Lost in the Everglades

  Marlin with the purple cell phone and the wide-

  brimmed hat. At the time, she'd thought that the

  woman seemed more than a little curious about Nancy

  and her friends.

  Could that woman be the same one Griffin was

  talking to at the Manatee benefit? Nancy wondered.

  Nancy and her friends got up very early the next

  morning to pack their gear: tents, cookware, dried

  food, solar showers, and other necessities. Water was

  the most important item, since there was no fresh

  drinking water where they were going. Then, right

  after breakfast, they launched their boats into one of

  the small rivers in Flamingo and began their long

  journey on the Wilderness Waterway, to Whitewater

  Bay.

  Nancy and Bess were in a canoe together. George

  and Susan were in separate one-person kayaks. Their

  supplies were piled in the middle of the canoe, in

  waterproof sacks.

  Nancy was glad Susan had been able to arrange a

  few days off from work. Without her, Nancy, George,

  and Bess would have a hard time navigating the

  Wilderness Waterway, which interconnected lots of

  little canoe trails into one big one.

  As Nancy paddled, she glanced around at the

  amazing scenery. Mangroves, mahoganies, strangler

  figs, and palm trees lined the muddy banks. There

  were bushes of flowers like orchids and bromeliads

  shooting out from the gnarly brown tree branches.

  Nancy recognized them from her guidebooks, and

  from a nature walk Susan had taken them on.

  “This paddling is hard work,” Bess complained,

  pushing her canoe paddle through the water.

  “Good for your deltoid muscles,” George called out

  from her kayak.

  “My del-what?” Bess said with a frown.

  “Canoeing is definitely a workout,” Susan agreed.

  The four girls continued paddling in silence. Egrets

  and other wading birds swooped through the air,

  hunting for food. Occasionally, the girls would spot an

  alligator sitting very still on a hot rock, sunning itself.

  “It feels like we've gone back a thousand years,”

  George said after a while. “Like we're a million miles

  from civilization.”

  “Personally, I like civilization,” Bess replied. “Still, I

  guess this is kind of pretty. Except for the alligators,

  anyway.” She shuddered.

  “Don't forget, Bess, you're sitting up front. It's your

  job to keep an eye out for rocks and logs that we might

  run into,” Nancy reminded her.

  “I've never made it as far as Whitewater Bay,” Susan

  said. “It's supposed to be tricky canoeing and kayaking,

  so we have to be careful.”

  “No problem,” Nancy started to say. But all of a

  sudden she felt the canoe hit something—hard. She

  gripped the gunwales to steady herself.

  “What was that?” Bess cried out. She rose to her feet

  at the front of the canoe, forgetting one of the basic

  rules of canoeing: Never stand up.

  “Bess, sit down!” Nancy shouted. “Now!”

  It was too late. The canoe began wobbling from side

  to side, thrown off by Bess's weight and buffeted by the

  churning water. The next thing Nancy knew, the canoe

  had tipped over. She and Bess and all their supplies

  were dumped into the river.

  Nancy heard Bess hit the warm, muddy water with a

  loud splash before she herself hit the water and was

  sucked under.

  “Help!” Bess screamed, coming up for air.

  Nancy rose to the surface and gasped for breath.

  Bess had found a log and was clinging to it. Seeing that

  her friend was okay, Nancy swam over to the upturned

  canoe and tried to right it. Nearby, she saw their

  supplies bobbing around in their waterproof sacks.

  “W-what h-happened?” Bess shouted, brushing her

  wet hair out of her eyes.

  “I think you guys hit that log,” Susan called out.

  “I think you stood up when you weren't supposed

  to,” George added. “Hang on!” She began kayaking in

  their direction.

  Treading water to stay afloat, Nancy continued to try

  to right the overturned canoe. After a minute, she got a

  good grip on it. She was just about to flip it when she

  saw a movement out of the corner of her eye.

  Nancy gasped. A large alligator had slithered off a

  rock on the far side of the river. It was swimming right

  toward Nancy and Bess!

  11. Ghost in the Night

  The alligator continued to swim toward Nancy and

  Bess. Nancy could see its long, pointy snout and tail

  above the surface of the muddy river. The creature

  didn't look friendly.

  We've got to get out of the water—fast! she thought

  frantically.

  Nancy glanced around. She needed to find

  something, anything, for her and Bess to swim to, to

  get away from the alligator. At the moment Bess was in

  more immediate danger than she was, since Bess was

  closer to the alligator.

  George and Susan were having a hard time reaching

  Nancy and Bess because of all the supplies that were

  bobbing around in the water. Neither one of them

  seemed to have noticed the alligator.

  Just then Nancy spotted a big, gnarly tree with low-

  lying branches. The tree was fairly close to Bess. If

  Bess swam fast, she might be able to get to the tree

  before the alligator got to her.

  “Bess, see that tree over there?” Nancy called out,

  pointing to the tree. “I want you to swim over to it—

  now! Then climb the tree, as high up as you can go.”

  Bess sputtered and frowned at her. “Huh? What are

  you talking about, Nan? I'm doing just fine hanging

  onto this log.”

  “Bess, do as I say!” Nancy ordered her. She didn't

  want to mention the alligator, in case it might send

  Bess into a total panic.

  “Okay, boss, whatever,” Bess grumbled. She began

  swimming toward the tree.

  Nancy let go of the still upside-down canoe and

  began swimming after Bess. The warm water swirled

  all around her. The alligator had sunk below the

  surface. Nancy could just make out its two beady eyes

  above the waterline. It was definitely heading in their

  direction!

  Bess reached the tree and began climbing. Nancy

  did the same. “This is no good,” Bess complained. “Our

  canoe is still upside down, and our stuff is going to get

  washed down the river—or is it up the river? I never

  know.”

  “Nancy, Bess, what are you guys doing?” George

  called out. She and Susan were pulling up to the base

  of the tree in their kayaks.

  Nancy nodded in the direction of the alligator,

  which was just ten feet from the tree now. George

  followed Nancy's gaze—and gasped. “Ohmigosh, an

  alligator!” she exclaimed.

  “A—what?” Bess's head darted around. “An alli-

  gator? Nancy, why didn't you tell me? Oh, no, can
>
  alligators climb trees?”

  “Don't worry, Bess, you're perfectly safe up there,”

  Susan assured her. “George, you and I might want to

  paddle downstream a bit, though. You know, to get

  away from the big guy.”

  Bess didn't look convinced about Susan's assurances

  of safety. “Great, we'll just hang out up here in this tree

  until the alligator decides to have something else for

  lunch!” she moaned.

  Fortunately, the alligator lost interest in the girls

  after a while. Nancy and her friends spent the next

  hour rescuing their floating supplies and canoe and

  resuming their journey to Whitewater Bay. There were

  no more incidents with alligators or any other land of

  wildlife.

  It took the rest of the morning and afternoon to

  reach Whitewater Bay. The Wilderness Waterway was

  tricky canoeing, with winding turns. Tree roots jutting

  into the water made the canoe trail even narrower.

  When the girls finally reached the bay, they passed a

  number of small islands and other potential camping

  spots along Cape Sable and elsewhere. Mangrove trees

  were everywhere, making the bay look like a wet

  primeval forest.

  Eventually the girls settled on an island that was a

  little out of the way. After pulling their boats ashore,

  they found a small clearing in the middle of some

  mangroves and immediately began pitching their tents.

  While they worked, Nancy pointed to some black-

  ened branches that were lying on the ground. “Susan,

  that's an old campfire, right?” she asked her friend.

  Susan hammered some metal spikes into the

  ground. “Right. Bess, pass me that rope, will you?”

  Bess handed her the rope. “So there was a campfire

  here. So what?”

  “I know it's a crazy long shot,” Nancy admitted. “But

  you don't think this could be Jade's campsite, do you?”

  She poked at the blackened branches with a stick, then

  touched them with her fingers. “They're still warm.

  Not hot, but definitely warm.”

  Susan shrugged. “This fire could have been any-

  body's, although I checked with the rangers' office, and

  no one's applied for a backcountry camping permit

  around these parts in the last couple of days.”

  “What does that mean?” George asked her.

  “It means that whoever was here—whoever built

  this campfire—was probably here illegally,” Susan

  explained.

  Nancy pulled a red tent out of its bag and shook it

  out. Just then she heard the roar of a motorboat in the

  distance. “I wonder where that's coming from?” she

  said. “We didn't pass any motorboats in the bay.”

  “Probably the Gulf,” Susan said. “The Gulf of Mex-

  ico,” she added, smiling at Bess. “We're near the Gulf

  here. Shark Point is way up there,” she said, pointing.

  “Shark Point?” Bess gasped. “Alligators, sharks, how

  much more of this do I have to take?”

  “Shark Point is a camping spot,” Susan said,

  laughing. “Don't worry, Bess, you're safe here. We'll

  make sure you don't have any close encounters with

  sharks.”

  “Yes, please!” Bess said.

  When the girls had finished pitching their tents,

  Nancy walked to the edge of the clearing and glanced

  around. It was a beautiful spot. Off in the distance,

  through the trees, she could see a thin blue ribbon of

  water.

  It's so peaceful here, she thought.

  Yet she was filled with anxiety and apprehension,

  too. Jade had come to this area—possibly to this very

  island—to go backcountry camping.

  But then she had disappeared, seemingly into thin

  air. What had happened to her?

  George and Susan went off to collect sticks for a

  campfire. When they got back, the four girls made

  dinner—Spanish rice and chicken—and then settled

  around the campfire to eat.

  “Why does food always taste better when you eat it

  outside?” Bess said enthusiastically as she popped an

  oatmeal raisin cookie into her mouth.

  “I don't know, it just does,” Nancy agreed.

  The sky was growing dark with twilight. The tem-

  perature had dropped. George put her hands over the

  flames of the fire and rubbed them together.

  “So what's our plan for tomorrow?” George asked

  Nancy.

  “I thought we'd spend the day searching this is-

  land—and maybe some of the other islands nearby. We

  can split up into teams. We'll search everything with a

  fine-tooth comb,” Nancy answered.

  “For what?” Bess asked her.

  “For evidence that Jade Romero was here,” Nancy

  replied. “And for evidence of what might have

  happened to her.”

  After the dishes had been washed and put away, the

  girls brushed their teeth and went to bed. That was one

  of the things Nancy had always liked about camping.

  Because lamps and flashlights and other light sources

  were in limited supply, there was nothing to do after

  dark except go to sleep.

  Early to bed, early to rise, she thought, nestling into

  her sleeping bag.

  Bess, Susan, and George fell asleep almost im-

  mediately. Nancy yawned, closed her eyes, and tried to

  fall asleep, too. She was tired and sore from the day's

  hard canoeing.

  It wasn't easy, though. Weird noises were coming

  from outside—insect and bird and animal noises she

  couldn't identify. Tiny footsteps rustled through the

  underbrush. Twigs snapped.

  At one point something came snuffling up to the

  walls of the girls' tent, making strange grunting sounds.

  Nancy held her breath, staying alert in case she had to

  rouse the others, but the grunting sounds eventually

  stopped, and the creature shuffled away.

  How can these guys sleep through all of this? Nancy

  wondered, staring at her friends in their sleeping bags.

  Nancy changed positions, hoping that would make

  falling asleep easier. She was just about to drop off

  when she heard another noise.

  It sounded like footsteps crunching through the dry

  underbrush. Then a strange, eerie voice rang out.

  “Goooooo away! Gooooooo away and never come

  back!”

  Nancy's eyes flew open, her heart pounding. The

  hair on her arms stood up.

  It sounds like a woman's voice, she thought.

  “Goooooo away!” said the haunting voice.

  The other girls continued to sleep. Nancy reached

  over to George, whose sleeping bag was right next to

  hers, and tried to shake her awake. George just

  groaned and rolled over.

  “Come on, George, wake up,” Nancy whispered, but

  George lay very still and didn't respond.

  “Susan? Bess?” Nancy whispered, but they didn't

  wake up, either.

  Nancy sat up, willing the crazy pounding of her

  heart to slow. She reached out in the darkness and

  fumbled
for the opening to the tent. She finally found

  the mesh-covered window and peered out.

  The moon was bright, casting a silvery glow on the

  eerie nocturnal landscape. Nancy peered around,

  checking for the source of the spooky sound.

  “Goooooo away!” the voice rang out again.

  Where is that sound coming from? Nancy won-

  dered.

  Then Nancy saw her. Under a tall palm tree was the

  silvery white ghost of a woman.

  Nancy gasped. The woman looked just like George!

  12. Another Mysterious Disappearance

  Nancy couldn't believe it. There was a ghost outside

  their tent, one who looked like George!

  There are no such things as ghosts, Nancy reminded

  herself.

  She felt around in the dark for her hiking boots. As

  she put them on, she muttered to herself as her fingers

  got tangled in the laces. Then she fumbled around

  again, this time for the flashlight.

  “Nancy?” It was Susan's sleepy voice. “What's going

  on?”

  Finally someone had woken up. “There's someone

  outside,” Nancy whispered.

  “What?” Susan sat up, sounding much more awake.

  Bess and George woke up, too. “What's up, Nancy?”

  George murmured.

  “Is it morning?” Bess mumbled. “Because I'm way

  too tired. And it's way too dark.”

  “There's someone outside,” Nancy repeated.

  “What?” Bess cried out.

  “I'm going to check it out,” Nancy said.

  Nancy scrambled to her feet, flashlight in hand. By

  the time she got out of the tent, the ghostly woman was

  gone.

  Mosquitoes and no-see-ums buzzed around Nancy's

  head. She swatted them away impatiently, clicked the

  flashlight on, and swung it around in an arc.

  There was no sign of the woman.

  Nancy went over to the palm tree where the woman

  had been. She pointed the flashlight down on the

  ground.

  “Aha,” she said to herself. “Footprints. That was no

  ghost.” Still, it was hard to make out the prints clearly,

  because so much underbrush was covering the dirt.

  There were no other clues.

  Susan, George, and Bess came rushing up to her.

  “Nan, what's all this about a ghost?” George said

  breathlessly.

  “It was a real person, not a ghost,” Nancy replied.

  “She just looked like a ghost in the moonlight. In any

  case, she's gone.” She told her friends all about the