The Secret of the Stones Ernest Dempsey (ebooks online reader .TXT) 📖

really don’t understand how so many people could have missed this before, including myself. I suppose it was because of the randomness of the patterns.”

“Missed what?” The blond man was beginning to remind Sean of a five-year-old.

“Okay,” Tommy began, “the Cherokee nation was built on a political system similar to what we have today. Their leaders became the heads of the tribe and nation a little differently, but they ran their tribal council much like a parliament or a congressional meeting.”

The blank looks from his audience told Schultz they were not sure what this had to do with anything, so he sped up his explanation. “However, there were some major differences. In ancient Egypt, and several other cultures, even today, the people of the country were/are divided up into a caste system. Groups like rich and poor, priests and governors, royalty and peasants.” Their eyes were still narrowly watching while he talked. “Essentially, the Cherokee in this area adopted the same system, most likely because they were from Egypt themselves!”

“So, what does any of this have to do with what we are looking for?”

“Everything!” Tommy was brimming with excitement. “The animal, bird, and human tracks on these rocks represent the different casts in all the clans of the Cherokee Nation. It’s pretty friggin’ cool.”

“I still don’t understand what all of this means.” Ulrich was growing more impatient as the minutes went on.

Sighing, Tommy pointed at the screen again. “It’s so simple. Look here. The key to the whole thing is finding the middle first, which is the opposite of the normal way to put a puzzle together.”

“So what is the middle?” Jens asked.

“It’s right here.” The image his finger touched was a drawing that looked like a double circle or a circle within a circle.

“What is that? Why is it so important?”

“Because there aren’t really any other glyphs that look like it, for starters. But the other thing you notice when I start arranging the photos around this double circle is that a pattern begins developing. See?” As Tommy placed the different pictures in the order he believed they were meant to be in, Ulrich started noticing the trend. The drawings of the animals and human footprints began spiraling outward, alternating every three spots.

After all the photographs had been arranged on the screen, the entire scene made sense. The double circle was in the center of everything, and the subsequent forms followed after, working their way farther and farther from the middle. He tapped the center of the spiral with his fingernail. “This is where we have to go next.”

“And where, exactly, is that?” Ulrich was still not convinced.

Tommy responded with a question of his own, “When you look at any map, country, state, etc., what is the thing that stands out the most?”

The two foreigners looked at each other dubiously.

“Ugh. Do I have to do all the work here?” Sighing again, Schultz continued.

“I know when I look at a map the thing that always jumps out at me is the capital of a country or state. Right?”

A nod told him that they were following along so far.

“Right. Usually, it’s marked with a star, or sometimes it even looks like a dot within a circle, similar to what you are seeing right here.”

“So, you are saying that this symbol represents the capital of what? Georgia?” At least Jens was trying.

“Not the capital of Georgia,” Tommy corrected. “The state of Georgia wasn’t formed until the late 1700s. These petroglyphs are pre-Columbian. I’d say even further back, more like pre-Babylonian.”

“Egyptian?”

“Sort of. Probably several decades removed from the original settlers, but yes, a crude form of it. That would explain why no one has been able to determine what it all means.”

He went on, “At any rate, the place I was talking about is called Red Clay. It was the capital of the Cherokee Nation until the council was dissolved completely in 1838.”

Ulrich was interested. “Where is this Red Clay you speak of?”

“It’s close to Chattanooga, Tennessee.”

“What are we looking for when we get there?”

Tommy smiled. “Probably for something with very similar markings on it. I’d say there must be something at the council grounds that will point us to the next marker. It could be another stone, a piece of pottery, I really don’t know for sure.”

“And how will you know what this next marker is saying?” Ulrich was still doubtful.

“I think I can manage,” Tommy replied with a sarcastic grin. “We’ve made it this far.”

Two figures stood by the damaged guardrail, staring into the gorge at the wreckage below. One of them, a tall, brunette woman in a black, ankle-length jacket, was holding a cell phone to her ear. Her shoulder-length cocoa hair was pulled back into a pony tail.

“Yes, sir. I’m certain they are dead,” she spoke with no emotion. “No. They left. We know where they are going though.”

She paused a moment, listening to the voice on the other line, then nodded. A moment later, she had finished her conversation with an “Understood” then closed the phone and slid it into a jacket pocket.

“What did he say?” The man accompanying her was dressed similarly, but his appearance was strong, like a rugby player, and he had short brown hair. He had been examining the debris of the crash site with binoculars.

“He wants to move ahead.”

“What about them?” The man turned his head back down toward the destroyed car at the foot of the mountain.

“Leave them.” She regarded them with a flick of the head. “Only a matter of time until someone sees this mess and calls the authorities. I’d rather not be around for that.”

He nodded in agreement, and the two slipped back