George swallowed a giggle. “Do you suppose Paula knows where’s she’s going?” she asked, peering through the tangle of underbrush. “I’d hate to walk through this stuff twice.”
“Hey!” Ned kidded. “How can you doubt her? After all, she’s got Bess right beside her, carrying our one and only compass.”
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” George said.
It was nearly noon by the time they stopped for lunch in a large clearing. The sun filtered through the dense trees, and Bess took off her jacket and tossed it on a nearby rock. She was eating a sandwich, her knees pulled up wearily, her back to a tree, when Nancy sat down beside her.
“Tired?” Nancy asked, taking a bite of her own sandwich. It was the last of the peanut butter, and there was only enough bread for one more meal.
“You know it.” Bess sighed. “Paula’s in good shape, and keeping up with her in these woods is tough.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve found out anything about her,” Nancy said, lowering her voice and looking around to be sure she wasn’t overheard.
Bess shook her head. “I’ve tried talking to her, but she won’t say a word. I did notice Max watching her in a funny way, though. It’s as if he knows something about her that the rest of us don’t.”
“Yeah, I noticed that, too,” Nancy said. She finished her sandwich and stood up, brushing herself off. “And maybe now is a good time to ask him about it.” But everybody else was finishing lunch, too, and Nancy didn’t have a chance.
“Will you get the compass?” Paula asked Bess just then. “I want to check our direction before we get started again.”
“Sure,” Bess said, reaching for her jacket, which was spread out on the rock. She felt in the pocket. Then her face went white. Frantically she began to search the other pockets as well.
“What’s wrong?” Paula snapped. “Where’s the compass?”
“I don’t know!” Bess exclaimed, sitting down limply on the rock. “It’s not in my pocket and I know it was there before lunch. The compass is gone—now we’ll never find our way out of here!”
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.”