The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Evil Eye (4 page)

“He's always happy to see you scouts. Just go in and see him. He's in his study,” said Gran. Then she headed for her garden shed.

“Who's there?” snarled Gramps when Brother knocked on the study door.

“It's the Bear Scouts, Gramps,” said Brother. “May we come in?”

“Sure. Sure,” said Gramps.

The scouts could tell he was in a foul mood from the sound of his voice. Gramps, who was very fond of the scouts, was usually eager to show them his newest carving or his latest ship-in-a-bottle project. But not today. He was pacing back and forth with a worried look on his face. You could almost see the black cloud of worry over his head.

“What's the matter, Gramps?” asked Brother.

“There's trouble ahead!” said Gramps.

“What sort of trouble?” asked Sister.

“Weasel trouble,” said Gramps. “Nobody as mean, smart, and tough as Weasel McGreed is going to be stopped by a mere earthquake. I don't know where, and I don't know when. But we haven't heard the last of McGreed. Count on it. I can feel it in my bones.”

The scouts looked at each other and shrugged. Everybody knew that the weasels had been wiped out in the earthquake. Everybody except Gramps. There was no point in arguing with Gramps's bones. The scouts turned to leave just as Gran appeared at the door.

“I've got a good selection of plants ready,” she said. “I've put them in these plastic bags to keep them moist. Each plant has a name tag. There's also a list of some other things you'll need for your project.”

“That's great, Gran,” said Brother. “Thanks a million!”

Then the scouts headed for their secret clubhouse at the far edge of Farmer Ben's farm. That's where they would organize their expedition.

Ralph was cutting across Farmer Ben's pasture on the way to keeping his date with the archweasel. The idea of using hypnotism to swindle folks out of their money had put the spring back in his step and the dollar signs back in his eyes. He had worked as a hypnotist's assistant back in his carnival days. While the hypnotist dazzled the audience by making some poor sucker bark like a dog, Ralph picked their pockets. So Ralph knew that hypnotism worked and had a general idea how to do it. All he needed was a refresher course. “Hmm,” said Ralph, reading the hypnotism article as he crossed Farmer Ben's cow pasture.

“He's reading some kind of a magazine,” said Brother. He was watching Ralph with the field glasses that always hung on a hook in the scouts' secret clubhouse.

“Bad idea!” said Sister.

“Right!” said Fred with a grin. “You should never go across Ben's cow pasture without looking where you're going.”

“It's just a matter of seconds till he slips on a cow pie,” said Brother. “There he goes!” cried Brother, breaking into laughter.

“Let me have those,” said Lizzy, taking the field glasses.

“Let me see!” said Fred, reaching for them.

“Me, too!” demanded Sister.

“Hold it!” said Lizzy, elbowing Fred and Sister aside.

“What is it, Lizzy?” said Brother.

“That magazine Ralph was reading when he slipped,” said Lizzy. “I can read it.”

Lizzy's fellow scouts didn't doubt that for a second. Lizzy had super eyesight without field glasses.
With
field glasses she could count gnats a mile away.

“What's it say?” said Brother.

“It's about hypnotism,” said Lizzy, reading. “‘Gain power over others with the evil eye!'”

“The evil eye!” said Sister with a shiver.

“Hypnotism,” said Fred, who read the encyclopedia just for fun. “A strange power discovered more than a hundred years ago by that great magician Anton Grizmer.”

“Never mind about Grizmer,” said Brother. “Ralph Ripoff and hypnotism are a scary combination.”

“What can we do about it?” asked Sister.

“Nothing much at the moment,” said Brother. “We've got to figure out how we're going to get these plants up the mountain.”

Across the pasture, a group of cows watched Ralph pick himself up and brush himself off.

“Blasted cows! Why don't you look where I'm going?” said Ralph. Hmm, he thought. Why don't I try my evil eye on one of these cows?

Being careful to watch his step, he walked over to one of the cows. He took out his watch and swung it gently in front of the calm, quiet, cud-chewing cow. “Look me in the eye, Bossy. Look me deep in the eye. You are coming under my spell. You are coming under my power.” The cow followed the movements of the watch as if it were a tennis match.

“Listen very carefully,” said Ralph. “You are no longer a cow. You are a bull. An angry, snorting bull.”

The cow lowered her head and snorted. She pawed the ground like an angry bull.

“Whoa, Bossy!” said Ralph. He sensed that she was about to charge. And charge she did. She chased Ralph clean across the pasture. Ralph managed to escape over the fence in the nick of time.

“It worked! It worked!” said Ralph, trying to catch his breath after his long run. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea making the cow think she was a bull, but that wasn't the point. The point was that there was power in hypnotism. Power over the minds of others. Power over the actions of others. Who needed sleeve cards, loaded dice, and fake four-leaf clovers when he had the power of the evil eye? Of course, there was more to hypnotism than making a sucker bark like a dog or making a cow charge like a bull. He would have to practice. He would have to study.

As he walked along thinking about power over others, he heard a rumbling. At first he thought it was the sound of distant thunder. Then he realized it was the sound of Bigpaw singing way off in the Great Grizzly Mountains. Talk about a tin ear—a
big
tin ear.

Hmm, thought Ralph. Power over others. Power over Bigpaw. Anyone who had power over Bigpaw could . . . what was it McGreed was always saying? “Take over Bear Country, lock, stock, and honeypot.” Why not take over Bear Country, lock, stock, honeypot,
and
the folks, fields, forests, factories, and everything else in between? Bigpaw was far and away the strongest force in Bear Country, and anyone who controlled him could control Bear Country. And there were those trouble-making, scheme-foiling Bear Scouts to worry about.

Ralph knew there was one power that hypnotism could not control. At least that's what it said in the magazine. It was the power of love. And Bigpaw loved the Bear Scouts. There was a powerful bond between them. Bigpaw would never do anything to hurt the scouts. But, even so, there was no way of getting close enough to Bigpaw to hypnotize him. The big fellow wasn't too bright, but he was shrewd and wary. One false move in his direction and he could squash you like a grape.

The sound of Bigpaw's singing kept rumbling in Ralph's ear. Hmm, thought Ralph,
the singing.
Yes, maybe the singing . . .

A plan began to form in Ralph's twisted mind. He would need help, of course. But help lay just ahead—in Weaselworld.