“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 his 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 picked 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!”
Chapter Eleven
“GONE?” GEORGE 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 a
rms 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.”
“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!
Chapter Twelve
“THAT WAS PAULA!” 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?”