Encyclopedia Brown Shows the Way by Donald J. Sobol Read Free Book Online Page A

branch is outside the fence that goes around Mr. Dale’s house and garage,” said Chief Brown. “At night, a big German shepherd named Rover runs loose inside the fence.”
    “Hmmm,” said Encyclopedia. “Ed crawled to the fence so as not to be seen and climbed over. But the question is, how did he get past Rover?”
    “Is Rover such a good watchdog?” asked Mrs. Brown.
    “Rover is an attack dog,” said Chief Brown. “He’s trained to bark at strangers and to seize their sleeves or trousers in his teeth.”
    “Ed could have fed him something to keep him quiet,” said Mrs. Brown.
    “Rover won’t take food from anyone except Mr. Dale,” replied Chief Brown.
    “Didn’t Mr. Dale hear anything at all last night?” asked Encyclopedia.
    “He heard Rover growling,” said Chief Brown. “Since Rover is trained to bark at strangers, Mr. Dale thought the dog was chasing a frog or a rabbit. He didn’t get out of bed to look.”
    “Perhaps Ed clubbed Rover and knocked him out,” offered Mrs. Brown.
    “Rover wasn’t hurt,” said Chief Brown. “Well... not in the usual way.”
    “What do you mean, Dad?” inquired Encyclopedia.
    “This morning Mr. Dale found Rover curled up by the back door, whimpering,” said Chief Brown. “The poor dog has been that way ever since. He won’t eat. It’s as if he had a nervous breakdown last night.”
    “My word!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown. She looked at Encyclopedia for help.
    The boy detective had already closed his eyes. He always closed his eyes when he did his deepest thinking on a case.
    Suddenly he opened them. “Ed made the footprint. He stole Mr. Dale’s tools.”
    “But the footprint is too small,” protested Mrs. Brown.
    “The footprint was made when the earth was still wet from the rain,” said Encyclopedia. “It’s been hot and dry since.”
    “Of course!” cried Chief Brown. “How stupid of me! When earth dries, it shrinks. So the footprint is smaller than when it was made!”
    “Oh, Leroy!” said Mrs. Brown proudly. Then she gave a troubled frown. “But how did Ed get past Rover?”
    “The clue of the torn shirt tells us how, Mom,” answered Encyclopedia.
     
    HOW?

The Case of the Red Harmonica
    During the winter, Encyclopedia did his detective work at the dinner table. When school let out for the summer, he decided to help the children of the neighborhood.
    So he opened an office in the garage.
    Every morning after breakfast he hung out his sign.

    Thursday afternoon a small boy entered the detective agency. He looked as happy as a cheer-leader in a graveyard.
    “I want to hire you,” he said, putting twenty-five cents on the gasoline can beside Encyclopedia. “My name is Northcliff Hicks. Yesterday was one sad day for me.”
    “How come?” asked Encyclopedia.
    “Soft music,” replied Northcliff. “Do you know anything about soft music?”
    “It goes with soft lights,” answered Encyclopedia. “Is this some affair of the heart?”
    “No, of the ears,” said Northcliff.
    He explained. Yesterday afternoon he had been sitting by Mill Pond playing his new red harmonica. A big kid had come up holding a funny whistle.
    “The big kid said I might be good at playing loud,” said Northcliff. “But he was better at playing soft. In fact, he claimed to be the champion soft-music player of the world.”
    “Could he prove it?” asked Encyclopedia.
    “He challenged me to a soft-music contest,” said Northcliff. “His rules.”
    “That really tied your lips, eh?”
    “And how,” said Northcliff. “Each of us had to play a tune so softly the other couldn’t hear it, and yet loud enough to wake a bulldog that was sleeping across the pond.”
    “What did you play?”
    “ ‘Kitten on the Keys,’ ” said Northcliff. “I figured a dog would go for it. I might as well have played ‘The Dance of the Spanish Onion’ on a frankfurter roll. That mutt lay like a dead battery. Then the big kid said he’d blow ’Coney Island Babe’ on