The Case of the Two Spies (4 page)

When Benny slept on his side, his snoring didn't bother a soul. But when he slept on his back, it sounded as if walls were cracking and pipes were breaking up and down the block.

“If it's true that snoring grows worse with age, Benny will have to sleep in a bomb shelter someday,” Charlie Stewart told Encyclopedia.

The two boys were getting ready for a weekend camping trip. Benny was joining them. His father had bought him a six-man tent. Benny was eager to use it.

“Benny's snoring kept us awake till midnight on our last camping trip,” Charlie said. “We've got to find a way to keep him quiet tonight.”

“It'd be easier to make an elephant tiptoe through wet cement,” said Encyclopedia”

Charlie clicked his tongue thoughtfully. “Benny won't snore if we can keep him off his back and stop him from breathing through his mouth.”

“We'd better just stuff our ears with cotton,” Encyclopedia advised, “and go to sleep before Benny.”

“Is that your best plan?” Charlie asked.

“Yes.”

“What's your next best?”

“There isn't one.”

“Well, let's hope for the best,” Charlie said, wincing a little as he spoke.

The boys loaded their bikes and rode to the camping grounds west of South Park.

Benny was already there. With him were his two cousins, Todd and Garth.

Encyclopedia knew Todd and Garth. They were not what anyone would call quick thinkers.

Benny shouted a greeting and pointed proudly at his big new tent, which stood on the high ground behind him.

“It has everything,” he exclaimed. “Flooring; chain-corded frames, double-needle lockstitched seams—”

“What about soundproofing?” Charlie mumbled under his breath.

Encyclopedia gave Charlie a hushing elbow. “The tent is great, Benny,” he said.

The five boys laid out their places inside the tent. Charlie ended up beside Benny, with Todd on Benny's other side.

After hanging a garbage bag out of reach of raccoons, the
boys tossed a football and explored the woods- At five o'clock they headed for Mill Creek to do some fishing.

They chose a spot where the creek widened like a pond for a hundred yards. The water was silky.

“This time of year,” Encyclopedia said, “the trout will be feeding near the surface.”

The boys stood still, listening. The faint
sip, sip, sip
of trout feeding carried over the water.

For the next two hours the whine of lines being cast sliced the air. Encyclopedia and Charlie each caught a big trout. Benny caught three.

Benny gave all the credit to his lucky number 13 Detroit Lions shirt. He always wore the shirt when fishing. At night he changed into his other Lions shirt. It had the number 12 on the back. He loved the Lions.

“We have fish for everybody,” Charlie said as night fell. “Time to head in.”

Todd and Garth wanted to stay longer. They hadn't caught a keeper. They were overruled.

On the hike back to camp Encyclopedia whispered to Charlie, “Todd and Garth are really steamed at you. You made them throw back all their fish.”

“They were too small,” Charlie snapped angrily.

At the campsite Charlie built a fire while Todd and Garth glared at him. Benny cleaned the fish. Encyclopedia fried them.

The boys ate hungrily. Between mouthfuls they talked sports and teachers.

Encyclopedia and Charlie were the first to retire to the tent. They did what they had to do.

They sUiffed their ears with cotton.

Nonetheless, Benny's snorts, whistles, and cackles woke Encyclopedia several times during the night. Benny's cry of dismay woke him at dawn.

“My wallet! It's gone!” Benny wailed. “I had ten dollars and my library card in it!”

Encyclopedia and Charlie helped Benny search the tent. Todd and Garth sat and watched.

“It isn't here.” Benny groaned.

“Oh, yes, it is,” Todd said. “Right, Charlie?”

“What do you mean?” Charlie demanded.

“Ill show you,” Todd answered.

He went to Charlie's knapsack and pulled out a black wallet. “Is this yours, Benny?”

Benny gasped, “Y-yes,” as Charlie stared in disbelief.

“Benny's snoring woke me about an hour ago,” Todd stated. “The wallet was behind him on his air mattress. I guess it fell out of his back pocket while he was sleeping.”

Encyclopedia raised an eyebrow.

“Charlie didn't know I was awake,” Todd went on. “He was sitting up, rubbing his ears. He saw the wallet and hid it in his knapsack.”

Encyclopedia gazed at the number 12 on the front and back of Benny's Detroit Lions shirt.

“If the wallet was behind Benny,” the detective said to Todd, “then he lay snoring with his back to you?”

Todd grinned. “That's right.”

“That's wrong,” the detective said. “You stole the wallet and tried to frame Charlie.”

How Did Encyclopedia Know?

(Turn to page 69 for the solution to
The Case of the Stolen Wallet.)

L
izzie Downing dashed into the Brown Detective Agency.

“I'm about to be rich!” she cried.

“You've got to have money to be rich,” Sally pointed out.

“HI have plenty,” Lizzie insisted. “Wilford Wiggins said us little kids will soon be rolling in the stuff.”

“Oh, brother.” Encyclopedia moaned. “Wilford's up to his old tricks.”

Wilford Wiggins was a high school dropout and too lazy to yawn. He lay in bed all morning thinking up ways to cheat little kids out of their savings.

Wilford never succeeded, however. Encyclopedia was there to shoot down his phony deals.

Only last week the detective had stopped Wilford from selling shares in an electric pillow that cured dandruff and increased brainpower while you slept.

“Wilford's called a secret meeting at the city dump for five o'clock today,” Lizzie said. “It's by invitation only.”

“We didn't get an invitation,” Sally observed,

“Wilford doesn't like you two a whole lot,” Lizzie replied. “Encyclopedia always sees through his sales pitches.”

“Wilford's sales pitches always turn out to have a curve,” Sally said.

“This time will be different,” Lizzie declared. “I know it. Wilford swore he's gone straight.”

As
straight,
Encyclopedia thought,
as a shepherd's staff,

“Even the wool Wilford pulls over your eyes is half nylon,” Sally said. “What's he selling today?”

“I'll find out at the secret meeting,” Lizzie answered.

Suddenly she looked uncertain.

“Maybe I'd better hire you to come with me,” she said. She laid a quarter on the gas can beside Encyclopedia. “I don't want to lose my savings.”

Sally glanced at her watch. “It's ten minutes to five. We'd better hurry if we're going to catch Wilford's newest get-rich-quick idea.”

“Before anyone gets poor quick,” added Encyclopedia.

They reached the city dump as Wilford waved the crowd of small children closer.

“Gather round, gather round,” he chanted.

The children moved in eagerly. They didn't want to miss one money-making word.

The smile smeared across Wilford's face suddenly dis-appeared. He had seen the detectives.

“I'm glad certain people are here, even if they weren't invited to this secret meeting,” he said smoothly. “Come as doubters, I say. Depart believing in Wilford Wiggins, your dollars’ best friend.”

“Aw, quit pumping the hot air,” a girl shouted. “Get to the big money talk.”

Wilford chuckled. He pointed to a square slab of metal by his right foot. “You know what this is?”

The children stared in puzzled silence.

“It's a manhole cover,” Wilford crowed.

“Manhole covers are round,” a boy hollered.

“Up until now,” Wilford corrected. “What you're seeing is history in the making.”

He tapped the handle folded into a niche cut in the surface of the manhole cover.

“With this handle a workman doesn't need a crowbar,” Wilford sang. “He just lifts the manhole cover by the handle and climbs down into the sewer.”

Wilford eyed his audience shrewdly.

“How come it's square?” he called. “More than a thousand round manhole covers were stolen last year in this country alone. Why? Because they're easy to roll away!”

Wilford tried to roll the square manhole cover and failed.

“There, you saw for yourselves!” he cried. “It's practically theft-proof. Besides, squares ones are cheaper to ship. You don't have to build special round crates. And you can stack them on edge in a truck. They won't roll around.”

The children chattered among themselves. A square manhole cover made sense.

“Who but yours truly could have invented a square
manhole cover?” Wilford exclaimed -Tm going to sell them to every city in the United States and elsewhere. Thousands of them! Millions!”

“Where do we come in?” a girl demanded,

“To be honest, I need to raise money to build a factory,” Wilford confessed, “Pm willing to let my young pals in on this chance of a lifetime.”

He paused for effect.

“I'm raising money by selling shares in my company,” he continued. “You can buy as many as you like at five dollars a share.”

Suddenly Wilford's eyes grew glassy, and he quivered like jelly. He seemed to have stunned himself.

“A mere five dollars a share?” he wailed. “My ears can hardly believe what my lips are saying. But I said it, and Pm a man of my word. Five dollars it is!”

The crowd of children hesitated, torn between doubt and greed.

“in two years,” Wilford sang, “you'll be rich enough to put your mom and dad on an allowance.”

That did it. The children began lining up to buy shares, cash in fist—until Encyclopedia stepped forward.

“Put your money away,” he called, “if you don't want it to go down the sewer! ”

What Does Encyclopedia Know?

(Turn to page 70 for the solution to
The Case of the Manhole Cover.)

W
hile biking to Jojo's Ice Cream Shop, Encyclopedia noticed a man in a red shirt. Not far behind him was a man in a gray suit.