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?”
