Frank sat up as Nancy said, “We need to get off. We’re heading right for the lake. If the trailer doesn’t stop, it’ll go right through the ice.”

“We’ve got to jump,” Frank said.

As they turned around, they saw people were already jumping off the trailer. The trailer picked up more speed. Frank said, “We need to jump now.”

Bess and George jumped first. The hit the ground and rolled away from the trail. Callie and Vanessa jumped next and landed in a pile of snow. Joe jumped right after the girls.

Nancy yelled, “Frank jump!”

“Not until you go!” Frank yelled struggling to stay on his feet.

“Come on!” Ned yelled. “We jump now or we go into the water.”

“Jump!” Frank yelled.

The three of them jumped off the trailer and hit the ground hard. They had the wind knocked out of them. Nancy closed her eyes as she rested there trying to get her breath back. She thought, I always thought snow was supposed to be soft. Not hard as a rock.

She took her time before attempting to move and a few minutes later, she was able to breathe. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She looked around and saw Frank and Ned were still in the snow.

The others were hurrying toward them. She dug her way out of the snow and made her way to Ned. He was facedown in the snowdrift.

“Ned, are you all right?” She reached down and rolled Ned over. She noticed his face was pale in the moonlight.

“Is he all right?” a voice asked.

Nancy turned her head and saw Frank kneeling beside her. Nancy said, “I don’t know.”

She leaned down to Ned’s face. She put her ear to his lips to check if he was breathing. Her ear was an inch from his mouth when she was grabbed and pulled to the ground. Nancy squealed as she hit the ground. She realized Ned was all right. She reached up and wrapped her arms around Ned’s neck.

“Oh, Ned. Don’t ever do that again. I thought you were hurt.”

“I’m all right,” Ned said pulling Nancy close. “What about you?”

“I’m okay.” Nancy leaned back and looked at his face.

“Good.” Ned got to his feet and pulled Nancy up beside him.

Nancy turned and looked at the others. They appeared unhurt, but shaken. Nancy asked, “Is anyone hurt?”

“We’re fine,” Frank said putting his arm around Callie. “But the trailer is gone.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look.” Frank pointed toward the lake.

Nancy and Ned turned to face the lake. They could see the trailer had broken through the ice and was slowly sinking. Nancy couldn’t believe how lucky they’d been. If they had stayed on the trailer any longer, they would’ve ended up in the lake.

“Is everyone all right?” a voice called out from behind them.

They all turned and saw an officer hurrying toward them. George said, “We’re fine.”

“Can anyone tell me what happened?”

“Somehow the trailer became unhitched,” Joe said.

“Did anyone see anybody that wasn’t supposed to be around the trailer?”

“We didn’t see anyone.”

The others agreed with anyone. They turned and watched the trailer sink out of sight. They all realized how lucky they were. Joe broke the silence. “So, what else are we going to do?”

“I hate to say it,” Vanessa began, “but I’m exhausted.”

“I have to admit, I am too,” Callie said.

“I guess we can call it a night,” Frank said. “It is getting late.”

“Come on,” Ned said. “Let’s head for the cars.”

Nancy walked beside Ned. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and pulled her close. As they walked along, Nancy thought back to when they arrived at the tractor. She knew it was possible that someone could have tampered with the hitch. She realized she had seen someone who could have messed with it.

She felt someone stop her by taking hold of her arm. She looked up and saw Ned staring at her with concern. She asked, “What is it?”

“I should be asking you that. You’ve been awfully quiet.” Ned touched her face with a gloved hand. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

Nancy smiled. “I’m fine.”

“What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing important. I was just thinking about the ball.”

Ned wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “We will have a good time.”

“You’re right.”

Ned leaned down and gave Nancy a kiss. When they pulled apart, Ned said, “We should probably catch up to the others.”

“All right.”

When they reached the cars, Bess and George were already gone. They said goodnight and climbed into the cars. As they pulled away from the lake, Nancy tried to push the incidents out of her mind. She thought, I’m making things out of nothing. I’m seeing things that aren’t really there. I need to forget about it.

* * * * *

At the same time, Frank was wondering what was going on. As he sat in the back seat, he tried to piece things together. For some reason, he couldn’t believe both incidents were unrelated. Something bothered him and he couldn’t put his fingers on it. He knew trailers didn’t come unhitched. He figured someone must have tampered with it.

“Frank?” a voice asked breaking into his thoughts.

Frank looked up and saw Joe staring at him. Frank asked, “Did you say something?”

“Are you all right?” Joe asked. “You seem out of it.”

“I have this feeling the trailer was tampered with.”

“Sabotage?” Joe asked.

“Maybe,” Frank said. “Trailers don’t usually come unhitched.”

“But why would someone tamper with the trailer?” Ned asked. “What’s the reason?”

“I don’t know yet,” Frank said. “But there’s trouble brewing. Someone could have messed with the hitch without anyone noticing.”

“But there’s no way to check it out now since the trailer is at the bottom of the lake,” Joe said.

“I know,” Frank sighed. “I wish it hadn’t sunk.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it now,” Ned said. He changed the subject. “There’s going to be a hockey game tomorrow afternoon. We could go play if you want.”

“Count me in,” Joe said. “It’s been a while since I played.”

“Is should be fun,” Ned said. “Then, Mr. Drew invited all of us to dinner tomorrow night.”

“Wait a second,” Joe said. “Where is this dinner going to be?”

Frank saw Ned smile. Ned said, “Joe, I hate to break it to you, but jeans are not allowed in the restaurant.”

“You mean I have to dress up?”

“Vanessa will probably think you look better in a suit.”

“As soon as I put on a suit, Vanessa will want me to wear one all the time.”

“It could be worse,” Frank said.

“I don’t think it could get any worse.”

“Sure it could,” Ned said. “Vanessa could make you wear a tuxedo every day.”

“Oh,” Joe groaned.

“Come one,” Frank said. “It won’t kill you.”

“Not yet, anyway.”

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.