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