Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Carnival Crime by Donald Sobol

Author:Donald Sobol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

WHO DOES ENCYCLOPEDIA SUSPECT?

(Turn to page 82 for the solution to “The Case of the Lazy Lion.”)

The Case of the Explorer’s Map

Encyclopedia Brown opened his agency door one morning to find ten-year-old Sarah Jenkins sitting outside. “Wow!” he said. “You’re here early.”

“I wanted to make sure I was first in line,” Sarah said.

Encyclopedia looked both ways. There was nobody else in sight. “No problem there,” he said.

“Good,” said Sarah. “I need your help right away.” She took out a quarter and placed it carefully on the old gasoline can. “You may not know this, Encyclopedia, but we’ve started a new club this summer. We’re calling it the Lost and Found Club.

“The club members are all interested in explorers. The Explorers Club seemed like a boring name. Since explorers often get lost, and usually get found, we settled on the Lost and Found Club.

“Anyway,” she went on, “we’re very interested in old maps. If you look at an explorer’s route on a map today, it doesn’t look so amazing because we now know where everything is. In the old days, explorers had no idea what was waiting for them beyond the horizon. They had to be brave and skillful.”

“And careful, too,” said Encyclopedia. “A lot of them died before achieving their goals.”

“Exactly,” said Sarah. “So you can understand how excited we were when Nate Switcher got in touch with us. He thought we would be interested in buying a map drawn by a Spanish mapmaker who accompanied Columbus on his historic voyage of fourteen ninety-two. Imagine what that trip must have been like. Sailing into uncharted waters . . . worrying about falling off the edge of the earth. . . .”

“Columbus wasn’t concerned about that,” Encyclopedia said. “Knowledgeable sailors knew the earth wasn’t flat.”

“That’s a fact. I can picture it in my head. I see their faces peering into the mists,” Sarah said.

“They had to deal with more than mists,” Encyclopedia declared. “Certainly they had plenty of real things to worry about. Running out of food or fresh water. Fierce storms. Attacks from sea monsters . . .”

“Sea monsters?” said Sarah.

“That’s the picture in my head,” Encyclopedia said.

Sarah laughed. “We figured you could help, you being a detective and all.”

“I can try,” Encyclopedia said. “I think I’ve seen Nate around town. He’s a high school senior, isn’t he? Where would he get a map like that?”

“He says he found it at a flea market on a trip his family took to Spain. I checked on that,” Sarah said. “The Switchers did go to Europe last summer. Since he bought it with his own money, his parents say he can do whatever he wants with it.”

“Why is he singling you out?”

“I guess he figures the Lost and Found Club has the most interest.” Sarah smiled. “And we do. He wants me to come over to his house for a look. I figured it would be good to get your opinion.”

“Okay,” said Encyclopedia. “Let’s go.”

When Nate saw them coming, he smiled broadly. “Glad you could make it, Sarah.

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