Free The Secret of the Desert Stone by Frank Peretti Page A

around the village.
    The Coopers walked while Jennifer Henderson rode in style in a special chair carried by the four warriors. She griped a little bit, complaining that she was not a cripple, but the Coopers could tell she was actually enjoying herself.
    Bengati tried to keep up with the translating as Chief Gotono rattled on and on like a tour guide. The chief pointed out new huts that had been built in a special expansion project for new sons- and daughters-in-law. Next he showed them the recently improved village well. Because of the recent dry years, it was now dug out twice as deep as it had been originally. Then he took them to the sheep and goat corrals, now with dwindling populations due to the loss of grazing land. From there they went to see the spinning and weaving projects that provided clothing, blankets, and household linens. Last, the chief showed them the fields of corn and wheat that were necessary for survival and yet sparse for lack of water.
    â€œBut that will change soon,” he added.
    They passed through the village heading eastward, toward the desert and toward the Stone. As they came from under the wide canopy of the trees and started to cross the open prairie, they could once again see the Stone stretching across the golden horizon and filling the sky like the biggest red barn ever made.
    Lila admired the reddish color that seemed so deep on the shaded, western face of the Stone. It seemed to glow around its edges where the hidden sun’s rays shot outward like the spokes of a huge wheel. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
    Dr. Cooper studied the Stone’s distant outline and quietly asked his children, “Why aren’t we afraid of it?”
    Jay thought the question a little odd. “Are we supposed to be?”
    â€œWell, come on: It’s popped into existence out of nowhere; it’s indestructible; it cuts the day in half; it quakes; and we got the scare of our lives in that storm it caused.”
    Jay considered that. “Well, we’re okay now. Nothing really bad happened.”
    â€œThe people on the other side are afraid of it.”
    â€œI’ve never been afraid of it,” said Lila.
    â€œAnd neither have I,” said Jay.
    â€œBut why not?” their father pressed.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Lila. “It’d be like being afraid of a sunset, or a beautiful mountain, or a whole forest turning golden in the fall. It’s beautiful, and God made it, that’s all I know.”
    â€œYeah,” Jay agreed. “I think Lila and the chief are right: God put it there.”
    Dr. Cooper nodded. “Which really makes me curious: What is it about a huge rock that draws such a response from us?”
    â€œWell, what about the Motosas?” Jay asked. “They must be feeling the same thing. I mean, all those people on the other side—Nkromo, Mobutu, the soldiers—they think the Stone’s a boloa-kota, and they’re afraid of it. But the Motosas are glad the thing’s here; they think their god sent it.”
    â€œNow that was interesting, to be sure,” said Dr. Cooper. “I’d like to know more about the religious system here. They apparently believe in a creator, in one god.”
    â€œAnd they aren’t cannibals, either,” said Jay. “I don’t know what Mr. Mobutu was talking about.”
    â€œWow!” Lila said suddenly.
    They were coming over a rise and could see the vast golden prairie in front of them. Where it faded into the desolate desert basin, the Stone, as solid, immovable, and mysterious as ever, towered above like a pillar holding up the sky. But now they had a new sight to behold.
    At least fifty men, women, and children were laboring in a long, straight line, swinging picks and shovels, throwing the stubborn dirt out of a ditch that reached better than a mile across the prairie, into the desert, and to the base of the Stone. It was a marvelous