The stone sunk into the hole, accompanied by an audible grating sound. Then there was a thud, followed by the moving of large chains. Indiana smile. Last time that sound had accompanied the opening of a door. Indiana was not disappointed. The door in front of him opened. He had been right.
“Rammle-dammle” had sounded more natural to him because it was. Indiana thought far back to his linguistics course in college. He freed the term from a seldom used, dusty corner of his mind; ‘obstruency’. Obstruency is the degree to which consonants impede the flow of air while speaking. With ‘R’s, the lips and teeth are partially open, and the tongue is free. This allows air to pass freely through the mouth. With a ‘D’, the tongue is pressed up against the rood of the mouth, near the teeth. This turns the tongue into a barrier, which prevents air from flowing freely. Thus, ‘R’ is less obstruent than ‘D’. In English, the less obstruent consonant almost always comes before the more obstruent one. There are dozens of common examples. “Razzle-dazzle” struck Indiana as the most similar to the puzzle. However, he also immediately thought of “hocus-pocus”, “willy-nilly”, “mumbo-jumbo”, and “holy moly”. Everyone followed the rule. “Dammle-rammle” would not have fit the rule. Indiana assumed that the rule held true in most languages, and not just English.
Indiana walked through the open door, and was pleased that it was leading upward and to the right, toward Bond. Perhaps the tunnels would meet up shortly. Indiana hadn’t gone far before he again saw light down the passage. Unlike before, the light was dull and orange colored, like the light given off from a fire. Indiana had the feeling that Bond was not responsible for the light. It was Grimson. He turned off his own flashlight and proceeded slowly down the passage, allowing his eyes to adjust to the dim fire light.
Indiana wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he thought he heard a very low hum. It was almost so low as to be beyond the range of human hearing. As he got closer to the light the sound became more noticeable. It was grating on his nerves. He began to have trouble concentrating. Still, he pressed on.
As he rounded a bend in the passage he entered a large chamber. It was larger than the entrance had been. There was a man with his back toward him. Indiana could tell it wasn’t Bond. He also noticed that the light was emanating from several torches resting in niches set into the walls of the chamber. The man was standing in front of what appeared to be an altar, which had seven head-size stones spread on top of it. The man was gazing intently at those stones and muttering something that Indiana could not understand.
Indiana moved forward, knowing the man wouldn’t hear him over the now-loud hum. Also, the man was obviously absorbed in examining the stones. It was child’s play for Indiana to use the butt of his gun to strike the back of the man’s head, knocking him out.
Indiana looked around the chamber and noticed three passages. There was the one he had just entered through, one that led deeper into the cave, and one that looked like it was the tunnel Bond would eventually come through. If he walked down that passage he would probably find Bond.
Indiana made sure the man was unconscious, and then headed to find Bond. He would need help dragging Grimson out of the cave, after having examined those stones, of course.
Looks like the score is: BOND= 0 JONES= 1 WINNER= JonesBack to Home Page
