Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt by Donald J. Sobol Page B

cents on the gas can beside the detective. “I want to hire you. Get back my pizza!”
    “It may be too late,” Encyclopedia warned. “But we’ll talk with Bugs. Come along.”
    “Not me,” Farnsworth said.
    “Why not?” Encyclopedia demanded impatiently. “Give me one good reason.”
    “I’ll give you three,” Farnsworth replied. “I’m afraid, I’m scared, I’m a coward.”
    “Relax,” Encyclopedia said gently. “I’ve handled Bugs before. His breath is worse than his bite.”
    The Tigers’ clubhouse was an unused toolshed behind Mr. Sweeney’s Auto Body Shop. Bugs and two of his Tigers were outside, sitting on orange crates.

    “Well, well,” Bugs growled as Encyclopedia and Farnsworth approached. “Look who’s playing hooky from a padded cell.”
    Farnsworth walked straight up to the thin pizza box that lay open on the clubhouse step. One piece of pizza remained.
    “They’ve eaten nearly all of it!” Farnsworth screamed.
    “Man, oh, man,” Bugs moaned, clapping himself on the forehead. “Do I ever get the screwballs! What’s he raving about?”
    “Farnsworth claims you stole a slice of his pizza, and then you stole the whole thing,” Encyclopedia said.
    “This pizza belongs to us Tigers,” Bugs retorted. “We bought it to celebrate the one-month anniversary of the Society to Preserve the Round Pizza.”
    “What’s that?” Encyclopedia inquired.
    “It’s not a useless society, like the Flat Earth Association,” Bugs declared with a sneer. “When you talk pizza, you’re talking something you can get your teeth into.”
    “Who cares?” Farnsworth cried.
    “All true pizza lovers care,” Bugs answered loftily. “Say, what’s the matter with you? Haven’t you heard? The square pizza was onthe edge of cornering the market until we Tigers met the challenge. We started our society to keep the round pizza rolling along.”
    “Never mind the news brief,” Farnsworth said. “You stole my pizza!”
    “I told you it belongs to us,” Bugs snapped. “Now you two crumb cakes move on. Go kiss a shark. Stick around and we’ll play chimes.”
    “What’s … ch-chimes?” Farnsworth’s voice faded as he watched Bugs curl his fingers into fists.
    “First I ring your head, and then I ring your neck,” Bugs snarled.
    “I have a suggestion,” Farnsworth whispered to Encyclopedia. “Let’s get out of here before we are severely injured.”
    Encyclopedia ignored the plea. He knew that if he stood calmly, Bugs would shed his tough-guy act.
    Bugs did. “There’s no sense in arguing,” he said when Encyclopedia refused to scare. “Here, have a piece of pizza. We Tigers share everything equally. We each had a couple of pieces, so you can have the last one.”
    “Thanks,” Encyclopedia said. “Do you have a knife to cut it in half?”
    Bugs looked questioningly at the otherTigers. They shook their heads.
    “I’m not settling for half a piece of my own pizza,” Farnsworth said.
    “You won’t have to,” Encyclopedia replied. “Bugs will buy you another. His story is too much to swallow.”
    WHAT WAS BUGS’S MISTAKE?
    (Turn to this page for the solution to
The Case of the Round Pizza.)

The Case of Bugs’s Zebra
    W hat Bugs Meany wanted most out of life was to get even with Encyclopedia Brown.
    The Tigers’ leader hated being outsmarted all the time. He longed to shove the detective’s teeth so far down his throat that he’d have to do deep knee-bends to chew.
    Still, Bugs never tried bullying Encyclopedia. Whenever he got mad enough to use muscle, he remembered Sally Kimball.
    Sally was Encyclopedia’s junior partner. She was also the prettiest girl in the fifth grade, and the best athlete. What’s more, she haddone what no one had thought possible.
    She had pounded rough, tough Bugs Meany dizzy.
    The last time they had fought, Bugs finished on his back, lost in dreamland. “Your money will be cheerfully refunded, madam,” he had moaned.
    “Bugs won’t quit