The Stonegate Sword

Chapter 15: Owl Hollow

Don followed Abel along a faint trail that climbed and switch backed westerly up the hogback. They passed through some swampy areas, and skirted a couple of dwindling snowdrifts. Skunk cabbage thrust up green turrets and clumps of purple crocuses dotted the knolls. They passed through several groves of leafless aspen, swollen buds anxious for spring.  

As they went over the crest, they crossed an open park with gray patches of sage intermingled with boulders and bedrock. Abel seemed to be heading for a prominent knob, just ahead of them.  The sun was just coming up and the sky was a deep cobalt blue. They tied their mounts to a scrubby pair of gray-barked firs. Abel took a leather box, about the size of a loaf of bread, from one saddlebag, and they walked up on a prominent rock formation. The view was superb. They could see Storm Mountain to the west, and the hazy purple of Battlement Mesa, far off to the southwest. 

Abel sat down next to a reasonably flat rock, about three feet high, and opened the leather box. He unfolded a complicated machine, with an arm about a foot long, attached to a small platform. He took out two round mirrors, each about six inches in diameter, and attached them to the platform. Short, adjustable legs leveled the device, and he arranged it so that he was looking directly at Storm Mountain. He seemed to be aligning it so that he could reflect a beam of sunlight directly at the mountain top. 

Don watched this operation with great interest. Abel grinned at him. "You must have some questions," he said. "This is an ancient idea, called a heliograph. Billy had a message for me, too. 'One zero four' was what he told me." 

"What do you need a device like that for?" asked Don. "And I suppose you are going to tell me what 'one zero four' means." 

"The heliograph is a signaling device, of course. It uses sunlight to send coded messages, and can be seen for an amazingly long distance, sometimes as much as 80 miles. Every pilgrim has one in his medical kit, though we do not speak of it. I am going to try to communicate with Storm Mountain, which is only a little over twenty five miles from here. There should be a signaler there. He can relay directly to the House of Healing. Oh, 'one zero four' means we are to send and receive messages when the sun is a finger above the horizon in the morning, at high noon, or four fingers above the horizon in the evening." 

"Interesting... Do you use ancient code?" asked Don. "I forget the name." 

"You probably mean Morse's code. But, no we do not. We use a table with 5 rows and 5 columns. We send two sets of flashes with a short rest between for each letter. One and one means 'A'; one and two means 'B' and so on. We use abbreviations, to make the messages shorter." Abel pulled a small telescope out of the leather box and looked at the mountain, intently. He made a minute adjustment to the device. 

Then he flipped up a small card with a slot cut in it, and began adjusting the spot of light.  He turned the mirrors this way and that until he was satisfied, and then pushed a small lever several times. Finally, he flipped the card down and began quickly flicking the lever. Each time the lever was pushed, the mirror tipped forward and the spot of light dipped toward the ground.  When the lever was released, the mirror snapped back to its original position. He tapped for several minutes.  

"This is just to convince them that I am really Abel, and that they can send me any message that they might have," explained Abel. "Keep a close look at the mountain, and let me know if you see any flashes of light." 

The return flashes did not take long in coming. It was bright and easy to see. Don called Abel's attention to them. Clearly, the telescope would not be needed. Abel started marking in a small notebook. Don remembered his pen case, and reached for it on his belt. He pulled out a small roll of parchment, and opened a small tube of ink. "I can record, if you want to read the letters off," he offered. After a minute, Abel agreed, and began reading off letters. Don jotted them down, but they seemed to make little sense. Then came four letters that spelled "Adam".