The Six Messiahs - Mark Frost [138]
Doyle rummaged quickly through his notebook to find his sketch of the design they had found on the wall of Rupert Selig's cabin and the brand on the arms of the thieves. "We've been assuming all along that this design is an insignia of this league of thieves."
"What of it?" asked Presto.
"Perhaps we've been looking at it the wrong way," said Doyle. "Perhaps that's not what it is at all."
"What else could it be?" asked Innes.
Doyle turned the drawing on its side and pointed to it. "What does this look like now? These broken lines?"
"Dots and dashes?" said Presto.
"Morse code," said Innes.
"Exactly," said Doyle, laying it down flat, taking Innes's pencil. "Does anyone know what this translates into?"
Jack had moved across the room without anyone noticing. He stood directly over Doyle, looking down at the paper.
"The letter 'R' and a series of numbers," said Jack. "Thirteen and eleven on the middle line. Thirteen and eighteen on the last."
"It's not a date, then," said Doyle.
"Perhaps a geographical location, longitude and latitude," said Innes.
Jack shook his head. "Middle of the Atlantic Ocean."
"Maybe a biblical reference," said Stern. "Chapter and verse."
"Innes, there's a Bible in the drawer beside my bed," said Doyle, as Innes bolted for the door. "Don't wake the Major."
"How do we know which book of the Bible?" asked Presto, as Innes returned with a Gideon Bible and handed it to Doyle.
"One that begins with the letter 'R,' I suppose," said Doyle.
"Only three begin with 'R,' " said Innes from memory. "Ruth, Romans, and the Revelation."
"Ruth has only four chapters," said Doyle, quickly flipping to that section of the book. "And Romans only fourteen verses."
"What is the Revelation?" asked Walks Alone. "The last book," said Stern. "A series of visions experienced by the Apostle John."
"A prophecy," said Jack, "of the Apocalypse." "Here it is," said Doyle, finding the page. "Revelation, thirteen, eleven: 'Then I saw another Beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns and spoke like a dragon.'
"And thirteen, eighteen: 'Here is wisdom: Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the Beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.' "
chapter 12
THE FIRST CHECKPOINT WAS FIVE MILES OUT FROM THE center of the town. Late afternoon by the time the Players' wagons reached it, desert all around, flat and desolate, sun hammering down like a blacksmith. Eileen was grateful for the extra canteens Jacob had filled before they left Skull Canyon; Kanazuchi went through two himself, silent as before, his movements spare and economical. His wound stayed clean, no festering; the strange man seemed to be using the energy he conserved to consciously will himself to heal and damned if it wasn't working; his pallor gone, breathing steady and strong.
At the moment, Eileen felt more concern for Jacob, driving their wagon all day in the blinding heat; she spelled him at the reins for a stretch until the swelter drove her back under the cover of the canvas. She knew the poor man had to be exhausted just from the tossing and jolting the rough road gave their buckboard—his face scarlet, sweat soaking his shirt—but he never complained, cheerful and buoyant as ever, making it impossible for her to give in to her rising sense of apprehension.
Damn Bendigo anyway for marching them out across a desert in the heat of the day; their first performance wasn't until tomorrow night, they shouldn't have attempted this crossing until the sun went down; the road was well marked and the wagons all equipped with lanterns. But heaven forbid they should show up late for a free meal; Rymer might lose a nickel.
Winding down from the foothills of the Juniper Mountains and into the sands of the eastern Mojave, their caravan had just passed through an eerie formation of spiraling vertical pillars, etched out of limestone and silt, rising from the flats like a forest of rock. The wagons rounded a corner in the densest part of the stand and came to