Free Encyclopedia Brown Solves Them All by Donald J. Sobol Page A

won’t say anything about the bag of cherries he took an hour ago,” said Abner glumly.
    The Tigers’ clubhouse was an unused tool shed behind Mr. Sweeny’s Auto Body Shop. When Encyclopedia and Abner arrived, Bugs was alone.
    The Tiger leader was getting ready for school. He wasn’t studying a book. He was studying a bicycle lock. He was teaching himself to open it with a hairpin.
    Seeing Encyclopedia, he hastily shoved the hairpin into his pocket. “Make like a tree and leave,” he snarled.
    “First pay Abner here for all the fruit you’ve lifted from his stand,” said Encyclopedia.
    “You owe me three dollars and a quarter,” said Abner. “And forty cents for the bag of cherries you took an hour ago. I never needed your protection!”
    “What’s this? Protection? Bag of cherries?” cried Bugs. “Say, you two guys better not walk too close to a candy factory. They’re looking for nuts like you.”
    Encyclopedia picked up a paper bag from the floor beside Bugs. Inside were three cherries.
    “Where did you get these cherries?” demanded the boy detective.
    Bugs worked hard at appearing calm. “Whwhy, I bought a pound of them at the supermarket this morning.”
    “You mean you helped yourself to a pound from my fruit stand an hour ago!” said Abner.
    “Listen,” growled Bugs. “I’ve been right here in the clubhouse all afternoon, eating cherries and thinking. I don’t know anything about protection, a fruit stand, or your bag of cherries.”
    “If that’s true,” said Encyclopedia, “you won’t mind if I look around.”
    “Go right ahead,” said Bugs. “Search till your eyeballs blister.”

    Encyclopedia ran his fingers over every inch of the floor.
    The search did not take long. The clubhouse was tiny. The only bits of furniture were a carved up table and six orange crates which the Tigers used for chairs.
    Encyclopedia got down on his hands and knees. He ran his fingers over every inch of the floor. He found seven nails, a clothes hanger, two comic books, three dried leaves, and a half inch of dirt and dust.
    Next he turned to the wood box which the Tigers used as a wastebasket. It held two more comic books, an old newspaper, a rusty belt, and a broken checkerboard.
    When Encyclopedia was finished with the wastebasket, he went outside.
    Again he got down on all fours. He circled the clubhouse, digging his fingers into the grass and weeds. He touched every bit of ground for ten feet around the clubhouse.
    Abner knelt beside him. “Are you looking for clues?”
    Encyclopedia nodded, but did not reply.
    “What did you find?” Abner pressed.
    Encyclopedia opened his hand. “This,” he said. On his palm were a piece of string, a paper clip, and several bubble-gum wrappers.
    “There’s nothing else around but plain old earth, grass, and weeds,” said Encyclopedia.
    Bugs sat down in the clubhouse doorway. He plucked a long stalk of grass and chewed on it triumphantly.
    “Well, now, Mr. Brains,” he said. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
    “No,” answered Encyclopedia. “And that proves you weren’t in the clubhouse all afternoon!”
    WHAT MISSING CLUES
PROVED BUGS LIED?
     
     
     
     
     
     
    (Turn to page 87 for the solution to the Case of the Missing Clues.)

The Case of the Super-Secret Hold
    The heart of Bugs Meany was filled with a great longing.
    It was to knock Encyclopedia flatter than an elephant’s instep.
    Bugs hated being outsmarted by the boy detective. But whenever he felt like throwing a punch, he remembered Sally Kimball.
    Sally was the prettiest girl in the fifth grade. It wasn’t her face, however, that the toughest Tiger remembered. It was her fists.
    Sally had done what no boy under fourteen had even dreamed of doing. She had outfought Bugs Meany.
    Bugs told everyone that Sally had hit him with a few lucky punches. Nobody believed his story, including Bugs himself. He thought she had hit him with a milk truck.
    Because of Sally, Bugs never