006 White Water Terror

  “I want to decide right now,” Sammy said sullenly.

  Ralph spoke up. “I think the girls ought to be the ones to go out tomorrow on the raft. The guys can stay behind and wait.”

  “I don’t think that’s fair,” Tod said. “I think we ought to draw straws to see who goes out.”

  “But I thought Paula said we could all go in one raft,” Bess pointed out.

  Ned turned to Paula. “Is that safe? I don’t think we would have made it over those falls if we had been loaded any heavier.”

  Paula looked grim. “I wouldn’t really recommend everybody going in one raft,” she admitted. “Of course, if we had to, I suppose we could.”

  “There’s another big rapids about three miles downstream,” Max said, looking very tired. “I think we’d be asking for trouble if we all tried to go in one raft.”

  “How about a vote?” Nancy suggested.

  When they raised their hands, it was six to four in favor of splitting the group.

  “So, that leaves us with the decision of who to keep and who to throw away,” Mike joked.

  “We can draw straws—or twigs,” Sammy said.

  It was decided that George, Nancy, Sammy, Mike, and Ralph, would be going downstream in the morning with Max. The others would wait.

  “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you,” Nancy said, “but I’m hungry.”

  “Food’s got my vote,” Bess said.

  “Firewood first, then food,” Paula said. “And we’d better check what kind of sleeping gear we have.”

  An hour later, a huge pile of driftwood was stacked on the beach, a pot of Mercedes’s thick stew with dumplings was simmering on the fire, and a stack of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches sat on a plate nearby. A pot of hot chocolate was perched next to the fire on a flat rock. The gear had been pulled out and inspected: there were four sleeping bags and six blankets. Nancy’s and Ned’s packs were wet, but otherwise unharmed; George’s and Bess’s had been swept away in the capsize.

  “Well, at least we’ll sleep with a full stomach,” George said, leaning back against a rock, her feet to the fire. “That stew was great, Mercedes.”

  “Yes, it was good,” Nancy added.

  “Thanks,” Mercedes said, sounding preoccupied. She was sitting on the other side of the fire with a surly Sammy. “I’m glad it wasn’t Paula’s raft that went over,” she went on. “At least tonight’s supper didn’t get dumped.”

  “What is our food situation?” Mike asked.

  “We lost what was in Max’s raft, of course,” Paula said. She and Max were sitting together. From time to time Paula had looked at Nancy intently, and once Max had seemed to be getting very angry. He had looked over at Nancy at that point too, as if they were talking about her. “But we’ve got enough for one more day, if we’re careful. We’ll leave most of it with the group that’s staying here, since it’ll be a day or so before we can get back with another raft.”

  Tod reached in his pocket for his knife. “We can always go hunting,” he said, flipping the knife open and running his thumb down the edge of the shiny blade. “Last year I got a squirrel with this thing.”

  “I wish you’d keep that knife in your pocket, Tod,” Linda said irritably. “It makes me nervous.”

  “Everything makes you nervous, little lady,” Tod teased, leaning toward her.

  Ralph put his hand on Tod’s shoulder. “Give me the knife,” he said softly, “or I’ll take it away from you.”

  “You and who else?” Tod scrambled to his feet.

  Without warning, Ralph stepped forward easily, his open hand ramming Tod in the chest. Tod’s arms flew up as he tumbled backward. His knife fell at Ralph’s feet.

  “Just me,” Ralph replied pleasantly, picking up the knife. He turned to Mike, who was sitting open-mouthed. “Here. Why don’t you keep this for your friend. He’s a little careless with it.”

  “A smooth karate style,” Nancy said, staring admiringly at Ralph. “He reminds me of a certain mild-mannered reporter.”

  Ned laughed. “Yeah, Clark Kent in disguise.”

  Tod had picked himself off the ground and was brushing himself off. He snatched his knife out of Mike’s hand and glared at Ralph. “Next time,” he threatened, “it won’t be so easy, hotshot.”

  “Well, I know what’s going to be easy for me,” Ned said, yawning. “Sleep.”

  “Good night, Nancy,” he whispered tenderly, bending over to kiss her. “And remember, no matter what happens on this crazy vacation, at least we’re together.”

  “Right,” she said softly. “At least we’re together.”

  Nancy, George, and Bess bedded down close to the fire, huddling under blankets. “I’m beginning to wish I’d listened to Bess,” George mumbled.

  Bess pulled her blanket up over her chin. “I’m glad you didn’t. If we’d gone to the beach, I’d never have met Max.”

  George sat up. “You can still care about that guy after what he did to us today?”

  Bess sat up, too. “How do you know that the capsize wasn’t an accident!”

  “How do you know it was?” George asked, folding her arms.

  “I wish you guys would go somewhere else to argue,” Nancy said.

  In the distance, an owl hooted eerily, and Bess dived under the blanket. Nancy and George laughed, and they all fell into a restless sleep.

  There was no moon that night. The faint star-shine hardly penetrated the deep shadows of the gorge. So, when Nancy awakened to the sound of footsteps crunching stealthily on the gravel, her eyes opened to darkness.

  Then, an odd ripping noise and a muttered curse. Had a man spoken—or a woman?

  Nancy slipped from between George and Bess, who both were sleeping soundly, and headed for the noise. She’d almost reached the river when she saw a figure—little more than a deeper shadow in the darkness—moving in front of her.

  “Who is it?” Nancy asked.

  The only answer was a blow to her shoulder as the figure rammed past her, to melt into the night and disappear.

  Chapter

  Nine

  NOISELESSLY, NANCY TRIED to follow, but after a few moments, she had to admit that she had lost whomever it was she had seen and had no choice but to crawl back under the blanket and try to get some sleep.

  She was awake as soon as the sun touched the lip of the sheer cliff on the other side of the river. Quietly, trying not to disturb Bess and George, she crept out from under the blanket and pulled on her tennis shoes, which were still damp from the day before.

  George stirred reluctantly. “What are you doing up at this hour?” she asked sleepily.

  “I heard footsteps last night, and a funny noise,” Nancy replied, tugging a comb through her tangled hair. “I’m going to look around and see what I can find.”

  “I’ll come with you,” George offered, throwing off the blanket. She had slept in the jeans and sweatshirt she had put on after the dunking, but she was still shivering. “It’s cold!” she exclaimed, rummaging in her duffel bag for her red jacket.

  The ashes of the previous night’s campfire still glowed in the chilly gray dawn. Beyond, the raft was like the shadowy carcass of a beached whale.

  “That’s odd,” Nancy said, staring. “Doesn’t the raft look a little lopsided?”

  Nancy and George ran forward, then stopped, gasping in horror. The raft had been slashed from end to end, and its rubber walls were soft and deflated. Even though she didn’t know much about rafts, Nancy could tell that the rips were much too large to be repaired.

  “Well, this was no accident,” George said grimly. “Somebody wants to keep us from getting out of here.”

  “That must have been the noise I heard last night!” Nancy said.

  “Remember Tod’s threat to get even with Ralph?” George said thoughtfully. “Do you suppose this is how he tried to do it?”

  “Boy, you guys sure are up early,” Ned said groggily. He appeared behind them, rubbing the sleep out of his
eyes and shivering in spite of his heavy down vest. “I hope you were warmer last night than I—” His eyes widened as he saw the damaged raft. He whistled softly between his teeth. “Uh-oh! Now we’re really up a creek.”

  “I’ll say,” Nancy agreed crossly. “And I wish you wouldn’t make such awful puns so early in the morning.”

  “Sorry,” Ned said. “But who do you think did it? More important, what do we do now?”

  Nancy shrugged. She told him what she had heard the night before. “I got up to investigate, but whoever it was made off into the dark before I could catch him.”

  “Or her,” George added. “You said that the voice you heard might have been a woman’s.” She shook her head distractedly. “I can’t imagine why anybody would do this. I mean, we’re all in this mess together, aren’t we? Whoever did it is just as stuck as we are.”

  “Right,” Nancy replied. She got down on her hands and knees and examined the damp sand. It was packed hard, and she couldn’t see any footprints. Carefully, she went over the entire raft, looking for clues. “Dead end,” she concluded, staring at the disabled raft. “Well, I guess Ned’s right. We’ve got a bigger question than ‘Who?’ It’s ‘Now what?’ I’m afraid we’re down to a matter of survival.”

  • • •

  “Who would do such a thing?” Sammy cried angrily a short while later as the group stood looking at the raft. Gradually the horrible truth dawned on her. “Hey, it’s got to be one of us! One of us did this—and whoever it is, he’s got to be crazy!”

  “Tod’s the one with the knife!” Linda said shrilly. “Remember what he said last night about getting even? And look! He’s wearing a bandage. I’ll bet he cut himself last night when he was cutting up the raft!”

  Tod shook his head violently. “You’re not pinning this thing on me,” he protested.

  “How did you cut your hand?” Nancy asked him calmly.

  Tod looked at the ground. “Mike and I were having a little game of knife-throwing—after everyone went to sleep,” he said. “And I—I just got careless, that’s all.”

  “He’s right,” Mike spoke up quickly. “It happened the way he said. I saw it.”

  “Yeah, how do we know you’re not just covering up for your friend?” Ralph asked, stepping forward, his fists clenched.

  Tod stepped backward, away from Ralph. He licked his hps nervously. “Why would I want to hole the raft?” he said. “I’ve got to get out of here just like everybody else, don’t I?” He jerked his finger toward Max. “If you want to know what I think, I think he did it. He finished off one raft yesterday afternoon under the falls, and he got the other one last night.”

  “Hey!” Max said angrily. “You’ve got no right—”

  “Yeah, well, you’re the guy with the bad record,” Mike put in.

  “Bad record?” Sammy asked.

  “That’s right,” Tod replied. “Yesterday’s ‘accident’ at the falls wasn’t the first time Max has been in trouble. He’s responsible for the drownings of two men here last year.”

  “Yesterday was an accident!” Bess exclaimed heatedly as everybody stared, horror-stricken, at Max. “Anyway, whatever happened last summer doesn’t have anything to do with last night. Why would Max want to sabotage the raft?”

  “Why would anybody want to sabotage the raft?” Mercedes asked quietly. Nancy noticed that her face was very pale, and that her voice sounded flat and hard, as if she were trying to keep it steady.

  “Only somebody who’s a little crazy,” Linda answered, her voice going high with terror. She turned to Nancy. “You’re a detective. Can you make any sense out of this?”

  “Not so far,” Nancy replied. She looked around the group. “Did anybody see or hear anything out of the ordinary during the night?”

  All the heads shook negatively. “Well, then, did anybody see anyone get up in the middle of the night?” More head shaking. “One more question. Who were you sleeping close to?”

  “Well, the four of us were sleeping together,” George volunteered. “You, me, Bess under the blanket, and Ned in his sleeping bag.”

  “And Linda and I slept side by side,” Ralph said. Linda blushed.

  “I slept next to Tod,” Mike volunteered. “And I can guarantee that he didn’t get up.”

  “Right,” Sammy muttered. “And I’ll bet he says the same for you.”

  “How about you, Sammy?” Nancy asked.

  “I slept next to Mercedes, if you have to know,” Sammy said loftily. “And Paula slept on the other side of me.”

  Nancy turned to Max. “That leaves you, Max,” she said.

  “Yeah, I know where that leaves me,” he replied bitterly. “Under suspicion. I slept by myself.”

  “Actually, everybody’s under suspicion,” Nancy said, turning back to the group. “Any of us could have gotten up without the others knowing. I’m proof of that.”

  Paula stepped forward. “Well, now that our internationally famous detective has struck out, we’ve got some important decisions to make,” she said.

  Nancy looked closely at Paula. She looked almost satisfied.

  “Yeah,” Sammy said. “What do we do? Do we hike out downriver?”

  “No way,” Max answered firmly. “This gorge goes on for three or four miles with no banks. There’s no way we can walk along the edge of the river.”

  Ned looked up the cliff wall. At first it had seemed almost vertical, stretching fifty feet or more straight toward the sky, but he could see places for footholds. “It looks like a tough climb out that way,” he said, “but we might be able to make it.”

  “I don’t know . . .” Paula said.

  Nancy brightened. “Wait a minute. We’ve got a radio. Right?”

  “Right,” Paula answered slowly.

  “Then why don’t we radio for help? In fact,” Nancy asked, looking questioningly at Paula, “why didn’t we radio yesterday after the accident?”

  “Because,” Paula said almost too quickly. “You—that is I—didn’t think the signal would reach that far.” Her amber eyes blazed at Nancy. “Are you satisfied?”

  Nancy wasn’t sure, Paula looked so flustered.

  “Hey, I’m almost positive the signal would reach,” Mike put in confidently. “It broadcasts through the repeater tower at the ranger station.”

  “Yeah,” Max said, “the tower would boost the signal so that it could be received at ranger headquarters.”

  “Then if we send them a message, they’ll come to rescue us?” Linda asked hopefully.

  “That’s right,” Mike said, and he and Max suddenly looked sheepish.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Max grumbled. “With everything going on, I didn’t think of the most obvious thing.” His face reddened. “I forgot we even had a radio.”

  “Me, too,” Mike admitted. “The way my mind’s been working the past day or so, I was thinking it got dumped when the first raft flipped.”

  “Where is the radio?” Bess asked.

  Max reached under the platform on the raft. “Right here,” he said, pulling out a small, waterproof box.

  The radio was a small, hand-held model with a pull-out antenna, almost like a walkie-talkie. Max flipped on the power switch. Nancy, watching closely, saw his mouth tighten. He flipped the switch again.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Max shook his head impatiently. “I don’t know,” he said, clicking the switch on and off, “but the power won’t go on.”

  “Ohhh,” Bess and Linda chorused nervously.

  Max raised his shoulders, heaving a sigh. “Well, Ned, I guess your direction is the one we take.”

  “Direction?” Ned said quizzically. “What direction?”

  “Up,” Max said grimly, eyeing the steep cliff face. “Straight up.”

  Chapter

  Ten

  PAULA GRABBED THE radio away from Max. “What do you mean, it’s not working? Didn’t you check the batteries before we left?”

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p; For a moment, Max looked confused. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “I even put new ones in. The radio was working just fine.”

  Paula fiddled with the power switch. “Well, it’s not working now,” she said disgustedly. “Great. That’s all we need, to be stranded out here without an operating radio.”

  “Here, let me see,” Mike said, reaching for it. He took the batteries out and then put them back in again—that didn’t help. Then he took the back off.

  “Check the crystal,” Nancy said suddenly.

  Mike looked up. “You know something about radios?”

  “Not much,” she admitted. “But I had a case once where a crystal was stolen from a radio. Does this one need a crystal?”

  “A tiny one,” Mike said. Intently, he bent over the radio. “Hey! The crystal’s gone!”

  Linda pointed at Max. “You were the one who put the radio in the raft,” she said accusingly. “I saw you. You were the last one to touch it. You must have taken the crystal!”

  “You have no right to make accusations like that,” Bess retorted. “The person who sabotaged the raft could just as easily have removed the crystal. Right, Nancy?”

  Nancy nodded. “Actually, it could have been taken at any time.” She examined the radio case. Even if she had brought her fingerprint kit along, it would have been a hopeless job. The case was made of a roughly grained vinyl that wouldn’t hold a print. And there didn’t seem to be any other clues.

  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.