CATTLE RUSTLERS 7

                                   CATTLE RUSTLERS 7 (Part 7 of an 8 Part series...)

As the sheriff and his companions departed the university, Winters asked Pastor Waters to drive so he could contact Les about the problem in town. "Is the situation something more than Lem's death?" asked the sheriff. Les came on the radio to say yes, but everything had quieted down. "I'll give it to you in a nutshell, Ben," explained the deputy. "Lem stepped out from between two pickups with high racks, and took a step to cross the street. A young Indian girl came along, and her side view mirror hit Wes. She was going slow, but had no chance to avoid hitting him. She is here in the office in shock. Majesty came over when I called, and she's calming the girl down. The problem escalated when two white guys started yelling at the girl and calling racial threats. They were actually going to assault her, but a white boy jumped in to try and stop it just as I got there. I brought the boys in to the jail. We'll wait for you. The girl's father is on his way in. Her mother is deceased."

The sheriff told Les he had handled the situation well. "I'm glad Majesty is there to help with the girl," Winters said. "We should be there in about 40 minutes. Do you want to radio for backup?" Les said things were okay. Now the conversation naturally turned to the Shepherds, the spectacle of Lem and the Indian boys' shooting star, Lem's death, and the notebook that seemed to have even the professors at university puzzled. "There seems to be a loose consensus that John was working on some sort of new dimensional material, as you thought, Red Hawk," said Waters. "Yes it does seem to be the target of all that study," the Indian agreed. Addressing the pastor, the sheriff said, "Rip, what do you make of this? Do you think John was going beyond the resurrection and seeking the way or location of heaven?" "It certainly looks like it," the Pastor agreed. "People are doing this all the time. Although the bible makes it clear only God, the Father knows the time, people somehow skip that vital piece of information." As they neared town, Waters asked the sheriff if he wanted to go to his office or the jail. The sheriff indicated they should go directly to the jail where Les was waiting.

The deputy was happy to greet them, assuring Winters the situation had calmed down. "There was a brief period of time when it looked like there could be an assault and a mob scene," Les explained. The two white boys were mean and out for trouble. I've got them locked up, waiting for you. We owe a big thanks to your neighbor Vic Vreeland, who witnessed the accident. He was trying to calm the girl, who went to pieces after the tragedy. I was close by, and when I realized the two boys were out for trouble, I got there in the nick of time. Vreeland prevented the boys from actually attacking the girl. He's inside. I was just making out his report." "Well, gentlemen, we have a young hero in the making here," the sheriff exclaimed. "We finally have a bright light to go with the starship." Something good had to come out of this
mess sooner or later."

As the men entered the jail, a young white boy got up to greet them. "We heard about your stand up against bullies, young man," the sheriff said, extending his hand. The youth was obviously embarrassed by the attention. The other two men likewise shook hands with the young man. "Is Madge at the sheriff's office with the young girl?" asked Waters. "Yes, she is, " Les answered. "I'm headed there," Waters said. "I'll see you
guys later to get all the details." Red Hawk told the sheriff he would also go to the sheriff's office to talk with the girl and offer any help he could. "Les, go ahead with your report with young Vreeland. I'm going to have a talk with our guests." The sheriff took a chair and placed it in front of the cell where the two assailants were housed. "We're going to have a little chat," Winters promised, taking a seat looking straight at the two boys.

"Do you have contact info for the boys' fathers, Les?" With Les's response in the affirmative, the sheriff asked him to contact them and have them come ASAP to get the boys. "Then, please call either Madge or Red Hawk to ask him to come back here as advocate for the young lady and for our back up," the sheriff directed. "I'm on it," Les answered. The sheriff had his little chat with the boys, and then returned to his desk. He was going over Les's report when the deputy came into the office and announced, "Looks like the fathers just arrived, Ben. And from the way they slammed into the parking lot with that pickup, they're out for bear. They're flying rebel flags, too," Les exclaimed. In a matter of seconds, the thump of boots on the porch was followed by the hasty entrance of two rough looking men.

They barely were through the door when one of the men accused in a loud voice, "Why do you have?" when he was cut short by the sheriff's equally loud command to "Stop, right there. I'm in charge of justice here, and there'll be no shouting by civilians. If you men are carrying concealed weapons, now's the time to put them on the table. And be careful how you go about it. My deputy and I may fear for our lives and have to shoot you on the spot," the sheriff directed. One of the men started to protest, "I have Constitutional rights..." and Ben cut him off with, "And I know what rights you have better than you! So shut up, or you'll spend more time than you'll like in this visit. Now shed those weapons." At this point Red Hawk entered the jail, and asked Ben if everything was all right. "Yep," the sheriff answered, "As long as they don't try to shoot up the place." One of the men said defiantly, "I want a lawyer." "I'm glad you mentioned the phone call you're entitled to when charged, " the sheriff said. "But, until that time, you'd better place your cell phones, if you have them, on the table, too. Who knows? You may try to set off a bomb with them."

The two men complied with the sheriff's orders, muttering as they did. It was, however, loud enough for Red Hawk to hear, "Damn Indian lovers." Red Hawk took immediate offense of this, and addressed the man sharply, "You're perverted offspring attempted to assault a young Indian lady who had done nothing wrong and was traumatized by an accident. She is in training as a nurse and works part time helping people of all races with health problems. Your boys are well on the way of demonstrating what a miserable example you are as a human being! I'm sorry, Ben, I couldn't help myself. It's been a horrible experience for White Fawn."

"I couldn't have said it any better,"the sheriff agreed. "So Fawn was the other victim of the accident?" "Yes," Red Hawk replied, "And Reverend Waters is quite upset because Fawn has been assisting in the community health project this summer. You can't just brush off something like this. Her mother died a few years back. She's blessed to have a wonderful father to help her over this bump in the road." One of the boys could be heard laughing as he proclaimed loudly, "She's a white squaw!" Both boys now laughed derisively, and all three lawmen stared straight into the faces of the two men. "It's a good thing I didn't see a smile on the fathers' faces," said Red Hawk. Fawn's mother was white, and married to one of my people gave her the title of squaw. That is not derogatory to an Indian, but the manner in which ignorant whites use it is insulting."

The sheriff turned to the two men, and was all seriousness as he told them, "I'm going to do something you don't understand. Pastor Waters has said this several times in church, and I know it to be true. God is merciful and He is patient. God puts good into men, even those who choose not to use it. I'm going to keep your weapons and phones over night. You can claim them tomorrow. I'm releasing the boys in your custody, and I'm letting you go with this warning: any more racial or other foolishness will mean jail time. If I can't house you here, I may have to ask Red Hawk to put you up out on the reservation. I'm sure that would work out well. Red Hawk has some well trained constables who know how to make guests feel welcome."

The men and boys were quiet as they filed out of the jail. The deputy asked Ben if he thought they would remain quiet once they got out of range from the jail. "I doubt it," the sheriff said. "I don't think they want to go out to the reservation, so that may quiet them some. But his bigotry is not something that just happened. The seed was sown several generations ago. This is the reverse of the parable of the sower who scattered good seed. In this case, the sower has scattered weeds among the good seed.

"Boys, I'm going to lock up the place now. Les, would you put the guns and phones in the safe for the night?" "You bet," the deputy answered. "Do you want me to stick around, or should I call it a day?" The sheriff said, Go on home, Les. You've had a pretty long day. I'm headed for the pastor's place. I want to talk to Fawn." Red Hawk said he was returning to see Fawn, too. When the two arrived at the pastor's house, they found Fawn and Madge having tea and cookies. "Would you boys like some?" Madge asked. Both gave an enthusiastic "yes." The tea was poured, but before anyone could take a sip, the sheriff's cell phone buzzed. "What in thunder?" the sheriff exclaimed, knowing the call had to be important. "You'll never believe this, Ben, but somebody's trying to break into the jail. The delivery boy from the drugstore just called me and wondered if we had anybody locked up. He said it looked like somebody was breaking out. I'm on my way."

(To be continued)

~ Rev. Walbear

CATTLE RUSTLERS 6

                        CATTLE  RUSTLERS 6 (6th in an 8 part series..)

    Red Hawk told the sheriff he could discuss his business on the way to the university if that would work out. "Well, Pastor Waters is going, too, and as long as he can be a party to the discussion, I see no problem, the sheriff decided. "By all means," Waters said. "We need to keep things moving along." The sheriff suggested both the FBI and Cattleman's Association expected to have agents in town tomorrow. "It'll be good to have this meeting before then, and maybe we'll come up with a lead," the sheriff said hopefully.

    As the trio headed for the university, Red Hawk told them he had a couple of surprised visitors the previous evening. Two young Indian boys came to my office and asked if I would discuss something important with them," he said. "They were about 10 to 12 years old, and very serious. For the most part, young Indians show more  respect to their spiritual leaders than white kids. For generations, young Indians are taught medicine men has special spiritual powers, and can communicate with the Great White Father. They respect me when I'm dressed like a businessman, but they fear me when I'm dressed as a medicine man. There are many historical legends about the wonders performed by medicine men. I have experienced faith healing, so I know at least some of these stories were probably true. My people are very superstitious, and are careful not to do anything that would disturb sacred ground or objects. I knew these boys had something quite important."

    "They said they had done something wrong, but were afraid to tell 
what they saw because it would reveal they had done something wrong.
I told them it was better to confess their sin and repent. God is very
merciful, and I was certain they would be forgiven. I was relieved  when they said their sin was violation of a bedtime curfew. They were supposed to be home at 11 on Saturday, and didn't realize it was so late because they were playing video games. It was when they were walking home around midnight that they saw the strange sight in the sky."

     "Oh, oh, I can guess what's coming," said Waters. "You're probably
right on, Pastor," replied Red Hawk. "The boys suddenly saw a very
brilliant white light in the sky. It was very large, and sort of reminded
them of searchlights used in World War 2 movies to spot aircraft in night raids. They were scared, and went off the side of the road to hide in shrubbery. When they looked out, the bright light had taken the shape of a large spaceship, but was not shaped like the rockets or space ships we see on television,  but, the object was huge, and moving very fast. It was not angled, but going straight up into the sky. It passed through some thin clouds, and then disappeared after passing through thick, dark clouds. They didn't hear any noise. They waited a little while to be sure it was gone, and then continued home. What do you make of that?" concluded Red Hawk.

    "Sheriff, that's a close carbon copy of Lem's story," Waters said. The sheriff had to agree. "The two sources of the event were so closely alike it led credibility to the story. The elderly man apparently saw almost the same spectacle as the boys," Waters continued, "The time element was the same. The only difference was Lem knew scripture he could put with what he saw, while the boys didn't know enough about the bible to make the match. This is really eerie, considering the disappearance and the letter, Waters added.

    "Now, how do we connect this with the Shepherd disappearance, which all seems part of the puzzle?" the sheriff wondered. Red Hawk said he told the boys to keep quiet about the sighting and they had been forgiven their tardiness. "I hoped this would sort of blow over, because I can see the way this story could bloom into a full mind- blowing hurricane," Red Hawk said. "You're absolutely right," the sheriff agreed. "I'm certain Lem has told his story around, especially in church," Waters added. "If the boys' story gets out, there'll be so  much speculative information out there, it'll be more difficult than ever to solve the Shepherd case." "Heaven help us!" the sheriff said, obviously exasperated.

    The trio had arrived at the university, and pulled into the parking lot at the administration building. "We'll be talking to Professors Ed Billman and George Standee," the sheriff said. "I know Dr. Billman," Waters said. "He's helped me a couple of times to find material from Greek texts." The visitors were greeted by a receptionist, who escorted them to Billman's office. He greeted them, and introductions were exchanged. "Dr. Standee will join us shortly," Billman stated. I'm chair of the language department, and George chairs the science department. Dr. Standee arrived and introductions followed. "How can we help?" asked Billman.

    Winters produced the little black book he had retrieved from the
Shepherd pickup. "This is John Shepherd's notebook," the sheriff 
explained. "It has some Greek writing and some diagrams and numbers. We can't make anything out of anything. We hoped you two experts could help us understand what John was doing." He handed the note book to Billman, who slowly turned the pages. "It appears John was studying the afterlife," Billman concluded, but it'll take considerable time to put anything together. It's one thing to be  able to read and write Greek, and another thing to know the thoughts and conclusions of Greek writers who studied the afterlife. This will take lots of research, and I'll get some of my best students to work on it," Billman promised.

    The notebook was passed to Standee, who studied the diagrams  and numbers. John was quite a scholar," Standee said. "I wish I had him in one of my fields of study." "The strange thing about this is that  the only people who knew John was so deep in research were his wife and Red Hawk. At that point, Red Hawk joined the discussion. "I don't know what you might make of John's notes, Dr. Standee, but  from what he shared with me it seemed to be a study of dimensions  beyond our current understanding." Dr. Standee responded, "I believe you are correct in that assumption, Red Hawk. I am amazed that an adult doing independent study in a field as difficult as this could understand the material.  As Ed said , this will take a lot of doing to determine what John discovered. I'll have the people in my department work on it. It'll be good practice for them, and maybe we'll make a historic discovery. It's happened before."

    As the visitors prepared to leave, the sheriff's private cell phone
buzzed. The sheriff responded, "What's going on, Les?" "You need help right away?" winters asked. "No, I've got everything under control, but it could get sticky." What happened, Les?" "Sheriff, Wes Gaber's been killed!" "We're on our way," the sheriff shouted into his phone. "Sorry to have to leave like this, gentlemen, but duty has given us an urgent call." There were quick goodbyes, and the trio departed in haste for home.

(To be continued)

~ Rev. Walbear

CATTLE RUSTLERS 5

                                                  
                                       (The 5th in a 8 part series.)

    The sheriff had an excited look of anticipation as he hung up the phone. "Gloria wrote  a letter to her sister!" he exclaimed. "She's on her  way with it now. It'll take her about a half hour, so I'll call Red Hawk, and invite him to the Grand Opening." The phone rang, and the sheriff found himself talking to a representative of the university. "Yes, that will be fine," he said, "And I'll be bringing along a couple of people who are helping in my investigation." Hanging up, he showed a glimmer of hope for the first time since the case began. "Now, maybe we're going to get someplace."

    The clock ticked on, and everyone got antsy. "I expected her to be here by now," Waters said, showing some alarm. "I never feel comfortable with anything in the Shepherds' case." The sheriff agreed. "I hope nothing has gone wrong. I'll try calling her cell phone to make sure." He punched in her number, and began to fidget as he received no answer. "She's not answering, he said nervously. Les, lets go see what's going on. Pastor, will you hold things down while we check?" Waters answered in the affirmative, and the two lawman hastily departed.

    The road would take them right by the Shepherd place, noted Les. "I'm beginning not to like this road,"he said. "I must admit it's not my favorite drive, either,"responded the sheriff. They had gone about half way to the Shepherd property when Les let out a whistle. "Isn't that Gloria's sister's car pulled over to the side of the road up ahead?" he asked. "Sure is," the sheriff answered worriedly. "And there's a man and another car there, too." As they pulled up to the two vehicles, they were relieved to see the man was Jess Gardener, the Shepherd's neighbor. He was pouring a small can of gasoline in the sister's car. "Oh, sheriff, I'm so sorry to worry everybody, but I can't remember a thing after getting that letter. I forgot to get gas when I left home this morning, and I forgot my cell phone. Lucky for me, Mr. Gardener came along, and has gas available at his ranch. I should have had him call you so you wouldn't worry."

   " Well, all's well that ends well," the sheriff said, "And we're much
obliged to you, Jess, for being Johnny on the spot." Jess said he was
happy to be of service. "How are you coming with this case?" "Up to now, not very well," the sheriff answered, "But we hope this little  lady has a lead for us.  We'll keep everyone posted." They all returned to their respective vehicles and headed to town. Les served as chauffeur of the sister's car because she was now in a state of high nervousness.

    The trio reached the office just as Red Hawk drove up. They exchanged
greetings and excitedly entered the office. They told Water what had 
transpired, and gathered around a table as the letter was placed in front of the sheriff. It was in a brown envelop. The sheriff opened the envelop carefully and extracted a single piece of paper, folded neatly. He opened it, and there was a single sheet of white unruled paper. The message was brief.

"Hi, Sis.
Don't worry. We are safe and fine. Our animals are fine, too. Sorry we didn't have a chance to say goodbye. Looking forward to seeing you. Keep the faith. Big hugs all around,"
Gloria

    While there was some relief in the air after the message was read, 
there was also a loud groan at the lack of information. "We still have no idea of where they are," complained Les. "Well, maybe we do," responded the sheriff. "We have the envelop, and if it was mailed, we'll at least know here they were. That could be a starting point." He  retrieved the brown envelop from the middle of the table. Then it was his turn to whistle. "This letter was mailed from Israel!" the sheriff exclaimed, unbelieving. Everyone looked stunned. "How did they get to Israel, and where are the animals?" Waters asked. He picked up the envelop and examine it closely. He corresponded to some Christians in Israel occasionally, so he was somewhat familiar with the mail. Now he became the third whistler in the group. "This is not possible," he exclaimed.

    "What do you mean?" questioned the sheriff, who by now was becoming
used to impossibilities. "What's impossible about an envelop?" "The 
cancellation stamp shows the time and date!" exclaimed Waters. "This
letter was mailed before the Shepherds went missing, and it was mailed
from Israel as well. This is a physical impossibility. "Are you absolutely
certain of this?" the sheriff asked. "Yes, sir," Waters said. "We know 
Gloria called her sister last Saturday night. Right?" Gloria's sister, replied,  "Yes, that's right." "Then she couldn't have mailed this letter from Israel if she was still here, right?"

    Red Hawk had been thoughtfully quiet throughout the letter opening, and didn't seem too perturbed about the turn of events. "If the situation cries out to be spiritual rather than physical, we should consider all possibilities," he said. If you've ever been party to a miracle, you know we don't usually understand what happened. We have developed all kinds of science, except in the field of cognitive understanding. What we now consider "ordinary" science such as television was unknown years ago. When you said pictures were transmitted through thin air, people laughed. We've been to the moon, but there's a lot we don't know."

    Waters agreed with Red Hawk." I've been a Christian preacher for many
years, and yet I find more and more believers in God pray without really
accepting positive answers. They say they are Christians, but they don't
have confidence and belief in Christ. They are like doubting Thomas, and
have to be physically shown to believe. I have also witnessed a couple
of miracles, so I know anything is possible. Still, we need to try and find
the answer to this puzzle."

    The sheriff pounded the table with his fist and declared, "This case
is beyond me, and I'm calling in the FBI." I believe that's a good idea, Ben," agreed Red Hawk. "And I need to have a private personal talk with you about something from the Reservation." "Oh, my God!" exclaimed the 
sheriff. "It's a good thing I'm bald and don't have any hair to turn gray!"

(To be continued)

Rev. Walbear

CATTLE RUSTLERS 4

                                                        CATTLE RUSTLERS 4
                                                    (The 4th in an 8 part series...)

    The sheriff's hands trembled as he opened the little book and saw extensive notes. "Can't make much of this. but someone else might handle it," he muttered. He took out his cell phone and hit
the speed dial for Les. Only a few people were aware of his cell phone because he kept it open for emergency calls. Les answered immediately. "I've finally come up with something!" the sheriff told Les. "There was a little black book down deep behind the seat. It's got all kinds of notes in it. I'll be in the office as fast as 'Lizzy' can make it," referring to his car.

    Back in the office, the sheriff and Les eagerly looked at the book. "I hope you can make something out of that," Les exclaimed. "It might as well be Greek, for all I can tell." The sheriff agreed, saying, "Some of it IS Greek. There are bible verses, too, and lots of diagrams and numbers. I don't understand a bit of it." "Well, it's pretty late, so we'll take the book to Rev. Waters in the morning. Maybe he can make something of it." 

    In the morning, the two lawmen were at Waters's home in the hope he could make some sense of the notes. Waters was excited as he took the book and slowly leafed through the pages. "Some of this writing is Greek, but I'm not well versed enough to say what it means," he said disappointedly. "The diagrams and dimensions are obviously scientific. Beyond that, I'm not of much use." The sheriff said he was afraid that would be the case. "I'll set up the meeting with Red Hawk. Maybe he can shed some light on this." "Red Hawk may have a good idea what John was working on," Les said. "They spent a lot of time together." Waters was as eager as the lawmen to meet with Red Hawk,  because it appeared religion would be a part of this mystery.

    Red Hawk was away on business the next morning, but agreed to meet with the trio that afternoon. "You have something on the case," the Indian said as he greeted them. "Well, yes and no," responded the sheriff. We have something, but we don't know what it is. We found this little black notebook in his truck, but we can't make head or tails out of it. There's some scripture from the bible and some drawings and numbers. The Reverend says some of the writing is Greek." Red  Hawk slowly looked at the pages. "I don't know Greek, either," he said, "But the drawings and dimensions are part of a scientific study John was working on. He talked about the spiritual world and was interested in how our people believed. Nearly all Indians believe in God, and we have many superstitions. We have sacred sites, much like Jewish sites in the Old Testament. John had concluded that most faiths had a god. although the name varied. He compared the after life beliefs of the faiths, and being a Christian, was concerned about Christ's teaching in John 14:6,'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' John was concerned about the countless people who weren't Christians, and how they could qualify for heaven and eternal life."

    Waters was very thoughtful as he considered Red Hawk's explanation. "John didn't come to church that often," he said. "He was very intense with scripture, but I had no idea he was so deeply moved." Red Hawk continued, "John was so deep into this study, he needed to work alone. Occasionally he would discuss something with me. "Well, Red Hawk, we appreciate your explanation," the sheriff said, "Now we have to figure out what the book says. I'll talk to someone from the university as soon as I can get an appointment. Hopefully they'll have someone who teaches Greek, and maybe a science professor to work on the drawings. But that still doesn't tell us what happened."

    On the way back to town, the sheriff asked Waters what he made of the situation. "I guess John didn't talk much about his interest with you, did he?"   Waters answered, "I'm at a loss for words. I had no idea John was so deep into scripture. Gloria never mentioned it, either. This kind of proves the saying that still water runs deep. I'll check out the bible verses tomorrow to see if that will give us any clues."   Les chimed in, "That could be a big help, Ben."

    The next morning Winters and the Reverend were copying the bible verses so Waters could do some research. Their concentration was broken when Les came dashing in. "I've got another lead on this case!" Les gushed. "But, don't hold your breath!"   The sheriff answered, with some skepticism "Les, you're not making sense. Either we have a lead, or we don't."   "Well, I think we have to consider the source,"Les said. "I ran into Lem Gaber at the post office. He asked if we had any news on the Shepherds, and I told him, no." You know how he's always quoting
scripture?" Waters responded to that question in the affirmative, adding, "He does know lots of scripture verses."

    "He said we wouldn't find a trace of the Shepherds or their livestock. They aren't here." "What do you mean, 'they aren't here?' asked the sheriff. "We know they aren't here. That's why we're looking for them." The sheriff was exasperated. "I'm afraid you need a better explanation of your comment." Les replied with a grin, "Lem said they aren't  anywhere on earth. He thinks he saw them leave." "All right, I'm getting a little hot under the collar with this," the sheriff grumbled. "The mystery is bad enough without fooling around. How did he see them leave, and does he know where they're going?"

    "Lem's got quite a story. He said he was sitting on his porch swing Saturday night when he saw a shooting star," Les said. "I asked what that had to do with anything. He said it was the biggest shooting star he ever saw. It was bright and left a wide tail. The interesting part of the story was Lem's claim the star didn't burn out as they usually do as they cross the horizon. He said this star seemed to climb upwards instead of horizontal. It was more like a space rocket headed up into the sky. Then he quoted me scripture from 2nd kings, I believe." The Reverend exclaimed, "I bet it was chapter 2, verses 11 and 12!"

    Waters opened his bible and read, "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up  by a whirlwind onto heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried,  my  father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof,  And he saw him no more;  and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces." Winters sighed and said, "If Lem really saw that, we're going to have an impossible time trying to solve this mystery. We can't cope with chariots of fire, although one of our space ships could make such an appearance. I don't know of any space attempt on Saturday night, and it seems ridiculous to even ask the question. I'll look stupid, but I can't overlook anything."

    The phone rang, and Winters answered. "Sheriff, we just got a letter from Gloria," shouted her sister. I'm bringing it to your office right away."

(To be continued)

~Rev. Walbear

CATTLE RUSTLERS 3

                                    CATTLE RUSTLERS 3 (The 3rd in an 8 part series..)

    Rev. Waters couldn't get Red Hawk's words out of his mind as he sat in his study. Where was God when he created heaven? None of the teachers at seminary ever touched on the subject. He never thought to ask the question. It was difficult enough to try and describe heaven, let yet another unknown place. If Satan was in the presence of God as described in Job 1:6-7, he must have been in heaven since that's where God resides. Or, maybe God was in a place elsewhere, the place where He did the creating. While I'm looking at the book of Job, I see another question. We teach that Christ is the only begotten Son of God in John 1:14, "of the ONLY begotten of the Father." We explain the sons in Job as angels or  some such special beings. No wonder Christians get confused.  We need to ask God more questions rather than taking the easy way out. Now, more than ever, I wish I had been with John and Red Hawk during their discussions.

    Water's wife entered the office and said, "I just talked with Milly Jones, and she said a stranger stopped at their place the other day to ask directions. His car was pretty fancy and he had an out of state license. Milly's daughter thought the plate was pretty, and took a picture of it. You may have the cattle buying stranger's identity from the picture." "That's great news!" the Revered gushed excitedly. "I'll call the sheriff and he can trace the owner." He picked up the phone and gave the sheriff the news. "Maybe this stranger has nothing to do with this mystery, but at least we'll find out whether or not it's a piece of the puzzle."

    The sheriff called Waters the next day. "I got hold of the owner of the car," the sheriff said. "It's a dead issue. The man is a banker, and  he was on a trip to find cattle for a couple of investors at the bank. I'm afraid this lead is a dead end." "Well, it's one of those things that's both good and bad," sighed Waters, " good he isn't part of some scheme, and bad because we're still without a lead. Have you done a thorough investigation at the barn to see how the livestock were taken away?" "The deputy's working on it right now," the sheriff  answered. And Red Hawk came over to help. He's a pretty keen tracker, as are most of his people."

    Late that afternoon, the deputy returned from the Shepherd farm,  tired and obviously unsuccessful. "Ben, I'm at a loss to figure anything out of this," he reported dejectedly. We went over everything with a fine tooth comb. Red Hawk is pretty sharp, and he couldn't believe anybody could move the cattle, horses, pets and poultry without leaving some evidence. We couldn't even find a hen feather, let alone any tracks, and every pen was closed perfectly tight. It's not usual for thieves to cover all their tracks. You'd think there would be some kind of disturbance someplace. One of the state boys is coming over tomorrow to run finger prints. I'll be surprised if anything shows up except from the family. Gloria's sister is still there, and she plans on staying there for a spell in case anyone tries to contact any of the family." The sheriff rose from his desk and told the deputy to go home and get some sleep. "Tomorrow's another day, and we'll work on this case until we get a break."

    It was raining the next morning, and the sheriff muttered about no tracks for sure now. His phone buzzed, and it was a man from a cattle auction barn. All auction barns in the area had been contacted and warned about the missing cattle and horses. So far, none had found any suspicious animals brought for sale. He had also talked to the couple of area horsemen who traded or trained horses, and drew a blank there, too. Les arrived and he, too, was muttering to himself. Finally he told the sheriff, "What I can't understand is why any thieves would take the time or trouble to steal a half dozen hens and a pair of pigeons." They're not worth much, and certainly not worth enough to risk jail time. What do you make of it?" The sheriff replied, "That has me stumped, too. We must be missing something."

    "Les said, "Unless we're missing some clue, it would appear to be the perfect crime. You know, it is early in the case, and all we have is missing people and livestock. Sooner or later, something has to break." The sheriff agreed, adding, "I think we'll have another talk with Red Hawk and the reverend. Somehow, I feel religion is mixed up in this." Les asked in surprise, "You don't think Red Hawk had anything to do with the disappearance, do you?" The sheriff shook his head and said, "No, but we may be able to get an idea about what Jon was thinking up to the disappearance. The media will have pictures and information today, and maybe that will bring us some leads."

    The sheriff picked up the phone and dialed Rev. Waters. "Pastor, we don't have any information on the Shepherds, and I'd like to have another talk with Red Hawk, and have you sit in with me. Can you go along with me if I can set up a meeting tomorrow?" Waters was quick to agree with the sheriff's request. "I've been thinking about our previous conversation with Red Hawk, and I believe there may be something we missed in that conversation," Waters said.  "I feel Red Hawk can help us focus a bit more."

    Shortly after lunch a state trooper arrived to dust the Shepherd place for finger prints. Les told the trooper, "We don't want to overlook anything, but I'll be surprise if we find strange prints out there. Whoever pulled this off was very, very professional and neat." If there are any, I'll get them," the trooper replied confidentially. The sheriff entered the office, greeted the trooper, and the trio left for the Shepherd place. "You haven't found anyone who has seen them or who knows where they may have gone?" asked the trooper. "No, and that's the amazing thing," the sheriff replied. "We're missing all the livestock, too, and no one has seen anything unusual. You wouldn't think the people and all the livestock could vanish in thin air." "Well, I hope I can give you something to work on," the trooper said as they arrived at the farm.

    While the trooper went about his business, Les and the sheriff took another look around. Gloria's sister had headed home to take care of  things there, but would return later in the day. She told them nothing unusual had happened, but it sure was lonely with everything gone. "Gloria had a rooster, and he announced the time. It seems strange not to hear him," she said wistfully. The sheriff suggested they take another look at the pickup. "We went over it pretty good, the other day, " Les said, "But, it won't hurt to take another look." As the two went about examining the truck, the trooper emerged from the barn. "I'll check the door handles on the porch and doors now," he told the two lawmen. "Then, I'll head out to see what, if anything, I got. They really kept everything neat." As the sheriff and Les continued checking the truck, the trooper came out of the house. "I'm finished, here, and I'll be contacting you tomorrow, probably," he said. "Les, why don't you take this man back to the office?" the sheriff said, adding, "I'll just poke around here until you come back." Les and the trooper left for town, and the sheriff began going over the pickup cab yet
again.

    The sheriff began looking behind and under the seat. He began talking to himself, as he sometimes did, to make an issue more clear. "Maybe what worked for Jon could work for me," he chuckled. "No harm in trying. "Let's see, Jon was always quoting from Matthew. I don't know the verses, but I remember they had to do with seeking and knocking. We should always continue to see the truth, and that's exactly my job and what I'm doing. The truth and light is behind that door, so if I keep knocking on it, it'll be opened. That solves the mystery. Sounds simple enough, even for me, who is moistly ignorant of the bible. We always go to the bible as a last resort when we realize we can't solve the problem without heavenly help."

    The sheriff rummaged where the seat and back rest came together. It had been searched before, and nothing had been found. As he worked on separating the two parts, a bee buzzed his head and alighted on his neck. He jerked away, and when he did, the seat pulled just a bit further from the back rest. He could see something buried at the bottom. He pulled the seat just a bit further, and he saw a small book or tablet. "Hello, what have we here?" he said, becoming excited and jubilant in finally finding something. "Can it be my feeble attempt at prayer was heard by God? Looks like He sent that bee so I'd knock a little longer. Let's see what we have here," he said as he opened the little book.

(To be continued)

~Rev. Walbear
       

RUSTLERS 2

                                                  RUSTLERS 2

    The sheriff stopped the car and asked what Waters had missed when they were at the farm. "We didn't see any poultry and the poultry house door was shut. The Shepherds keep 10 or 12 hens and their daughter has a pair of racing pigeons as a project. The hens have the run of the place in the daytime, and are locked up at night for safety. The pigeons are kept in a cage in the poultry house," explained Waters. "Well, we've already missed lunch, and now we'll be late for supper," the sheriff answered, "But we have to go back and take a look." With that, he turned the car around and headed back to the Shepherd place.

    Lights were on in the house, and the sister's car was parked in the driveway. She met them as they got out of the car. "Have you learned something? she asked hopefully. "Not exactly," responded the sheriff. "But we overlooked something. Did you find anything?" "No, we didn't she said. "What did you overlook?" Waters answered, "We didn't see any sign of the poultry!" "My goodness, you're right," she declared. We usually get our eggs from Gloria's hens."

    They were joined by the sister's husband, and all proceed to the poultry house as twilight dimmed the light. The door was shut, but easily opened, again carefully to prevent disrupting fingerprints. The house was empty. There was no sign of any disturbance. There were two eggs in a nest, feed in the feeders, and water in the fountain. The pigeon cage was closed, but empty. It also had feed in the feeder and water in a fountain. "About the only thing we can find around here now is a mouse or sparrow," remarked the sheriff. The couple returned to the house and said they would stay there over night in  case there was a phone call or other contact. Waters and the sheriff again headed for town. The sheriff dropped Waters off, thanking him for his help, and returned to his office. The deputy had returned and left a note that none of the choir members had any information. Two days had now passed, and a missing persons report would be likely tomorrow.

    Waters returned home and filled his wife in on the day's activities, with only a deepening mystery. He and his wife prayed about the  situation. "The whole family is saved," his wife said with assurance. "I know John didn't come to church every week like his wife and daughter, but they had daily bible study unless John had to be away over night on a private timber cruise. Gloria told me how much time John spent studying scripture and other material. He always reminded them of Matt. 7:7 and 8, "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

    "You're right," Waters exclaimed. "His good friend, Red Hawk, told me
once that John was heavy into bible study. Red Hawk is a Christian, but he also is very knowledgeable about Indian spiritual things because his father was the tribe's medicine man. Red Hawk is a member of the  tribal council, and is now filling his father's position as medicine man. His father was known as a "healer," and Red Hawk has a reputation as a faith healer, although he does have some background in medicine. He spends a lot of time with John because he accompanies John on some of his timber cruises, especially on tribal land and the government owned forests. I'll have to tell the sheriff tomorrow."

    Gloria's sister filed a missing person's report the next morning, and
Waters was in the sheriff's office bright and early. Sheriff Winters was
happy to finally get a possible clue through Red Hawk, since no other
information had turned up. The deputy was out talking to other cattle
owners in the area to try and get a line on the unknown buyer. Waters
asked if he could accompany the sheriff when he visited Red Hawk, and
Winters said he'd be glad to have somebody with him that could talk 
about spiritual things with a medicine man. The two departed for Red
Hawk's office on the reservation.

    Red Hawk met them at the door of his office, and welcomed them as
he shook hands with them. "I know my friend and his family are missing,"
Red Hawk said. He was tall for an Indian, lean, and hard muscled. You
could see he didn't spend much time sitting behind a desk. "John was a very thoughtful person," the Indian said. "He understood nature like my people, and we often discussed the spiritual world. He respected my people's beliefs, and felt ashamed of the white man's treatment and racism against us. Pastor Waters, he felt the Christian church was shirking its duty to follow Christ's teaching."

    "Well, Red Hawk, I do share his feeling. A pastor is placed in a difficult position, because congregations are often self controlled by a few people with personal agendas. If a pastor takes a stand for Christ's teaching, he may be risking his job. Then he must choose between his job or his conscience. That said, do you think his feeling about the church's failure could have anything to do with their disappearance?"

    Winters, joined the conversation by asking, "Do you think John may 
have an idea of joining or starting a cult? This sometimes happens
when a person gets fed up with the trivia presented by some preachers
to separate people and develop a following." "No, no!" Red Hawk quickly responded. "John was a solid Christian who extended his faith by studying other faiths, including my tribe's traditions. He felt some churches had turned into cults with out realizing it, following a very persuasive circus hawker or denominational regulations and rules to actually keep people out. John said many Christians are unknowingly being led down the same path as some Muslims with radical Sharia laws."

     Now Waters expressed surprise. "I had no idea John felt so strongly that way," he said. "So, you don't believe religion had anything to do with the disappearance?" "I didn't say that exactly," Red Hawk cautioned. " I don't believe there was any cult business in his mind. He was totally committed to Jesus Christ and the natural respect and worship behind our Indian traditions. We had some heavy discussions from scripture, but he never wavered."

    "Like what?" Waters asked, forgetting the mission of the sheriff and himself. "Well, he could start right out with Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He would ponder that statement, not in disbelief, but to question where was God when he did this? He couldn't be in a place that wasn't created, and we  only have heaven and earth to choose from. He wasn't satisfied with what he considered an incomplete explanation. Do you have an answer for him, Pastor?" 

    Sheriff Winters was listening intently for any clue that could be gleaned from this religious exchange. Waters responded thoughtfully, "The best I can do is suggest the universe that is so vast we don't know much about it. It is a good question, but we have a difficult enough time just trying to follow His teaching. I don't know how much the average Christian can take when they say a 20 minute sermon is boring. Without special programs, it's difficult to even get people in a church." 

    Now Winters joined the discussion to ask Red Hawk a question. "You answered the question about religion not having a possible connection to the disappearance with 'not exactly'. Can you define that a bit for me? Could there be a connection?" Red Hawk thought for a minute or two, and responded, "John was always seeking the answer to Gen. 1:1, and he did a great deal of research on background stuff like angels, giants on the earth and other unexplained things in scripture. Our Indian belief and tradition is much easier to  understand. He felt the Christian faith would have been better off if they had kept the Jewish Law and the good neighbor policy taught by Christ. Then, perhaps Christians could actually be followers of Jesus Christ."

    Winters pressed the question, "So you do think the disappearance may have a religious connection of some sort?" Red Hawk had a thoughtful look when he answered, "Perhaps John finally found some answers to his questions. He often said he asked God questions that sometimes were not answered for months or years. He said seeking was hard work, but anything worthwhile required work. I miss him, but I hope he found some answers." The sheriff and Waters headed back to town.  "I wish I could have joined them for their discussions," Waters said wistfully.

(To be continued)

~ Rev. Walbear