Read Online Encyclopedia Brown and Dead Eagles by Donald J. Sobol - Free Book Online

The Case of the Dead Eagles
    In all the world there was no place like Idaville, U.S.A.
    Idaville looked like many other seaside towns. It had beautiful beaches, three movie theaters, and four banks. It had churches, synagogues, and two delicatessens.
    What made Idaville different was a red brick house at 13 Rover Avenue. For there lived Encyclopedia Brown, America’s Sherlock Holmes in sneakers.
    Because of Encyclopedia, no one in Idaville —child or grown-up—got away with breaking the law.
    Encyclopedia’s father was chief of the Idaville police. People all over the world, including China, thought he was the smartest police chief in history.
    Chief Brown knew better.
    Whenever he came up against a case that no one on the force could crack, he put on his cap and went home to dinner. Before the meal was over, Encyclopedia had solved the case.
    Chief Brown would have liked to shout from atop the stone heads carved into Mount Rush-more: “My son belongs here!” But what good would it do?
    Who would believe him? Who would believe that the mastermind behind Idaville’s war on crime was ten years old?
    So Chief Brown kept secret the help he got from his only child.
    Encyclopedia never said a word, either. He didn’t want to seem different from other fifth graders.
    But there was nothing he could do about his nickname. He was stuck with it.
    Only his parents and his teachers called him by his real name, Leroy. Everyone else in Idaville called him Encyclopedia.
    An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with all kinds of facts from A to Z—like Encyclopedia’s head. The boy detective had read more books than anyone in Idaville. When he breathed fast, his pals swore they could hear pages turning.
    Encyclopedia’s quick mind was in demand wherever he went. Not only did he solve cases at the dinner table, but often he was called upon to clear up a mystery when he least expected.
    Take, for example, the night he and Charlie Stewart were camping overnight in the state park. They had just pitched their tent when they heard a gunshot.
    “Gosh,” exclaimed Charlie. “That wasn’t far away!”
    Encyclopedia threw a log on the fire. He pretended that he hadn’t heard a thing.
    “It can’t be a hunter,” reasoned Charlie. “Hunters aren’t allowed near the campgrounds.”
    Encyclopedia slid a marshmallow onto a stick and turned it above the fire. Charlie stared at him in surprise and disappointment.
    “Don’t you think we ought to do something?” Charlie said. “I mean, somebody might have been murdered.”
    At times like this, Encyclopedia wished he had never become a private detective.
    “Catching a murderer isn’t like recovering a stolen bike,” he said. “A murderer can stop a person’s growth in a terrible hurry.”
    “But somebody might be hurt and need your help,” insisted Charlie.
    Encyclopedia sighed. “All right, let’s go.”
    The boys walked through the woods, following a path that led in the direction of the gunshot. After a quarter mile, they reached a clearing. At the far end was a cliff about forty feet high and seventy feet wide.
    Encyclopedia suddenly stepped to the edge of the path. He dropped to one knee beside a golden eagle. It was dead.

    Encyclopedia dropped to one knee beside a golden eagle.
It was dead.
    “This explains the gunshot,” he said, feeling anger and sorrow over the senseless killing.
    He looked about the clearing. The setting sun seemed to be resting atop the cliff. He had to shade his eyes before he saw the nest. It was in a cottonwood snag halfway up the cliff.
    He pointed out the nest to Charlie. Then he said, “I’ll bet Mike Bailey is in the park.”
    “What has Mike to do with the eagle?” said Charlie.
    “Don’t you remember last year?” asked Encyclopedia.
    A year ago, two golden eagles had built a nest in a cottonwood snag lower down on the same cliff. Soon afterward, both birds were shot during the night.
    “About nine o’clock, an hour before