Carolyn Keene. White Water Terror

“What do you mean, maybe he was just out after me?” Nancy asked Mercedes. “Why would you think that?”

Mercedes pressed her lips into a tight line. “I don’t know,” she said. “I was just trying to make Linda feel better, that’s all.”

Linda began to cry harder, and Sammy looked as if she were going to burst into tears, too. Mercedes’s face was closed and dark.

“Listen, everybody,” Tod interrupted. “I know we’re all tired and sore, but if we don’t keep going, we’re not going to get to the ranger station before dark.”

The climb to the top of the ridge was one of the longest and most wearying hikes that Nancy had ever been on. Her heel was painful, and in spite of the beauty of the mountain, she kept her eyes on the ground, trying to pick out the easiest path. Ahead of her, Linda seemed to moan with every step, and she could hear Sammy complaining bitterly to Mike that they were going the wrong way.

At last they reached the top of the ridge.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Bess exclaimed. “What a view!”

“And there’s the fire tower!” Tod said triumphantly, pointing along the ridge to the left. “It’s only a half-mile or so away!”

“All right!” Ralph let loose a giant whoop.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Nancy said, her wide grin fading. “If the tower’s deserted, will it still have a radio? We can still get a message out, can’t we?”

“Yup,” Tod assured her, “and the Forest Service will send a helicopter for us—probably before sunset! Of course, they’ll have to send a team in to look for Paula’s body.”

With the ranger station so close, the group seemed a great deal more relaxed. Even Linda managed a smile when a small brown fawn hopped across the trail in front of them.

“I don’t see any signs of life,” Ned observed when they reached the station. Beside the trail stood a small cabin with a sign on it reading United States Forest Service, but grass was growing up in front of the door—the cabin seemed to be deserted.

“How do they get people and supplies up here?” Sammy wanted to know. “I don’t see any roads.”

“There aren’t roads to some of these back-country towers,” Mike replied. “That’s why they use helicopters.”

“So that’s the tower,” Bess said, looking across the yard that separated it from the station. It was a squat, square box built on stilts forty feet in the air, with a stair zigzagging between the stilts. Halfway up was an open platform. “I’ll bet there’s a good view from up there.”

“You’re right,” Mike told her. “Since these lookout towers are built so that rangers can watch for fires, they have an unobstructed view of the whole country.” He grinned. “Want to take a look? I’m going to go up and get that message out.”

“We’ll all go,” Sammy decided.

“I’m not sure I can climb that high,” Linda objected.

“You’ll never have another chance like this one,” Ralph told her.

“Oh, okay.”

“Well, then, let’s go,” Mike said, and they started toward the tower.

Suddenly George clutched Nancy’s sleeve. “Nancy! I saw somebody run behind that building over there!”

Nancy turned to see a blur of movement behind one of the rickety wooden sheds only a few yards away.

Linda gasped. “It’s Max!” she cried when the figure stepped out and started toward them. “He’s coming to kill us!”

Chapter Sixteen

“Let’s get him!” Tod shouted.

“Watch out,” Mike cautioned. “He’s got a club.”

“That’s okay,” Tod said, his eyes narrowed to slits. “We can handle that.”

“Wait,” Ned said. “I think he just wants to talk.”

But Tod and Mike ignored Ned and advanced threateningly toward Max.

“Hold on,” Max rasped. He kept walking toward them. His shoulders slumped wearily, and he seemed to be dragging one foot. “I don’t want to hurt anybody. All I want is to talk to Nancy.”

“Then put that club down,” Ned said reasonably, stepping forward and holding out both hands to show that they were empty. “Nobody’s got any weapons here. Nancy will talk to you if you throw your weapon away.”

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