Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day (6 page)

“You’ll fly like a stone kite,” said Encyclopedia.

“Nope, it’s going to work,” said Casper. “Buck Barkdull has flown—”

“Nobody can fly!” screamed Encyclopedia. “Jump off the roof and you’ll find out what an anchor does.”

“Aw, you shouldn’t have said that,” said Casper. He climbed down. “Still, I’m glad you stopped me. I was losing faith.”

“What made you think you could fly?” asked Encyclopedia.

“Buck Barkdull said so,” answered Casper. “He sold me these wings for six dollars. He wanted another six dollars to hypnotize me. I didn’t have any more money. So I borrowed a book on hypnotism at the library.”

“If Buck could fly, he wouldn’t sell you the secret for a few dollars,” pointed out Encyclopedia. “He would sell it to the Army for millions!”

“But Pete Connell said he
saw
Buck fly!” said Casper.

“Pete and Buck are probably in this together,” said Encyclopedia. “Remember what happened at the high school last year?”

Casper nodded. Buck had stolen the answers to a history test. Pete had sold them to students for two dollars. Both boys had been kicked out of school for a term.

“I’ve been a sap,” mumbled Casper. “I guess I wanted to fly more than think. Could you get my six dollars back?”

“I can try,” said Encyclopedia. “Let’s go talk with Pete Connell. He isn’t as smart as Buck.”

“Let’s talk with Buck,” said Casper. “Pete was on the wrestling team. He might tie us in a knot.”

Encyclopedia decided Casper was right. It was better to be outsmarted than to have your feet hooked over your ears. The two boys went to see Buck.

He was sitting on his front porch carving fif ty-cent pieces out of wood. He listened calmly as Encyclopedia asked him to return Casper’s six dollars.

“Why should I?” he demanded. “If you don’t believe you can fly, you won’t fly. You’ve got to have faith, baby.”

Encyclopedia pressed him till Buck agreed to prove he could fly. He told the two boys to meet him in the small woods behind Mr. Walker’s nursery after dark.

The boys reached the woods as night fell. “It’s so dark in here I couldn’t see Buck if he flew past my nose in a garbage truck,” said Casper.

Suddenly strange noises came from up in a nearby tree. Buck Barkdull slid to the ground.

“Did you see that!” he cried. “A crash landing ! Am I lucky I wasn’t killed!”

“We didn’t see a thing,” said Casper.

“It was so dark I flew smack into that tree,” said Buck, removing his wings. “Otherwise, I’d have landed like a butterfly at your feet.”

“You were up in the tree all the time,” said Encyclopedia.

“Is that so?” sneered Buck. “It just so happens that I have a witness. Pete Connell saw me take off from my attic window.”

“Why don’t you take off right now?” said Encyclopedia.

“Because I have to start from up high,” answered Buck. “I could fly from one of these trees, but the branches would get in my way. Besides, my wings are broken, and I don’t have an extra pair.”

The arguing continued. Buck would not give back Casper’s six dollars, and Encyclopedia would not leave without the money. Buck finally threw up his hands.

“I’ll show you where I begin my flights and nothing more,” he said. “After that, if you bother me again, I’ll punch you in the belly when your back is turned.”

“Ouch,” Casper whispered over and over as they followed Buck home.

Pete Connell was waiting outside Buck’s house. Buck winked at his pal slyly.

Immediately Pete exclaimed, “What a flight!, You soared like an eagle. Buck Barkdull, you’re greater than Lindbergh!”

Buck unlocked the front door. “My parents are away for the day, and I’m here alone,” he said.

He led the way up to the attic. He turned on the light and walked to the one window.

“This is my launching pad,” he said, rolling up the shade and opening the window. “I stand here and get myself in the mood—that’s the important part. I hypnotize myself. When I feel ready, I jump out head first.”

“Suppose you’ve made a mistake?” asked Encyclopedia. “What if you’re not fully hypnotized when you jump?”

“I fall and land in those bushes,” said Buck, pointing to bushes growing by the house.

“Did you fall tonight?” asked Casper.

“Naw, it was a perfect flight,” said Buck. “Once I was through the window, I flew straight for the woods without falling a foot.”

“It was beautiful! ” sang Pete Connell.

“I don’t believe a word,” whispered Casper. “But how can we prove the wings and the hypnotism are fakes?”

“We don’t have to,” replied Encyclopedia. “Buck already has proved that for us!”

 

WHAT WAS BUCK’S MISTAKE?

 

 

 

 

 

Melvin Pugh was always inventing something. When he came into the Brown Detective Agency, he looked as if he had invented a new way to walk.

His knees didn’t bend, and he moved spread-legged, as if his feet were stuck to railroad tracks.

“Golly, Melvin, have you been horseback riding?” asked Sally.

“No, I hate horses,” said Melvin. He snorted into a horn that stuck out of his shirt. “And I hate cold weather. Nobody does anything about horses. But I have done something about cold weather.”

Encyclopedia got up enough nerve to ask, “What?”

“I’ll show you,” said Melvin. “First, I have to take off my clothes.”

He undid his belt.

“Melvin!” shrieked Sally.

“I’ve got a bathing suit on,” Melvin assured her. He stepped out of his trousers and pulled off his shirt.

“Behold!” he said. “The Melvin Pugh hot-air foot warmer!”

Encyclopedia and Sally beheld.

A rubber tube ran down each leg to Melvin’s shoes. At the top, the tubes joined and fed into the horn. The horn was kept in place by a strap around Melvin’s neck.

“You blow into the horn,” explained Melvin. “The heat of your breath passes down to your feet where it is needed.”

“It sure is simple,” said Encyclopedia. He felt the tubes. They were hard and stiff as iron.

“I have to find softer tubes,” said Melvin. “Wearing these, I feel like a wishbone; And I can’t bend an inch.”

“When you can warm your feet and touch your toes at the, same time, you’ll make a million dollars,” said Sally.

“My warmer is particularly useful in winter on cold floors, frozen ground, and icy side-walks,” said Melvin proudly.

“You ought to test it in the winter,” suggested Encyclopedia. “You could give yourself a terrible hotfoot in this summer heat.”

“I just tested it in Archer’s Toy Shop,” said Melvin. “It worked like a charm.”

The toy shop was the coldest place in Idaville during the summer. Mr. Archer, who owned the shop, kept the air conditioner going full blast.

“A great choice, the toy shop,” said Encyclopedia. “You looked over the latest-model car kits while you tried out the tubes, eh?”

“You guessed it,” said Melvin. “A person can loose his mind doing nothing but breathing on his feet. Will I be glad to get out of this rig. Give me a hand, will you?”

Encyclopedia helped him take off the foot warmer. As Melvin was pulling up his trousers, a car drove past. It slowed, backed up, and stopped in front of the Brown Detective Agency.

Mr. Archer got out. He shook his finger at Melvin angrily.

“You little thief!” bellowed Mr. Archer. “I knew you couldn’t get far!”

“Thief?” said Melvin. “Me?”

“I’ve thought all along you’re the one who has been shoplifting in my store,” said Mr. Archer. “Today you stole two air rifles worth eleven dollars and eighty cents apiece!”

Melvin looked at Encyclopedia pleadingly. “I didn’t steal anything except cold air,” he said.

“I don’t want to report you to the police,” said Mr. Archer. “Just give me back the rifles and stay away from my store.”

“Gee whiz, Mr. Archer,” said Encyclopedia, “why do you think Melvin stole them?”

“Five minutes after he left my store, I went to get a rifle for Mrs. Bowen. Two were missing,” said Mr. Archer.

“I noticed a redheaded kid looking at the rifles,” said Melvin meekly.

“Billy Griffith?” said Mr. Archer. “Billy is a nice boy. He buys things.”

“But you didn’t actually see Melvin steal the rifles,” said Sally.

“No, but that was because of Mrs. Hall’s baby,” said Mr. Archer. “The baby can’t walk, but he crawls like a flash.”

“I don’t understand at all,” said Sally.

“Mrs. Hall put down the baby to pay me for a doll,” said Mr. Archer. “The baby crawled away. We found him in the back of the store. Melvin was holding him.”

“You don’t think Melvin was trying to steal the baby!” howled Sally.

“Certainly not,” snapped Mr. Archer. “I was so glad to find the baby unharmed that I didn’t watch Melvin for several minutes.”

“That’s when you think he stole the rifles?” asked Encyclopedia.

“He stole them,” said Mr. Archer. “When I saw Melvin next, he was going out the door. He walked as if his legs were dipped in concrete. He must have had a rifle hidden in each trouser leg!”

Sally picked up the hot-air foot warmer. “He had this in his trousers!” she said. “It’s an invention. It warms the feet.”

Mr. Archer stared at the foot warmer in disbelief. He scratched his head.

“If Melvin isn’t the thief, who is?” he said. “I’m missing two rifles, and I want them back!”

“I’ll have them back in an hour,” promised Encyclopedia.

 

WHY WAS ENCYCLOPEDIA SO SURE?