Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch (4 page)

Ahead, Encyclopedia made out a hitchhiker standing at the crossroads of the highway and Coconut Drive. He was a young man with a knapsack over one shoulder.

“If the getaway car passed this way, that hitchhiker must have seen it,” said Encyclopedia.

“He may have,” replied Chief Brown. “It would depend on how long he has been standing there.”

Chief Brown braked to a stop beside the hitchhiker.

“How long have you been standing here?” he asked.

“About an hour,” answered the hitchhiker.

“Did a blue car with four or five men in it speed past you?”

“It sure did,” said the hitchhiker. “It came from the same way you did and turned here. Gosh, it nearly ran me down. Those fellows were in a mighty big hurry!”

“You’d better climb in,” said Chief Brown.

The hitchhiker stared at Chief Brown’s uniform. “Gosh,” he said. “Is it against the law to hitchhike? Are you taking me to jail?”

“Climb in,” said Chief Brown. “Don’t worry. I want you as a witness. If we catch up with a blue car, could you tell whether the driver was the same one who nearly ran you down?”

“Yes, I’d know his face,” said the hitchhiker, getting into the back seat.

As Chief Brown sped the engine, he talked over the two-way radio again.

“Murphy, I’m heading east on Coconut Drive,” he said. “Have the Allentown police stop all cars. We might catch the holdup men before they leave the state.”

In the back seat the hitchhiker had opened his knapsack.

“Care for an orange?” he asked Encyclopedia. “Or a piece of chocolate?”

“Can I have a piece of chocolate, Dad?” asked Encyclopedia.

“You’ll ruin your dinner, but this is not exactly the time to talk about it,” said Chief Brown. “Go ahead.”

Encyclopedia took the chocolate bar from the hitchhiker. He broke off two squares and handed back the rest.

The hitchhiker put the candy into his knapsack. He got out an orange and began to peel it. He put the peels neatly into a paper bag.

Encyclopedia moved the chocolate under his tongue. He hardly tasted it because suddenly he was scared.

He dug into his pocket and came up with a stub of a pencil. There was nothing to write on, however.

“Dad, could I have another piece of chocolate?” he asked.

His father nodded. The hitchhiker gave a friendly laugh and passed over the candy bar.

Encyclopedia popped the chocolate into his mouth. Slowly and carefully, so the hitchhiker couldn’t see, he spread the wrapper on his leg. He wrote:

“Hitchhiker is member of holdup gang.”

Then he worked the paper over the front seat till it was on his father’s lap. His father glanced down and then returned his gaze to the road.

A few minutes later they reached Allentown. Chief Brown opened the door as though he merely wanted to stretch his legs.

All at once he was around by the back door. He had his pistol out, and he pointed the muzzle at the hitchhiker.

“We missed your partners, but we’ve got you,” he said grimly. “And you’ll tell us all we need to know about the holdup.”

Encyclopedia kept the money he earned from his detective business in a shoe box. He hid the shoe box behind an old tire in the garage.

That wasn’t the best place to keep money. Still, it was better than keeping shoes there.

Every Friday after lunch Sally Kimball came by. Together they took the week’s earnings to the bank. Sally was Idaville’s best fighter under twelve years of age. Encyclopedia had made her his bodyguard and junior partner.

As Encyclopedia waited for Sally one Friday, a boy rode up on a bike. His hair was too long and his clothes were too tight. He wore eyeglasses, shiny black shoes, and a
necktie.

The boy stopped to read Encyclopedia’s business sign outside the garage. “A poem,” he announced out of the air.

“Huh?” said Encyclopedia.

Ignoring Encyclopedia, the boy on the bike uttered:

 

The boy smiled as though he’d just finished delivering
The Song of Hiawatha
straight from memory. He bowed to the sign and rode away.

“Sa-a-ay,” said Encyclopedia when Sally arrived. “You should have seen what went on here a minute ago. That new kid—what’s his name?”

“Percy Arbuthnot?”

“Yes, Percy,” said Encyclopedia. “He recited a poem. I swear he made it up on the spot!”

“Percy is very smart,” said Sally. “He went to school in England.”

“Good for him,” said Encyclopedia. “Now let’s get to the bank.”

“I’m not going,” said Sally. “Being a bodyguard isn’t ladylike.”

“Who told you that?” asked Encyclopedia.

“Percy,” replied Sally. “When he learned I once flattened Bugs Meany, he was horrified. He told me to stop acting like a common tomboy. So I’m quitting.”

“Idaville,” mumbled Encyclopedia, “can get along without Percy.”

“He’s a gentleman,” said Sally. “He’s taking me to see
Gone With the Wind
tonight in a taxicab. You can bet he won’t be wearing sneakers!”

Sally tilted up her nose, spun on her heel, and strode from the garage.

Encyclopedia forgot about going to the bank. He sat down to think over the problem of Percy Arbuthnot.

He decided to visit the scene of the crime.

As he got off his bike that evening near the movie theater, he kept a sharp lookout for a taxicab. One pulled to the curb two blocks away. Percy got out and then helped Sally to alight. They walked toward the movie theater holding hands.

“He doesn’t miss a trick,” Encyclopedia thought glumly. “He’s got better manners than a French waiter. But why did they get out of the taxicab so far from the theater?”

As Encyclopedia watched, a big boy stepped from the shadows. He bumped squarely into Percy.

Encyclopedia couldn’t hear what was being said, but Percy and the big boy began to argue. The big boy was about sixteen, broad, and a head taller than Percy.

Encyclopedia hurried over to stop a possible murder. As he got close, he heard Percy declare:

“My dear chap. Unless you take back what you have just said, I shall be forced to box your ears.”

“Listen to the canary kid, will you?” jeered the big boy.

“Tut, tut,” said Percy. Calmly he took off his eyeglasses and placed them in the breast pocket of his blue suitcoat.

“A poem,” he announced, and forthwith launched into:

The big boy’s jaw dropped open in surprise. Percy closed it with an uppercut.

Thereupon both boys fell to pounding each other with body blows to the chest and stomach. Percy mixed poetry and punches with a fearlessness that amazed Encyclopedia. After the second poem and the umpteenth punch, the big boy had enough. He took to his heels.

Triumphantly, Percy put on his eyeglasses and combed his hair.

Sally gazed at him with shining eyes—till Encyclopedia whispered into her ear.

The look in Sallv’s eyes changed from hero-worship to anger.

“Percy, y-you phoney!” she cried. “You fixed that fight. It wasn’t a real fight at all!”

“How dare you say such a thing,” retorted Percy, sniffing. “Upon my honor, if you were a boy, I’d bash you good and proper.”

“Forget I’m a girl,” snapped Sally. She reached out and gave his nose a twist.

That did it. Percy lost his temper.

He snorted free, whipped off his eyeglasses, and struck a fighting pose.

“You asked for this!” he bawled.

The fight was short and sweet. Percy had no chance to slip in any poetry licks. He spent his time going down and getting up.

At last Sally put him down for keeps. “Phoney!” she said, and marched off in a swirl of skirts.

Percy lay on the sidewalk with his eyes closed. For a long time he did not move. Encyclopedia grew worried.

“Percy, say something!” he begged.

“Is she gone?” said Percy.

“Yes,” Encyclopedia assured him. “You’re safe.”

Percy opened one eye. “A poem,” he moaned:

Charlie Stewart had the biggest tooth collection of any boy in Idaville.

After every rain, he went off tooth-hunting. Encyclopedia frequently went with him.

“The rain water washes off the dirt,” explained Charlie. “Sometimes you can see an opossum’s tooth shining fifty feet away.”

Charlie didn’t depend entirely upon the rain to help him find interesting teeth. He was more scientific. He took off his shoes.

“Shoes cut down your chances,” said Charlie. “With shoes on, you can step on a partly buried tooth without feeling it. But if you go barefoot, you get bitten sort of.”

Off came his shoes. He tied them together by the laces and hung them about his neck.

He began wiggling his toes. In a few minutes he was warmed up. “Okay, I’m ready,” he said. “Let’s get started.”