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 arms 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."
