Solomon's Gold

CHAPTER 19

The view from the top of the mountain was worth the climb. The Negev was desolate and barren, but it had an indescribable beauty that was unlike any desert Nick had ever seen. It wasn't rolling sand, like the empty wastes of the Sahara. It wasn't like American deserts, flat with the occasional tree or cactus, nor like the flat, yellow wastelands of Afghanistan. The Negev was rugged and worn, like the face of an old man, filled with colors that changed with every passing cloud, sculpted from the hard earth by millennia of weather.

They hadn't found the second marker. After two hours of fruitless examination of every rock in sight, Nick called it off.

"If the marker is on this mountain, it's not here at the summit," he said.

"I have to agree with you," Friedman said. "I think we would have found it by now."

"Must be almost lunch time," Lamont said. "Are we heading back down?"

Nick nodded. "I don't see any point in staying up here."

Selena stood looking down at the desert spread out below. She could see where the vehicles were parked. Some distance away from them was a flat, smooth area.

"We started climbing without thinking about it much," Selena said. "Take a look down there and tell me what you see."

Nick and the others came up and stood next to her.

"Nice view," Ronnie said.

"Look over there." She pointed. "You see that wide flat space, a hundred yards or so to the right of the cars?"

"What about it?" Nick said.

"Moses had a lot of people with him, right?"

"That's right."

"So where did they camp? Where we started from, the ground is uneven and rough. But that area over there seems almost as if it's been picked clean of rocks. It would be an ideal place for hundreds of people and their animals to put up their tents, or whatever they had."

"I see what you're thinking," Friedman said. "Moses would've climbed up the mountain from wherever it was they pitched camp. If they camped on that flat spot, we should look for a way down to it, a natural trail."

"That's right. If the marker isn't up here, maybe it's on the trail Moses used."

"Following his footsteps," Ronnie said.

"Yes," Selena said.

"It's still a crapshoot," Nick said. "There must be half a dozen ways down this mountain."

"Not really," Selena said. "It gets pretty steep and there's a lot of loose rock. It would be hard to climb up in most places. We need to look for a way down to that flat space that follows the natural contours without getting too steep."

Nick rubbed his hand over his chin. "It's as good an idea as any."

Lamont said, "Selena's right. Moses would have had a hard time climbing up the route we took."

"What about over there between those two tall rocks?" Ronnie said.

They walked over to the place Ronnie had pointed out. The rocks marked a natural path, a dry streambed carved out by centuries of weather. It wasn't the kind of trail you found in a park, more like a suggestion of a way through the boulders. Someone had carved a picture of the sun on one of the rocks. Another picture of an Ibex was etched into a rock farther down the side of the mountain.

"Looks like somebody used it to climb up here," Lamont said.

"Right," Nick said. "We'll go slow. Keep your eyes peeled for one of those eyes or anything else that stands out."

They started down the rocky slope. About ten minutes later, Ronnie stopped.

"I need to take a leak. Go ahead, I'll catch up."

He walked a little way off the trail into a grouping of boulders, waiting for the others to get ahead. He unzipped and began to relieve himself.

Then he saw the eye, carved in one of the rocks. Chiseled into the rock beneath the drawing were Hebrew letters.

He zipped up and called to the others. "Hey guys, I found something."

A minute later they all stood beside him.

"That eye is the same as the one in Beersheba," Nick said.

"What do the letters say?" Lamont asked.

"It's biblical Hebrew," Friedman said. "It says 'water and cave.'"

"This has to be the next marker," Nick said. "But what does it mean? Water and cave could mean anything."

Friedman took a picture of the letters on the rock.

"I think I might know," Rivka said. "There's a place that's famous in the story of David and how he became king."

"Go on," Nick said.

"It's in the book of Samuel," she said. "King Saul believes David wants to kill him and pursues him to a place of water and caves."

"Ein Gedi!" Friedman said.

"That's right," Rivka said. "This marker has to refer to Ein Gedi. I can't think what else it would mean, especially since we're on the trail of David's tomb. It's an oasis near the Dead Sea. It's famous, quite beautiful. It's been set aside as a natural preserve. There are springs, waterfalls, and many caves. People have been going to the springs for thousands of years. The animals come there to drink in the summer. Ein Gedi means 'the spring of the goat.'"

Nick said, "If it's so famous, wouldn't anything hidden there have been found a long time ago?"

"Not necessarily. There are a lot of caves, and some of them aren't easily accessible. It would take years to explore them all. There are several archaeological sites in the area that take up priorities."

Friedman said, "The region is mountainous. There's a lot of limestone, ideal for cave formation."

"So now we're going to go find a cave no one else has noticed, in an area with lots of caves?" Lamont asked.

"You have a better idea?" Rivka said.

Ronnie looked out over the desert. He pointed at plumes of dust rising into the air from approaching vehicles.

"Looks like the tourists are starting to show up."

They headed down the mountain.