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"You think he's who?" Charley Samuels asked. He'd heard what William had told him but he couldn't believe it. It was early morning and William had just told him what he thought about the man sleeping inside.
"I know it sounds crazy, like some kind of science fiction story, but Lewis and I believe that Jim is my grandfather and Lewis' great, great, grandfather," William repeated.
Charley looked from William to Lewis and back again. They can't be serious, he thought. They're playing a joke on me.
"It isn't a joke Doc," Lewis said guessing what Charley was thinking. "C'mon lets go down to the barn. No need to let Jim hear about this; not just yet anyway."
William made a detour to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and three coffee cups. When the three men got to the barn they found seats on some barrels and an old recliner. William poured each one of them about half a cup of whiskey.
"Don't normally drink during the week or this early in the day, but this is a special occasion," William said to Lewis and Charley. Raising his cup he said, "Salud." He took a huge drink and looked at the other two men.
"Reckon you're right Grandpa. If it isn't I don't think we'll ever find a better one." Lewis knocked back about half of his drink. Charley finished his drink, took the bottle from William and poured himself another.
"What makes you think Jim Randal is your Jim Randal?" Charley asked.
First William and then Lewis told him their reasoning. They told Charley about the whispered 'Chante' in the cave, the scar on Jim's shoulder, the white streak in his hair, and the picture.
"What we're trying to say is that somehow, someway, that's our Jim Randal in the house," William finished.
"We'll know better once he's strong enough to really talk to us," Lewis added. "He'll tell us about himself and we can ask him some questions." He paused looking, at the ground. "But I'll bet this ranch that he's just who we think he is"
"But how.....?" Charley began.
"You're the scientist Charley," William said. "Not us. I don't know how, but I'm sure that the Jim Randal we found in that cave is my grandfather."
"Now that you said something, I do notice a strong family resemblance," Charley offered. "Hell Lewis, you and Jim could almost be twins. You've both got the same coloring, build, and facial features. And he's got the same white streak in his hair that you do."
The man who called himself Jim Randal had been with them for three days now. He seemed to be recovering from his ordeal. Jim would soon be strong enough to start paying attention to his surroundings and start to ask questions.
Charley was lost in thought for a few minutes and Lewis and William let him alone. Finally he looked at the Randals. "We'd better wait a day or two before we say anything to him. He's getting stronger but something like this could cause a heart attack in a healthy man."
The three men talked and debated about what could have caused a man to go into "suspended animation for a hundred and seventeen years", that's the term Charley used. Then come out the other side looking like he was 25 or so. They decided they didn't have enough information to even make a guess as to how that happened.
Lewis thought back to when and where he found Jim and remembered the smoke. "Doc, when I first looked into that room there was a kind of smoke coming out of the opening; I got a whiff and almost passed out. After I broke down more of the wall, the smoke seemed to disappear. Could that smoke have had something to do with it?"
Charley shrugged his shoulders. "Makes as much sense as anything else right now."
"That flame was another thing," Lewis added. "I've never seen a flame burning on rock without any kind of fuel source." After a few seconds he said, "I think I'll hike back up there tomorrow and look things over."
"Good idea, I'll go with you," Charley replied. "But we'll take the ATVs instead of horses won't we?"
Lewis had to smile. "Don't you like horses Charley?"
"I like em just fine; it's them that don't like me"
The next morning after a quick breakfast Charley and Lewis, mounted on the ATVs, rode toward the trail that led up to the cave. Lewis and Charley both had backpacks; Lewis's was a survival kit, Charles had some test equipment and a camera. They climbed up the steep trail for forty minutes and finally crossed the small canyon in front of the cave. This time Lewis had brought big flashlights so they could see their way.
Lewis led the way into the cave and to the room where he'd found Jim. The man made wall that had concealed the small room was totally collapsed, but the flame was still burning with a bright intensity. They stepped closer to the flame and looked at the rock that formed the niche. The rock still seemed wet and an oily liquid seeped toward the flame. Lewis noticed a spider web of small cracks running around the sides of the niche. He hadn't seen them the first time in the cave.
"I don't know what this is," Charley said. "It seems that the flame sort of melts this rock and the fluid feeds the flame." He rubbed some of the oil between his fingers, shaking his head. "It's like an eternal flame; as long as there is rock to melt the flame will continue burning. And there's the smoke you told me about," he said pointing to the wisps of vapor rising from the flame.
"That's about what I figured the first time I saw it," Lewis replied.
"Let's get a sample of the rock and the fluid," Charley suggested. "I have a friend in the chemistry department at the college in Prescott. He can analyze them for us"
Charley dropped his backpack and started to dig into it. Lewis suddenly put his hand on Charley's shoulder. "You feel that?" He asked.
Lewis thought he'd felt a tremor run through the floor of the cave. Looking at the niche where the flame was he saw pieces of rock breaking off and falling to the floor. He saw a small crack appear at the base of the wall and expand toward the ceiling of the cave.
He grabbed Charley. "Let's get out of here. That wall is shifting and falling apart."
Charley could feel the shuddering of the rock in the floor now. He nodded and struggled to put his backpack on.
"Leave it, we need to go now," Lewis ordered as he pulled Charley toward the entrance to the cave.
Pieces of rock were falling from the roof as they ran to get out. They cleared the entrance and Charley stopped to look back into the cave. Lewis grabbed him and pulled him across the canyon to the tall rock butte. Just as they got to the rock wall the cave collapsed in on itself.
Charley stood staring at the collapsing mountain; Lewis pulled him behind the rock butte just as a cloud of smoke, dust, and small rocks rolled past them. After the cloud had cleared both men stepped out and stared across the canyon. All that was left of the entrance to the cave was a pile of crumbled rocks.
Over head the eagles took flight, soaring around and shrilly calling to each other complaining about the cave in.
"So much for using science to investigate that rock," Charley said. Turning to Lewis he said, "Thanks for pulling me out of there."
Lewis nodded and replied, "Dotty would have been really upset with me if I had left you. I don't want to face her when she's mad."
Charley chuckled. "I know exactly what you mean. C'mon let's head back before the rest of the mountain falls down around us."
Ninety minutes later they pulled the ATVs into the barn and headed up to the house. "Find anything?" William asked as he greeted them.
