Read Online The Secret of the Desert Stone by Frank Peretti - Free Book Online

continued to carry her under the big roof. The chief extended his big, powerful arm inside. “Please! Come! We sit! we hear!”
    The Coopers followed the chief inside, past rows of log benches arranged in theater-like fashion, to an open area in the front where a large, flat stone served as a one-man platform.
    â€œWow,” Jay whispered to Lila. “If I didn’t know we were in a primitive African village, I’d think we were in an old revival tent!”
    Lila nodded, smiling at the similarity. “It must be their meeting hall.”
    Dr. Henderson was already seated comfortably on a log bench in the very front, wincing just a bit as a gray-haired man in a bone necklace and grass skirt examined her knee, nodding and muttering to an assistant or apprentice who nodded and muttered back. This was apparently the village witch doctor.
    â€œIt’s fine, really,” Dr. Henderson protested. “I don’t need any spells cast on me, thank you.”
    The chief motioned for the Coopers to stand beside the stone platform while the people swarmed in from every direction, filling the log benches, chattering, and staring at the Coopers with wonder.
    The chief stepped onto the stone and raised his arms to signal for quiet. The place quieted down immediately. He addressed them all in a voice that did not need a microphone or loudspeakers. And he appeared to be introducing the strangers who stood there, still oblivious to what was going on.
    Then the chief looked down from his stone platform and grinned at Dr. Cooper. The people grinned, too, snickering with delight. The chief pointed to Dr. Cooper’s head, bellowed another few sentences, and then, before Dr. Cooper could resist or react, he reached over and rubbed his fingers furiously through Dr. Cooper’s hair. That being done, he stepped back and held out his hands toward Dr. Cooper’s tousled head as if to say, “Voilà!”
    The people seemed to understand the point. They rose to their feet, laughing, cheering, pointing, nodding, clapping.
    â€œSpeech! Speech!” Jay cheered, clapping along, which earned him another corrective poke from Lila.
    The chief offered Dr. Cooper his big hand and yanked him up onto the stone. The crowd sat down, and the place got quiet.
    â€œYou talk,” said the chief. “We hear, yes!”
    Then the chief sat down on the front log and waited expectantly with all the others.
    Dr. Cooper looked out at all those faces looking back and felt stark naked. What in the world were they expecting him to say? What was he supposed to do? He caught a look from Dr. Henderson. She wasn’t saying it out loud, but her eyes sent the message clear enough: “Doctor, you really are in the spotlight now!”
    The warriors who had brought them here still had their spears in their hands and were eyeing him warily.
    Hoo boy, he thought. If they don’t like whatever speech I come up with, we could all be Cooper soup!
    And still the people waited.

SIX
    U m . . .” Dr. Cooper cleared his throat and gave the people a smile he hoped they would like. “Uh, on behalf of my children and my colleague, Dr. Henderson, I bid you greetings.”
    Jay and Lila, still standing on the ground in front of the platform, gave a little wave, hoping that would help convey their dad’s meaning.
    The chief stood up to look for someone and finally caught the eye of the gray-haired witch doctor who had been looking at Dr. Henderson’s knee. The chief jerked his head toward Dr. Cooper and the man hurried over and leaped up on the rock, offering his hand. “I am Bengati! Welcome.”
    Dr. Cooper was relieved to find another English speaker in the group. “Dr. Jacob Cooper. You know English, then?”
    â€œMy father was a guide for white hunters. He learned the language, and taught it to me. I have taught the chief and his family, but . . .” He shrugged. “When there is no need to speak