Free Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues by Donald J. Sobol

The Case of the Mysterious Tramp
    His head bent low over the handlebars of his bike, Encyclopedia Brown rounded the comer of Maple Avenue like high-speed sandpaper.
    It was three minutes before six o’clock of a summer evening. With a bit of luck and a following wind, Encyclopedia hoped to make it home on time for dinner.
    Suddenly someone called his name.
    “Leroy! Leroy Brown!”
    Right off he knew it had to be a teacher calling. Only teachers and his mother and father called him Leroy.
    Everyone else in the town of Idaville called him Encyclopedia.
    He didn’t look much like an encyclopedia, which is a set of books filled with all kinds of facts. Or even like one book.
    People called him Encyclopedia because he had read more books than a bathtub full of professors. And he never forgot anything he read.
    “Leroy! Leroy!”
    It was Mrs. Worth, his old fourth-grade teacher. She was standing beside her car, looking very sad.
    “I can’t get it going,” she said. “Can you help me? ”
    “I’ll try,” said Encyclopedia. He leaned his bike against a tree and raised the hood.
    “Start her again, please, Mrs. Worth,” he said.
    The motor coughed and sputtered out.
    “The trouble must be in the carburetor,” said Encyclopedia, beginning to disappear under the hood.
    He lifted off the air filter. Now he could reach the butterfly valve in the carburetor. He poked it open with his finger.
    The motor roared to life when Mrs. Worth again tried to start it.
    Mrs. Worth was delighted. When Encyclopedia returned to view, she thanked him over and over again.
    “Golly, it wasn’t anything,” said Encyclopedia. “Just a stuck valve.”
    He smiled as Mrs. Worth drove off—till he looked at his watch. It gave him unsmiling news. It was past six o’clock, the Brown’s dinner hour. He’d catch it for being late!
    His mother put down a pot of boiled cabbage to stare at him. Dirt and grease from Mrs. Worth’s motor coated him from ears to sneakers.
    “Where have you been?” she asked, kissing the one clean spot on his cheek.
    “Fishing,” answered Encyclopedia.
    “In an oil well?”
    “The water was so dirty,” Encyclopedia said quickly, “the goldfish looked like black bass.”
    He didn’t mention Mrs. Worth’s motor. He seldom spoke to anyone, not even his parents, about the help he gave others. And he never spoke about the help he gave grown-ups.
    His mother looked out at Rover Avenue through the kitchen window. Oddly, she hadn’t scolded him for being late.
    “Your father knows we are having corned beef and cabbage tonight,” she said in a worried voice. “What could be keeping him?”
    “Dad wouldn’t miss his favorite dish without a good reason,” said Encyclopedia. “Maybe he’s chasing a dangerous crook or something.”
    Mrs. Brown looked even more worried.
    Encyclopedia tried again. “Don’t worry, Mom,” he said. “Dad is the best police officer in the state. He’ll be home soon.”
    Encyclopedia was right. As he was washing the back of his neck, he heard his father close the garage door.
    A moment later Mr. Brown entered the house. He was a big, broad-shouldered man dressed in a police chief’s uniform.
    His uniform was the envy of every lawman in the United States. Although Idaville was like many other American towns, its police force was unlike any other.
    For more than a year, neither child nor grown-up had got away with breaking a law.
    Hardened criminals had passed the word: “Stay clear of Idaville.”
    This was partly because the Idaville policemen were well trained, smart, and brave. But mostly it was because Chief Brown had Encyclopedia at the dinner table.
    Chief Brown never whispered a word of how Encyclopedia helped him. After all, who would believe the truth?
    Who would believe that a fifth-grader solved difficult cases while eating dinner in the Browns’ red brick house on Rover Avenue?
    Naturally, Encyclopedia never let out that he was the mastermind behind Idaville’s war