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

accomplishment considering the primitive tools they were using—no backhoes or bulldozers here, only picks, shovels, muscles, and determination.
    The chief was proud of the project, that was easy to see. He traced the path of the ditch in a long, flowing gesture and said with Bengati translating: “For years our life has been hard for lack of water. Our crops have struggled, our well has dropped lower and lower. But now, water will come. It will flow through this ditch from the Stone to our village.”
    Jennifer Henderson rose awkwardly in her chair and strained to see the farthest limits of the ditch.“But where is the water?”
    â€œIt will come,” the chief replied.
    He continued on, and they followed, hiking along the ditch through the prairie and into the desert, getting closer and closer to the Stone. Dr. Henderson became visibly nervous again, but the men carrying her actually seemed to be excited for the opportunity to come this close to the Stone.
    The Coopers continued to inspect the ditch as they walked along, until it came at last to a sudden stop at the northwest corner of the Stone.
    Here, almost as a courtesy, the Stone allowed access to its corner over flat desert ground. Only a few hundred feet away, the Stone was jammed up against the sheer, rocky cliffs, barring any approach to the rest of its north surface as well as denying any passage to the other side. The Coopers and Dr. Henderson had never been to one of the Stone’s corners. They’d never touched one or measured its angle, never placed their hands on the keen edge that shot straight up, true as a laser, into the upper reaches of the sky.
    Dr. Cooper got there first, and with an excitement that he made no effort to conceal, he touched the corner. He ran his hand up and down it, sighted along the Stone’s west face with one eye, then the Stone’s north face, then carefully measured the angle formed where the two surfaces met.
    â€œIncredible!” he exclaimed, so excited there was laughter in his voice. “Ninety degrees! Perfectly formed!”
    Jennifer Henderson fidgeted in her chair and urged her carriers on. “Come on, get me over there!”
    They carried her to the corner where she did the very same things Dr. Cooper had done, her breath quickening with excitement, her face filled with awe.
    Jay and Lila took their turn, sighting up the corner, marveling at the dead-straight line and the perfectly square angle.
    â€œOh, Lord,” Dr. Cooper found himself praying, “what is it? What does it mean?”
    But now Dr. Henderson was carefully surveying the ground and the rocky strata the ditch had cut through. “Dr. Cooper. I don’t think I have any good news for us or the Motosas. There’s nothing here to indicate any kind of water table or aquifer.”
    The Motosas standing nearby did not fully understand her words, but they could understand her somber tone. They fell silent, wanting to know what she was saying.
    â€œSo you’re saying . . . ?” Dr. Cooper asked.
    â€œI’m saying there is no water here,” she replied.
    The chief seemed to understand what she was saying and touched her arm. Then he spoke, and Bengati translated. “You see with only one set of eyes and see only what is, not what can be.”
    Dr. Henderson didn’t want to argue with their host. “I suppose that’s right,” she agreed. Then she muttered to Dr. Cooper, “I suppose he can predict what the geological forces will do next.”
    Then Chief Gotono turned to Jay and Lila with a sparkle in his eye. Bengati translated as the chief asked them, “Do you see with other eyes? Do you see the water flowing to our village?”
    Well, of course they didn’t, but they thought they understood his meaning.
    Jay ventured, “You’re, uh, digging this ditch in faith?”
    Bengati wasn’t sure how to interpret that.
    Lila tried, “It’s like a