Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt (5 page)

BOOK: Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt
11.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Benny’s father had bought him a special pup tent. It was heavily lined and supposedly soundproof.

“It’ll work, wait and see,” Encyclopedia said.

“What has
seeing
got to do with it?” Charlie protested. “Benny can’t snore anyone blind, just deaf.”

The two boys were biking to Benny’s house. Encyclopedia had a pup tent strapped on his back. Charlie had the fishing poles and a knapsack filled with sandwiches and juices. Their saddlebags bulged with camping gear.

Benny was waiting for them by his front door. His back and his bike were loaded for the overnight outing.

The camping grounds lay at the south end of the State Park. The boys arrived early enough to claim the best site.

Benny’s new tent was blue with red piping. Encyclopedia fingered a flap. The canvas was as thick as leather.

“You can blow a trumpet in there and no one will hear you,” Benny said proudly.

“So what?” Charlie whispered to Encyclopedia. “Who can blow a trumpet as loud as Benny’s nose?”

Encyclopedia and Charlie pitched their tent as far from Benny’s as they dared. Any farther would have been an insult. Any closer meant shock waves.

The boys were throwing a football when two sixth-graders, John Carter and Gower Bell, biked up. They looked at Benny and paled. They retreated as if they’d seen a hurricane approaching.

They put up their tent at what seemed a safe distance. Then they came over and joined in throwing the football.

After an hour everyone tired of the game. Gower Bell knew a fishing spot along the shore. The boys got their rods and headed for the ocean.

As they slid down a brambly slope, John Carter let out an “Ouch!” A thorn was stuck deep in his finger.

“I’ll get it out,” Gower Bell said. “Be right back.”

He went to their tent and returned with a tiny sewing kit. It held three needles and some white thread. He sterilized a needle by burning the tip with a match, and dug out the thorn. For protection he spread some disinfectant
jelly over the wound and bound it with a strip of adhesive bandage.

John Carter had the bandage, but Benny had the touch. No one else landed a fish. Benny caught two yellowtails, a red snapper, and a sheepshead, plus some dirty looks from John and Gower.

Encyclopedia built a fire and Benny fried the fish. After eating, the five boys sat around the fire and talked baseball and teachers till it was time to turn in.

“How soon before Benny falls asleep?” Charlie asked anxiously.

“Too soon,” Encyclopedia replied.

Within five minutes Benny’s soundproof tent was given its first field test. It flunked.

“Sounds like Benny is sawing wood,” Encyclopedia said.

“Sounds like he’s cutting down a lumberyard,” Charlie corrected. “Here, have a couple.”

He handed Encyclopedia two balls of cotton. The detective plugged his ears. The cotton didn’t help.

An hour passed. Encyclopedia heard a raindrop, and then another and another. All at
once, rain was drumming on the tent.

Charlie moaned. “Benny finally did it. He snored up a storm!”

Hour after hour, the snores and the storm did battle.

“Benny’s winning,” Charlie muttered.

It was midnight before the two friends fell asleep, exhausted.

The rain had stopped when Benny woke them at dawn. “Someone ruined my new tent,” he blurted.

Encyclopedia and Charlie took a look. Benny’s new tent was full of tiny holes.

“Who would do such a mean thing?” Benny said. He seemed on the verge of tears.

“Didn’t you hear or see anyone last night?” Charlie asked.

“I had my head in my bedroll, trying to keep dry,” Benny replied. “It was like sleeping in a car wash.”

Encyclopedia examined the muddy ground around Benny’s tent. He found an adhesive bandage like the one Gower Bell had put on John Carter’s finger. Beside the bandage was a penny.

“Did you find something?” Benny asked.

The detective picked up the muddy bandage and penny. “These.”

Benny’s face brightened. “Are they clues?”

Encyclopedia nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “But they only tell how the holes in the tent were made, not who made them.”

“I know who made them,” Charlie said. “Gower Bell and John Carter. Benny’s snoring kept them awake, so they put holes in his tent, the dirty rats!”

Charlie was all for marching over to Gower Bell and John Carter and knocking heads. Encyclopedia calmed him down.

The detective had a better way.

“We can use the bandage and the penny to get them to confess,” he said.

HOW?

(
Turn to
this page
for the solution to
The Case of the Leaking Tent.)

The Case of the Worm Pills

Olivia Bent put twenty-five cents on the gasoline can beside Encyclopedia.

“I need protection,” she announced.

“From whom?” Encyclopedia asked, sitting up.

“From myself. I’m getting greedy again,” Olivia explained. “Wilford Wiggins has a new money-making plan, and I want to believe him. He promises to make all us little kids so rich we can have a charge account with the ice-cream truck.”

“Oh, no,” Sally groaned. “Wilford never quits!”

Wilford Wiggins was a high-school dropout and too lazy to walk in his sleep. He spent his time dreaming up ways to cheat the children of the neighborhood out of their savings.

“Wilford has more pipe dreams than a plumber,” Sally said.

“You must understand him,” Encyclopedia said. “Wilford isn’t well. He’s suffers from ergasophobia—fear of work.”

“Wilford has called a secret meeting for five o’clock in the city dump,” Olivia informed the detectives. “He told us kids to bring all our money.”

“Wilford didn’t tell me about the meeting,” Encyclopedia pointed out.

“Wilford knows he can’t get anything out of you but trouble,” Olivia replied. “You’ve stopped his phony get-rich-quick deals all summer.”

“Stay home and save your money,” Sally urged. “Wilford is so crooked, he once tried to sell ashes from a campfire as instant log cabins. All you had to do was add water.”

“I know,” Olivia admitted. “But today may be different. He may have a really good deal. I want you to listen to him and give me your opinion.”

Encyclopedia looked at his watch. It was a quarter to five. “If we’re going to catch him, we’d better hurry.”

They reached the city dump as Wilford was about to start his sales pitch. He signaled the crowd of children to gather around him. At his feet was a large box of dirt and a sprinkling can filled with water.

Standing beside Wilford was Melvin Pugh. Melvin called himself Idaville’s leading boy inventor.

“Oh, my,” Sally gasped. “Double trouble.”

Encyclopedia knew what she meant. Wilford and Melvin had teamed up once before, trying to peddle a bowling ball without holes. It was supposed to be for women who were afraid of breaking their fingernails.

“I’ll bet the big deal today is a better mousetrap,” Sally said.

“Or how to breed dumb mice,” Encyclopedia replied.

Wilford had raised his hands for silence.

“You’re itching to know why all the secrecy,” he said. “Okay, I’ll tell you. I want to keep this chance of a lifetime strictly for my young friends.”

He paused. He had spotted Encyclopedia
and Sally standing with Olivia.

“This deal is so big that even smarty detectives will beg me to let them in,” he said, winking at his audience.

“Quit banging your gums,” someone hollered. “Get to the point.”

“Can’t wait to be rich, eh, friend?” Wilford shot back. “What is it that will make you oodles of money, you ask? Am I right? Well, you’re looking at it!”

He pointed to the box of dirt at his feet.

“Yes, I’m talking about this box,” he cried, and kicked it triumphantly. “Behold, a fortune!”

Bugs Meany pushed to the front of the crowd.

“Has anybody weighed your head lately?” Bugs demanded. “What’s so great about a box of dirt?”

“I knew you’d ask, friend,” Wilford said. “This box is full of worms.”

“I don’t see a thing,” Bugs grumbled.

“You will as soon as my partner, Melvin Pugh, brings them up. Show ’em your magic pill, the greatest little outdoor invention since tent pegs.”

Melvin took a white pill from his pocket. He
held it up for all to see before dropping it into the can of water. “Now watch the worms come up!” he sang, sprinkling the box of dirt.

The children crowded around, waiting for results. They waited and waited.

After what seemed hours, a worm wiggled to the surface. Then another and another. Eventually twelve worms lay upon the wet dirt.

“Did you see that?” Wilford screamed with excitement. “I put twelve worms in this box. Melvin’s magic pill brought every one out into the open.”

“Yucky, yucky, who cares about worms?” a girl said.

“Fishermen!” The word burst from Wilford as if he couldn’t hold it back any longer. “Do you know how many fishermen there are in Idaville? Thousands! Every one of ’em needs cheap live bait—like
worms.”

“You can start your own worm business,” Melvin said, his voice as sweet as the sight of cash. “Buy a bottle of my magic worm pills and sprinkle your backyard. If you don’t want to dirty your hands, sprinkle your front yard. You’ll sweep the little darlings off the sidewalk like so many dollar bills.”

Wilford said, “For today only, I’m offering
you a special low, low rate. A bottle of twenty of the magic worm pills for only five dollars!”

The children chattered excitedly. There was money to be had in selling worms to fishermen, all right. The pills made it easy—and gave a little kid the chance to start a business.

“What do you think, Encyclopedia? Should I buy a bottle of Melvin’s pills?” Olivia asked.

“Buy his pills and all you’ll get is a soaking,” the detective replied.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE PILLS?

(Turn to
this page
for the solution to
The Case of the Worm Pills.)

Solution to
The Case of the Masked Robber

Mr. Crandan said the robber was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. So he must have seen the robber’s forearms.

The racquet arm of a tennis professional like Carl Enright, who played for twenty years, would be heavily developed. Thus, if the robber had one forearm much thicker than the other, he was Carl. If both forearms were
about the same size, he was Fred, the store clerk.

Mr. Crandan, himself a tennis teacher, could have immediately told whether the robber was Carl or Fred by the forearms. The fact that he didn’t proved he had lied.

He had hoped to collect the insurance money, throw suspicion on one of the Enrights, and still keep the three screens.

Solution to
The Case of the Round Pizza

BOOK: Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt
11.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Rebel of Antares by Alan Burt Akers
Alien Sex 102 by Allie Ritch
El dador de recuerdos by Lois Lowry
Flight From Honour by Gavin Lyall
Junk Miles by Liz Reinhardt
Girl Saves Boy by Steph Bowe
Daughters of Silence by R.L. Stine