006 White Water Terror (8 page)

Mike closed up the radio again. “Well, that’s that,” he said.

Nancy looked at him. Whoever had done this had to know what the crystal was and where to look for it. Maybe Mike had destroyed the radio and Tod had destroyed the raft—all as part of some silly prank.

She shook her head. Surely not. But the
whole thing was beginning to seem like a hopeless muddle.

Paula glanced at Nancy. “I don’t suppose our girl detective has any ideas about who did it,” she remarked sarcastically.

Nancy shook her head. “Afraid not,” she replied. Then she noticed that Max was staring at Paula, dumbfounded, as if he had suddenly thought of something but wasn’t quite sure whether he ought to believe it.

“So?” Sammy demanded. “Do we just sit here and wait for somebody to raft downriver and spot us?”

“I don’t think anybody will be coming down until the middle of next week,” Paula said. “I checked the schedule board yesterday, just before we left. The next trip downriver doesn’t leave until a week from Wednesday.”

“By that time we could starve to death!” Linda exclaimed.

“Well, we
have
got another alternative,” Paula said.

Everybody looked at her. “What’s that?” George asked.

Paula pointed to the top of the cliff. “We can hike out,” she replied. “It’s a tough climb, as Ned said, but we
could
make it. Once we get to the top, there’s a trail, maybe five or six miles back in the woods, that leads to the ranger station, which is another eight or nine miles away. I think I could find the trail.”

“Yes, but that means a fourteen-mile hike!” Sammy exclaimed. She looked at Max. “What do
you
think?”

Max gave an uncertain shrug. “I’m a good woodsman, but I don’t know anything about the trails in this particular area. We’ll have to rely on Paula.”

Paula’s amber eyes were narrowed to slits. “Maybe some of you don’t want to rely on me,” she said, turning to Nancy. “You’re not afraid of a little walking, are you, Nancy?”

Nancy caught the unpleasant undertone, but answered quietly, “No, I’m not afraid of walking—as long as we’re sure of where we’re going. At least on the river, we know where we are. Once we’re in the wilderness, we could get lost pretty easily.” She sneaked a glance at Max, who was still staring at Paula.

“Well, I can’t guarantee anything,” Paula said crossly. “But I don’t see that we’ve got any alternative.”

“Well, then,” Ned spoke up quickly, “maybe we ought to take an inventory and figure out how much food we’ve got. How long will this hike take us?”

“We’ll probably get to the ranger station late tomorrow,” Paula said.

“And we’ve got only enough food for today?” Ned asked.

“Looks like we’ll be going on half-rations,” George said glumly.

“Yes, but that means we won’t have to carry so much,” Paula pointed out. “Just our sleeping gear and whatever jackets and sweaters you have. It’s going to get pretty cold up there tonight.” She looked around. “Ned, will you and Max inventory the food and distribute it among the packs so that we all have an equal load to carry? Max!”

“Huh?” Max seemed to be jerked away from nis thoughts. “What did you say?”

Paula put her hands on her hips. “If you’d been listening,” she said, “you’d know. I asked you and Ned to inventory the food. Mercedes, there’s a tarp in the raft. Better get it out—Tod will give you a hand. The tarp might come in handy if it rains tonight. Ralph, get the flashlight and the lantern.” She fished in her pocket. “Bess?”

“Yes?”

“Here’s a compass. I’m giving you the job of checking our direction so we don’t end up wandering in circles. When we get to the top of the cliff, I’ll show you how to read it. Okay?”

“Well, okay,” Bess said. “I mean, I’m not very good at things like that, but—”

“You’ll do fine,” Paula said shortly. She ticked up her red-and-black plaid jacket and slung it over her shoulder. “Okay, everybody. Let’s break camp! Take what you need to keep warm and dry, but don’t take anything that
you don’t want to carry for the next two days!”

• • •

The cliff wasn’t quite as steep as it had looked from below. Bushes and small trees grew in the rocky rubble, and the hikers found plenty of hand- and footholds.

“I want you to climb in front of me, Nancy,” Ned said as they got ready. “That way, if you slip, I’m right behind you.”

The climb took the group almost two hours. The rocks were soft and crumbling from exposure to the weather, and Nancy had to concentrate on where she put her feet. Above her, Bess and George moved up carefully, pressing close to the steep slope. Nobody said much.

They were almost at the top when Nancy heard a scream from below, then the sound of loose rock sliding and the babble of frantic voices.

“What’s happening?” Nancy called to Ned.

“I think it’s Linda,” he said anxiously, peering down. He pulled a coil of rope from his shoulder. “Hey, down there! Do you need a hand?”

It took three of them—Ralph, Max, and Ned—to hoist Linda to the top. The others were there already, sprawled on the rocky ground, breathless and weary from the climb.

“She’s going to be all right. It’s only a sprain,” Paula said brusquely, probing Linda’s
ankle with her fingers. “Too bad we don’t have any ice for it.”

“It hurts,” Linda moaned. “I don’t think I can walk.”

“You’ll be okay,” Ralph comforted her. “I’ll help you.”

Ned came out of the woods with a long branch. “We can make a crutch out of this,” he said.

After a few minutes, Linda’s crutch was ready and the group started out, following Paula. Bess, with the compass, was right behind her.

“We’re going northeast,” Paula told them, before they started. “Since there’s no trail, and the terrain is so rough, we’ll be moving slowly. We don’t want anybody getting lost.”

Nancy nodded, and she and the others set out through the woods. At every step, huge swarms of mosquitoes flew up, and Nancy had to keep swatting them. The sweat poured off her face in little rivers.

“Some vacation,” George grunted as she pushed up a vine and tried to crawl under it. “I’ll have to call our travel agent when we get home. I think we got into the wrong contest.”

“Either that,” Nancy said, half chuckling, “or we won the wrong prize.”

George swallowed a giggle. “Do you suppose Paula knows where’s she’s going?” she asked,
peering through the tangle of underbrush. “I’d hate to walk through this stuff
twice.”

“Hey!” Ned kidded. “How can you doubt her? After all, she’s got Bess right beside her, carrying our one and only compass.”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” George said.

• • •

It was nearly noon by the time they stopped for lunch in a large clearing. The sun filtered through the dense trees, and Bess took off her jacket and tossed it on a nearby rock. She was eating a sandwich, her knees pulled up wearily, her back to a tree, when Nancy sat down beside her.

“Tired?” Nancy asked, taking a bite of her own sandwich. It was the last of the peanut butter, and there was only enough bread for one more meal.

“You know it.” Bess sighed. “Paula’s in good shape, and keeping up with her in these woods is tough.”

“I don’t suppose you’ve found out anything about her,” Nancy said, lowering her voice and looking around to be sure she wasn’t overheard.

Bess shook her head. “I’ve tried talking to her, but she won’t say a word. I did notice Max watching her in a funny way, though. It’s as if he knows something about her that the rest of us don’t.”

“Yeah, I noticed that, too,” Nancy said. She finished her sandwich and stood up, brushing herself off. “And maybe now is a good time to ask him about it.” But everybody else was finishing lunch, too, and Nancy didn’t have a chance.

“Will you get the compass?” Paula asked Bess just then. “I want to check our direction before we get started again.”

“Sure,” Bess said, reaching for her jacket, which was spread out on the rock. She felt in the pocket. Then her face went white. Frantically she began to search the other pockets as well.

“What’s wrong?” Paula snapped. “Where’s the compass?”

“I don’t know!” Bess exclaimed, sitting down limply on the rock. “It’s not in my pocket and I know it was there before lunch. The compass is gone—now we’ll never find our way out of here!”

G
ONE?”
G
EORGE GASPED.
“You lost the compass? I can’t believe it. Bess Marvin, you are so
incredibly
careless.”

“But I
wasn’t
careless!” Bess wailed, holding her jacket like a shield against her. “It
was
here. Somebody must have taken it!”

Nancy glanced at the others. Mike, Tod, and Ralph, were staring at Bess, grim faced. It was obvious that they agreed with George: Bess had lost the compass. Sammy, Linda, and Mercedes had their arms around one another, and Linda was sobbing. They seemed to think that George was right, too. But Max was watching Paula,
and he wore the same odd look on his face that Nancy had seen earlier.

What was just as interesting was that Paula seemed to be aware of his gaze. She kept her head turned away from him, and her cheeks were flushed.

She looked darkly at Bess. “Without that compass, I don’t know if we
will
find the trail,” she said. “These woods are really confusing. We could walk around in circles for a week!”

“What’s going to happen?” Sammy whispered. “Are we going to
die
here?”

“Nancy Drew is supposed to be the expert in finding things out,” Paula said. “Why don’t you ask her?”

“Wait a minute!” George shouted. “Nancy doesn’t know anything about the woods.
You’re
supposed to be
that
expert!”

“Yeah, well, you can’t expect me to be much of an expert without a compass,” Paula growled.

“Nancy, I have to talk to you,” Ned said quietly, coming up behind her. He pulled her into the woods. “Bess didn’t lose the compass,” he said when they were out of earshot. “I saw who took it!”

Nancy waited expectantly.

“It was
Paula,”
said Ned, mystified. “She waited until she thought nobody was watching, and she took it out of Bess’s pocket.”

“Paula!” Nancy exclaimed. “Why would she do that?”

Ned shook his head. “I don’t know. But I wasn’t the only one who saw her take it. Max did, too. And it was funny:
I
was surprised, but I don’t think Max was. I think he half suspected that Paula might try something.”

“I saw him give her a strange look this morning, after we discovered the raft. Maybe he suspected then that she had wrecked it. I think he’s been keeping an eye on her all day.”

Ned’s face was tight. “Well, if that’s what he’s been doing, Paula knows,” he said. “She looked up and saw him watching her take the compass.”

“That
really
complicates things,” Nancy said.

Ned frowned. “Do you think Paula could have destroyed the raft?”

“It’s possible, although for the life of me I can’t think of a motive. I can’t think of a motive for her taking the compass, either. But I’m still disturbed by it—the broken radio, too. Right now, though, I want to find out what
Max
thinks.”

“Are you going to question him?”

Nancy hesitated. “I was going to. But instead, maybe we should keep our eye on the two of them for a while. We might learn more.” She laughed a little. “At least we’re not as lost as Paula wants us to think we are.”

Ned put his arms around Nancy’s shoulders. “Listen, Nan,” he said, turning her toward him as they walked back to face the group. “We’re in a tight spot right now, but whatever happens,” he went on, his voice getting tight, “I want you to know how much I love you.”

Nancy felt her arms go around his neck. “I love you, too, Ned,” she whispered, letting herself forget Paula, forget the river, forget everything but the kiss Ned bent down to give her.

“Nancy!” It was Bess calling. “Nancy, where are you?” Bess appeared behind Nancy and Ned, George right behind her.

“Here I am.” Reluctantly Nancy broke away from Ned’s arms.

“Nancy, you’ve got to get George off my back,” Bess begged, tears streaking down her dusty face.

“Get off your back?” George exploded. “The way I feel right now I’ll be on your back for thirty-five years—if we live that long.” George spun Bess around. “I’ve put up with lost car keys, lost plane tickets, even lost money—but this thing, Bess Marvin . . .”

“Knock it off!” Nancy held her hand up. She turned to George. “Bess didn’t lose the compass. Ned saw Paula take it out of Bess’s pocket.”

George’s eyes grew round. “Paula!” she exclaimed.

Bess stared at Nancy, consternation on her face. “Why would Paula do that? Is she
trying
to get us lost?”

“It’s beginning to look that way,” Nancy admitted. “Max saw her steal the compass, too, and I think he also suspects her of holing the raft.”

George put her arms around Bess. “I’m sorry I blew up at you,” she said. “Really.”

“It’s okay, George,” Bess replied, patting her cousin on the shoulder. “Everybody is uptight right now. We’re in a real mess.”