agreed that they would follow the northeastern route.
"Haarumph! Once we are past Hawg City and out of the savannah we shall negotiate the passes, descending into the densest part of the jungle on the other side--haarumph. From there it is a matter of little more than a day's march to the area indicated by the wolverine. I have allowed some days at the tree itself, if needed. The entire journey should be completed in a week's time--haarumph!"
Egbert agreed that this course was the best one for their purposes and, rolling up the chart, he tucked it under his arm and followed Honorashious outside to check on the preparations of the others.
A scene of apparent disorganization greeted them as they came out on the porch. Henrietta stood at the railing, as if supervising the activities below. Several wrapped bundles of provisions lay scattered about on the ground beneath the tree. An armadillo squatted some distance away beside a great bush, sulking. Boston and Percy were sitting up on their haunches, spectators to the scene unfolding before them. The center of attention was occupied by the Sergeant Major.
"Ye dad blamed misfit!" he rasped angrily. "Put it on! I'll ware ye out 'f ye keep this up!"
The object of this wrathful tirade was a second armadillo, whose slender tail the sparrow grasped as best he could with wings and beak. By means of a slow and deliberate plodding the armadillo was dragging the resistant sparrow along the ground away from the bundles. The bird's claws, planted stubbornly in the dirt, left a trail of furrows behind him. A rope with a noose had caught on one of the armadillo's ears, as if thrown there carelessl
y, its loose end dragging along the ground. The armadillo wore an expression of extreme disgust upon his lowered face.
"You just try it," the armadillo snarled with grim determination.
"Ye don't think I will? Ye don't?" the Sergeant Major gasped furiously as he struggled to restrain the beast. "I whupp'd a sight better'n you, ye dang'd ornery quad'rped!"
"Nobody walks all over me!"
"I done told ye--Jupe rode pack last time. Far's far--it's yer turn now!"
"I never said I'd ride pack."
"Ain't ask'n ye--I'm order'n ye! Put it on!"
The armadillo continued to plod determinedly on, oblivious to these increasingly grave threats. From the porch above Honorashious stood beside his wife and viewed the scene.
"Haarumph! What's all this? Armadillo trouble again?"
Henrietta leaned to her husband and in a lowered voice answered without taking her eyes away from the goings on below: "These armadillos take extreme exception to serving as pack animals or, indeed, in any role other than that of military combatant. That one there beneath the bush, Jupiter, sulks to bear the Sergeant Major upon his back, feeling it beneath his dignity to carry one of rank below an officer. This one here below, who drags the Sergeant Major so inexorably through the dirt, objects to bearing the provisions like some common beast of burden. These armored beasts are proud by nature, and revolt against their lot in life; I fear that we shall never engage their services except with some such altercation. Once they have been got underway, however, they will take the yolk and serve with that exemplary degree of loyalty and courage for which they are so famed."
"Haarumph! So they will, my dear. As always, your observations are most astute. Nevertheless–haarumph–we have no time to waste in humoring these recalcitrant armadillos. We must set out immediately–haarumph!" He looked at the two below and scowled. Raising his voice, he barked forcefully: "Sergeant Major! Agamemnon! Cease and desist at once."
The Hollowed Tree Page 8
