Read Encyclopedia Brown Solves Them All Online
Authors: Donald J. Sobol
Encyclopedia Brown Solves Them All (2 page)
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Encyclopedia ran his fingers over every inch of the floor.
The search did not take long. The clubhouse was tiny. The only bits of furniture were a carved up table and six orange crates which the Tigers used for chairs.
Encyclopedia got down on his hands and knees. He ran his fingers over every inch of the floor. He found seven nails, a clothes hanger, two comic books, three dried leaves, and a half inch of dirt and dust.
Next he turned to the wood box which the Tigers used as a wastebasket. It held two more comic books, an old newspaper, a rusty belt, and a broken checkerboard.
When Encyclopedia was finished with the wastebasket, he went outside.
Again he got down on all fours. He circled the clubhouse, digging his fingers into the grass and weeds. He touched every bit of ground for ten feet around the clubhouse.
Abner knelt beside him. “Are you looking for clues?”
Encyclopedia nodded, but did not reply.
“What did you find?” Abner pressed.
Encyclopedia opened his hand. “This,” he said. On his palm were a piece of string, a paper clip, and several bubble-gum wrappers.
“There’s nothing else around but plain old earth, grass, and weeds,” said Encyclopedia.
Bugs sat down in the clubhouse doorway. He plucked a long stalk of grass and chewed on it triumphantly.
“Well, now, Mr. Brains,” he said. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“No,” answered Encyclopedia. “And that proves you weren’t in the clubhouse all afternoon!”
WHAT MISSING CLUES
PROVED BUGS LIED?
PROVED BUGS LIED?
(Turn to page 87 for the solution to the Case of the Missing Clues.)
The Case of the Super-Secret Hold
The heart of Bugs Meany was filled with a great longing.
It was to knock Encyclopedia flatter than an elephant’s instep.
Bugs hated being outsmarted by the boy detective. But whenever he felt like throwing a punch, he remembered Sally Kimball.
Sally was the prettiest girl in the fifth grade. It wasn’t her face, however, that the toughest Tiger remembered. It was her fists.
Sally had done what no boy under fourteen had even dreamed of doing. She had outfought Bugs Meany.
Bugs told everyone that Sally had hit him with a few lucky punches. Nobody believed his story, including Bugs himself. He thought she had hit him with a milk truck.
Because of Sally, Bugs never bullied Encyclopedia. Sally was the detective’s junior partner.
“Bugs hates you more than he hates me,” En cylopedia said as the partners sat in the Brown Detective Agency one afternoon. “You can be sure he’ll try to get even.”
Sally agreed. “He’s like a thermometer in hottest Africa,” she said. “He’s always up to something.”
Just then Duke Kelly, one of Bugs Meany’s Tigers, entered the garage. He put twenty-five cents on the gasoline can. “Bugs wants you,” he said.
“He wants to
hire us?”
gasped Sally.
hire us?”
gasped Sally.
“No, he wants you to come to the judo show this afternoon,” said Duke. “The twenty-five cents will pay for your time.”
Encyclopedia and Sally exchanged questioning glances.
“The judo show starts at two o‘clock in the junior high school gym,” said Duke.
“Judo?” Encyclopedia repeated half to himself. “The gentle art of self-defense?”
“Judo is the art of using your opponent’s strength against him,” said Duke, “or her.”
With that he departed, grinning slyly.
“Bugs has more up his sleeve than his elbow,” said Encyclopedia thoughtfully. “But I’m curious.”
“So am I,” said Sally. “Let’s find out.”
The junior high school gym was already filled with boys and girls when the detectives arrived. Coach Richards, who ran the summer sports program, spoke briefly. He explained the aims of judo.
Then four men from the Idaville Judo Center took places on the mat in the middle of the floor. They wore white trousers and a loose jacket bound at the waist by a knotted belt. For half an hour they demonstrated holds, locks, throws, and escapes.
After the children had stopped clapping, Coach Richards spoke again.
“Judo is not only for grown-ups,” he said. “Three of our own junior high school students will now show you what they have learned in two short weeks.”
Bugs Meany and two of his Tigers, Spike Larsen and Rocky Graham, trotted onto the mat. They wore the same white costumes as the men.
“Gosh, he’s really good,” said Sally as Bugs began flipping Spike and Rocky to the mat like baseball cards.
“They know how to fall without getting hurt,” said Encyclopedia. “But the throws are an act. Bugs couldn’t toss Spike and Rocky if they didn’t let him.”
After a whirlwind five minutes, the Tigers lined up and bowed. Coach Richards stepped forward to thank them.
Bugs held up his hand. “I’m not finished,” he said.
Coach Richards moved back, surprised.
Bugs repeated the grip on Rocky.
Spike strode toward Bugs. He stopped within a foot of his leader.
Bugs shot a hand to Spike’s throat. When he pulled the hand away, Spike fell over on his back and did not move.
Bugs repeated the grip on Rocky. He, too, fell over on his back and lay unmoving.
“You just saw my super-secret hold,” announced Bugs. “I completely knocked out Rocky and Spike. But I didn’t hurt them. If I really wanted to, though, I could break their necks for life.”
Rocky and Spike stirred. They crawled off the mat shaking their heads.
The gym had grown silent. All eyes were on Bugs.
“Now you’re asking yourselves, ‘Where did Bugs learn this terrible hold?’ ” he continued. “I’ll tell you. I wrote to a famous professor in Japan for the secret.”
Bugs strutted up and down the mat. “A lot of you have heard about a certain girl who is supposed to have licked me,” he went on. “Now you know I wasn’t trying. I could have put her in the hospital, only I’m a gentleman.”
His meaning was clear, and all the children understood. Bugs was challenging Sally to a rematch, then and there! If Sally refused to fight, or if she were beaten, Bugs would rule the neighborhood. The Brown Detective Agency would be powerless to halt his bullying.
A small boy near Sally pleaded, “Don’t fight him. He could
kill
you!”
kill
you!”
But Encyclopedia whispered into Sally’s ear. As she listened, her lips tightened. “Super-secret hold, phooey!” she snorted. A moment later she was on the mat.
Bugs turned white. He had thought to scare her. Now
he
was the one who was scared.
he
was the one who was scared.
There was nothing for him to do but fight. He reached for Sally’s throat and took a thump in the stomach.
Fortunately for Bugs, his two-week course in judo had taught him how to fall. Sally’s fists gave him plenty of practice. Eventually he lay on his back and refused to get up.
“I can’t go on,” he wailed. “I hurt my back lifting a big box this morning.”
“He must have hurt his head,” thought Encyclopedia, “to believe anyone would fall for his super-secret hold!”
WHY DIDN’T ENCYCLOPEDIA
BELIEVE THE HOLD?
BELIEVE THE HOLD?
(Turn to page 88 for the solution to the Case of the Super-Secret Hold.)
The Case of the Wagon Master
“Sssh!” whispered Sally. “I think we are about to be attacked.”
Encyclopedia listened. He heard a faint rustle of leaves outside the Brown Detective Agency. But he could see no one.
“It must be Joe Cooper,” he said quietly.
For a long time nothing happened. Then a voice barked, “Bang! Bang!”
From behind the bush jumped a boy dressed like Daniel Boone. He wore a suit of buckskin, a coonskin cap, and moccasins with colored beads. He was aiming a rusty old rifle at the detectives.
“Joe Cooper!” scolded Sally. “You shouldn’t go around scaring people like that!”
“I’m on the warpath,” announced Joe.
Joe came from one of Idaville’s oldest families. The Coopers had settled in the area when it was still overrun by palmetto palms and Indians. Whenever Joe felt mad at anybody, he went “on the warpath.” He dressed up like a frontiersman and pretended to shoot his enemy. It made him feel better.
“I could have filled you both with holes,” he said proudly.
Encyclopedia knew Joe’s rifle was so old and rusted it couldn’t shoot gumdrops. “I’m glad you missed,” he said, playing along.
“I missed you on purpose,” said Joe. “It’s not you I’m mad at today. It’s Buck Calhoun.”
“Holy cats!” exclaimed Encyclopedia. “Buck Calhoun has been dead for a hundred years. You can’t shoot
him!”
him!”
“Of course not! What do you think is making me so mad?” shouted Joe. Then, in a calmer voice he said, “Did you see the story about him in the newspaper this morning?”
Encyclopedia nodded. The newspaper re ported that a statue of Buck Calhoun had been unveiled at Fort Hope. The statue honored Buck’s quick thinking in saving a wagon train in 1872.
“I want to hire you,” Joe said.
“They’ve made a hero out of that bird-brained phoney!” said Joe. “Why, he was too stupid to stay with the Army as an Indian scout. He led the Fourth Cavalry into so many ambushes the troopers figured he was half redskin and half blind.”
Joe slapped twenty-five cents on the gasoline can.
“I want to hire you,” he said. “My great-grandfather was wounded because of Buck Calhoun, and he had to retire from the Army. Prove Buck
wasn’t
a hero! Then they’ll have to tear down the statue of him.”
wasn’t
a hero! Then they’ll have to tear down the statue of him.”
“We can only do our best,” said Encyclopedia carefully.
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