Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace

Table of Contents

 

 

The bear cave was a mile outside the town line. When Encyclopedia and Elmer arrived, a crowd of boys and girls had already gathered to hear Wilford.

“Do you kids know what’s inside this cave?”

“Sure we know,” said Bugs Meany. “A lot of rock and a hole in the floor that goes down to China.”

Wilford laughed. “That hole is filled with gases that can kill you,” he said. “Nobody but me ever dared go down. You want to know what I found at the bottom of that hole?” cried Wilford. “Another cave, bigger than the one on top. On the walls were drawings—done by cavemen!”

He passed out three photographs.

“There’s the proof!” shouted Wilford.

Encyclopedia watched. “No caveman drew those pictures,” he said.

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First published in the United States of America by Dutton Children’s Books,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 1969
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008

 

Copyright © Donald J. Sobol, 1969

(Member of the Authors League of America, Inc.)
All rights reserved

 

Library of Congress Catalog Card number: 73-82912

eISBN : 978-1-101-04235-9

 

 

 

 

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

“Stay away from Idaville!”

Across the nation the warning sped from crook to crook.

Big and small, they knew what to expect if they tried anything funny in Idaville—a quick trip to jail. For more than a year, no child or grown-up had gotten away with breaking a law there.

How did Idaville do it? What secret lay behind its war on crime? No one could guess. Idaville looked like many other seaside towns its size.

It had two car washes, two delicatessens, three movie theaters, and four banks. It had rich families and poor families, churches and a synagogue, lovely beaches, and good places to fish.

And on Rover Avenue it had a red brick house with a white picket fence in front.

This was the real headquarters of Idaville’s war on crime. For within the red brick walls lived Encyclopedia Brown.

Encyclopedia’s father was chief of the Idaville police. For more than a year now Chief Brown had brought home his hardest cases. Encyclopedia solved them at the dinner table.

It pained Chief Brown not to tell the world. He wanted to shout from the rooftops, “My son is the greatest detective who ever walked in sneakers!”

But how could he?

Who would believe that the mastermind behind Idaville’s crime cleanup was ten years old?

Encyclopedia never let drop a word about the help he gave his father. He didn’t want to seem different from other fifth-graders.

His nickname was something else. There was nothing he could do about
it.

Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name, Leroy. Everyone else in Idaville called him Encyclopedia.

An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He had read more books than anybody, and he never forgot a word. You might say he was the only library in America that could play second base.

One evening his father ate his soup very slowly. Encyclopedia knew what that meant. Chief Brown had come up against a case he couldn’t solve.

Chief Brown put down his spoon. He leaned back and said, “Mr. Holt says he was robbed this afternoon.”

“Says?” questioned Mrs. Brown. “You make it sound as if you don’t believe him.”

“I’m not sure,” replied Chief Brown. “Mr. Holt owns the Silver Shop on Main Street. He claims that eight fine silver dishes were stolen. No one saw the holdup, however.”

“Why should he lie?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Mr. Holt won’t lose any money because of the robbery,” said Chief Brown. “He doesn’t own the silver dishes that were stolen.”

“Who owns them?” asked Encyclopedia.

“Mrs. Cartwright,” answered Chief Brown. “Mr. Holt agreed to show the dishes in his store. If he sold them at the price Mrs. Cartwright was asking, she was to pay him for his time and trouble.”

“Do you think he claimed the dishes were stolen so that he can sell them himself out of town and keep all the money?” asked Encyclopedia.

“It has been done before,” said Chief Brown.

“Did Mr. Holt see who held him up?” inquired Mrs. Brown.

“A single gunman,” said Chief Brown. “Mr. Holt is sure he can recognize the man if he sees him again.”

Chief Brown unbuttoned his shirt pocket. He took out a notebook.

“I wrote down everything Mr. Holt told me about the holdup,” he said to Encyclopedia. “Here is what he said happened.”

Chief Brown read:

 

Encyclopedia said, “Mr. Holt’s back was to the holdup man all the time. So how can he say he could recognize the man if he saw him again?”

Mrs. Brown looked at Encyclopedia proudly. She was always pleased when he solved a case before she got up to bring the main course.

“Mr. Holt said something else,” replied Chief Brown. He read again from his notebook.

 

Mrs. Brown glanced worriedly at Encyclopedia.

Encyclopedia had closed his eyes. He always closed his eyes when he did his heavy thinking.

Chief Brown put his notebook into his pocket. “It’s not such a simple case after all,” he said. “I can’t be sure that Mr. Holt isn’t telling the truth.”

Encyclopedia opened his eyes. “Is his business doing well?” he asked.

“No,” said Chief Brown. “I checked with his bank. He has borrowed a lot of money to keep the store going. I think he faked the robbery. With the money he will get from selling the silver dishes out of town, he can pay back the bank.”

“You aren’t being fair,” said Mrs. Brown. “Just because Mr. Holt needs money doesn’t mean he stole Mrs. Cartwright’s silver.”

“Have you ever seen the silver bowl he used as a mirror, Dad?” asked Encyclopedia.

“Your mother and I nearly bought the bowl last month, as a matter of fact,” said Chief Brown. “It’s about eleven inches across and rounded inside like a big spoon.”

“We just loved it,” said Mrs. Brown. “But it cost too much.”

“I’m glad you didn’t buy it,” said Encyclopedia.

“Why?” asked Chief Brown.

“Because Mr. Holt needed the fruit bowl for his story,” said Encyclopedia. “He was afraid he might not get away with a simple story of a holdup man. He had to add something that showed he acted to get back Mrs. Cartwright’s silver dishes. So he put in the part about using the fruit bowl as a mirror to see the holdup man’s face.”