Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Carnival Crime (4 page)

Encyclopedia agreed. He marveled at the motorcycle bikers who were riding inside a giant metal sphere without crashing into each other. He held his breath watching the trapeze artists somersaulting through the air. His lips felt hot when the fire swallow-ers closed their lips to cut off the air to the flames.

Only the lion tamer seemed a little bit off today. He could not get his lion, Felix the Ferocious, to do much of anything. He snapped his whip; he shouted into his megaphone—nothing seemed to help. The lion just lay there, casually flipping his tail from side to side.

The crowd tittered. The ringmaster came out with a wheelbarrow filled with steaks that he pushed to the lion tamer's side. The lion tamer threw several steaks to the lion, who didn't seem to notice. The whole audience was laughing now. The ringmaster shrugged broadly. Then he ushered the lion and the lion tamer out of the spotlight and hurriedly brought in a troupe of performing seals.

When the show was over, Phineas Dailey came in search of the Browns.

“An excellent show as usual,” Chief Brown told him.

“We thoroughly enjoyed it,” Mrs. Brown added.

“Especially the lion act,” said Encyclopedia. “It was very funny. I didn't expect that at all.”

“You weren't the only one,” Mr. Dailey replied.

Now that the crowd was filing out, the Browns could hear shouting behind one of the curtains.

Mr. Dailey looked at the Chief. “I wonder if you could do me a favor and investigate the constant quarreling between our ringmaster and our lion tamer. Nothing official, of course. If you could spare a few minutes . . .”

“Lead the way,” said Chief Brown.

The Browns followed Mr. Dailey backstage. It wasn't hard to find the lion tamer and the ringmaster. They were still yelling at each other in a corner.

The lion tamer was red in the face. “It's an outrage. It's sabotage.”

“Nonsense,” snapped the ringmaster. “Don't try to cover up your mistakes by playing innocent.”

“Mistakes?” sputtered the lion tamer. “You're speaking to Majesto, the greatest lion tamer of our time. Perhaps of any time. Even the greatest, though, cannot work miracles with a drugged lion.”

The ringmaster snorted. “Drugged, hah! A lazy lion is more likely. Lazy because of your poor training.”

“Hold on a second,” said Mr. Dailey. “Gentlemen, this is Chief Brown of Idaville and his family. The Chief's a personal friend who happened to attend today's performance. I've asked him to look into your, ah, disagreement.”

“There's not much to look into,” said Majesto. “I've been dating Lola, the trapeze artist. Her old boyfriend, Cocoa the clown, isn't very pleased about it. He must have drugged the lion sometime before the show started.”

“Assuming you're right, when would he have had to do that?” asked Chief Brown.

“I would guess an hour before showtime.”

“Not possible,” the ringmaster stated. “Cocoa and the other clowns were practicing a new routine all morning, right up until the show started.”

Majesto frowned. “Then someone else is responsible. I have made a lot of enemies on my rise to the top.”

“Anyone in particular and nearby?” asked Chief Brown.

Majesto nodded. “It could have been Lola's brother, Bruno.”

“He's the circus strongman,” Mr. Dailey explained.

“Bruno's never liked me,” the lion tamer said.

“You just can't admit to your own mistakes,” said the ringmaster. “Inventing suspects doesn't change the facts.” He turned to Mr. Dailey. “This act is really unacceptable, sir. I tried to cover up with that wheelbarrow of steaks.”

“Which I knew nothing about!” Majesto protested.

The ringmaster sneered. “Luckily for you the audience didn't notice. If people think the show has mistakes, they'll want their money back.”

Mr. Dailey turned to Chief Brown. “You see what I'm dealing with. We have to solve this mystery as soon as possible. Can you help?”

“What will help,” said the ringmaster, “is firing the lion tamer. This kind of behavior cannot go unpunished. What if the lion returns to being a dangerous animal because of poor training? What if it happens in the middle of a performance?”

“That's ridiculous,” said Majesto. “Felix would never do that.”

“Just like Felix would never be lazy,” retorted the ringmaster.

“You wouldn't dare say that if Felix were standing here!” said Majesto.

“Why not?” said the ringmaster. “Should I be afraid he would eat me? After all, he did turn down the steaks.”

“Hold on,” said Chief Brown. “We probably should talk to Bruno and then we'll see.”

The ringmaster snorted. “It's a waste of time. We all know who's guilty.”

“Maybe not,” says Encyclopedia. “After all, at the circus not everything is as it appears to be.”

 

WHO DOES ENCYCLOPEDIA SUSPECT?

 

 

 

(Turn to page 82 for the solution to “The Case of the Lazy Lion.”)

The Case of the Explorer's Map

Encyclopedia Brown opened his agency door one morning to find ten-year-old Sarah Jenkins sitting outside. “Wow!” he said. “You're here early.”

“I wanted to make sure I was first in line,” Sarah said.

Encyclopedia looked both ways. There was nobody else in sight. “No problem there,” he said.

“Good,” said Sarah. “I need your help right away.” She took out a quarter and placed it carefully on the old gasoline can. “You may not know this, Encyclopedia, but we've started a new club this summer. We're calling it the Lost and Found Club.

“The club members are all interested in explorers. The Explorers Club seemed like a boring name. Since explorers often get lost, and usually get found, we settled on the Lost and Found Club.

“Anyway,” she went on, “we're very interested in old maps. If you look at an explorer's route on a map today, it doesn't look so amazing because we now know where everything is. In the old days, explorers had no idea what was waiting for them beyond the horizon. They had to be brave and skillful.”

“And careful, too,” said Encyclopedia. “A lot of them died before achieving their goals.”

“Exactly,” said Sarah. “So you can understand how excited we were when Nate Switcher got in touch with us. He thought we would be interested in buying a map drawn by a Spanish mapmaker who accompanied Columbus on his historic voyage of fourteen ninety-two. Imagine what that trip must have been like. Sailing into uncharted waters . . . worrying about falling off the edge of the earth. . . .”

“Columbus wasn't concerned about that,” Encyclopedia said. “Knowledgeable sailors knew the earth wasn't flat.”

“That's a fact. I can picture it in my head. I see their faces peering into the mists,” Sarah said.

“They had to deal with more than mists,” Encyclopedia declared. “Certainly they had plenty of real things to worry about. Running out of food or fresh water. Fierce storms. Attacks from sea monsters . . .”

“Sea monsters?” said Sarah.

“That's the picture in
my
head,” Encyclopedia said.

Sarah laughed. “We figured you could help, you being a detective and all.”

“I can try,” Encyclopedia said. “I think I've seen Nate around town. He's a high school senior, isn't he? Where would he get a map like that?”

“He says he found it at a flea market on a trip his family took to Spain. I checked on that,” Sarah said. “The Switchers did go to Europe last summer. Since he bought it with his own money, his parents say he can do whatever he wants with it.”

“Why is he singling you out?”

“I guess he figures the Lost and Found Club has the most interest.” Sarah smiled. “And we do. He wants me to come over to his house for a look. I figured it would be good to get your opinion.”

“Okay,” said Encyclopedia. “Let's go.”

When Nate saw them coming, he smiled broadly. “Glad you could make it, Sarah. Obviously, you know a good opportunity when you hear one. I see you brought a friend. How nice.”

“So where's the map?” Sarah asked excitedly.

Nate laughed. “I understand your excitement. Imagine how I felt coming across the map under a pile of dusty papers. I have it right here.” He took it out of a box carefully and laid it out on a small table.

“Behold!” he cried. “Columbus and his New World.”

The map was yellow and stained. It was brown at the edges.

“Hmmm,” said Sarah. “There isn't much on it. Just a few islands and the words ‘Atlantic Ocean' printed in fancy letters.”

“That's what makes it authentic,” Nate said. “You have to remember that Columbus did not go too far north or south on his first voyage, so naturally the map doesn't show much of North or South America. Any map that showed all that might look truthful, but it would be a fake.”

“True enough,” said Encyclopedia.

“Exactly,” Nate said smoothly. “Your friend knows what he's talking about. Don't forget that the word ‘
America'
itself did not show up on a map until fifteen hundred and seven, and it had nothing to do with Columbus. A German mapmaker named America after another explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. He didn't really do that much for the honor, but the name stuck.”

“Nate seems to have his facts straight,” said Sarah.

“He's on a roll,” Encyclopedia allowed.

“As I said on the phone,” Nate went on, “I could sell this map to a museum if all I cared about was the money. The way I figure it, museums have way too much stuff already. They can't even display most of what they own. I don't want this map to be hidden in some dusty vault. I want it to be bought by people who will enjoy it openly—like the Lost and Found Club.”

“This map would be a real inspiration for us,” Sarah admitted. “What do you think, Encyclopedia?”

“Keep your money in your pocket,” the detective said. “That map will only take you in the wrong direction.”

 

WHAT MAKES ENCYCLOPEDIA THINK THAT?

 

 

 

(Turn to page 83 for the solution to “The Case of the Explorer's Map.”)

The Case of the Arrowhead Hunters

Encyclopedia Brown and his friend Henry Millsap were sitting by a snapping fire deep in the woods of the Idaville Campgrounds.

“I can't believe I found three Indian arrowheads,” said Henry.

He looked at them in his hand. The arrowheads were gray pieces of slate. Each one was about two inches long and had a chipped texture that looked like the scales of a fish.