The Secret of the Desert Stone (11 page)

“Jay!” Dr. Cooper responded. “Where are you?”

They heard the thrashing of brush and the pounding of footsteps and finally saw Jay and Ontolo racing out of the forest like two wild men.

Jay spotted his father and dashed over, grabbing him. “Dad! You won't believe it!”

Dr. Cooper suddenly had his hands full of wildly excited son. “Are you all right?”

“You won't believe it!” Jay hollered again. “Back there, in the forest!”

“What!? Jay, calm down!”

“Ontolo showed me, he told me about it, and you'll never believe it!”

The chief was grilling Ontolo, trying to find out what all the hubbub was about. Ontolo wasn't nearly as excited, but he was getting a real kick out of watching Jay have a fit. He started to give his father an explanation.

“You gotta see it, Dad!” Jay insisted, tugging at his father. “You won't believe it!”

Dr. Cooper had to get firm. “Won't believe
what?”

Jay finally got it out. “The Man in the Tree!”

Dr. Cooper immediately looked at the chief, hoping for some explanation.

By now the chief had been brought up to date by his son, and he answered, “Ontolo!”

Dr. Cooper didn't know what to think of that and just stood there, waiting to hear more.

Jay was giddy with excitement. “Ontolo! The name Ontolo means Man in the Tree! I thought it meant Man of the Woods or something, but it means Man in the Tree!” He tugged his father's arm again. “Come on! You won't believe it.”

Lila was one big bundle of curiosity. “Let's go!”

“Where are we going?” Dr. Cooper asked as he followed his son.

“Ontolo!” the chief said again with a laugh. “Man in the Tree!”

Dr. Cooper looked around for Bengati and found him, following right behind. “I am here, Dr. Cooper. Don't worry.”

They entered the forest, walking down a well-beaten path among the giant, gnarled trees that had stood here for centuries through rain, drought, wind, and sun.

Dr. Cooper asked Bengati, “What is it we're going to see?”

Bengati looked at the chief, who began to relate a story as Bengati translated. “There once was a young man who stole a pig from a neighboring tribe. When warriors from that tribe tried to chase him, he came to this forest and hid in a tree. They would have found him, except a bolt of lightning struck a tree nearby, breaking off a large branch and leaving a scar on the tree that was shaped like a man. The warriors saw that shape, and shot their arrows at it. They thought they had killed the thief, and so they left.”

This sounded like the chief's other story about the young man,
Dr. Cooper thought. “And you were that young man, Chief Gotono?”

The chief smiled and came to a stop by a huge tree with deeply furrowed bark and thick limbs. With a wide sweep of his hand, he indicated the trail that still wound through the forest toward the mountains. “I was the young man who fled with a stolen pig. I ran up this very trail,” he pointed to the huge tree beside him, “and climbed this very tree. There is the branch on which I sat while my pursuers came looking for me.”

Now the chief grew very solemn, his hard gaze commanding everyone's attention. “But do you understand, Dr. Cooper, that our God saved me from my pursuers when I deserved to die? God sent lightning from the sky and put another man in a tree to take my punishment.”

The chief turned onto a side trail that led through the brush toward another tree as large and gnarled as the first. The others followed. He stopped on the far side of the tree and looked up, pointing. “Ever since that night, our people have remembered the Man in the Tree who took away my punishment, and I have given his name to my son as a remembrance.”

Jay and Lila got to the front of the tree before their father. Dr. Cooper could see Jay pointing and Lila looking, and then he saw Lila's face go pale as her eyes widened with awe—or was it fear?

He came around the tree and looked up to see where the chief was pointing.

And then he froze as well. Words failed him. All he could do was look and try to believe what he was seeing.

About twenty feet up the big, gnarled trunk, a large limb had been blasted off by lightning, leaving a gaping scar where wood and bark had been torn away. The shape of the scar looked like a man: Bark had been peeled to form a body and two legs, and where two upper limbs had broken off, the scars looked like the man's outstretched arms. Just above the arms, a burl formed the shape of a drooping head.

The Man in the Tree appeared to be impaled there, hanging by his arms. A few broken arrows could still be seen embedded in the bare wood, shot there by the chief's pursuers so long ago, and part of a spear was still embedded in the man's side.

NINE

T
he Man in the Tree . . .” Jay said in a hushed voice. “On-To-Lo.”

Dr. Cooper quoted the chief's words as a question, “‘God sent Ontolo to save Mobutu'?”

Bengati asked the chief about it, and the chief nodded and answered through Bengati, “Mobutu was my name when I was young, before I became Gotono, the chief. That night, God showed me my guilt and the price that guilt can bring, but He paid the price Himself and let me live to do what is right. He spoke to me and revealed Himself, just as He said He would. I returned the pig to its owners and also gave them two of my goats to pay for my wrong. I have never stolen again, and my people have learned never to steal. Through Ontolo, the Man in the Tree, our God has spoken.”

“Just like the Lady and the Snake,” said Lila, tugging on her father's arm.

“What's that?” Dr. Cooper asked.

“Beset just told me another story. Listen to this.” She quickly recounted it to her father and brother.

They were awestruck, overwhelmed.

“Man, oh man, oh man,” Jay muttered.

“Your God
has
spoken,” Dr. Cooper told the chief in a hushed voice. “I must tell you, we have stories just like yours of a lady and a snake and especially of a man nailed to a tree—” Suddenly his legs felt weak and shaky.

Lila's legs seemed to be trembling as well, and she almost lost her balance.

Jay looked down to see if he'd stepped on uneven ground.

Then a low, ominous, rumbling sound reached their ears. The branches of the big trees began to quiver overhead; the leaves began to tremble.

The chief shouted a phrase as he toppled to his knees, his eyes skyward. Bengati toppled as well as he translated, “He speaks again! Our God speaks again!”

“The Stone!” Dr. Cooper exclaimed.

They started to run back up the trail, staggering, weaving to and fro, bracing themselves against one tree and then another as the ground constantly shifted under their feet. They could not see the Stone from these woods, but they could still hear the deep, rumbling sound, like a mighty avalanche, echoing all around them.

When they finally emerged from the trees, they met Dr. Henderson, hopping and hobbling toward them, using a long stick for a crutch and fighting every second to remain on her feet. “Dr. Cooper, where have you been? The Stone's waking up!”

The earth reeled again. Jacob Cooper ran to Dr. Henderson and caught her just before she fell. “Hang onto my arm.”

She grabbed on, dropping the stick. Together they hurried up the path as the ground continued to rumble under their feet. Motosas ran from their homes, down the paths, and through their village.

But wait. The villagers were not running in panic or fear. They were hurrying—men, women, and children—out of the village and onto the open grasslands where they gathered like excited spectators to gawk at the Stone, pointing, chattering, even praying. To see the looks on their faces, this wasn't a dangerous natural event—it was a spiritual visitation!

“We've got to get out there,” Dr. Henderson gasped, trying to walk. “We've got to observe what it's doing.”

The rumbling began to subside; the shaking settled down to a small quiver. By the time they reached the village square, the earth was quiet again. The village was empty, but nothing appeared to be damaged, and apparently no one was hurt.

“We need the binoculars and the surveying equipment,” said Dr. Henderson. “We have to note
any
changes in size, shape, position—
anything.”

“I'll get my knapsack!” said Lila, running back toward Jo-Jota's.

“We'll have to bring the transit from the airplane,” said Dr. Cooper.

“Let's get out there!” said Dr. Henderson.

The Motosas were starting to trickle back into the village. For now the show was over.

“Good thing the villagers are coming back,” said Dr. Henderson. “That thing's unstable. It could erupt; it could topple; pieces of it could break off. . . . We don't know
what
it could do.”

“We're going out to study it,” Dr. Cooper told the chief. “But please, tell your people to remain here. It may not be safe to get too close.”

The chief nodded and gave the order. The Motosas called to their stragglers, who began to return. Then Chief Gotono said to Dr. Cooper in English, “But I will come. I will see Stone, hear Stone speak.”

Lila returned with her knapsack. “Here's the equipment. Did I miss anything?”

“Not yet,” said her father, taking the knapsack. “But I think I see a problem developing.” He noticed the look on Ontolo's and Beset's faces when they saw Jay and Lila all set for a trek into the desert.

Ontolo started to argue with his father, pointing at Jay and Lila, and it was easy to guess what the topic was.

“Uh, Jay and Lila,” said Dr. Cooper, “I have a difficult favor to ask of you, and I hope you'll understand. You know I'd take you along without hesitation, but you see the situation developing here? If you go with us, then Ontolo and Beset will want to go, and if they can go, then the rest of the villagers will feel they should be able to go as well, and we'll end up creating a huge safety risk.”

Both Jay and Lila slouched with disappointment. They couldn't help it.

“Guess you're right,” Lila moaned.

Jay needed a moment to think it over but then called to Ontolo, “Ontolo! Let's go! Show me your game!”

That sounded good to Ontolo. With Jay and Lila in the lead, the four kids ran back into the village.

Dr. Henderson was impressed. “Those are good kids you have.”

Dr. Cooper nodded as he watched them go. “The best.” He started picking up the equipment. “Shall we?”

Ontolo ran home and returned to the village square with a weird, fuzzy ball fashioned from goathide and stuffed with nutshells instead of being inflated with air. All he had to do was walk through the square with that thing and all the other children came running, ready to break into teams and get the game going. Lila was assigned to Ontolo's team; Jay was assigned to the other team, captained by a friend of Ontolo named Suti.

Beset, knowing the most English, explained the rules to Jay and Lila, pacing off the boundaries of the playing field in the village square. “Jay kick ball this way . . . Lila kick ball
this
way . . .” The game looked like a combination of soccer and basketball:the ball was moved with the feet, but tossed by hand through a squarish goal once the player was close enough.

Ontolo's team threw the ball into play from the sidelines and the game began. Jay and Lila had both played soccer as well as basketball, so they were able to dive right into the game and keep the ball moving. The Motosa kids didn't know English, but they knew a good game when they saw it. Before long, Jay and Lila were fully accepted as valuable teammates, and when Jay scored his first point, his teammates were ready to make him an honorary Motosa.

At the edge of the grasslands, on the brink of the desert, Dr. Henderson and Dr. Cooper could see things were stirring around the Stone. A thin cloud of dust still lingered above the desert floor from the quaking, and high above the Stone's crest, ice particles that had been shaken loose were being carried away in wispy clouds by the wind.

Dr. Henderson scanned the upper edge through binoculars. “I don't want to believe this, but we might have some expansion happening along the top edge.”

She handed Dr. Cooper the binoculars, and he checked it out. Almost two miles above them, the sharp edge of the Stone had a white, frosty edge. Large cracks had appeared in the ice as if the edge had stretched. “I see what you mean.” Then he gave the binoculars back and directed her attention to the Stone's northwest corner. “And unless my eyes deceive me, there's a new ridge of dirt piled against the Stone.”

She could see freshly disturbed earth all along the Stone's length, just like dirt pushed in front of a bulldozer's blade. “My
word!
It's growing. And yet . . . there are no growth cracks in the Stone itself, only in the ice and in the earth at the base.”

She handed the binoculars to Chief Gotono and Bengati, who called them the Big Eyes. Having heard Dr. Cooper and Dr. Henderson's conversation, Bengati was able to explain to the chief what was happening, and the chief nodded as he saw it for himself.

“We'll get the transit from the airplane to do some sightings,” said Dr. Cooper. “Let's pace things off and triangulate and see if what we think has happened has really happened.” With help from the chief and Bengati, Dr Cooper and Dr. Henderson began to measure the Stone's new dimensions.

At that very moment, high atop the rocky cliffs that pressed against the Stone's north end, three figures stole carefully over the rocks until they found a hiding place in a deep crack. They were tough, battle-hardened scouts from Idi Nkromo's army, dressed in camouflage fatigues and armed with rifles, pistols, and knives. They had hiked, climbed, and explored these hills for a day and a night, trying to find a route over them and around the Stone. Their efforts were finally rewarded. From this vantage point, they could view the entire desert on the Stone's west side, and through binoculars they spotted Dr. Cooper and Dr. Henderson, along with two men from the Motosa village—just four tiny figures on the barren landscape. They muttered words of victory to each other and started to lay plans.