006 White Water Terror (9 page)

“Bess is right,” Ned said soberly. “Some of those kids—Linda and Sammy especially—look as if they might go to pieces at any minute. If George can blow up this way, others are bound to.”

“That’s what worries me,” Nancy said. “We can’t tell the others just yet about Paula taking the compass, so they’re going to continue to accuse Bess.” She turned to her friend. “Can you stick it out for a little while?”

Bess smiled weakly. “As long as I know you guys believe me.”

“George, it might be a good idea if you continued to act angry at Bess,” Nancy said. “That’ll keep Paula from getting suspicious.”

“My pleasure,” George teased. She gave Bess a friendly poke.

“George!” Bess responded, trying not to laugh.

When Nancy and her friends rejoined the group, they found them quarreling about which direction to take. Nancy could see that the group spirit was beginning to deteriorate rapidly.

“This is all your fault,” Sammy told Bess bitterly as they began to make their way through the woods again. “We’re all going to
die
in this wilderness, and
you’re
responsible!”

“Sammy’s right,” George agreed, playing her part. “If you hadn’t lost the compass, at least we would know which direction we were heading in!”

Looking unhappy, Bess didn’t answer.

Except for the occasional angry quarrels that seemed to break out with greater frequency, the group walked in silence for the next two hours. The terrain became even rougher as they moved away from the river. Walking was very difficult, especially for Linda, who was limping along with her crutch, leaning heavily on Ralph and moaning every few minutes.

Nancy walked within hearing distance of Max and Paula, keeping a careful eye on them.

Suddenly she was aware of the noise of tumbling water. “What’s that?” she asked, catching up to Max and Paula. “Is it Lost River? Are we going in circles?”

“I don’t think so,” Paula said. She had tied the sleeves of her jacket around her waist, but
now she pulled the jacket on. “If I’m right,” she continued, “that’s Little Horn Creek. The trail isn’t too far away.”

Little Horn Creek was in a deep ravine, full of rocks and tangled trees. The group, which was nearly exhausted, stopped to rest on a rocky ledge, partway up the cliff over the ravine.

“Thank goodness,” Sammy said with a sigh, sinking down against the rock. “I can’t walk another step.”

“You’ve got to,” Tod told her. “It’s either that or stay here and starve to death—or die of exposure.”

Sammy burst into tears. “Stop saying that! You’re just trying to scare me!”

“No,” Mike said quietly, “it’s the truth.”

Max seemed to have made up his mind about something. He looked up at the cliff and then at Paula. “The cliff top looks clear,” he said. “The climb is a little rough, Paula, but I think you and I can make it. Let’s climb up there and see if we can tell where we are.”

Paula considered his suggestion. “Good idea,” she said, after a moment. She raised her voice. “The rest of you stay here and rest. Max and I are going to climb to the top. We’ll be back in a few minutes.” The two of them began to scale the cliff, which rose up vertically behind the ledge.

“I wish we could climb up there and hear what they say,” Nancy said fretfully, watching them climb the sheer wall.

“No way, Drew,” Ned said, coming up behind her. “Climbing that rock is a job for experts. I have the feeling that Max picked the top of the cliff to talk to Paula because he knew we couldn’t follow up there, and he didn’t want any uninvited listeners.” He pulled Nancy down beside him. “Come on, relax. There’s nothing we can do but wait.”

They waited. In about fifteen minutes, Nancy began to stir worriedly. At that moment, she heard Paula’s voice, although the words were indistinguishable. A few small rocks showered down the cliff ten yards to their right. Then there was the sound of a violent scuffle and a loud, dull thump. “No, Max!” Paula cried clearly. Nancy could hear terror in her voice. “Don’t!”

“Max! Paula!” Ned shouted, looking up.

For a minute or two there was silence. Then, in a flash of red and black, a limp body hurtled spread-eagled through the air and down into the depths of the creek!

T
HAT WAS
P
AULA!”
Linda screamed.

Mercedes moaned and turned away, covering her eyes. Ashen-faced, Sammy put her arms comfortingly around her.

“Do you think she’s dead?” Tod asked, peering over the edge. “Can you see her? Where is she?”

“There,” Mike said excitedly, pointing down the ravine. “In the creek.” They all watched in incredulous horror as Paula’s plaid jacket ballooned up in the deep water of the creek far below, buoying the body along almost like a life jacket. It drifted lazily in the water for a minute
or two, then it was sucked into the swift current and swept down over a jumble of rocks and out of sight.

“We’ve got to get down there!” Mercedes said, struggling hysterically against Sammy’s restraining arms.

Ned shook his head. “It’s a fifty-foot cliff,” he said. “None of us has the experience to climb it, especially without any rock-climbing gear. Anyway, the chances of survival from a fall like that are next to nothing.” He gave Mercedes a sympathetic look. “We’ll have to send a team back to recover her body—after
we
get out.”

“Max!” Bess suddenly exclaimed. She looked up the cliff. “Where
is
he?”

Tod laughed harshly. “If you were Max, would you hang around to shake hands with your audience after you’d murdered somebody?”

“Murdered?” Linda whispered, her mouth dropping open. “You mean Max pushed her?”

“Wait a second. We don’t know that Max—” Bess began hesitantly.

George whipped around to confront her. “For Pete’s sake, Bess. We heard their fight. We heard Paula scream. And then we saw her go over. It’s as simple as one, two, three. Paula’s dead and Max killed her!”

Bess sat down and put her face in her hands.

“I’m afraid George may be right, Bess,”
Nancy said gently, kneeling beside her. “But there is still a chance Max may not have killed Paula. After all, we don’t know exactly what happened up there—only what we saw and heard.”

“What do you want? A signed confession?” Tod said.

“But why?” asked Ralph. “Did he and Paula sabotage both rafts and the radio just to get us stranded out here?” He shook his head in puzzlement. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe Paula found out that Max did all those things,” Tod suggested. “And when she confronted him with what she knew, he pushed her over the edge to shut her up.”

“Could be,” Mike said. “Or maybe she was getting on his case about capsizing the raft. Between that and those drownings last year, he’d be finished on the river. Maybe she said something—”

“Listen, everybody,” Nancy broke in. “Before you get too far out on a limb with your theories, I’d better tell you that Paula stole the compass out of Bess’s pocket. Ned saw her take it—and so did Max.”

“Paula
took it?” Mercedes exclaimed. “Why?” It seemed to Nancy that there was an odd note in her voice, almost as if
Mercedes
had half suspected that that might happen.

Nancy nodded, convinced Mercedes knew
more than she was revealing. Maybe with Paula out of the picture, Mercedes would be willing to talk.

“I think Max believed Paula holed the raft, as well,” Nancy continued, “and that he thought he knew what her motive was. I intended to question him about it this afternoon, but now it’s too late.”

“But
why?”
Sammy demanded. “Ralph’s right. It just doesn’t make sense. Why would Paula take the compass?”

“Maybe she wanted to keep us lost, for some reason we don’t understand,” Ned pointed out. “Don’t forget, as long as
she
had the compass,
she
wasn’t lost. She could find her way out—even if the rest of us couldn’t.”

“So you’re suggesting that
Paula
was up to something,” George said thoughtfully.

Nancy nodded. “Yes, but we probably won’t know what until we can talk to Max. That’s why it’s so important that we find him.”

Sammy shivered. “Well,
you
can have the pleasure of finding him. If
I
saw him, I’d run as fast as I could in the other direction. He’s dangerous!”

“Right now,” Nancy said, “we have to concentrate on finding our way out of here. Then we have to find Max—dangerous or not.”

They sat for a few more minutes on the ledge, trying to decide which direction they should take.

“Paula seemed to be headed up this creek,” Ned pointed out, picking up his pack and adjusting it over his shoulders. “I think we should keep on in that direction. Tod, you and Mike are the ones who are most at home in the woods. I vote that you try to pick out the trail for us.”

They set off again with their packs, even more subdued this time, following Tod and Mike. The going got steeper and steeper, and the underbrush seemed to grow more dense with every yard. Just as Nancy had decided that she was too exhausted to climb over one more twig, the terrain flattened out and the forest opened up. Ahead was the dim outline of what looked like an old logging road, leading in both directions into the dense woods.

“Finally,” Linda moaned, sitting down in the middle of the trail.

“What luck!” Sammy said, dropping her pack wearily. “I was beginning to think we’d
never
find it!”

“This isn’t luck,” Tod said, grinning. “It’s superior woodsmanship!”

“Whatever it is,” Nancy said, “I’m grateful. Which way is the ranger station?” she asked Mike. “Right or left?”

Mike looked blank. “You’ve got me,” he said.

“Do
you
know?” Nancy asked Tod.

Tod frowned. “Not for sure. But I’d say it’s
probably that way.” He jerked his thumb to the right.

“What makes you say that?” Mike asked quickly. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably
that
way.” He pointed to the left. “Once I saw the ranger station on a map, and I think it’s farther south than this.”

“But the ranger station has a fire tower,” Tod argued. “They always build fire towers high up. And the trail to the right goes
up
.”

“I think you’re dead wrong,” Mike said flatly.

“Hey, you guys,” Ned said. “We’ve got to make a decision.”

“We could split up,” Ralph suggested tentatively. “Whichever group reaches the ranger station could get help for the others.”

“No way!” Sammy said. “With ten of us, we’re a big enough group to handle most situations. A smaller group might get into trouble.”

Ned nodded vigorously. “I agree. There’s safety in numbers.”

“Let’s vote,” George said. “I vote for going uphill.”

Nancy counted hands. The majority wanted to go to the right.

“I just don’t think I can walk uphill anymore,” Linda said, beginning to cry again.

“We don’t have any choice,” Ralph said, helping her up. “Come on. The sooner we get going, the sooner we’ll be there.”

“Well, we can’t count on getting there today,” Ned reminded them.

“You mean we’ve got to spend the night in the woods?” Linda asked.

“I mean that Paula told us that the ranger station was seven or eight miles away, once we got on the fire trail,” Ned said. “That’s a good five-hour hike, at the rate we’re going. And it’s going to get dark soon. We need to think about finding somewhere to camp.”

“Okay, everybody,” Tod said. “Let’s start keeping our eyes open for a campsite.” He shook their only canteen. “And a spring, too. We’re almost out of water.”

“Out of water?” Mercedes asked faintly. “What about the food?”

Ned shook his head. “We’ve got some beef jerky and some dried fruit left,” he said. “And three packages of instant soup. In other words, there’s enough for supper and maybe breakfast, if we’re willing to go on short rations tonight.” He frowned. “Let’s hope we find some ripe berries.”

“Remember what happened the last time we found ripe berries,” Bess reminded him.

The group gathered themselves together and set out along the trail.

Before long the sun began to drop toward the western horizon. In places, the trail was littered with rocks—some of them very large—and everyone had to pick their way gingerly across
the unstable ground, trying not to trigger rock slides.

Nancy was walking a few paces ahead of Ned when suddenly she felt a peculiar prickle between her shoulder blades. She turned around, but there was only Ned behind her. He grinned wearily.

“Everything okay?” he asked. “You’ve been pulling farther and farther behind.”

Nancy wiped the sweat from her face. “I may be crazy, but I think we’re being watched—and I want to watch back.”

“That’s funny. I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

Nancy paused, listening. “Ned!” she exclaimed, looking up. “Someone’s—”

Her voice was drowned out by a loud crash, and a rumble that seemed to shake the earth. Nancy stood frozen. A huge boulder had broken loose from its place on the hillside above. It was hurtling straight at her!