Deadfall Read Free

Joe said. ''There must be a way across the river."
    "There's a path that leads to a bridge." Callie took the lead.
    Callie started down the mountain at a brisk pace, but within a few steps the three of them broke out into a run. Then, only a few minutes after that, Joe heard the sound of an enormous explosion. The great force of the blast almost knocked him off his feet.
    "What was that?" Callie cried after Joe helped her to her feet.
    "1 can't see anything down there now." Joe stared out over the river. "But it sounded like Buster Owens's mill just blew up!"

    Chapter
    '*Uncle Stan!" Before Frank could stop her, Callie had run past him toward the river. She stumbled over a tangle of roots as Frank and Joe ran after her.
    "Hold on, Callie!" Frank cried, catching up with her as they broke through the trees at the edge of the river. He stopped dead in his tracks the instant he saw the mill directly across the river. Enormous flames were consuming the center of the large main building. It was the size of a football field—designed, Frank knew, to swallow trees at one end and spit lumber, plywood, and toothpicks out at the other. Surrounding it were a number of wooden warehouses, all as frighten-ingly flammable as the mill.
    Through the thick, black smoke Frank could just see that the roof of the mill was about to cave in.

    Deadfall
    As they stared, another explosion rocked them. The flames shot even higher, and then one of the nearby warehouses burst into flame, too. They winced at the heat that reached them even across the river. ''It's burning so fast! It looks like a chemical explosion, or dynamite maybe," he shouted over the roaring of the fire.
    "Do you see anyone?" Callie demanded, trying to peer through the smoke. She called her uncle's name, but Frank was sure no one could hear her from where they were.
    "We're at the wrong angle to see the parking lot," Frank pointed out. "There's no way to know if he's still there."
    "Let's cross the river here and try to find him," said Joe. "That fire isn't getting any smaller."
    "We can't cross without a bridge," Frank said. "The current's too strong to swim, and it's too deep to wade across."
    "We don't have time to go to the bridge. Look, over there!" Callie pointed to what looked like a floating forest that ran from one bank of the river to the other. "That's a log raft. When the loggers cut trees down upriver they float the logs down to here. A chain strung across the river catches them and holds them like cattle in a pen."
    "You want to cross on that? It seems like a great way to end up getting wet." Frank eyed the enormous logs floating in the coursing river. There were chains on bright red floats lashed to

    THE HARDY BOYS CA5EFILES
    thick posts on either bank, but the logs themselves appeared to be slick and would be dangerous to step on in the fast current.
    *'It's our only chance," said Callie, flinging off her pack and starting on ahead of the Har-dys. ''Uncle Stan could be hurt!"
    Frank glanced at his younger brother. Joe shrugged. "We'd better keep up," he said, ''or she'll go without us."
    The brothers tossed their packs down next to Callie's and hurried after her to the edge of the river. The logs bucked and tossed on top of the rushing water. "Uncle Stan showed me how to do this last summer. I'll go first," Callie shouted over the noise of the river. Before Frank could stop her, she had half-stepped, half-slid onto the first enormous, algae-covered log. For a terrible moment Frank watched as she lost her footing, but she instantly caught herself and jumped lightly to the next rearing log.
    "The secret is to keep moving," she shouted back over her shoulder.
    "I'm next," Joe announced, sliding recklessly down the riverbank and barely landing on a log. When Callie was halfway across the river with Joe a few feet behind her, Frank slid down the bank to land unsteadily on a log.
    This is like dancing on ice, Frank thought.
    Moments later, muddy and wet from the spray of