“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.”