Free The Secret of the Forgotten City by Carolyn G. Keene Page B

that bothers Bess it’s going too long without lunch.”
    The Nevada girls laughed. Doris Dunham said, “I hope you’re right about where she is but if you don’t find her there, come and tell us. We’ll help you hunt for her.”
    The kitchen was some distance away, but Nancy and George trudged there hopefully. Actually both girls were worried about Bess. With her bad ankle, how could she have walked so far, even if she was starving?
    Finally Nancy and George reached the kitchen and went in. There was a great deal of activity and a meal was almost ready. Bess was not there. Nancy asked the chef if he had seen her, but the answer was, “No.”
    Now George was sorry she had been facetious about her cousin. “The poor girl may have turned her ankle again and may be lying somewhere out there in the sand and dirt, literally burning up!”
    Nancy said nothing. She had heard a car coming. Wondering if Bess could be aboard, she walked over to where it was parked. To her astonishment, and George’s, the driver hopped out. Archie! He went around to the other side, opened the door, and assisted Bess to the ground.
    “Where have you two been?” George asked at once.
    Bess giggled. “Playing Cowboys and Indians. Only we weren’t on horses. We were in Archie’s car.”
    “That’s right,” the boy said. “We decided to see if those Mexicans really left and didn’t plan to double back.”
    “And they hadn’t?” Nancy asked.
    Archie said pompously, “Well, with me following them, they didn’t dare.”
    Nancy was disgusted. Bess thanked him for the ride, saying she had had a lot of fun. Then she joined the other girls, who assisted her back to their tent.
    “I thought you couldn’t stand Archie,” George chided her cousin.
    “Oh, he’s harmless and he can be fun. But I must admit it was a bumpy ride across this desert. Those Mexicans were actually running. Can you imagine that in this heat?”
    “No,” Nancy and George answered together.
    In a short time lunch was brought around to each tent. They were told that the evening meal would be served outdoors, and the whole group was to gather near the kitchen.
    When they assembled at dinnertime, Nancy asked Wanna if she would tell some of the stories and legends she had heard from the older Indians.
    “Glad to,” she replied.
    After dinner she began. “You know, until recently the Indians had no written language outside of their pictographs and petroglyphs. So a great many of the stories were handed down just through the telling of them.
    “When the tribes went to war, mixed marriages usually occurred. The young people and their children adopted the customs of both tribes. So at times one finds a combination of cultures.”
    Nancy said, “Then the Basket Makers could have joined other peoples, who wove more intricate patterns on their products.” Wanna said this was true.
    “What were baskets made of besides grass?” Ned asked.
    “Yucca and apocynum fibers. Later the people made sandals to protect their feet from rocks, heat, and the thorny cacti.”
    Wanna paused for a drink of water, then asked, “Do you know the story of the Great Drought?”
    “No,” Bess replied. “Only the story of the Great Flood.”
    The Indian girl smiled. “That was only forty days and forty nights of rain. The drought here lasted for several years. The Indians who settled nearby were farmers who grew thousands of bushels of corn each year. However, one year’s supply would have to feed a whole community for perhaps three years. Without rain and with streams drying up, there was no crop, year after year.”
    “You mean there was no fresh food for the people?” Bess asked.
    “That’s right. Besides the loss of corn for eating, pinon nuts and berries dried up or didn’t develop. The wild animals, too, were affected and went to look for fertile lands.”
    “What happened to the people?” George queried.
    “Some died, I’m sure,” Wanna replied. “But apparently most of