by Jean Fischer
“Who knows? There’s no address on the envelope, just the words ‘To my family Adair.’ I don’t think she ever meant to send this letter. I think she meant it to be found,” Kate said.
Sydney opened a new window on her computer screen. She went to the web page where she’d seen the Cherokee syllabary. “Can you print this for us?” she asked Galilahi. “Make a copy for yourself and one each for Elizabeth and me, please. We’re going to have to translate each heading to see which books of the Bible we have here.”
“That will take forever!” Galilahi exclaimed.
“Not if we work together,” Sydney promised. “Good sleuthing takes time, but it’s always worth the work in the end.”
Galilahi took the laptop computer into her father’s den and printed the copies. She returned and handed the girls the set of symbols. Each symbol was matched with the sound it made.
“Let’s get to work,” Sydney instructed.
“In the meantime, we’ll put our heads together and see if we can crack the Ecclesiastes code,” Bailey chimed in. “Let’s meet back here in an hour, okay?”
The girls agreed, and as they shut off their webcams, their screens went blank.
Painstakingly, Sydney, Elizabeth, and Galilahi began translating the headings: MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, JOHN.
“Now I’m sure it’s the New Testament,” said Elizabeth.
“Let’s keep going,” Sydney suggested. “We need to know exactly what’s in here.”
“But Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the first four books of the New Testament,” Elizabeth protested. “Why do we have to go on?”
“Yeah, this is hard,” Galilahi agreed. “Why do we have to translate the rest of the headings?”
Sydney was hard at work. “Because that’s what good detectives do. They leave no stone unturned.” She carefully flipped to the next page in the Bible. “Look here on the first page of the Book of Acts. It’s that same drawing of the sun, and some of the words in the text are underlined.”
She translated them from the Cherokee symbols. “Grandma Hisgi underlined this part of Acts 8, verse 36: ‘As they traveled along the road, they came to some water.’”
“A clue!” exclaimed Galilahi.
“Maybe,” said Sydney, “or maybe not. Let’s keep going. Look for that sun drawing, and see if anything else is underlined.”
The girls worked together, turning each page carefully.
“There it is again!” said Elizabeth. “There’s a sun drawn in the margin in the Book of Jude. Grandma Hisgi underlined some of the words in Jude 1, verse 12.” Elizabeth translated them: “‘trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.’”
They were getting close to the end of the Bible. “There’s one!” Galilahi said, after Sydney turned a page. “Right there, in the Book of Revolution—”
“Revelation,” Elizabeth corrected her. “It’s the last book of the New Testament.”
“The sun is next to the number six,” Galilahi said. “I think that means chapter six. And Grandma Hisgi underlined words in verse number fifteen. Let’s see what they mean.” She got busy deciphering the symbols. “The words translate: ‘Every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.’”
“That seems to fit as a clue,” Sydney said. “We’re here in the Smoky Mountains, and during our helicopter ride this morning, we saw plenty of rocks. There have to be caves there, somewhere.”
“And think about it,” said Elizabeth. “When the soldiers came to take the Cherokee people off their land, some of them might have hidden in those caves.”
“Maybe some of the free people too,” Galilahi said. “Remember? Great-Grandmother Rogers told me that some of the Cherokee people were free to stay because they were United States citizens.”
“I’d forgotten about that,” said Sydney.
The girls continued to the end of the Bible. On the very last page, they found one more sun and a few words.
“It looks like Joshua 10:6,” Galilahi translated.
“Let me look it up,” Elizabeth said, grabbing her own pocket Bible once more. “The men of Gibeon quickly sent messengers to Joshua at his camp in Gilgal. ‘Don’t abandon your servants now!’ they pleaded. ‘Come at once! Save us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings who live in the hill country have joined forces to attack us.’”
“I wonder what that means,” Galilahi commented.
“It almost sounds like a cry for help,” Sydney said thoughtfully.
Then they went back, carefully checking each page to see if they’d missed any more suns. But there were only four in all.
“There are things written in English in the margins in the four Gospels,” Elizabeth observed, “But from the writing I can make out, they don’t seem to be clues. It looks like the only clues are the ones that have the sun picture.”
Sydney put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. Elizabeth twisted a strand of her long, blond hair. “I’m trying to put these Bible verses together in my head to see if I can make sense of them.”
“What do you think they mean?” Galilahi wondered.
“I don’t have a clue,” said Elizabeth. “We have plenty of puzzle pieces to figure out.”
“And I have another one,” Galilahi offered. “Why didn’t anyone else open the envelope or discover these clues? After all, the Bible was handed down from mother to daughter, right?”
Sydney had written the clues on a sheet of paper, and she was busy studying them.
“Except your grandmother probably never got the Bible,” Sydney said. “I think that’s true because your great-grandma wrote her name inside.”
“I’ve been thinking,” said Sydney. “Maybe the women wrote their names when they got married. That’s why both their birth names and their married names are listed.”
“The Bible was handed down through the Coodys,” Elizabeth recalled. “And the letter and clues were specifically for the Adairs. So, unless the other owners of the Bible were into genealogy, they probably weren’t looking for clues.”
“It could be,” Sydney added, “that no one ever looked through the Bible and found the envelope. After all, if you inherit an old book you can’t read, even if it is a Bible, you may not thumb through it.”
Galilahi put her hands on her head and grunted. “I’m so lost. Please explain what you just said—and what’s genealogy?”
Elizabeth slipped her arm around Galilahi’s shoulder and gave her a little hug.
“I’m trying to be patient,” Galilahi insisted. “But there’s just too much information for my brain to take it all in.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Sydney grinned. “We’re not only going to help you make sense of it all, but the Camp Club Girls will help you find the Cabin of the Rising Sun.”
“I’m glad you’re so sure,” Galilahi sighed.
“Genealogy is when you explore your family history—what some people call a family tree—and try to find out who your ancestors were,” Elizabeth explained. “Imagine that there are two main branches coming out from a tree trunk. One is for your father’s side of the family; the other is for your mother’s side. Your ancestors are all the little branches coming off of those main branches. The ancestors on your father’s branch aren’t the same people as the ancestors on your mother’s branch, right?”
“Right,” Galilahi agreed.
“So,” Elizabeth continued. “We’re trying to find information about your mother’s branch on the tree. We know that Grandma Hisgi was born into the Adair family. But, when they were forced from their land during the Trail of Tears, Grandma Hisgi’s mother left her with another family, and we don’t know who they were.”
“Those people weren’t her relatives,” Sydney chimed in. “They were nice people who took her in. So Grandma Hisgi’s connection with the Adairs stopped when her mother gave her away.”
“And,” Elizabeth said, “When Grandma Hisgi grew up, she married a man with the last name of Co
ody. That’s why, in the Bible, she wrote her name as Galilahi Adair Coody. Eventually, the Bible got handed down to her daughter, whose last name was Coody. As the years went by, the Adairs were all but forgotten.”
“Except by us!” Galilahi observed. “And Great-Grandma Rogers. At least the part of the story of Grandma Hisgi’s life, the part where she was left behind, was handed down from generation to generation. I think I get it now.”
Sydney was doodling on her paper now, another habit she had when she was deep in thought.
“You know what?” she said. “I think she did it deliberately. I think Grandma Hisgi stuck those pages together so her letter would be hard to find. She wanted this letter to get to the right people. Maybe she was afraid that it might be lost or thrown away. There’s definitely some sort of important message hidden here for the Adairs.”
“And you’re an Adair descendant,” Elizabeth said to Galilahi. “So, you have every right to this letter.”
The girls had much to talk about when they went back online. Sydney, Elizabeth, and Galilahi were eager to share their clues.
The other Camp Club Girls had each been studying Ecclesiastes 1:5–7 and were also excited to share ideas.
“We think the scripture verse is like a treasure map!” Bailey blurted out. “Everything is written in code. If you follow the directions, you’ll find the Cabin of the Rising Sun—”
“The sun rises and sets, and hurries back to where it rises,” Bailey continued. “Maybe that’s a clue for the direction east. We think it means that you should look to the east for the cabin. That fits with the name, Cabin of the Rising Sun. The sun rises in the east.”
Sydney wrote that down.
“And then, there’s this part about the wind,” said Kate. “‘The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning to its course.’ We think that means after you’ve gone east for a while, you need to go south.”
Sydney wrote that down too.
“After that, you have to find a stream,” Alexis added. “The scripture verse says, ‘All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.’ Since there are no seas near Cherokee, North Carolina, forget about that part. Just look for a stream.”
“Once you’ve found the stream,” McKenzie continued, “you have to find out where the stream comes from. The verse says, ‘to the place the streams come from, there they return again.’”
Sydney wrote “stream” on her sheet of paper. “That might fit with our clue ‘as they traveled along the road, they came to some water.’”
Elizabeth twisted a strand of her hair again. “It’s beginning to make sense,” she said. “And that picture of the sun? It’s a symbol for the cabin. When Grandma Hisgi wrote ‘I am here’ underneath it, I bet she meant that anyone searching would find her at the Cabin of the Rising Sun.”
“The reference to Joshua 10:6 at the back of the Bible makes it seem like she was in trouble and wanted help,” Kate mused, “but what kind of trouble?”
Sydney looked at what she’d written. “Well, we sure have a lot of clues here, but we’re missing the most important one.”
“What’s that?” Galilahi asked.
“Where do we begin?” Sydney said. “Do you have any ideas?”
“Not even one,” her friend answered. “So now what?”
“We think about what we know,” Elizabeth told her. “We have some clues about directions and landmarks. You’ve lived here a few months, Galilahi. Think hard. See if you can remember a road that leads to water, or dead fruit trees that are uprooted and laying on the ground, or a cave hidden in some rocks.”
Galilahi sighed again. “I don’t know! I haven’t explored very much since I’ve lived here.”
“It’s all right,” McKenzie said, sensing Galilahi’s frustration. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. You’ll see.”
“Where are you guys going next?” Kate asked.
“We’re going home soon,” Sydney answered. “It’s almost time for Aunt Dee to get off work, and I promised that I’d make supper. We’re having spaghetti.”
“Oh, that sound good!” said Kate. “With meatballs?”
“With meatballs,” said Sydney. “And lots of Parmesan cheese, and a nice, leafy, green salad and garlic bread, and—”
“Can I come?” Kate said and laughed.
“I’ll keep it warm for you,” said Sydney.
“Oh, and seriously, that green thing you saw from the helicopter, the disc on top the sun, that was probably a green flash.”
“What’s a green flash?” Sydney asked.
“It’s a phenomena where a tiny part of the sun suddenly changes to green,” Kate said. “It lasts for only a few seconds.”
“Hey, Sydzie!” Bailey piped up. “Do you remember when we saw the bioluminescence at your grandparents’ house on the beach? The ocean waves glowed green at night? Your green flash reminds me of that.”
“Usually, a green flash happens at sunset,” said Kate. “It’s pretty rare to see it at sunrise, so you guys were lucky.”
Elizabeth said, “Maybe we should follow the sunrise. In other words, to go east.”
Galilahi smiled as she had a revelation. “And green means go! I think you’re right, Elizabeth. We need to head east to look for the cabin.”
Sydney folded her sheet of paper and tucked it into her jeans pocket. “Right now, we need to head home,” she said to the Camp Club Girls. “Tomorrow, we’re going to the Indian village. This kid we met at the heliport this morning, Billy John, said it has replicas of old Cherokee houses. Maybe that will help us know what the Cabin of the Rising Sun looks like.”
“Great idea!” said Alexis. “I have to sign off now too. Let me know what you find out.”
“Me too,” said McKenzie, slipping a sock onto one of her bare feet.
“I’ll keep pondering the clues,” Kate promised.
“Buh-bye, fellow sleuthies!” said Bailey. “The Bailster is signing off. Over and out for now.”
The monitor screen went blank.
Sydney logged off the internet, shut down her laptop, and snapped the lid closed. She detached the AC cable from the side of the computer and pulled the cord out of the wall outlet. Then she rolled it up and stuck it, along with the laptop, into her tote.
“So, tomorrow we’ll go to the Indian village,” she said. “Do you know where it is, Galilahi?”
“I do,” she replied. “It’s easy to get to from your aunt’s apartment, and it’s on the way to her work. Tell your aunt to leave you at the stoplight on River Road. Walk east along the road until you come to the water. I’ll meet you there at nine.”
Back in Time
As Sydney entered Indian Village, she felt as if she were being transported back to 1750. The village was created to show how the Cherokee people had lived in those days. The girls could see people all around the village dressed in clothing like the Cherokee people had worn in the eighteenth century and working on crafts from that time.
Sydney noticed the smell of wood fires drifting through the air, and she could hear the distant, haunting melody of a river-cane flute floating through the trees.
“This is like a living museum,” said Sydney as she and Galilahi stepped aside for a big group of tourists.
Elizabeth looked at the trees. “It’s so peaceful here. It’s like our century is gone: no sounds of car engines, televisions, loud music—”
“Chee-lew-gee!” A handsome man dressed in native Cherokee clothing approached the girls. “My name is Wa-ya a-di-si, but you can call me Running Wolf.”
“O-si-yo, Running Wolf!” said Galilahi.
Sydney rolled her eyes and laughed. “Okay, you guys. Speak English. What do chee-lew-gee and o-si-yo mean?”
“Chew-lew-gee, means ‘welcome’,” Running Wolf said.
“And o-si-yo means ‘hello,’” Galilahi answered.
“O-si-yo,” said Sydney. “O-si-yo, Wa-ya a-di-si!”
Running Wolf
nodded and smiled.
The man began to walk, “Come,” he said. “Let me show you the village and how people lived more than two hundred and fifty years ago.” He strode down a dirt pathway with the girls following closely.
First, they stopped to watch several women sewing beads together to make belts, headbands, and necklaces. The women explained how they did this. Sydney wished she could try.
“I make jewelry from paper,” she told them. “Maybe I could learn to do this too.”
Then the girls and their guide walked past several more women weaving wool to make shawls and blankets. They watched people forming pots from clay and placing them around an open fire to make them hard; then they’d be watertight and ready to use.
They saw ladies weaving baskets who explained the traditional plant dyes used to color the basket material. On they walked, past men making arrowheads and a man demonstrating a blowgun used to hunt small game.
The girls looked at countless traps: bear traps, fish traps, figure-four traps. It was all very interesting, but they still hadn’t seen the Cherokee houses.
“Running Wolf, we’re interested in the kinds of houses the Cherokee people lived in,” Sydney said. “We heard that you have some of those here.” Running Wolf didn’t say a word. Instead, he signaled the girls to follow him. Quietly, they walked into the woods on a narrow path lined with rhododendron thickets. As they traveled along the path, they came to a streambed and passed a tiny waterfall that trickled over stones. Then they came to a clearing and several old houses made of woven saplings plastered with mud.
“Wow!” Sydney gasped. “Who would have known that these were back here in the woods?”
“I can almost imagine my Cherokee grandmother living in one of them,” Galilahi said.
“You have a Cherokee grandmother?” Running Wolf asked.
“My whole family is Cherokee,” Galilahi told him. “My great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was left behind during the Trail of Tears.”
“Really?” Running Wolf said.
“Grandma Hisgi’s mother asked another family to take her little girl and keep her,” Sydney explained.
