Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down

Table of Contents

 

 

As the clubhouse came into view, a helicopter roared overhead. Encyclopedia glanced up and saw a tiny gray submarine flying through the air. It crashed into the thick woods west of the clubhouse.

Encyclopedia and Sally jumped off their bikes. They dashed for the woods as Bugs Meany and two of his Tigers came racing out of the clubhouse.

They all drew up at the muddy edge of a hollow. At the bottom rested the submarine. It was smashed, a total loss.

In a few minutes six officers, led by Chief Brown, had circled the sub.

“You got here just in time, Chief,” said Bugs. “In another hour, the sub would have been stripped clean.”

“How’s that?” said Chief Brown.

“I sure hate to tell you this,” said Bugs. “Your son and Sally tried to break into the sub and steal what’s inside.”

For Parry and Rae Larsen

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First published in the United States of America by Dutton Children’s Books,
‘a division of Penguin Young Readers Group,’1971
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008

Copyright © Donald J. Sobol, 1971

(Member of the Authors League of America, Inc.)
Illustrations copyright © Thomas Nelson Inc., 1971
All rights reserved

 

Library of Congress Catalog Card number: 77-160147

eISBN : 978-1-101-04240-3

 

 

 

 

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Dinner at the Browns’ red brick house in Idaville was not like dinner in other homes.

The Browns not only broke bread together. They broke crimes together.

Mr. Brown was chief of police. People everywhere thought that he was the brains behind Idaville’s wonderful record of law and order.

Nobody could have guessed the truth. Behind Chief Brown’s success was his only child —ten-year-old Encyclopedia.

Chief Brown brought home his hardest cases. Encyclopedia solved them while eating dinner. Since he had begun secretly helping his father, no crook had escaped arrest, and no child had got away with ducking the law.

Chief Brown would have liked to pin a medal on Encyclopedia every time his son solved a case. But what good would it do?

Who would believe that the real mastermind behind Idaville’s crime cleanup was a fifth grader?

Besides, Encyclopedia couldn’t have stood up under all the medals without getting flat feet.

So Chief Brown said nothing.

Encyclopedia never let slip a word about the help he gave his father. He did not want to seem different from other boys.

However, there was nothing he could do about his nickname.

Only his parents and teachers called him by his right name, Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.

An encyclopedia is a book or set of books full of facts from A to Z—like Encyclopedia’s brain. He had done more reading than just about anybody in town. His pals said that when he turned a cartwheel, his head sounded like a bookcase falling over.

But one evening Chief Brown brought home a case Encyclopedia couldn’t solve during dinner.

Chief Brown explained why. “We don’t have any facts,” he said.

Mrs. Brown was relieved. “No wonder Leroy can’t help you,” she said. “What kind of crime is it, dear?”

“Kidnapping,” answered Chief Brown. “One of our ambassadors in Latin America has been kidnapped. That’s all I’ve been told. The State Department wants me to fly down and see what I can do.”

“It sounds like a top-secret case,” said Encyclopedia. “Boy, I wish I could go along!”

“You can,” said his father. “The State Department wants my visit to look like a family holiday. So all three of us are going.”

The next morning Encyclopedia had his first view of Idaville from the sky.

He couldn’t tell the houses of the rich families from those of the poor families, the churches from the synagogues, or the delicatessens from the banks.

Before he had had time to pick out his own house, the jet was flying over the Gulf of Mexico. He opened his book, Vertebrate Paleontology. As he reached the last chapter, the jet put down with a light bump.

At the airport the Browns were met by a man in a dark suit. He said he was a chauffeur from the hotel. He loaded their bags into the back of a green car.

As he started the engine, he introduced himself again. He was really Mr. Rico, a police officer.

“The kidnapped man is Mr. Ware, your ambassador here,” he said. “We are going to his home now.”

On the way, Mr. Rico told Chief Brown all the facts that were known about the case.

Mr. Ware had been kidnapped two days earlier. He had been driving to a hotel in the mountains for a week of skiing. His empty car had been found in the snow two miles below the hotel.

“Mr. Ware is a champion water skier,” said Mr. Rico. “But he had never skied on snow. He wanted to learn.”

“Had he ever been to the hotel in the mountains before?” asked Chief Brown.

“No,” replied Mr. Rico. “He told no one where he was going except his wife. In fact, he got a room at the hotel under a different name.”

“Why did he want to do that?” inquired Mrs. Brown.

“For safety’s sake,” replied Mr. Rico. “Foreign service has become dangerous here. People who don’t like the government have taken to kidnapping foreign officials.”

“How much money are the kidnappers asking for Mr. Ware’s return?” said Chief Brown.

“The kidnappers never want money,” answered Mr. Rico. “They want their friends freed from prison. For Mr. Ware, they are demanding the freedom of forty men being held in prison for crimes against the government.”

“How awful!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown. “Kidnapping an innocent man to win freedom for criminals!”

Mr. Rico continued. “The night Mr. Ware disappeared, he gave a birthday party for himself. He was forty-five. He invited six friends. Each brought a gift. They came at eight o’clock and found food, servants, and a note from Mr. Ware. The note said he’d had to leave the city early and for everyone to enjoy the party without him.”

“Was there a reason for his missing his own party?” inquired Chief Brown.

“There was a weather report of a snow-storm due that night,” said Mr. Rico. “He must have figured that if he stayed for the party, he’d find the mountain roads to the hotel snow-bound. So he left the city before the storm.”

Mr. Rico stopped the car in front of the ambassador’s large house. He unlocked the front door.

On the sofa in the living room were the six birthday gifts.

“I opened them,” said Mr. Rico. “I thought there might be a clue among them, but there wasn’t.”

Encyclopedia and his father looked over the gifts. Each gift had a card bearing the name of the guest who had brought it to Mr. Ware’s party.

They were a spear gun from Bill Watson, a can of ski wax from Harry Smith, a face mask from Dan Perske, an air tank from Kurt Haper, a pair of water skis from Marty Benton, and a rubber diving suit from Ed Furgis.

Mr. Rico said, “Mrs. Ware is certain that her husband told no one about the trip to the mountains but herself.”

“Mr. Ware must be a proud man,” said Chief Brown. “He doesn’t want to be seen doing anything until he can do it well.”