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.”

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!”

“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.”

Nancy felt her arms go around his neck. “I love you, too, Ned,” she whispered, letting herself forget Paula, forget the river, forget everything but the kiss Ned bent down to give her.

“Nancy!” It was Bess calling. “Nancy, where are you?” Bess appeared behind Nancy and Ned, George right behind her.

“Here I am.” Reluctantly Nancy broke away from Ned’s arms.

“Nancy, you’ve got to get George off my back,” Bess begged, tears streaking down her dusty face.

“Get off your back?” George exploded. “The way I feel right now I’ll be on your back for thirty-five years-if we live that long.” George spun Bess around. “I’ve put up with lost car keys, lost plane tickets, even lost money-but this thing, Bess Marvin…”

“Knock it off!” Nancy held her hand up. She turned to George. “Bess didn’t lose the compass. Ned saw Paula take it out of Bess’s pocket.”

George’s eyes grew round. “Paula!” she exclaimed.

Bess stared at Nancy, consternation on her face. “Why would Paula do that? Is she trying to get us lost?”

“It’s beginning to look that way,” Nancy admitted. “Max saw her steal the compass, too, and I think he also suspects her of holing the raft.”

George put her arms around Bess. “I’m sorry I blew up at you,” she said. “Really.”

“It’s okay, George,” Bess replied, patting her cousin on the shoulder. “Everybody is uptight right now. We’re in a real mess.”

“Bess is right,” Ned said soberly. “Some of those kids-Linda and Sammy especially-look as if they might go to pieces at any minute. If George can blow up this way, others are bound to.”

“That’s what worries me,” Nancy said. “We can’t tell the others just yet about Paula taking the compass, so they’re going to continue to accuse Bess.” She turned to her friend. “Can you stick it out for a little while?”

Bess smiled weakly. “As long as I know you guys believe me.”

“George, it might be a good idea if you continued to act angry at Bess,” Nancy said. “That’ll keep Paula from getting suspicious.”