Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective Read online

  The egg knocked against the glass and spun away. It dropped out of sight on Mr. O’Hara’s side of the counter.

  Mr. O’Hara looked down. “That’s the end of your egg. I’m sorry.”

  “Forget it,” said the boy with a grand wave of his hand. “I have to use another egg in the spinning match tomorrow anyway.”

  “I’d better sweep up the mess,” said Mr. O’Hara. He walked to the back of the drugstore.

  Encyclopedia left twenty-five cents on the counter to pay for his soda. As he went out the door, he saw Mr. O’Hara returning with a broom and a dustpan.

  Encyclopedia rode home slowly on his bicycle. He stopped to look at the stuffed mountain lion Mr. Eckstrom, the taxidermist, had just put in the window of his shop. The boy detective was in no hurry. It was Sunday, and the Brown Detective Agency was closed.

  As he turned the corner on Rover Avenue, he saw that something was up. Bicycles were parked on the lawn in front of his house. Just about the whole gang was waiting for him at the garage.

  He made out Jody and Billy Turner, Charlie Stewart, Herb Stein, Pinky Plummer, and Sally. They looked as happy as six flat tires.

  Sally greeted him.

  “The boys need your help,” she said.

  “With what?”

  “With Eddie Phelan,” said Charlie Stewart. “His egg beats everything.”

  “Who is this Eddie Phelan?” asked Encyclopedia. “A human egg beater?”

  “Stop being silly,” said Sally.

  “Eddie is the champion egg spinner,” explained Pinky. “He keeps his egg spinning longer than any one else’s.”

  “The boys think he does something secret and unfair to win,” said Sally.

  “Ah, you fear foul play?” asked Encyclopedia.

  “Be serious!” cried Sally. “Eddie won everything at the last match—Pinky’s glove, Jody’s bat, Charlie’s hockey stick, Billy’s magic set, and Herb’s jackknife.”

  “There’s another match tomorrow,” said Jody. “Eddie is out to win Charlie’s tooth collection.”

  “And I just got two zebra teeth,” groaned Charlie. “Mr. Eckstrom gave them to me for delivering Dr. Webster’s stuffed sailfish Friday.”

  “Hmmm,” said Encyclopedia. “I never heard of an egg spinning contest before. Who thought it up?”

  “Eddie,” said the five boys together.

  “I might have known,” said Encyclopedia.

  “The boys have been practicing for days,” said Sally. “But Eddie will walk off with Charlie’s tooth collection just the same!”

  “And everything else,” said Billy.

  “This case smells rotten,” said Encyclopedia. “Where do you get the eggs?”

  “At the supermarket,” answered Pinky. “All of us go together.”

  “How do you know the egg Eddie got at the supermarket will be the one he uses tomorrow?”

  “Each boy picks an egg,” said Pinky. “He marks it with a pencil and gives his egg to another boy. That way we know no one can change an egg before the match.”

  “Who marked Eddie’s egg?” asked Encyclopedia.

  “I did,” said Charlie. “I made a double X on it.”

  “Tomorrow you’ll have to signal to me,” said Encyclopedia, “before you start spinning. If the egg is the one you marked, raise one finger. If it isn’t the one, raise two fingers. Got it?”

  “Got it,” said Charlie.

  “Now where and when does the match take place?”

  “Behind the school at nine in the morning,” said Jody.

  “I’ll be there,” said Encyclopedia, starting into the house.

  The boys and Sally felt let down. They had expected Encyclopedia to solve this case right away.

  “Oh, stop worrying,” Encyclopedia called to them. “I have a pretty good idea why Eddie always wins.”

  The next morning when Encyclopedia reached the schoolyard, Sally rushed to meet him. She was breathless.

  “I thought you wouldn’t get here in time!” she said.

  “I couldn’t find one of my sneakers,” the boy detective said, looking around him.

  Sure enough! Eddie, the champion, was the boy he had seen in the drugstore.

  “The case of the champion egg spinner is cracked,” Encyclopedia said mysteriously.

  Eddie was smiling as he fingered the flowered cookie jar that held Charlie’s collection of teeth.

  Against the teeth, Eddie was putting up a football uniform. It was a better prize than fifty-three teeth, Pinky’s used science kit, Jody’s rubber boots, Billy’s fishing pole, or even Herb’s old telescope.

  “The match is going to start,” Sally told Encyclopedia.

  Charlie and Eddie got down on their knees. The spinning field was the smooth marble slab under the statue of Thomas Edison.

  Each boy handed the other his egg. Eddie hardly glanced at Charlie’s. But Charlie peered at the champion’s egg a long time. He turned it over slowly. Then he held up one finger.

  Eddie hadn’t changed eggs. He was using the one Charlie had marked.

  “Ready?” asked Eddie, smiling.

  “Do something—fast!” Sally whispered to Encyclopedia.

  “Get set—” Eddie called.

  “Excuse me,” said Encyclopedia. “Is this a contest of skill alone?”

  “Huh?” said Eddie. “Why ... of course.”

  “Then you won’t mind changing eggs,” said Encyclopedia. “Let Charlie have your egg, and you take his. The boy who spins his egg the longest wins the match.”

  Charlie peered at the egg.

  Eddie’s smile disappeared as fast as pancakes at Sunday breakfast. His hand closed quickly over his egg.

  “Are you saying someone’s cheating?” he demanded. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Charlie knows this is my egg. It’s the same one he marked.”

  “Of course, it’s the same egg,” said Encyclopedia. “But with one big difference that nobody can see!”

  WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE?

  Solution to The Case of the Scattered Cards

  Bugs Meany said that Clarence had stolen the tent from the Tigers’ clubhouse “this morning.” That is, on the second day of the rain. Therefore, the ground under the tent should have been wet.

  But when Encyclopedia scattered the cards with his foot, he discovered that the ground inside the tent was dry. This proved that the tent had been put up before the rain, as Clarence claimed—and not during the rain “this morning,” as Bugs said.

  Solution to The Case of the Civil War Sword

  As soon as he had read the words on the blade, Encyclopedia knew the sword was a fake.

  The two clues were the words Bull Run and First.

  Jackson’s men, being Southerners, would have called the battle by the South’s name for it, the Battle of Manassas. Bull Run was the name given to the battle by the North.

  Also, the sword was supposed to have been given to Stonewall Jackson in August 1861. No one could have known then that there would be another battle on the same spot the next year, in 1862.

  Only after both battles had been fought would anyone have used the word first to describe the battle fought in 1861.

  Solution to The Case of Merko’s Grandson

  Both the tall woman and Fred Gibson spoke the truth.

  Although the Great Merko was not his grandfather, Fred Gibson was the Great Merko’s grandson.

  The Great Merko, as Encyclopedia realized, was a woman. She was Fred Gibson’s grandmother!

  Solution to The Case of the Bank Robber

  Blind Tom was not expecting any visitors, he said. He also said that he had not had any visitors “in a long time.” Yet the light in his room was on, and a newspaper lay on the pillow.

  A blind man does not need a light, and he cannot read a newspaper. So Blind Tom was not blind at all.

  Encyclopedia knew then why the beggar had not stepped out of the way of the bank robber. The two men had rolled on the sidewalk together with a pur
pose—to exchange yellow paper bags!

  Blind Tom had slipped the robber the bag holding the loaf of bread, in order to fool the police if they caught him. The robber had slipped Blind Tom the bag holding the money.

  Encyclopedia used a telephone in the store on the corner to call his father. Chief Brown hurried to the hotel. He found the money, still in the yellow paper bag, hidden under the mattress of Blind Tom’s bed.

  Blind Tom and the man the police were holding in jail confessed they had robbed the bank.

  Solution to The Case of the Happy Nephew

  John Abbot said he had reached his sister’s house only “five minutes” before Chief Brown arrived. If John had just driven in from Sundale Shores, the motor and hood of his car would still have been burning hot. Remember, he said he had made only one stop—for a hamburger and gas—during the twelve-hour trip. If that was true, his little nephew, who was barefoot, would have cried out in pain when he stood on the hot hood of the car.

  Instead, the baby smiled and gurgled happily. Therefore, the hood was not hot.

  A cool hood meant that the car had not just been parked after a twelve-hour drive, as John Abbot said.

  Solution to The Case of the Diamond Necklace

  Miss Stark said that she did not see or hear the thief. Yet Chief Brown heard her scream, and “a few seconds later, two shots rang out.”

  Miss Stark’s mistake was screaming before the shots were fired.

  If she had not seen or heard anyone, she would have had no reason to be frightened. Only after the shots had been fired would she have screamed.

  Solution to The Case of the Knife in the Watermelon

  As Mr. Patch said, none of the Lions touched the knife. So the blade was buried in the watermelon all the time the Lions were looking at it.

  In other words, none of the Lions could see how long the blade of the knife was.

  But Corky said his knife had a blade that was “a half inch longer” than the one in the watermelon. That was his mistake.

  He could not have known how long the blade was unless he had seen it before.

  The knife belonged to Corky!

  Solution to The Case of the Missing Roller Skates

  Billy Haggerty said that he had never heard of Dr. Vivian Wilson and that he didn’t know where his office was. But he knew too much about him.

  He knew that Dr. Vivian Wilson was (1) a man, not a woman, and (2) a dentist, not a doctor.

  When he was tripped by his fibs, Billy returned the roller skates to Sally.

  Solution to The Case of the Champion Egg Spinner

  Mr. O’Hara had given Encyclopedia the clue to the mystery.

  Remember how Eddie’s egg had fallen off the counter onto the floor? What had Mr. O’Hara said? Not, “I’d better clean up the mess.” No, he had said, “I’d better sweep up the mess.”

  He had not fetched a towel or mop; he had fetched a broom and a dustpan.

  This told Encyclopedia the egg had broken into pieces. He realized that the egg was a hard-boiled one.

  And a hard-boiled egg will spin longer than an uncooked egg, every time!

  Eddie had to use another (uncooked!) egg against Charlie, and he lost the match. Charlie agreed to give back Eddie’s football uniform if he would return the prizes he had won at the earlier matches.

  The ex-champion returned the prizes.