“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!
Chapter Thirteen
“NANCY! LOOK OUT!” Ned shouted. He lunged at her, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the path of the careening boulder. Nancy could feel the huge rock rumbling the earth beneath her feet as it thundered down the hill. When it reached the bottom, it tore like an out-of-control truck into two pines, splintering the
m at the base, before it rolled to a shuddering halt in a spruce thicket.
As Ned put his arms around her, Nancy began to tremble uncontrollably. Ned’s arms felt so strong and protective, as if they could shield her from anything the world could throw at her. She leaned against him, gazing up the hill, and caught a glimpse of shadowy movement, something darting into the trees. Was it an animal she had seen—or a human?
Suddenly she realized the enormity of what had just happened. If it hadn’t been for Ned’s quick action, she’d be smashed like those trees. She swayed dizzily and sagged against Ned.
He held her tightly, then lowered her gently onto a rock.
After a few minutes, Nancy pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’m okay,” she said shakily. Then she laughed. “Lucky we let everyone go on ahead. At least they didn’t see me playing handball with that boulder.”
Ned grinned for a moment, tracing his finger along her cheek. But as he helped Nancy to her feet, he looked down at her, soberly. “I was scared, Nancy,” he said hoarsely. “You could have been killed!”
“Ned,” Nancy said, “I saw something moving up there, after the boulder came down. Do you suppose . . .”
“. . . that it was Max?”
Nancy nodded.
“I didn’t see what you saw, Nan, but it’s entirely possible.”
“Max might not have intended to kill Paula, but she’s dead. Now he’s got to worry about us. If we get out of here alive, he knows we’ll go straight to the police!”
“So he’s got to kill us?” Ned asked.
“If he’s guilty,” Nancy answered. “Or he might try to scare us so thoroughly that we keep our mouths shut.” Nancy shuddered. “Hey,” she said, “will you lend me your jacket for a little while? Thinking about Max out there loose gives me the chills.”
Ned wrapped his jacket around her. “We’ve got to let the others know what happened,” he said. “Otherwise I’d keep you warm myself.”
Nancy grinned at him. “Control yourself, Nickerson—for the time being anyway,” she whispered.
The rest of the group had already chosen a camping spot for the night and had divided up the responsibilities for getting settled.
Mercedes was bent over the fire, her cheeks flushed with the heat. She was stirring soup in a small aluminum pan, balanced carefully on three rocks.
Nancy sat down beside her. “Mmm, that smells good,” she said appreciatively. “Vegetable?”
Mercedes nodded. “I wish we had more. I’m afraid this is just going to be enough to whet everyone’s appetite.”
“Well, maybe we’ll get lucky tomorrow and find a berry patch,” Nancy replied, laughing. “Minus the bear. Or a creek—then maybe we could catch some fish or something.”
Mercedes laughed a little, too. “This has been some trip, hasn’t it?” she said gravely. She shivered. “I can’t believe what happened to Paula. When I get home, I’m going to have to tell her family . . .”
Nancy nodded sympathetically. Then, choosing her words carefully, she said, “Earlier, I asked if you knew about the contest. I was wondering if you remembered anything else about it.”
Mercedes shook her head. “I told you,” she said impatiently. “I don’t know a thing. The contest was already set up when I first heard about the trip.”
“Well, then, maybe you can tell me something about Paula’s business,” Nancy went on, “or about her friendship with Max.”
Mercedes frowned. “I don’t think they were friends at all. Max was just somebody who was available for this trip. Somebody who knew the river.”
“Okay, what about her family?” Nancy asked. “Did your families see each other very often?”
Mercedes looked away. “Why do you want to know? There’s no point in dragging up the past.”
“What past?” Nancy asked sharply.
Mercedes looked flustered. “I—I just meant the things that have happened in the past two days,” she said. “We’ve got to get out of here. What’s the point in trying to figure out why things happened the way they did? Especially now that—” She choked. “Now that Paula is dead.” Her eyes filled with tears and she turned back to the fire.
“You might be right. But why,” Nancy persisted, “weren’t you surprised to learn that Paula had taken the compass? Why did you suspect her?” Nancy knew that if Mercedes would open up, she’d have the key to the case.
“I don’t want to talk anymore,” Mercedes said sullenly. “You can’t make me talk to you.”
“No,” Nancy admitted. “But when we get back to civilization, the police can.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” Mercedes said, removing the pot from the fire and standing up. “Who knows? We might not even get back to civilization. We’ve still got another day to go, at least.” She turned away from Nancy. “Okay, everybody,” she called, “the soup’s ready.”
While Nancy was eating the soup and the piece of beef jerky she had been rationed, she thought about what Mercedes had told her: There’s no point in dragging up the past. Nancy was sure Mercedes hadn’t meant the events of the last two days. In fact, she was sure Mercedes knew something—something she wasn’t telling. Something she wouldn’t tell.
Nancy snuggled into Ned’s jacket, glad he wasn’t cold and she could keep it around her. Then she frowned, thinking more about the case. Sure, there weren’t a lot of clues, but she sensed there were a couple of possibilities right under her nose that she was overlooking. Every once in a while they began to form in her mind, then vanished before she had a chance to focus on them.
Well, she thought resolutely, Mercedes couldn’t keep her from finding out the truth. Nothing could, not even the frustration she was feeling. Nancy Drew always got to the bottom of things, and she’d get to the bottom of this case, too—if it killed her.
When supper was over, everyone huddled wearily around the fire, scratched and sore from their long hike. There wasn’t much conversation. It was a moonless night, and outside the circle of firelight, the dark pressed in ominously.
Then in the near distance, the quiet was shattered by an eerie scream.
“What was that?” Linda cried out, clinging to Ralph.
Tod laughed. “Just a mountain lion,” he replied.
“But don’t worry,” Mike said. “A mountain lion won’t attack you unless you corner him. He’s a whole lot more fond of rabbits and ground squirrels than he is of people.”
Sammy shivered. “Well, he can keep his rabbits and his ground squirrels,” she said. “I’ll settle for a hamburger with fries and onions.”
George groaned tragically, rubbing her stomach. “Please. Don’t talk about real food. You might just as well knock me out—it would be much kinder.”
Nancy threw a glance at Ned, who was sitting next to her. Now was the time to tell everyone what had happened before supper that evening. Briefly, she told her story.
“It must have been Max!” Ralph and Linda exclaimed when Nancy had finished.
“Max?” Bess asked, in a half-longing voice.
“Oh, will you stop, Bess,” George said impatiently. “Haven’t we got enough trouble without—”
“It’s trouble, all right,” Nancy said. “If Max really is dangerous, he’s not going to let us out of here to tell the police what happened.”
Bess shook her head stubbornly. “I can’t believe that.”
“You might believe it if you’d been standing on that trail, staring up at that boulder coming down on Nancy,” Ned said. “It was as big as a house. And it sounded like a freight train.”
Nancy shuddered, remembering how frightened she had been—and how strong and supportive Ned’s arms had felt around her when for a minute she had lost her own strength. It was ironic, she thought. She had wanted Ned to come on this trip so that he could feel a little protective about her. Well, he certainly was protecting her.
“Yeah, but you don’t know that somebody pushed the rock,” Bess was insisting. “It might jus
t have come loose. After all, rock slides happen here all the time, even when there’s no one around. Anyway,” she went on insistently, “you aren’t even sure you saw somebody up there. How do you know that it wasn’t just your imagination?”
“I don’t,” Nancy admitted. “Just the same, we can’t afford to take any chances. If Max did push that boulder down, he’s dangerous.” She looked around at the group. “We’ve got to be careful.”
“Careful?” Sammy asked, frowning. “And just how do we do that?”
“Well, for one thing,” Nancy answered, “we shouldn’t go off by ourselves.”
“Yeah,” Ned said, “and we need to pay attention to what’s going on around us, so that Max isn’t able to sneak up on us.”
“Then it might be a good idea to keep watches tonight,” Mike said, stirring the fire.
“Right,” Nancy agreed.
“I was afraid of losing sleep tonight,” Bess said, making a face, “but I had it figured a little differently. I thought my hunger would keep me awake!”
Ned drew the first watch and Nancy the second. “I’ll wake you up in an hour,” he promised as Nancy crawled under her blanket between Bess and George. He bent over and kissed her.
“Thanks,” Nancy said sleepily. “And Ned?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Thanks for being there this afternoon. It feels good to be alive.” She smiled. “You know, if we get out of this in one piece, I swear I’ll never take another vacation the rest of my life. Detective work is a lot safer!”
Ned laughed and gave her another quick kiss.
In an hour, he awakened her and she took her turn beside the fire. At the end of her hour, she woke Mike, who had the third watch, before going back to sleep. But her dreams were full of gigantic boulders that roared down on her.
Nancy woke at dawn, curled up into a tight ball, cold and stiff. The campfire was out and Ralph, who had the last watch, was drowsing beside it.
No wonder I’m cold, Nancy thought. My blanket slipped down. She tugged on the blanket, but the end of it seemed to be caught on something. A rock? She raised her head to look—and froze.