J.M.J.
Author's note: Thank you for reading! Thank you especially to everyone who has left reviews! The next chapter will be out August 5. God bless!
July 31 – Monday
By this time, the boys were confident that there were no large animals on the island nor anything else that was particularly dangerous. Because of this, Biff thought that leaving the cabin alone wouldn't be that big of a deal. He had almost constantly been in the company of at least one of his friends for a month and a half now, and he was longing for some solitude. He knew that some of the others would get time for themselves by waking up early, but Biff didn't like doing that. So he set out walking alone.
He was careful to avoid the hills, remembering Frank's accident. It wasn't very likely for something like that to happen again, but Biff didn't want to take any chances while he was by himself. Instead, he headed to the eastern side of the island, where they had found the bottle of snails and the beads and the bit of tent. It was still the least explored part of the island. It was the least likely spot for him to run into any of his friends.
He found the beach where they had explored before and sat down to think. It was a funny thing, but before he had sat down, it seemed like he had a thousand things to think about. Now he couldn't remember a single one, except that he was homesick. He rested his elbows and his knees and stared out to sea. He was facing east, so that meant he was facing roughly toward home. Somewhere, across that expanse of water and then across the whole of North America, was Bayport and his family's house and his parents and sisters and dog. Poor, old Tivoli, he thought with a fond smile. At least the Great Dane had something to be grateful for. Biff had expected to take him with him when he moved out, probably into some overcrowded apartment with barely enough room for the big dog to stretch out full-length on the floor. Now he'd get to stay with Biff's parents, since they surely wouldn't have the heart to give him away. Biff's smile faded. They wouldn't have the heart, because they were probably assuming by now that Biff and the others weren't coming home. Maybe they were right.
Biff sighed and lay back in the sand, looking up at the sky. He could hear birds chattering and calling and the bugs buzzing everywhere. This might be paradise, but Biff would have rather not ended up living here. If he ever got back to Bayport, he'd never complain about the winters there again.
As he was lying there, he began to get the feeling that he was being watched. With a touch of nervousness, he lifted his head and looked around. A moment later, he spotted the girl watching him from the trees. He froze, unsure what to do. He didn't want to accidentally frighten the girl away, and he wasn't sure what might frighten her. Slowly, cautiously, he sat up. The girl flinched, but she continued watching him.
Biff decided to try talking to her, even though she wouldn't understand the words. Maybe she would understand the tone. "Hi."
The girl moved her head slightly, as if she was puzzled.
"Why did you run away the other time?" Biff asked. "We weren't going to hurt you. Tony and I were just going to introduce you to the other guys. They wouldn't have hurt you, either. They're a good bunch of guys."
The girl sat cross-legged at the very edge of the sand, listening to him. Biff also sat cross-legged.
"So who are you and where did you come from?" Biff went on. "You couldn't have gotten here by yourself. Who brought you here and what happened to them?" He knew that the girl didn't understand, but Biff thought he'd sound more natural and friendly if he was saying the sort of things he'd say if she did understand. "Were you shipwrecked? We came here on a boat, but we weren't exactly wrecked. More like marooned, but by accident. We had a little boat, but it did get wrecked when we were trying to land."
He paused and the girl stared at him in concentration, but she didn't attempt to say a word.
"I guess we were kind of shipwrecked, now that I think about it. I guess we should have been more careful, but I don't think tate boat would have done us much good even if it hadn't been wrecked, since we couldn't row…Hey, where are you going?"
The girl had gotten up and started walking into the trees. She didn't give any signal that she wanted Biff to follow or not, and he hesitated a moment, trying to decide what to do. Then Biff decided to follow her, being careful so that he wouldn't scare her. When she heard him coming, she turned to look at him, some unreadable expression on her face. Then she turned and continued walking.
Once, she stopped and seemed to be waiting for him. Biff caught up to her and asked her what she was doing, even though he knew she wouldn't understand. She started to turn away as if to continue on, but then she snapped her head back and stared past Biff with widened eyes. Uncertainly, Biff turned to see what had attracted her attention and came face-to-face with a very large snake.
Biff froze when he saw it. Snakes had never been of interest to him, so he had no idea what kind of snake it was or whether it was dangerous, but in any case, he didn't like being so close to it. Its tongue flickered out as it stared at him with expressionless eyes as yards of its body coiled around the branches and trunk of the tree.
HBNDHBNDHB
The tennis ball skimmed just over the net as Helen Archer slammed it with her racquet. It was closest to Bess's side of the net, but she wasn't paying particular attention. Her partner, Carol Boonton, tried to save it, but she was much too far away, and the ball bounced toward the back of the court.
"That's set," Helen said. "Want to play another round?"
Carol and Laura Pendleton, Helen's partner, nodded eagerly, but Bess hesitated. She really didn't want to. Her mind wasn't on the game at all, which had cost her and Carol the last two sets. On the other hand, they couldn't very well play doubles with only three people, and Bess's moroseness was probably taking the fun out of it for the others.
The whole point of this had been to have some fun and relax. No one would have guessed that from the way Nancy and George were sitting on the sidelines, uninterestedly watching the doubles match between their four friends. The tennis outing had been Helen's idea. She and Nancy had been friends since her family had moved in next door to the Drews years ago, despite Helen being three years older. Helen was married now and didn't have much time for joining Nancy's detective adventures like she used to, but she still tried to make time for her younger friends. She had never met the Hardys, but she could tell that Nancy, Bess, and George were taking their passing hard. She had hoped to cheer them up a bit, but she was starting to see that that wasn't going to happen.
Carol and Laura were each seventeen. Carol was Bess and George's cousin, who had come a couple of days before to spend the rest of the summer with them until school started. Nancy and Helen had met Laura a little over a year ago, when they had solved a mystery for her. She didn't live far from River Heights, and so she had readily agreed to drive up for the day and try to help cheer up her friends.
"Actually, I think I'd just as soon sit this one out," Bess said. "Maybe George would take my place. I'll ask her."
As she walked to the sidelines to confer with George, the other three girls gathered around the net.
"This is harder than I thought it would be," Helen commented in a low voice.
Laura nodded. "Carol and I both know what it's like, losing someone close to you. They just need time."
"Bess and George told me that the funeral is just this upcoming Saturday," Carol added. "It's probably making it extra rough on them, knowing that they're going to have to go to Bayport and get through all that in a few days."
Meanwhile, George wasn't enthusiastic about Bess's suggestion that she take her place in the tennis game. "I don't really feel like tennis right now," she was saying.
"Me neither," Nancy agreed. "Maybe we should call the game and go and get some coffee or something."
"Or ice cream," Bess suggested. "It's too hot for coffee."
They asked the other girls, who agreed that ice cream would be a welcome treat in the late July heat. They began walking down the street to the nearby ice cream shop.
Laura and Carol were both naturally quiet people, and Nancy and the cousins weren't in a talkative mood, but Helen could keep up a near-constant stream of conversation by herself. After a few minutes, she mentioned that she had been talking to Jan Cameron a few days before.
"I guess she's not Jan Cameron anymore," she corrected herself. "It's so weird with all these people my age getting married."
"You're married," Carol reminded her.
"I know, and sometimes that's still weird to think about." Helen grinned. "Anyway, Jan said that her brother Don was thinking about moving back to River Heights."
"He is?" Laura asked hopefully.
Nancy looked at the ground, less excited about this development than Laura was. As if everything going on hadn't been stressful enough, she had also had to deal with multiple people thinking she and Frank had been more than simply good friends and Don evidently still hoping he had a chance with her. If there was one thing Nancy loathed, it was relationship drama. That was one of the things she appreciated so much about Ned. A bit of teasing aside, he trusted her and never tried to stir up any trouble. She couldn't honestly accuse Don of trying to make trouble, but he was even if it was unintentional.
Fortunately, the conversation didn't center on Don for long. They soon reached the ice cream shop and were distracted while they placed their orders. Once they had sat down, conversation proceeded about a variety of different topics. Nancy didn't say much, lost in her own thoughts. When she did concentrate on what her friends were saying, she found that they were talking about their plans for the summer, movies they had seen or wanted to see, and funny things that had happened to them. The two youngest girls talked excitedly about their upcoming senior year of high school, and Helen was giving them advice about it and graduation and college. It was so ordinary, like any conversation they could have had at any time. It was actually rather comforting that life was going on like normal for the rest of the world. Maybe, after all, this was what was normal. There was always someone with grief. Just a year ago, that had been Laura and Carol. Laura had lost her parents, and Carol her great-grandfather, who had been her one support throughout her difficult childhood. But now that some time had passed and normalcy had been established, they were okay. Maybe it was a sign that Nancy would be, too, in time.
HBNDHBNDHB
Frank had expected to be bored on the island, but not this bored. He had at least thought that there would be work to do. As it was, the other guys wouldn't even let him do any work. Not that there was much he could do. It wasn't like back home, where he could at least do some office work for his dad. Here on the island, nearly every task required two hands, and even those that didn't, it would still be hard to complete them without moving his broken arm at least a little. As for entertainment, that was in short supply, too. Frank had long since finished reading Eli McKellern's journals. Besides what they had already learned from them, there was nothing of particular value there. Eli did write that he had come to the island as a hermit to get away from the insanity of the rest of the world, scuttling the boat he had used to reach the island once he had decided that this was a good place. That put to rest any lingering ideas that there might be a boat somewhere on the island. He never mentioned the girl, but it was easy enough to conclude that she had gotten to the island after Eli had died, or at the very least, that he had never realized she was there. As for the attempted murder that had been the reason the boys had gotten to the island in the first place, Frank had finally given up on that, disappointed though it was. He simply didn't have enough clues to figure out anything he and Joe hadn't already guessed, and there was no way of getting more information here.
So there wasn't even much to think about, apart from wallowing in self-pity over being stuck in this predicament. Frank had done enough of that, and so he was trying to think of anything else to do, besides just watch the others go about their business.
"I think I've almost got this," Phil said to him as he used a hammer and some small nails to attach the hinges he had been working on for weeks to the door. He had finally found wood stout enough to use in place of metal to make hinges in the usual style. "I just hope they don't break after we've opened and closed the door a few dozen times."
"Hopefully not," Frank replied absently. He noticed Joe and Chet coming back from fishing. He knew Tony was working on clearing the area behind the cabin. "Have any of you guys seen Biff lately?"
Joe glanced around him as if he expected Biff to be hanging around within sight. "I haven't seen him for a little while, come to think of it."
"Me neither," Chet agreed. "But we've down at the beach most of the morning."
"I've been up here at the cabin, and I haven't seen him." Phil frowned. "Maybe we'd better go look for him."
"I'll go," Frank volunteered promptly.
"I don't know that that's such a good idea…" Joe replied hesitantly.
Frank gave him an annoyed look. "I don't need two arms to walk."
"Yeah, but if Biff's in trouble of some kind…" Joe paused. "Anyway, probably better if nobody goes alone. I'll go with you."
Frank had to admit that Joe's point was valid, but it irked him all the same. Neither said much as they started walking toward the southern end of the island. They hadn't talked about it, but they were both thinking that Biff would have had enough sense to stay away from the hills after Frank's recent accident. Joe was whistling as he walked. Frank knew that whistle. Joe only did it when he was worried and was trying to act like he wasn't. It was repetitive and high-pitched and it seemed as if it was drilling itself into Frank's brain until it would drive him insane.
"Would you please cut it out?" he finally snapped.
Joe stopped whistling abruptly. He didn't say anything as he continued walking.
"I don't see any sign that Biff came this way," Joe said after a few minutes.
"Me neither. Let's try somewhere else."
They veered eastward, soon having to push through heavy vegetation. Joe pushed his way forward so that he would be in the lead, and Frank thought he was overly solicitous about holding branches so they didn't snap in Frank's face. He was getting tired of being treated like an invalid.
At one point, the vegetation made the ground look more level than it really was. Frank stepped wrong and stumbled once. Joe immediately whirled around and reached out to steady him.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Frank snapped, trying to pull himself away from Joe.
"Apparently," Joe muttered.
Frank sighed. "Look, I broke my arm. I can still walk."
"Yeah, until you trip and fall and we have to reset it."
"I'll be careful."
"Whatever. It's your arm." Joe threw his hands in the air and continued walking.
Frank followed him, muttering under his breath. He knew that he was more annoyed than the situation warranted. He knew that Joe was right, even if he was being overprotective. But Joe could also try to understand Frank's perspective. They didn't say another word until they came out on a beach. Distinct footprints immediately met their eyes. Neither of them had to say anything for both to understand that Biff had been here. Wordlessly, they started following his trail.
It went back up into the jungle. After a few yards, Frank noticed a smaller set of footprints running alongside and partially obliterated by Biff's. They were made by bare feet and could have only been made by one person on the island. Biff must have found the girl and started following her.
Not long after that, they heard something crashing through the brush. The Hardys paused, momentarily disconcerted by the noise. But that was only instinct and as soon as they had thought about it for a few seconds, they realized that it had to be their missing friend.
"Biff?" Joe called tentatively.
"Joe?" Biff's voice came back and the rustling and crashing started coming toward them. Biff appeared a few seconds later. "Thank goodness you guys are here. I didn't think I'd ever find my way back. But I've got really bad news."
"What?" Joe asked.
"There are giant snakes on this island." Biff shuddered. "I don't know for sure, but I think it was an anaconda."
"You saw it?" Frank asked.
"Up close and personal. See, I saw that girl again. She acted like she wanted me to follow her, so I did, and then I practically ran right into that snake. She took off running, and after I thought about it a second, I thought that sounded like a better option than just standing there and letting that snake get me if it wanted. They're not poisonous, right? They don't strike like a rattlesnake?"
"I don't think so," Joe replied.
"Well, anyway, by the time I'd gotten away from the snake, I couldn't find the girl anywhere, and I couldn't find my way back to the beach."
"How big was the snake?" Frank asked.
"I don't know." Biff shrugged and then shivered again, thinking about it. "It was huge, but was all curled up around a tree branch, so I couldn't tell how long it was. It had to be at least as big around as my leg."
"That's just great," Joe commented. "And we thought there weren't any dangerous animals on this island."
"Not all snakes are dangerous," Frank said. "I don't think anacondas live in the Pacific islands."
"Whatever it is, at that size, it's probably a constrictor of some kind," Joe argued. "And it's obviously big enough to be a problem."
"And even if it doesn't want to eat us, it could easily scare us to death," Biff added. "Just think what would happen if Tony had seen it."
"I guess we will have to be careful," Frank admitted.
