Free The Case of the Jumping Frogs by Donald J. Sobol Page B

in the U.S.A. He trusts me to give him half the profits.”
    Wilford paused to let the moneymaking possibilities of Antiflow sink in.
    Then he said, “All my cash is tied up in oil wells. So I’m going to let my little friends in on this chance of a lifetime. For five dollars, you can buy a share in my Antiflow company. The more shares you buy, the more money you’ll make!”
    “Where’s your factory?” a girl demanded.
    “I’m glad you asked, friend,” Wilford said. “I need your cash to help build the factory. When it’s built, I’ll make Antiflow by the ton. Don’t miss out! Buy shares todayat my special low-price, one-day-only offer.”
    The children talked excitedly among themselves. With Antiflow, floods would be a thing of the past. There were millions in it. Maybe more!
    “Buy shares now,” Wilford blared. “In a year you can afford to retire your mother and father.”
    That clinched it. The children lined up, eager to buy shares.
    Encyclopedia hurried to the front of the line.
    “Put away your money if you don’t want a soaking,” he said.
    How did Encyclopedia know
Antiflow was a fake?
    (Turn to this page for the solution to
The Case of the Miracle Pill.)

The Case of the Black Horse

    E ncyclopedia and Sally were straightening the Browns’ garage when Waldo Emerson came in. He looked like he had stepped off a roof, or worse.
    “Good to see you, Waldo,” Sally said. “We haven’t seen you round lately.”
    “Don’t say that word!” Waldo howled.
    “Sorry,” Sally apologized. “I wasn’t thinking.”
    Waldo had a thing about the word “round.” Even when he heard it used harmlessly with other words, as in “round trip” or “round of golf,” he threw a fit. It reminded him that some kids still believed the earth was round.
    Waldo was the new president of the Idaville Junior Flat Earth Society. He was also the only member.
    He laid a quarter on the gasoline can next to Encyclopedia. “I know the detective agency is closed until summer. But I want to hire you.”
    “What for?” Sally asked.
    “I wrote an essay for Columbus Day tomorrow,” Waldo answered. “The public library is giving a prize for the best essay about the explorer.”
    “What’s the problem?” Encyclopedia asked.
    Waldo moaned. “My essay was stolen yesterday. There isn’t time to rewrite it. The contest closes at noon today. I wrote about how Columbus proved the earth was flat.”
    “How did he?” asked Sally.
    “He didn’t sail off the curve!” Waldo sang.
    Encyclopedia never knew when Waldo was serious or having fun.
    “I want you to get my essay back,” Waldo said. “I’m sure Stinky Redmond stole it. He’ll enter my essay as his and win the prize, a book called
The World of Dinosaurs
.”
    “Have you accused Stinky?” Sally asked.
    Waldo rolled his eyes. “Yes, and of course he says he’s innocent. He claims
he
wrote the essay. I dared him to meet me in half an hour in South Park at the carousel.”
    “Carousel,” not “merry-go-
round
,” Encyclopedia thought instantly. “Why at the carousel, Waldo?”
    “The carousel is the scene of the crime,” Waldo declared.
    “But it doesn’t open for an hour,” Sally said.
    “That’s what I want,” Waldo replied. “Stinky and I can have it out better with no one there to bother us. If Stinky doesn’t show up, I’ll know he’s guilty.”
    On the bike ride to the carousel, Sally asked Waldowhat made him believe the earth was flat.

    “Most of the earth is made up of water,” he said, “and water is flat. Did you ever see a lake or a pond that had a hump in it?”
    Sally and Encyclopedia admitted that they had not.
    Waldo rolled on.
    “The pictures taken of the earth from outer space are fakes,” he insisted. “If the earth were a globe, China would be under the United States. My neighbor Mr. Chan comes from China. He would have hung by his feet when he lived there. He didn’t. In fact, he has never hung by his feet in all his