“Watch out from behind!” George warned. Dede
and her teammates were moving up, Nancy saw.
“Out of the way, slowpokes!” Dede called, grinning.
She skied off the packed path, forging a new track that
ran parallel to the one Nancy and her teammates were
on.
“Pass 'em!” Rosie called from behind.
“Hey!” Nancy cried as Dede drew even.
“Oh, no, you don't. . . .” Breathless, Ned poled
faster, and the Omegas pulled ahead again.
The two teams leapfrogged back and forth, skiing
along the lake's edge. Nancy had never felt so exhila-
rated. Sunlight sparkled off one spot on the lake where
there wasn't any snow.
“That must be where the stream comes in!” she
realized. “The moving water kept that part of the lake
from freezing.”
Ahead of her Georges head bobbed in a nod. “We're
almost at the wet wanderer!”
“You mean, we're almost there!” Denise called as
she skied parallel to Nancy.
Just ahead of them the stream angled off to the left.
Ned and Dede had already veered away from the lake
to ski beside the stream in parallel paths. Ned had
forged a path closer to the stream. To his right, the
ground sloped sharply down to the water.
“Faster, Ned!” George cried. She turned to glance at
Denise, who had nearly caught up with her. George
poled with extra vigor. She shot forward, angling
around as the path curved next to the stream. “We
can't let them—”
She broke off in a gasp as her right boot suddenly
pulled free of her ski. George flew sideways, tumbling
down the snowy slope.
“Help!” she cried, her arms and ski poles flailing.
“Oh, no!” Nancy's heart leaped into her throat as she
watched George fly straight toward the frigid stream.
6. Cross-Country Catastrophe
“George!” Nancy's eyes flew left and right. She
searched madly for some way to help George stop
before she plunged into the icy water.
“The shrubs!” Nancy cried, jabbing her ski pole at
the scraggly bushes that lined the stream. “Reach out
and grab them!”
She didn't see how George could even see the
bushes, she was tumbling so fast. All Nancy saw was a
blur of poles, arms, legs. George's left ski popped off
and skittered down toward the water. All at once
George's arm shot out. Miraculously, her hand closed
around some branches.
“Ooooh!” A muffled groan escaped George's mouth
as she jerked to a stop. Her boots smashed through the
thin ice at the stream's edge. George yanked them out
instantly then sat up, dazed.
“Whoa” was all she said.
Nancy popped out of her skis and was next to
George in a flash. “Are you okay?” she asked.
George got slowly to her feet, shaking snow off.
“Nothing hurts. And the water didn't soak through to
my feet,” she said.
Nancy retrieved George's left ski, which was sub-
merged halfway in the stream. After shaking off the
water, she and George tromped back up to the trail,
where Ned and Grant waited. Ned had picked up
George's right ski and was examining it. Nancy saw
Dede and the other Kappas behind the guys. They had
all stopped and were watching George with worried
eyes.
“Everything okay?” Rosie called over.
George didn't answer right away—she seemed to be
preoccupied. “Skis shouldn't just pop off like that,” she
said.
“The binding popped off on one side,” Ned said,
turning the ski so George and Nancy could see.
Looking over George's shoulder, Nancy saw that one
side of the binding had ripped totally free of the ski. A
screw dangled from the screw hole in the binding.
Nancy took one look at the blunt end of the screw and
frowned.
“The tip's been sawed off!” she said, rubbing her
finger against it.
George's whole face darkened as she stared at the
screw. “You mean, someone sawed off the tip and then
screwed it back into my ski?” she said.
Nancy nodded. “Leaving enough thread to hold the
bindings on, but not enough to take the extra stress you
put on the bindings when you skied all out.”
Grant jabbed a ski pole into the snow. “Spiked food,
soap on the tower stairs . . .”
“And now this.” Ned shook his head in disgust.
Dede exchanged quick glances with her teammates.
“I hope you don't think we had anything to do with
these pranks,” she said.
Nancy supposed any of the teams could be re-
sponsible—even the Kappas—but Dede had seemed
genuinely shocked to see the soaped stair. Also, she
had been sitting at their table the night before, which
meant she could have eaten the spiked dessert along
with the Omegas. Nancy had a hard time believing that
Dede would do anything to harm her boyfriend or
anyone on the Omega team.
“We'll consider everyone innocent until proven
guilty,” Nancy said.
“In that case”—Dede grinned at Nancy and skied
forward—“see you at the clue!”
George watched with longing. “You guys go,” she
urged. “I'll meet you back at Clues Challenge head-
quarters.”
“You're sure you'll be okay?” Grant asked.
“Go!” George insisted.
Nancy snapped her boots into her bindings and
pushed off after Ned and Grant. “We'll meet you back
at HQ as soon as we can,” she said.
She didn't like leaving George, but she couldn't help
getting caught up in the excitement as she spotted
more of the landmarks in the clue. The “broken-down”
barrier turned out to be a crumbling stone wall that
had been part of the Sanderford farm. By following the
wall, they came to an old family cemetery deep in the
woods.
“That has to be the bony clutches' in the clue,” Ned
said as they skied past.
The Kappas were just ahead of them, but Nancy saw
the Deltas beyond them, but skiing back toward them.
“The Deltas,” Grant said.
Joy was in the lead, the wind ruffling her long, blond
hair. Beneath her blue cap, her face was triumphant.
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a
slip of paper.
“Looking for the snowflake with these inside?” she
asked, waving the clue in the air. Without waiting for
an answer, she shoved the paper back in her pocket
and stepped off the path to angle around Ned, Grant,
and Nancy. “We'll be on our way to the next snowflake
before you get back to Clues Challenge HQ.”
Joy skied on without looking back. The four girls
with her grinned from ear to ear as they followed.
“You know . . .” Ned said once the Deltas were out
of earshot. “One of them could have sawed the end off
that screw.”
“Maybe. Or someone from Dennis's team could
have done it,” Nancy said. “But if they think this kind
of stunt is going to stop us, they are so wrong.”
Moments later they came to some snow-covered
mounds that seemed to be the foundations of two
buildings. The Kappas had stopped amid the stones
and were walking around in their boots. There were
footprints around both foundations.
“There's an old well,” Grant said, pointing to a cir-
cular stone wall midway between the two foundations.
“That must be the ring of rocks. But which is the
foundation of victory?”
The stones of one foundation seemed to outline a
larger space than the other. “I think the barn would
have been bigger than the house,” Nancy said.
Walking toward the larger foundation, she began to
look over the stones. Then she spotted an iron weather
vane—in the shape of a rising sun.
Nancy leaped forward and lifted one end of the
weathervane. There, just below it in the snow, was a
plastic snowflake identical to the one Mel Lorenzo had
shown them at the pre-challenge dinner the night
before.
Nancy opened the snowflake. Three identical slips
of paper lay inside. Taking off her gloves, Nancy
grabbed one clue and held it up. “Success,” she
whispered so the Kappas wouldn't know they had
found their clue.
“Great,” Ned whispered back. “Now let's rebury the
clues and head back to Clues Challenge headquarters.
We can find out if Mr. Lorenzo saw anyone messing
with George's ski.”
“Okay, let's take a look at this thing.” Mel Lorenzo
bent over George's ski, which lay in front of him on the
table in the atrium. He could pull the screw out to
check it closely through his tinted glasses.
“Well?” George prompted as she, Nancy, Grant, and
Ned clustered around.
Finally Mr. Lorenzo put the screw down and sat
back with a sigh. “The tip might have been sawed off,”
he said slowly. “But I can't be sure. The tip could have
snapped off when the binding pulled loose.”
Nancy gaped at him. Could he really be suggesting
the ski hadn't been sabotaged? “Can you check the
other screw?” she asked. “If the tip is missing from that
one, too, we'll know someone sawed it off.”
“Good idea,” Grant said. “The end couldn't just
break off inside the ski.”
“Probably not,” Mr. Lorenzo said. “But I don't think
we should jump to conclusions before all the evidence
is in.”
Nancy exchanged surprised glances with George.
Why was Mr. Lorenzo so reluctant to recognize the
sabotage?
“Can you take out the other screw and check?”
Nancy asked again.
Mr. Lorenzo shrugged and reached into a canvas
bag that sat next to the table on the AstroTurf floor. “I
threw some extra tools and supplies in here. Tape for
the ski poles, extra hooks and pulleys, screwdriver, and
file,” he said as he sifted through the things. “I'm sure
there was a screwdriver, but . . .”
“Did you say file'?” George said.
Mr. Lorenzo nodded. “I don't see it now, though. Or
the screwdriver,” he said. Letting the bag drop to the
floor, he lifted the newspaper he'd been reading.
“Where are they?” he murmured, scanning the table
beneath.
“Isn't it obvious?” Ned spoke up. “Someone used
your tools to sabotage George's skis.”
Resting his elbows on the table, Mel Lorenzo
pressed his fingers together in a steeple. “Show me the
file and screwdriver in someone's pocket or backpack,
and I'll be happy to disqualify that person from the
Clues Challenge,” he said. “But right now all we have is
suspicion and . . .”
He frowned as Randy entered the atrium through a
massive stone doorway that had once been the outside
entrance to the old gym. C.J. was with him, using his
cane to help take his weight off his bandaged foot.
“Not him,” Mr. Lorenzo muttered.
“You're back!” C.J. swung over, an expectant smile
on his face. “You got the second clue?” His eyes lit up
when he saw the slip of paper Nancy held up.
“As a bonus, I got a couple of mouthfuls of snow and
an ice-cold foot bath,” George said dryly. “Thanks to
whoever sabotaged my skis.”
“More sabotage?” Randy asked.
Nancy wasn't surprised to see him take the lens cap
off his camera. “Did anyone check your skis, C.J.?”
Randy asked.
Nancy felt a twinge of annoyance as he took a pic-
ture of George's ski, with C.J. bent over it. Everything
was a story to Randy, even if it affected the welfare of
their Clues Challenge team.
“Don't blow this out of proportion,” Mr. Lorenzo
warned, scowling at Randy. “Reporters get sued for
printing lies, you know.”
“That's why I need you to give me the facts,” Randy
said.
“Man, oh, man.” Mel Lorenzo shook his head in
disgust as Randy pulled his notebook out. “You'd better
back off, pal.”
Randy held up his hand. “Okay, okay. We'll skip the
sabotage for the moment,” he said. “How about giving
me some background information for my article? C.J.
says you just opened SportsMania a few months ago. Is
the Clues Challenge your first affiliation with college
sports?”
Nancy bit back a sigh of frustration. She wanted to
ask Mr. Lorenzo if he'd seen anyone go through his
canvas bag. With Randy around, though, she couldn't
get a word in.
“Forget it,” Ned whispered to her. “We need to
figure out our second clue.”
“Let's head over to the Student Center for lunch,”
Grant suggested. “I'm starved.”
“Sounds good to me,” C.J. agreed. “Want to come
with us, Randy?”
Randy turned away from Mr. Lorenzo, whose scowl
had deepened. “Hmm? Oh—go ahead without me,”
Randy said. “I'll meet up with you later.”
The Student Center was a large, old-fashioned stone
building near the lake that had once been the
president's mansion. Nancy and the others entered
through a high doorway with carved-oak doors that led
into a fancy entrance hall two stories high. They made
their way past pool tables and a TV lounge to a huge
ballroom that had been converted to a cafeteria. Tables
covered the tiled floor, and stairs rose up to metal
platforms where there were more tables and chairs.
Nancy liked the way the old wood paneling and
stained-glass windows mixed with the industrial stairs
and furniture.
“Okay,” George said, once they were settled on one
of the platforms with burgers, fries, nachos, and sodas
piled on their table. “Let's see the clue.”
Nancy pushed aside her fri
es, flattened the piece of
paper on the table, and read:
Baseball Is for the Birds (Are Your Ears Ringing?)
Needlenose on First
Flying Colors on Second
North Point on Third
Snowflake at Home
High fly towers over to score.
Ground ball doesn't make it.
“Huh?” Grant shoved a nacho into his mouth, then
licked the cheese off his fingers. “I'm clueless.”
Nancy read the clue from beginning to end a second
time. “Well, we know it has to do with baseball. And it
sounds like the snowflake with the next clue in it is at
home base,” she said, thinking out loud.
“Emerson doesn't have a baseball field,” Ned said.
“What about those other hints? Needlenose, Flying
Colors, and North Point on first, second, and third
base.” George took a bite of her hamburger, then
washed it down with some soda. “Are there places on
campus with those names?”
Grant took the map out of his backpack and put it
on the table. While they ate, Nancy and the others
pored over the map. But half an hour later they still
hadn't solved the clue.
“We're missing something important,” Nancy said,
pushing aside her empty plate. “I mean, why does it say
Baseball Is for the Birds'?” And that part about a high
fly scoring, but a ground ball not making it . . . Does
anyone get that?”
When no one answered, Nancy got to her feet and
pulled a hand through her reddish blond hair. “We
need something to jumpstart our minds,” she said.
“Anyone want cocoa?”
Heads nodded all around the table.
“I'll come with you,” George offered.
As they clomped down the metal stairs in their
boots, Nancy spotted Dennis on the lower level in his
black parka. He sauntered over to an empty table near
the food counter. The red-haired twins, Jake and
Philip, were with him, along with the two other guys
from their team. Judging by their red cheeks and the
way they rubbed their hands together, Nancy guessed
they had just come in from outdoors.
“Looks like the Sigmas just got the clue from Ollie
Sanderford's barn,” she said, nodding in Dennis's di-
rection.
She and George reached the main floor as the five
guys plunked themselves down. Dennis zipped open a
computer case, pulled out a sleek black laptop
computer, and opened it. As Nancy and George circled
behind their table toward the food counter, Nancy