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