They made two more turns, eventually ending up at a blank rock face. Dane scanned the rocky ledges above, letting his sight gradually trail down the walls to the ground below. He saw nothing. He felt Kaylin tugging at his arm.
“I see something up there.” She pointed up and to the left, high up in the rocks.
Dane looked in the direction she indicated. Behind a small outcropping of scrub lay what appeared to be a small cave. In the half-light of the gorge, his eyes had passed right over it.
“How do we get there?” she asked. “Did they have hand trails like the Anasazi?”
The ancient settlers of the American southwest had built their cities in rock overhangs high in cliffs not entirely unlike these. The dwellings were accessible by hand and foot trails, which were little more than depressions chiseled in the wall.
“I don’t know,” Dane said. “But I believe the hand trails usually ran from the top of the cliff down to the overhang. Looks like we’ll have to free climb.”
Kaylin consulted her wrist unit.
“It’s in the right direction,” she said. “Ready for a climb, monkey man?”
“Sure,” Dane said, laughing, “send the scuba diver clambering up the precarious rock face.”
“Forgive me,” she said, grinning, “but doesn’t SEAL stand for ‘sea, air, land?’”
“No,” Dane replied with a straight face. “It stands for ‘seduce every attractive lady.’”
“I guess I should be offended, then,” Kaylin said. “You certainly haven’t tried to seduce me. “What’s the matter? Am I not pretty enough for you?”
Her tone was playful, but there was a questioning look in her eyes. Why did women always have to twist everything you say into a criticism of their physical appearance?
“I’m retired, remember?” Dane said, trying to lighten her mood a bit.
“Sorry, but you’re not using that line on me. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. Now let’s check out that cave.”
Dane scanned the rock face from the ground up to the opening of the cave. He studied it carefully, selecting the cracks and outcroppings that would provide the best handholds. When he had planned his route, he set to climbing.
He made his way up the face of the rock at a steady pace. He looked neither up nor down, but kept his eyes just ahead of his hands, picking out the next hold. He trusted the route he had selected and allowed himself no second-guessing. Foot by foot, he scaled the wall. It was a strenuous climb, but not a particularly challenging one. The route he had chosen avoided sections in which the rock wall leaned out over the chasm. Without proper equipment, he would not have attempted to scale any of the more dangerous outcroppings.
After what felt like an hour, but was probably more like six or seven minutes, he hauled himself up onto the narrow ledge in front of the small cave. He turned and offered his hand to Kaylin, who shook her head and pulled herself up.
Dane felt a pang of disappointment when he looked at the cave. It was smalclass="underline" no more than five feet high, and about the same width. It ended in a blank wall about twelve feet back.
“Sorry,” Kaylin said, clearly disappointed. “All of that climbing for nothing.”
Dane checked his GPS and found that they were very close to the targeted spot. In fact, their targeted location was to the west of where they stood: either atop the plateau between the two ravines, or inside the mass of rock. He took a few steps into the cave, hunching so as not to hit his head on the ceiling. He could have sworn that he felt a gentle breeze on his face. He dug deep in his pocket and found the mini Mag Lite he always carried, flicked it on, and played the beam across the back wall.
“Kay, look at this!”
The cave did not end in a blank wall, but took a sharp turn to the left. Kaylin, her enthusiasm apparently renewed by this bit of good fortune, hurried to his side.
They turned the corner and found themselves in an even tighter passage. They could still walk side by side, but barely so. The ceiling gently rose to a height of over six feet, allowing Dane to stand up straight, though he still instinctively felt that he ought to duck down. About twenty paces in, he noticed goose bumps rising on his arms. The air had grown markedly cooler, and he could still feel the faint breeze on his face.
The tunnel snaked back to the right. The path began to slope gently downward, and was slightly moist. Dane put his hand out against the wall, and was surprised to feel that it was smooth to the touch. He halted and shone his light along the wall.
“Pictographs,” Kaylin whispered in awe.
There was no one around to hear their voices, but it somehow seemed appropriate to speak softly.
“Do you have your notebook with you?” Dan asked in an equally quiet tone.
“I’ve got my digital camera,” Kaylin replied. She produced a small camera from her fanny pack and began snapping pictures of the carvings.
The pictographs ran horizontally from left-to-right, just above Dane’s eye level, along the left wall in a single row for a distance of about eight feet. Below them was a row of characters that resembled writing. Dane could not decide if they looked more like runes or alphabetic figures. There was something vaguely familiar about them, but he was no scholar. He checked the opposite wall, and confirmed that it was bereft of any carving.
“Got them,” Kaylin said. She checked the display on the back of her camera, using the zoom feature to insure that she had gotten a clear picture of every part of the carving. Apparently satisfied with her work, she led them deeper down the tunnel.
Dane estimated that they had traveled about seventy yards, including the jog to the left. Measuring from the outside wall, he guessed they were about fifty yards deep into the massive stone plateau. Though he knew it was a futile attempt, he checked his wrist unit. Sure enough, the rock walls precluded any signal from reaching them.
As they progressed down the tunnel, Dane caught a faint whisper of sound, like wind rustling through tree branches. As the sound grew louder, he realized that he was hearing the sound of running water. Somewhere far beneath them was an underground stream. Was there a passage leading down?
The tunnel veered to the right and they came to an abrupt halt. A narrow crevice, no more than six inches wide, cut across the tunnel. A few feet beyond the crack, a massive rock fall blocked the tunnel. Most likely, some sort of seismic activity had caused both the fissure and the tunnel collapse. Dane stepped across the gap, and carefully inspected the pile of rocks and debris. There was no sign of any opening. He shone his light all over the pile, looking for a sign of empty space behind the wall, but he could see nothing. Even if he had believed that it might be possible to clear away some of the debris, he dared not risk another collapse. Based on his inspection, though, he was satisfied that the tunnel in front of them was impassable.
“There’s no way through?” Kaylin asked, her voice tinged with disappointment.
Dane shook his head as he turned. He knelt and shone his light down into the crevice. Kaylin added her brighter beam, and they peered into the depths of the ancient stone. The cut was incredibly deep. Dan thought he could make out a slight twinkle of light reflected on water, but he could not be certain. The sound of the underground stream was audible, and the cool breeze, though faint, was decidedly refreshing. They sat there for a moment, silently peering into the thin defile. Dane finally broke the silence.
“I guess we’d better head back. Bones will be looking for us if he can’t reach us by phone.”
Kaylin nodded, her face twisted in a disappointed frown. She said nothing, but Dane believed he could read her thoughts.
“We’re close,” he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. “I can feel it.”