smart, but radical! If I was younger, I might get
in myself, but I doubt if I've got two-hundred years left. I'm just not
up to that kind of thing any more! Yes, this leader of yours sounds
like something pretty wild!"
46 North smiled as he got up to leave. "That he is!" he laughed, "That
he most certainly is!"
47 Blue Stone invited North and his mother to come for supper, which
North accepted. It was the first of many enjoyable evenings. The
meetings in the abandoned mines grew in number, but North never allowed
more than twenty of his people to meet in one place at one time.
48 It was after one of these meetings that a lookout left by the
entrance stopped North, and, Gray, as they were leaving. "Saw something
funny," he reported, "I don't think it was The Guard. It looked like a
bunch of Hashons. They slipped into a tunnel down there about five or
six minutes ago. Then someone else followed them. Couldn't make him
out, though."
49 "All right," North ordered. "Take off. We'll have a look!"
50 So it was North and Gray slipped into the tunnel and carefully made
their way down the shaft. They knew these tunnels well. Ahead of them
was an open cavern where many of the shafts met. They could hear the
Hashons ahead and see a dim light. "It sounds like they're singing,"
whispered Gray, "some kind of ceremony."
51 As they reached the end of the shaft they laid down on the edge and
peeked over to observe the scene below. They could see the Hashons, one
on his knees before an Elder, with four others standing on the sides.
North watched what they were doing, then whispered to Gray. "It's the
Ceremony of Adulthood, The Bread and The Wine. It's absolutely
forbidden. If they get caught, they'll be executed."
52 "Then they'll be executed," whispered Gray, "look there!" Sure
enough, opposite them another figure was emerging from a shaft just
above the Hashons. It was a Haven, and