The Hollowed Tree

by R. K. Johnstone

  He finally did reach it, as predicted by the owl, not long after midnight. He surveyed the others who had come before. Their bodies lay motionless, scattered among the rubble where they had fallen. Even the nocturnal owl had succumbed to the need for rest and slept standing upright on an outcropping, a faint purring issuing from his feathered head. Here there was no life, no trees, no living vegetation, only wind swept stone. It was calm now, the silence oppressive. The bear crossed the slight swell of the starlit, broken surface, staggering a bit. Just beyond the outcrop where the owl stood sleeping he lay down and made a bed of the smooth stone. It struck him now in the last flickering moments of consciousness that the mountain was really quite small after all.

  40. Down From the Mountain

  On the next morning, in the cold, harsh light of day, the barren mountain top which greeted our party's awakening offered little inducement to linger in its vicinity. It seemed that its inhospitableness, its sterility, struck them independently yet all in the same way. Percy, his rump in the air and his head and forepaws on the ground, stretched his yellow back, stood up, yawned, and trotted easily over to the far side where their descent would begin. Here, the armadillos, fully loaded, waited at the head of the steep path. The owl, having risen well before any of the others, circled overhead. Egbert was reconnoitering the circumference of the mountain top, as if unwilling to believe it had so little to offer. And the Sergeant Major, who the night before had arrived, on foot and—saving for the bear—last of all, waited impatiently on Agamemnon's back.

  "It'd ought to make ye happy now," the sparrow growled at the armadillo with irascible energy. "Ye danged quad'rped! M'claws 're filed down to the bone!"

  Agamemnon and Jupe snickered and to the greatest extent possible showed a general insensitivity to the bird's complaints.

  The group were so eager to set out that the appetites stimulated in that rarefied air were ignored in favor of pushing on. Only the bear still slept. The others, despite their impatience to get started, delayed a few moments before waking him and enjoyed the scene spread out before them. The view from altitude was spectacular. Behind them to the west they could see the savannah stretching out to the horizon, undulating and yellow in the morning sun. At the horizon a thick yellow-brown cloud layer loomed above Hawg City and extended thinning across the savannah, staining the sky. To behold the noxious cloud while standing in the purity of the mountain top atmosphere gave them an exhilarating sense of freedom. In contrast to this scene, before them to the east lay the jungle into which they were about to descend. It lay thick and impenetrable and green and familiar, and above it a thin sheet of mist stretched sparkling and evaporating as they watched in the sunlight.

  "A telescope located at such an altitude as this," Egbert said scientifically to the group as they surveyed the jungle, "conceivably, would permit us to explore the jungle at tree top level. It would, thereby, perhaps, provide a most expeditious means of discovering the Hollowed Tree without meandering about in the jungle below. Unfortunately," he said and furrowed his brow, "we have no telescope." Apparently he had talked himself into disenchantment with the idea at the same time that he had proposed it. "And, at any rate," he continued dismissively, "the angle of sight from here is so great that we would likely miss it. We shall rely on the keen vision of the Judge."

  Meanwhile, the owl had descended and was in the process of stirring the great bear from his slumber.

  "Haarumph! No time to waste—haarumph. Bear—we must be on our way! Haarumph!"

  Though normally partial by nature to altitudes, Honorashious felt no affinity for this mountain top and like the others was eager to get started.

  "Boston," he grunted as he rocked the bear gently, grasping a great arm in his claw.

  The bear finally stirred, licked his black lips with a serpentine ribbon of pink tongue, snorted. He opened his eyes and stared blankly without lifting his head from its stony pillow.

  "Haarumph!" the owl grunted and turned and walked away to allow the bear to rise on his own.

  A few moments later Boston rose and lumbered over to the group. He stood erect on his hind legs and took in the view. The sight of the yellow-brown sky looming over the savannah caused a predictable grimness to enter the bear's expression. Next, he cast a look almost of disappointment over the mountain top. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't deny that Egbert had been right in forecasting the difficulty of winning it. Now that they were there, it seemed that none of them could wait to get off it. He turned to the jungle. His spirits rose. He looked at the others, all of whom stood at ready.

  "Judge," he said, turning to the owl. "I would strongly recommend that we commence our descent. As I can see that everybody is ready to get started—and as I am as eager as anybody, and maybe even more so than most—I don't see any reason not to skip breakfast this once. We can chow down once we get in the jungle. The best thing about this particular mountain top is that now we can get down off it and get on with our mission."

  "Haarumph! We had come to this very same conclusion well before your tardy awakening, good bear, which—I might add—has kept us all—haarumph—haarumph—in a deplorable state of waiting for quite long enough! Haarumph!"

  Percy snorted. "Such profundity is truly difficult to tolerate at this time of the morning," he said. "Let's get on with it."

  The bear sighed and stretched. Then, bestowing upon his somewhat irritated companions a rare bear grin, he nodded his head.

  "Let's go then," he said and started off at a lope down the mountain.

  41. Assistance from Unexpected Quarters

  Our party's progress now underwent a distinctive transformation. They fairly flew down the steep mountain side, arriving at its foot well before noon. Once in the jungle they settled into a brisk yet easy pace, enjoying the distinctive pleasure of traveling once again on generally level, dry ground.

  At the foot of the mountain Honorashious and Egbert briefly consulted their chart. By striking directly eastward by means of whatever path was available they would soon hit the main trail. From there they had only to follow this trail for a half a day until reaching a complex of less traveled, intersecting paths which diverged in every direction.

  "The selection here," Egbert said, pointing with a claw to the skein of lines depicting these paths, "is highly critical. A miscalculation at this point, and we will be lost."

  "Haarumph—not likely, Egbert," the owl said with patronizing superiority. "Henrietta's instructions, gleaned from the ramblings of the shaman wolverine, should be quite sufficient. And if not—haarumph—from altitude I will easily discover the way—haarumph!"

  "The judge is right, Egbert," said Boston, who was observing the two in their deliberations over the chart. "We have some fairly explicit guidance. If we get lost, it's not going to be due to a lack of knowing where it's supposed to be."

  "A word of caution only, gents," the squirrel said without taking offense.

  Our party set out in as good a mood as they had been since their leaving of Hardwood Haven four days earlier. The minor, irregular paths were hard packed and clear, if narrow, and their ease of passage was such that one and all, their thoughts were free to range far and wide upon all manner of subjects. Now they engaged as before in heated discussion and contentious debate of a variety of issues of the utmost political and philosophical importance to every single animal in the jungle. Honorashious, noting the gestures and moving lips which accompanied this activity, descended from time to time and interjected such profundities into the arguments as he could arrive at coming in in the middle of this or that issue of contention. And though at first the group was markedly somber in their deliberations, they soon fell naturally into that ease of manner in which the exchange of humorous stories and hearty riposte were the order of the day.

  One would have thought that the events of the past several days had been no more than a casual adventure. Yet the shadow which darkened the bear's countenance, as some thought or other crossed his
mind at the most frivolous moment of some narration or other, struck a discordant note. Egbert, too, could be seized at the most incongruous junctures by moments of intense reflection. The experience of Hawg City, regardless of whether or not their scores with the owl and the lion had been settled, had left its indelible impression.

  They struck the main trail some hours later. Stepping out of the coolness beneath the overarching canopy of the jungle, our party found themselves suddenly exposed to the full force of the mid day sun. For the width of this thoroughfare extended all along its way to a number of yards sufficient to deprive it of any protection from the over arching canopy, which fell far short of meeting in the air above it. Here plodded animals of every description. The gray dust stirred by their paws and hooves thickly coated the vegetation along either side of the highway. The sheer volume of traffic here was so great that on the average the time between the passing of one party and the next was insufficient to allow the dust ever to settle completely.

  At that moment a party of beavers was passing by. These individuals (there were five or six of them) were proceeding at a pace consonant with their reputation for industriousness. They talked loudly as they went, gesturing somewhat wildly to make a point, all of them engaged equally it seemed in some more or less violent argument. So engrossed were the beavers in their discussions that the appearance of our party emerging from the woods elicited from them no more than a nod of the head in passing. The flow of their conversation continued without the least interruption.

  Boston stepped out into the trail and looked after their receding backs. The group continued on without a break, arms still stabbing the air and gesticulating as energetically as ever as they disappeared around a bend in the highway. Just as these beavers were disappearing, a party of three white, spotted cows emerged coming the other way. They proceeded at a slow, deliberate pace, their lowered heads bobbing slightly on extended necks before them. Loose skin hung in folds from their bones, like drapery, fully exposing the skeletal structure beneath. They came on in stupid silence, neither speaking to each other nor remarking in any other way the existence of the great bear standing erect in the middle of the trail, nor the rest of his party off to one side. On they came, gazing hypnotically with their large, brown, unblinking, unseeing eyes straight ahead. As they showed no intention of halting or otherwise altering this mechanical onslaught to accommodate the presence of any obstruction, the bear stepped slowly to the side, eyeing them with a frown of disgust.

  Honorashious had been waiting for them on the ground when they came out of the jungle. At altitude the old bird provided the invaluable service of keeping the party on the ground headed in the right direction. Now, on the well marked trail the danger of losing their way had been eliminated for the moment, and the owl had come down to join them for the company and intellectual stimulation. There were many issues of contention and debate which he had thought of while at altitude, and which he especially desired to air with Percy and the others. Now he perched comfortably, if somewhat precariously, on Jupe's armored back and observed these bovine travelers with contempt.

  "Haarumph! These idiotic cows are, unfortunately, typical of what we can look forward to on this highway! Haarumph!"

  "Move on Bess," the lion said with scorn, and stepped out on the trail in the wake of their bony white flanks. "These cows are a moribund lot. Their passing is of no consequence."

  After these somewhat insensitive remarks from the owl and the lion—spoken in a loud voice and without the least concern with being overheard—the three cows took a couple of more steps and halted. They stood with their backs to our party, the only evident signs of life the lazy and desultory swishing of their three tails shooing away the occasional fly.

  "And exactly whom might they be calling Bess?"

  This low-pitched interrogative arose from the vicinity of the one on the left. In reply came a similar voice from the right.

  "Why—I have no idea," the voice faltered somewhat breathlessly. "It—it certainly could not have been—could not have been—not directed at us—could it?"

  Now, more or less in unison, the three began a slow, hundred and eighty degree turn in the middle of the highway. This they accomplished in quarters, shuffling each of their four legs separately as they pivoted. Once they had positioned themselves squarely before our party, they halted.

  "Might I inquire as to the intent and meaning of these purulent remarks?" the one who had spoken first said archly. "Is there something in our appearance? Have we met? What provokes such undeserved rudeness?"

  "You—you—you most certainly could not have—could not have—could not have directed these comments towards—us—us!" said the other one.

  The lion and the owl looked at each other in astonishment. The bear and the others had moved out into the trail too now.

  "Haarumph—haarumph—haarumph—," Honorashious grunted, and if he had possessed a neck, at that moment he would have craned it uncomfortably. Though he had been perfectly aware that their comments would be heard by the cows, the assertiveness of this response so little corresponded to what was expected that the owl was, for the moment, at a loss for words. "Haarumph—ah—yes. Well—haarumph—no harm intended," he finished at last with uncharacteristic weakness and turned to Percy for help.

  "Then, they were, in fact, so directed," the first one said severely.

  "Absolutely!" the one in the middle now spoke up for the first time. "No doubt about it—as if there ever were any doubt. Why—one can tell by their looks what the likes of this idle group of rabble is capable of! Look at that bear—he's filthy! They have nothing better to do than to stand beside the road and accost innocent passers by."

  "Now wait just a minute, ma’am," the bear said, stepping forward. Self consciously, he took a great paw and smoothed back the fur on the top of his head, shrugged his shoulders and straightened his back. He could see that he would have to intervene now to smooth over this trivial, yet potentially volatile, incident or there was no telling what would develop. As usual, he was going to have to protect them all from the consequences of the unthinking, careless remarks of the lion.

  "Ma’am," the bear began with all of the considerable charm he could muster. "I would ask your pardon both for the ignorant comments tendered just now by my associates and for our unkempt appearance."

  "Hah!" blurted the first cow and eyed the bear with skepticism.

  "We have been traveling for some days now under duress, and only just now came out of the jungle, and were standing here about to get started on the last leg of our journey."

  "My sisters and I have been traveling for weeks," the first cow said indignantly. "We do not find it necessary to assault innocent passers by! And we do not use our peregrinations as excuse for allowing our appearance to deteriorate. No, my dusty bear, far far from it!"

  "Ma’am, if we don't look parlor pretty, you might not either if you'd been where we come from. We spent nearly two days in Hawg City—“

  "Hawg—Hawg—Hawg City!" gasped the stuttering one. "My—My word!"

  "Yes'm," Boston said solemnly. "And if you could have seen what some of us underwent there, you may not be so quick to condemn us now. But never mind, I only say this to excuse the inexcusable. Those comments were low and unjust, and I owe you my most sincere apologies, tendered now on behalf of the entire group."

  "Haarumph!" the owl grunted and the ear-like tufts on top of his head twitched in agitation. "Madame," he said with authority. "If I may, please allow me to introduce myself and my associates." He took a small bow. "Honorashious T. Hardwood Owl, Presiding—though in a status of partial retirement—over the Seventh Juridical—haarumph—haarumph—at your service."

  "The Seventh Juridical!" gasped the cow in the middle. "Never would have believed it!"

  "Haarumph!" the owl grunted, pleased with the effect of his announcement. Then, stepping aside and pointing with a flourish of the wing to Percy, he proclaimed somewhat pompously: "Perceival Theodilious R
einsgold the Eighth, Lion."

  "Perceival Theodilious!" exclaimed the first cow, and she and the two sisters joined in a brief burst of exclamations of surprise and flabbergasted disbelief.

  "Per—Per—Perceival Theodilious!" the stutterer gasped.

  Taking advantage of their obvious state of befuddlement, the owl pressed on. He introduced the rest of the band in short order. By the time he had finished, ponying up last of all the Sergeant Major—who jerked stiffly to attention and saluted—the cows had recovered from their surprise. The first cow again wore a look of skepticism, though less harsh than before.

  "Our most humble apologies," the owl said.

  "And my own as well," Percy chimed in, though with less enthusiasm.

  "Well," the first cow said, looking at her sister, who snorted.

  "Accept the apologies," this second one said dryly. "It's the best we're going to get. Be here all day long if we don't."

  "Well," the first cow said uncertainly. She hesitated for a moment longer, then reluctantly gave in. "Well, okay. We accept then."

  "I suppose," the second cow said with weary sarcasm, "that formal introductions are in order now."

  "Quite so," the first cow said primly. "Allow me. I am Chantilly Morgriphene, Cow. These are my sisters Champagne and Cherif. We are on our way to the east steppes on business of the utmost importance."

  "Haarumph! Most pleased to meet you," the owl said with gallant deference and bowed deeply. "And might I inquire as to your business, and, to make up for our inexcusably deficient behavior, is there some way in which we can be of assistance?"