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Authors: Donald J. Sobol

Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down (6 page)

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Encyclopedia returned Sumner’s twenty-five cents.

“No charge,” he said. “I was going to the library today anyway. We can look up the names there.”

As they biked to the library, Sumner talked about his grand idea. The two-dollar bill would be as common as the one-dollar bill. Thomas Jefferson would soon rest in every cash register, purse, and pair of pants in Idaville!

At the library, Encyclopedia went to the reference desk. He asked for the book Members
of Congress.

“Joe Munson has it,” said Mrs. Silvers, the head librarian. “You may have it when he’s through. But it must not be taken from the building.”

Joe Munson was sitting at a table by himself, surrounded by books.
Members of
Congress was open in front of him, and he was copying from it.

“It’s total war!” declared Sumner under his breath. “Joe is a fan of Ulysses S. Grant. He wants Grant’s picture moved from the fifty-dollar bill to the one-dollar bill.”

“He’s got a tougher fight than you,” said Encyclopedia by way of encouragement.

“The dirty rat!” said Sumner. “I told him I was going to you for help. He probably raced straight here. He’ll keep that book all afternoon. His letters will get to Washington ahead of mine!”

“You can’t do anything but wait,” said Encyclopedia.

“Oh, no? I’ll fix him,” vowed Sumner. “I’ll give him the Sumner stare.”

Sumner sat down at the table and stared. Joe looked up. He saw Sumner staring at him. He shifted uncomfortably.

Encyclopedia knew Joe couldn’t take the famous Sumner eyeballing very long. He would soon give up and leave. Then Sumner would have Members
of
Congress.

In the meantime, there was nothing for Encyclopedia to do. So he went to the shelves marked “New Arrivals—One Week Books.” He had chosen three when Sumner hurried to him.

“Joe hid my two-dollar bill!” Sumner blurted.

“Sssh!” said several grown-ups angrily. “Sssh!”

Encyclopedia pushed Sumner outside where they could talk. Excitedly, Sumner told what had happened.

Joe had asked him for a two-dollar bill. Joe said he wanted to copy the serial number in order to prove to Congress that there were more two-dollar bills in use than fifty-dollar bills.

“I’m too trusting,” said Sumner. “I gave him the bill. I should have given him a cracked lip!”

After giving Joe the bill, Sumner had got up to get a drink. The water fountain wasn’t working, and so he had walked across the street to the gas station.

When he returned, Joe was gone. The table was empty except for Members
of
Congress, which lay open. Stuck beneath it was a note:

Sumner—I
put your
two-dollar
bill between pages
157
and
158 of
the gray book. Thanks—Joe.

Sumner had questioned the library aide, Clyde Jones. Clyde said that after Joe had left, he had cleared the table of books except for
Members of Congress
. He never removed books which were opened till closing time.

Then, Clyde said, he had put the other books on the table into his library truck and returned them to the shelves. He remembered a gray book. But he didn’t remember where he had returned it.

“Joe sure got even with me for staring at him,” said Sumner. “What a rotten trick he pulled. There must be a thousand gray books in the library—ten thousand, maybe. It’ll take days to find my two-dollar bill!”

“Take it easy,” said Encyclopedia. “I know where to find it.”

HOW DID ENCYCLOPEDIA KNOW?

(Turn to page 95 fo
r
the solution to The Case of the Two
-
Dollar
Bill.)

The Case of the Ax Handle

Saturday morning Encyclopedia went down to Mill Creek to fish.

He found the gang already there—Pinky Plummer, Herb Stein, Benny Breslin, Fangs Liveright, and Billy and Jody Turner. They looked as if the world had come to an end.

“Just when the fish were biting like crazy, we ran out of worms,” moaned Benny Breslin.

“I can find you more,” said a boy as he stepped from behind some palm trees. He picked up the can that had held the worms.

“I’m Ambrose Vining. I’ll be back,” he said and disappeared as suddenly as he had come.

Encyclopedia and his pals looked at one another and followed at a distance.

Ambrose walked slowly. He stopped often to pick up a branch, which he studied carefully. Each time he either threw it away or kept it instead of the one he had.

Finally he came to some soft, shaded ground. He put down the can and sank to his knees. He pushed the branch into the ground and rubbed it.

“This kid is weird,” said Benny Breslin.

“Wait ...” said Herb Stein. “He stopped rubbing.”

Worms had wiggled up near the branch. Ambrose dropped them into the can. Then he pushed the branch into another spot and rubbed again.

Encyclopedia and his pals could not hold their curiosity in. They stepped forward from hiding.

“How’d you do that?” demanded Jody Turner. “I mean, what is the trick you do with the branch?”

Ambrose pushed the branch into the ground and rubbed it
.

“I fiddle,” said Ambrose.

He explained. In the daytime, worms remain in the ground. So the worm hunter fiddles—he pounds a stick into the ground and rubs it to make it tremble.

“I get it,” said Encyclopedia. “The trembling spreads through the earth and brings the worms to the surface.”

“Does anyone else know about worm fiddling?” asked Billy Turner.

“Lots of people,” said Ambrose. “They use different strokes. And different tools. Some use ax handles. Some use sticks of wood or whatever works best for them.”

Fangs Liveright stared at the worms wiggling in the can. “How long has this been going on?”

“Since before I was born,” answered Ambrose. “But tomorrow is the big day. The first International Worm Fiddling Championship will be held in Glenn City. I’m entered.”

The boys gathered around Ambrose. They slapped his back and wished him luck.

Encyclopedia went one better. The next day he and Sally rode the bus to Glenn City to see Ambrose make history.

A crowd of a thousand was on hand to watch the championship contest on the high school football field. The two detectives spied Ambrose seated under the stands. He was near tears.

“The championship will start in a few minutes,” he said. “I don’t have anything to fiddle with!”

“Good grief!” exclaimed Sally. “How come?”

“I loaned my best ax handle to Justin Rogers yesterday,” said Ambrose. “Justin’s mother is in the contest. He said he’d like her to try my ax handle and maybe she’d buy one like it for the championship.”

“You were a good sport to lend it,” said Sally. “I’m sure you’ll get it back in time.”

“If Justin doesn’t show up, I’ve had it,” said Ambrose. “I’m only a second-rate worm fiddler without my best ax handle.”

Suddenly he gasped in relief.

“There’s Justin,” he said.

A boy of seventeen came hurrying over. He carried Ambrose’s ax handle. It was broken in two.

“I don’t know what to say,” apologized Justin. “I leaned the handle against a box in the garage last night. This morning I forgot about it. I drove the car over it backing out.”

“Didn’t you hear the crack?” asked Encyclopedia.

“I had the car radio going,” said Justin. “I felt the wheels run over something, but I thought it was the garden hose. Honest, Ambrose, it was an accident. I’m sorry.”

Ambrose was stunned. He held the two pieces of the handle. The print of a car tire showed clearly at the place where the handle had broken.

A whistle blew. Mr. Pardee, the head judge, was calling the worm fiddlers to the field.

There were forty-nine men and twenty women and Ambrose, representing thirty states and seven foreign countries. Each had a twenty-foot square of field surrounding a stake. Whoever made the most worms come up in his square would be the world champion worm fiddler.

“I’m a loser,” groaned Ambrose. “I’ve got nothing but my two bare hands to make those worms see daylight.”

“You’re not. licked yet,” said Encyclopedia. “Use the longer piece of your ax handle.
You’ve got to try!”

“I suppose half an ax handle is better than my fingernails,” agreed Ambrose. He trudged to his square.

A gun went off. The crowd roared. The First International Worm Fiddling Championship had begun.

Ambrose fiddled as if for his very life. It was soon plain that he was in a nip-and-tuck battle for the lead with Justin’s mother.

They fiddled worm for worm till the gun sounded ending the contest. Justin’s mother had won with twenty-four worms. Ambrose had fiddled up twenty-three—for second place.

“If only you could prove Justin broke Ambrose’s ax handle on purpose, Encyclopedia!” said Sally.

“I can,” answered the boy detective.

HOW?

(Turn to page 96 for the solution to
The Case of the
Ax
Handle.
)

Solution to The Case of the Champion
Skier

Mr. Ware, the kidnapped man, was a champion water skier who didn’t want anyone to know he was learning to ski on snow.

So he told only two persons—his wife and Harry Smith.

Harry Smith was one of the six friends Mr. Ware invited to his birthday party.

Encyclopedia saw that five of the gifts were in keeping with Mr. Ware’s known interest in water skiing.

But Harry Smith had brought a gift useful only for skiing on snow—
ski wax!

The police arrested him. Having given himself away, he told where Mr. Ware was being held prisoner.

Mr. Ware was freed unharmed.

Solution to The Case of Smelly Nellie

Bugs Meany was weak from the smell of ambergris. So he wasn’t thinking too clearly when Encyclopedia questioned him.

And he knew nothing about ambergris except what Smelly Nellie had told him—that it was worth five dollars an ounce.

Bugs said his Tigers had found the ambergris on the ocean bottom while skin diving. Then they had rolled the lump near the shore and waited for the tide to go out.

That was the lie that gave him away!

Ambergris doesn’t sink to the bottom of the ocean.

As Encyclopedia knew, it is found floating on the water.

Bugs returned the ambergris to Smelly Nellie.

BOOK: Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down

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