The Hollowed Tree

by R. K. Johnstone

  The greenish-yellow light emitted from the two phosphorous lamps fell over the now silent and somber group, forming a tent of light in the surrounding darkness. The bear's final words, uttered in a solemn, stentorian bass, seemed to hang in the air, reverberating like the final notes of a stringed orchestra. Even the Sergeant Major was stricken speechless.

  They were all of them quite lost–all of them–in profound and disquieting thought.

  10. An Impartial Investigation

  Honorashious was the first to break the heavy silence:

  "Haarumph," he grunted in subdued tones.

  All eyes were upon the owl. He stood first on one claw, then upon the other. He shifted his wings upon his back. Finally, having collected his thoughts, he began:

  "Haarumph!" he grunted with somewhat more of his customary vigor. "Haarumph! The Hollowed Tree. Yes, yes. Well--haarumph--Gentlemen, Madame--haarumph--haarumph--this is indeed a deep subject. Aside from the--haarumph--legal issues surrounding the unauthorized revelation of the secrets of the jungle and the--haarumph--legal proceedings possibly set in motion thereby--haarumph--the further examination of which the court reserves the right to resume at a later date--haarumph--haarumph--besides these, as well as all of the issues of blame in the events directly preceding and attributed to--haarumph--causing said disappearance, upon which the court reserves the right to deliberate and deliver a--haarumph--final decision in the future as well--haarumph--aside from the potentially serious consequences of the substantiation of these allegations--Boston's eloquent but unsuccessful attempts to dismiss them all out of hand notwithstanding--I say, despite these most serious allegations, Percy and his advisors do well to consult the court on an issue of such complexity and of which the implications are, indeed--haarumph--haarumph--profound!--haarumph!"

  The old horned owl had been surprised and disappointed by Boston's blatant attempt to invade the purview of the court. He would have expected and understood it from Percy, but coming as it did from his old friend and ally, the bear, it was deeply disturbing. His comments, intended to establish firmly in the minds of his listeners the prerogatives of the court, elicited the predictable--if, in the thoughtful aftermath of the bear's appeal, somewhat belated--response:

  "Legal proceedings!" shrieked Egbert, absolutely hysterical. "My word, man! See what trouble you have caused us, Boston! We could be punished!"

  "Mumbley pegs," Percy muttered with a genuine and deliberate show of regal unconcern.

  Putting his feelings of betrayal temporarily aside, Honorashious continued:

  "Haarumph--leaving such matters for later, the case is one of consultation only, at this point, and we will proceed accordingly. Haarumph--as Boston has said, there are two sides to the issue. The empirical, by far the most tractable, is one for which you assume I am--haarumph--well qualified to speak--haarumph--haarumph. Perhaps, perhaps. Henrietta's knowledge and experience, however, in all of the details of the field of hollowed trees exceeds by far that of my own, and if we decide that this avenue of investigation is likely to--haarumph--bear fruit, it is she who should address it, and not I."

  "We've got to know what to look for, Judge," Boston said in plaintive, measured tones. "We have to have a good search plan or we won't ever be able to find the darned thing at all!"

  "Haarumph! So it would seem. All in good time, all in good time. Haarumph! Before a search is launched, however, it would seem that some further inquiry into the facts of the disappearance is in order. I am unconvinced--haarumph--as of yet that the Hollowed Tree is the answer. I detect a certain degree of doubt in Boston and Percy as well. In order to cement our resolve, and thereby ensure that we are imbued with an ample store of that--haarumph--fortitude upon which the success of such an enterprise, potentially arduous and dangerous in nature, may depend, we must make sure first that we have carefully examined all of the evidence. From what I have heard of it, Egbert's hypothesis seems lacking. It would appear to be supported mainly by the absence of any other possibilities: to wit, Egbert's frequent comment of 'Where else could he be?'

  The process of elimination is indeed a--haarumph--haarumph--powerful tool--often our only tool in such cases--but it requires the most careful examination of all of the evidence to use it effectively. Thus, Egbert's rhetorical question marks the starting point of our investigation rather than its conclusion. Where else could he be, indeed? We must include in our--haarumph--examination of this question all that is germane. I should like to know, for example, the extent of the boy's knowledge of the Hollowed Tree, the knowledge thereof falling within that special category of subject matter commonly known as 'the secrets of the jungle.'--haarumph--haarumph!"

  Egbert, in the spirit of debate, overcame his anxiety sufficiently to speak up:

  "But, Judge," he said in a quavering voice, "regardless of how much he knew about it, the point is, we think that he found it based on the fact that we think any of us could, and would, find it, eventually, if we tried to and if we weren't trying to avoid it all of the time."

  "Haarumph! Weak--a very weak argument indeed, my dear Egbert! We speak here of motive--of the inner workings of the heart and--haarumph--soul into which we attempt to delve so deeply with the aim of gaining a better understanding of our actions. Also, though the boy may have stumbled across the Hollowed Tree by the merest chance, as you say, in which case the event is attributable only to the fact that he wasn't trying to avoid it, there are a multiplicity of other possibilities which, it seems, are equally probable and which we must first eliminate--haarumph. The basic motive, we know from Boston's narrative, was the stated desire to remove himself from the vicinity of your and Percy's childish and imbecilic disagreements. In short, based only on this motive the most likely explanation of his disappearance is that he has simply sequestered himself at some location in the jungle unbeknownst to us. Another possibility which one must entertain in all such cases, God forbid, is that of an accident or, worse, foul play. Unfortunately, the court is keenly aware that the jungle is not entirely safe, though we must own that any individual possessing the boy's extensive ability to handle himself--due to the apparently special powers of individuals of his ilk--would militate against such an explanation."

  "Haarumph! I infer from Boston's somewhat--haarumph--lengthy narrative that you have eliminated these two--haarumph--possibilities. You have eliminated them based on the boy's possessing some knowledge of the secrets of the jungle and, therefore, of the Hollowed Tree. I submit to you, gentlemen--and Madame--that you have been overly hasty in coming to your conclusions and that--haarumph--further investigation is warranted to support adequately the considerable effort which will be entailed in such a search with the goal of finding said missing person. In short, although your conclusions may be valid, I for one must have more supporting evidence to embark on so significant an enterprise--haarumph!"

  "Who asked you to?" Percy said with exasperation.

  "Now, Lion--none of that, none of that," Boston hastened to say and held up a great paw, the palm turned outward in a gesture of mollifying restraint. The bear spoke with slow deliberation keeping his eyes riveted all the while on the owl: "Judge, as you well know, I never come to any conclusion except after I have worried it to death. I didn't go into to all of the details earlier, but trust me--I did worry this one. And after all of my worry and looking at it in every which way, I think that the best we are going to get in this case is nowhere near ninety or even seventy percent sure--more like fifty-one percent. If that ain't enough for you, so be it."

  "Haarumph!" Honorashious grunted with displeasure.

  "We would like nothing more than to prove this idea false and go on down the road without wasting our time on something that is most likely going to cause us all problems. Our consultations with you now are unofficial and off the record, and so you needn't worry yourself with liability."

  "Haarumph!" Honorashious grunted. He admonished his friend with supercilious patronization: "Yes, Boston, that is all very well. However
, once engaged, the court will not be constrained or restricted in any manner whatsoever from the pursuit to their fullest extent of such matters as fall within its purview."

  At this moment the still somewhat chastened Egbert, who had been attempting unsuccessfully for the last few minutes to interject, raised his voice tremulously and finally succeeded in gaining the attention of the others:

  "A bit of elaboration can't hurt, Boston, if it will gain the good graces and support of the court. Our conclusions were not so hasty or ill-considered as my previous remarks may have led you to believe, Judge. We took into account all of our knowledge of the boy and his personality and his past history and his coming to the jungle, and everything in general that we--and you--know about him, and with that as background, we came to our conclusions. As short as it was, him being just a boy, it would take a long time to relate all of that now; we already know it all anyway, and we would just get caught up in arguments and judgmental statements and differences of opinion which would waste time more than contribute to finding out the truth, and which, in any event, we have all already beat to death, everyone of them at one time or another, going back as far as we do."

  Boston looked at Egbert with approval, feeling that this intercession had come at exactly the right moment. Together, he was confident that they could handle the litigious old horned owl. Percy's eyelids had descended once again to a half dozing position.

  Egbert, caught up in the flow of his discourse, now shed the remnants of his timidity. Holding up a finger of instruction he assumed a tone of pedantry:

  "The facts are these: First, the lack of any witnesses to such occurrences–namely accidents, foul play, a sequestered hiding place–though possible, is improbable given the sheer numbers and range of the birds in this jungle, to say nothing of secondary creatures and insects with whom I generally have excellent relations and from whom I obtain daily an enormous amount of information on current events. The fact that in the past week I have had no reports from any of these sources militates against the alternatives to my hypothesis. Gentlemen, Madame," the squirrel said, turning with an air of concrete finality to each of these two parties in turn," there is no evidence to support these suppositions, except that they are the simplest explanations of the disappearance."

  "Haarumph!" Honorashious grunted contentiously, favorably impressed nevertheless by the tone and direction the deliberations had taken. "Yes, yes–yet, I would inquire as to whether any dedicated–haarumph–search for the express purpose of locating this missing–haarumph–individual was launched?"

  "Judge," Boston spoke up with somber patience, "with all due respect, any dedicated search would just be a waste of time. Egbert is probably the most knowledgeable individual in the jungle on current events. The reason he's the most knowledgeable is because of his sources, who are extremely independent, and over whom we have absolutely no control. The unvarnished truth of the matter is, if he were to try to order those birds to do something–whether with the monarch's authority or no–he'd get laughed out of the jungle. No, Egbert has gotten as much information on that as anybody could get, I think. Any search we could launch without the help of the birds would be heavy-handed, inefficient, and, in any case, it would just take too long."

  "Haarumph! Perhaps," Honorashious conceded. "Speaking as a bird myself, I must say that the point is well taken concerning their–haarumph–high level of expertise–haarumph—haarumph—if not their incorrigibility."

  "Aye, Judge!" the Sergeant Major piped up. "He's talk'n 'bout the swallows and the martins and sech trash 's that. They're an ornery lot. I can tell ye right now they got no more sense of the right and proper order of things than a pit viper!"

  "If my hypothesis seems outlandish—," Egbert lectured, "—for so Boston has referred to it—I submit to you that it seems so due only to the fact that the Hollowed Tree is a subject of which few—present company excepted—possess any first hand knowledge, and about which unsubstantiated rumor and speculation is, therefore, rife. An impartial investigation of the facts should convince the skeptic."

  "First," Egbert began, raising a clawed finger in the air, "the boy expressed the desire 'to be somewhere else than in the jungle where he didn't belong anyway' and so forth and so on, or words to that effect. This statement provides us with an indication of his inclination to depart not only the vicinity of the debating parties, but society and the jungle at large. Clearly the inference here is not that he desires merely to sequester himself temporarily from friends and the considerable stress associated with strenuous intellectual debate--"

  "Hardly!" Percy muttered lethargically. Apparently he had been listening despite his half-closed eyes.

  "--but rather," the undaunted Egbert continued, "that he is dissatisfied with life in general and longs, therefore, to visit other climes."

  "Other climes?" Boston said with incredulous amusement, and his teeth shown white between the pulled back, black lips in a wide bear grin.

  "He wished to leave the jungle," Egbert said, forcefully driving home his point, "and the most expeditious way to do that--some may conclude based on the common interpretation of the secrets of the jungle--is by way of the Hollowed Tree. Second, the boy did possess this common, if suspect, knowledge of the secrets of the jungle. And finally, when last seen the boy was in the canopy, nearly at tree top level, or high enough at any rate to indicate an interest in that vicinity and so increase the likelihood of his finding the Hollowed Tree."

  "In conclusion, Judge, these are the facts, such as they are, and I think that you must agree that my hypothesis stands up well under such an impartial investigation.”

  11. The Hollowed Tree

  Boston turned upon the squirrel a look of undisguised admiration. He was pleased immensely with this performance, especially the smoothness with which the squirrel had executed the seamless transition from his own introductory, common sensical arguments to the more pedantic and difficult technical ones of the squirrel. In view of the high level of emotional stress to which the possibility of criminal charges had subjected the squirrel, Boston felt that his rising to the occasion had been remarkable.

  Henrietta was the first to speak:

  "A dissertation most comprehensive and complete, Egbert. I think the details and facts of the case require no further elaboration. Indeed, if any further of these platitudinous observations and exhaustive recountings of the obvious are brought forward, I shall join Percy in his slumbers."

  "Haarumph!--Madame!" Honorashious grunted, the ear-like feather tufts on top of his head twitching in agitation. "I would share the first of these decided opinions but not the last."

  "My dear Honorashious, your love for discourse and litigation has brought us to a state of boredom which threatens to let loose a veritable flood of tears. You have encouraged our poor visitors to indulge your penchant for exhaustive argument and deliberation and excited a predilection in this bear--our good friend--which should at times rather be suppressed than encouraged. Please, waste no further time. Allow me to tell what little I know pertaining to the Hollowed Tree and so support or refute the squirrel's hypothesis."

  "Haarumph!," Honorashious grunted, preening his feathers with dignity. "Madame, the sanctity of the court is inviolable and not to be--haarumph--trifled with under any circumstances--haarumph--haarumph. Deliberation and argument are quite essential to the discovery and charting of the truest course for our actions." Then, softening his tone with evident fondness and respect, he said diffidently: "To the admittedly deficient mental powers of the others of us here present--haarumph--I assure you that these discussions are indispensable, and, my dearest, I beg you--haarumph--haarumph--to bear with us. As always, however, I most humbly defer to your exceeding good sense in all matters. Enough of this. Egbert has made his case. Get on with such--haarumph--empirical observations as you can make which would shed some further light on this matter--haarumph!"

  "Such little as I know pertaining to the Hollowed Tree of our jungle I shall rela
te," Henrietta began. "Although as owls we live in hollowed trees, I am certain that your own knowledge, Boston, and yours as well, Egbert, must be nearly so good as my own. I believe that you spent last winter in one?"

  "Yes'm," the bear said respectfully. "I've spent several winters in hollowed trees. I didn't find much out about them though; I was asleep the whole time."

  "Hollowed trees, needless to say, are trees in which the core has disintegrated. The pipe-like outer shell of bark and wood remain vital, and the only ill effect to the tree is a lessening of the strength of the trunk. The hollowed area normally extends upwards for only that part of the tree which is of the greatest age, the trunk soon becoming solid as one ascends the tree. Only the oldest of trees live so long as to develop a hollow core. For Boston's purposes, the hollowed area need not rise very far, since the bear requires only enough space in which to recline comfortably. Such hollowed trees are fairly common and easily found with a bit of dedicated searching."

  "As to owls, however, this limited space will not suffice. First of all, the hollowed area must extend to some altitude--ideally, ten to twenty feet. Such trees are extremely difficult to come by. Most owls are not nearly so fortunate as Honorashious and I, and they must settle for quarters which offer a far lesser degree of luxury. Fortunately, the court was able to bring to bear upon the problem the assistance of many who, recognizing the need for a courtroom of sufficient architectural dignity, as well as for a home for one invested with so great a responsibility as their wise Judge, came to our aid from all parts of the jungle. We searched long and hard before discovering our beloved Hardwood Haven. I would say that not another such tree as this exists in the entire jungle."