Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch (3 page)

Mr. Scotty walked toward the high rock.

“One fine day,” he went on, “Johnny Kid got fed up with losing money to a sixty-card deck. So he hid behind this here rock and waited his chance.”

Mr. Scotty then acted out what Johnny Kid had done so long ago. He crouched behind the high rock.

“Along about this time of morning—nine o’clock,” Mr. Scotty continued,” Ringo Charlie comes riding along.”

Here the skinny guide rose from his crouch. He rounded the stone corner and turned and started back toward it. Now he was acting out the part of Ringo Charlie.

As Mr. Scotty moved toward the corner, he squinted into the morning sun. One hand was cupped above where a pistol would hang at his hip.

Encyclopedia could almost see Johnny Kid crouched behind the rock, waiting in ambush. Mr. Scotty was Ringo Charlie riding toward him, unaware.

Mr. Scotty picked up the tale again.

“Johnny Kid saw Ringo Charlie’s shadow coming while Ringo Charlie was still on the other side of the rock. Out jumps Johnny Kid from behind the rock, both guns blazing. Ringo Charlie is hit. But his horse breaks into a gallop and carries him back to town.”

Mr. Scotty squirted more tobacco juice. He hit a lizard between the eyes.

“Ringo Charlie,” he said, “told the townsfolk what had happened. A fair fight was one thing, but Johnny Kid had taken foul advantage of poor Ringo Charlie, and Ringo Charlie was cousin to half the town.”

Mr. Scotty stopped talking. He started toward his horse. It was a nice effect. A fat man in a yellow shirt cried, “Well, what happened?”

“Why,” said Mr. Scotty, turning. “Ringo Charlie’s cousins chased Johnny Kid clear into Oklahoma!”

“They should have caught and hanged him!” exclaimed the fat man.

“If they had,” spoke up Encyclopedia, “they’d have hanged an innocent man.”

“Wh-what’s that you say, boy?” gasped Mr. Scotty.

“Ringo Charlie lied about the shooting,” said Encyclopedia.

Mr. Scotty nearly swallowed his tobacco. “Why?”

“I guess he hated to admit he’d been beaten by Johnny Kid in a gun fight,” replied Encyclopedia.

“Appears like you’re a right smart young fellow,” said Mr. Scotty. “Now tell me how you can know so much about something that happened eighty-five years ago?”

“Whether it happened then or yesterday wouldn’t make any difference,” said Encyclopedia. “Ringo Charlie can’t lie about the laws of nature!”

Led by Mr. Scotty, the party of eastern tourists rode the Texas range. The hotel manager had promised them “Historic Scenes of the Old Wild West.” Who knew what another mile might bring?

Encyclopedia Brown knew. More blisters. He rode last in line. Behind him came only the chuck wagon with the food. Around noon, even the chuck wagon passed him.

Encyclopedia didn’t mind. It was lunch time.

Most of the tourists (including Encyclopedia) ate standing up. It made the boy detective mad to see his father sitting contentedly on the ground.

“You don’t look well, Leroy,” he said.

“I wish Bugs Meany were sitting in my place,” said Encyclopedia.

Chief Brown grinned. “I had the cowboy at the hotel give you the gentlest horse in the stable.”

“Then I must have the toughest saddle,” answered Encyclopedia. “Say, Dad, do you think I made Mr. Scotty mad before?”

“No, but you upset him when you figured out the truth about the gunfight between Ringo Charlie and Johnny Kid,” replied his father.

“I’ll try to keep still,” vowed Encyclopedia.

For the next half hour of riding there was little else to do. The horses plodded across flat grasslands. At last Mr. Scotty called, “Dismount here, folks.”

The skinny little guide led the way to a pocket formed by nine high rocks.

“Now this here spot is called Outlaw Cemetery. It was so named on account of the five outlaws done in here eighty years ago,” he began.

“Them outlaws held up the bank at River Falls. They escaped with twelve thousand dollars in gold,” said Mr. Scotty.

“Sheriff Wiggins immediately set out after the desperadoes. But he was new on the job and forgetful. He forgot to put on his six-gun.”

Mr. Scotty paused. He looked at the crowd of tourists to see if everyone was paying attention. He looked especially at Encyclopedia.

Then he resumed his tale.

“One of the citizens of River Falls happened to enter the sheriff’s office. He saw the sheriff’s six-gun still on the desk. Quickly he spread the word. A posse of citizens was rounded up to ride out and help the unarmed lawman capture the bank robbers. About ten miles out of town the posse heard gun play. When the shooting stopped, the posse rode up to this here spot. Stretched out dead as fish in a barrel were them five outlaws.”

Mr. Scotty began hopping about as he warmed to his tale.

“Sheriff Wiggins,” he said, “had recovered the stolen gold. But he was wounded in his left arm. In his modest way, he told the posse what had happened. He said the lookout for the outlaws saw him coming and shot two bullets into his left arm.”

Suddenly Mr. Scotty clutched his left arm above the elbow. Then he made a leap and began to throw himself around.

“Sheriff Wiggins said he wrested the lookout’s pearl-handled six-gun away despite his wounded left arm. Then he shot the lookout with his own gun—a bullet through the heart it was.”

At this point, Mr. Scotty dropped to one knee. “Right away the other four outlaws came at Sheriff Wiggins shooting up a storm,” he said. “But the sheriff was cool as a hog on ice. He drilled them four desperadoes—
bang! bang! bang! bang!
in four seconds flat.”

The skinny little guide jumped to his feet. He was breathing heavily with the effort of acting out the heroic sheriff’s one-man stand against the five outlaws.

“The outlaws were buried on boothill,” he continued. “The stolen gold was returned to the bank at River Falls. Everybody in town claimed Sheriff Wiggins ought to run for President.”

Mr. Scotty dusted himself off carefully, letting the tourists wait for more of the story.

Then he said, “The town gave a dinner for the sheriff, though he said he didn’t deserve the honor. Why, he was only doing his duty getting back the stolen gold, he said. But Mr. Baker, the bank president, disagreed.”

Again Mr. Scotty broke off his tale to look at the tourists. He shot Encyclopedia a sly glance. It seemed to say, “Ready to solve this one, sonny?”

“Mr. Baker,” concluded Mr. Scotty, “said Sheriff Wiggins had done a mite more than his duty. And since this was the lawman’s last meal, he’d better eat well. Then Mr. Baker said something that made the three biggest men at the dinner seize Sheriff Wiggins. Somebody got a rope, and at sunrise they hanged the lawman!”

The tourists gasped in amazement.

After a brief silence, a lady from Vermont asked, “What did Mr. Baker say that made them hang the sheriff?”

“Why, now, that’s the puzzle, isn’t it?” replied Mr. Scotty. “I don’t expect that anybody here could solve it, could he?”

The skinny little guide did not mention anyone by name. But the grown-ups on the tour turned and looked at Encyclopedia.

Chief Brown looked at him, too. “Should I speak out, Dad?” asked Encyclopedia.

“If you know what Mr. Baker said that made the citizens hang Sheriff Wiggins,” said his father.

Encyclopedia took a step forward. “Mr. Baker said that—”

Encyclopedia had a good time in Texas. But for many days after his return to Idaville he did not ride his bike. It felt too much like a horse.

In the mornings he used his brains to solve cases in the Brown garage. Afternoons he used his feet. Usually he walked down to Mill Creek and fished with some of the gang—Billy and Jody Turner, Pinky Plummer, Herb Stein, Charlie Stewart, and Sally Kimball.

On very hot evenings Chief Brown drove by Mill Creek and gave Encyclopedia a lift home.

“Boy, this feels great,” said Encyclopedia one evening as he climbed into the air-conditioned patrol car. “It must be ninety degrees out.”

“Ninety-three,” said his father.

Just then the police radio blared.

Sergeant Murphy’s voice spoke from headquarters. He announced the news of a holdup.

The First Federal Savings and Loan Association had been held up ten minutes ago. The four masked bandits had escaped in a blue sedan. The car was last seen racing north on National Highway.

Sergeant Murphy signed off. Immediately Encyclopedia’s father picked up the two-way speaker.

“This is Chief Brown,” he said. “I’m at the corner of Mill and Commerce streets. I’ll go directly to National Highway. Send cars four and five out by the Midland road. Also, telephone the police in Allentown, Mooresville, and Devon Hills. Have them be on the lookout for the getaway car.”

Chief Brown put back the speaker. He swung the car about and speeded up.

Encyclopedia could feel his heart beating faster. He had never been on a real cops-and-robbers chase before.

“We can’t overtake them,” said his father. “They have too big a head start. I’m hoping that somebody saw what road they took.”

Chief Brown steered onto National Highway. He drove north, the direction the holdup men were reported to have taken.