Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt Read Online Free PDF

filled with sandwiches and juices. Their saddlebags bulged with camping gear.
    Benny was waiting for them by his front door. His back and his bike were loaded for the overnight outing.
    The camping grounds lay at the south end of the State Park. The boys arrived early enough to claim the best site.
    Benny’s new tent was blue with red piping. Encyclopedia fingered a flap. The canvas was as thick as leather.
    “You can blow a trumpet in there and no one will hear you,” Benny said proudly.
    “So what?” Charlie whispered to Encyclopedia. “Who can blow a trumpet as loud as Benny’s nose?”
    Encyclopedia and Charlie pitched their tent as far from Benny’s as they dared. Any farther would have been an insult. Any closer meant shock waves.
    The boys were throwing a football when two sixth-graders, John Carter and Gower Bell, biked up. They looked at Benny and paled. They retreated as if they’d seen a hurricane approaching.
    They put up their tent at what seemed a safe distance. Then they came over and joined in throwing the football.
    After an hour everyone tired of the game. Gower Bell knew a fishing spot along the shore. The boys got their rods and headed for the ocean.
    As they slid down a brambly slope, John Carter let out an “Ouch!” A thorn was stuck deep in his finger.
    “I’ll get it out,” Gower Bell said. “Be right back.”
    He went to their tent and returned with a tiny sewing kit. It held three needles and some white thread. He sterilized a needle by burning the tip with a match, and dug out the thorn. For protection he spread some disinfectantjelly over the wound and bound it with a strip of adhesive bandage.
    John Carter had the bandage, but Benny had the touch. No one else landed a fish. Benny caught two yellowtails, a red snapper, and a sheepshead, plus some dirty looks from John and Gower.
    Encyclopedia built a fire and Benny fried the fish. After eating, the five boys sat around the fire and talked baseball and teachers till it was time to turn in.
    “How soon before Benny falls asleep?” Charlie asked anxiously.
    “Too soon,” Encyclopedia replied.
    Within five minutes Benny’s soundproof tent was given its first field test. It flunked.
    “Sounds like Benny is sawing wood,” Encyclopedia said.
    “Sounds like he’s cutting down a lumberyard,” Charlie corrected. “Here, have a couple.”
    He handed Encyclopedia two balls of cotton. The detective plugged his ears. The cotton didn’t help.
    An hour passed. Encyclopedia heard a raindrop, and then another and another. All atonce, rain was drumming on the tent.

    Charlie moaned. “Benny finally did it. He snored up a storm!”
    Hour after hour, the snores and the storm did battle.
    “Benny’s winning,” Charlie muttered.
    It was midnight before the two friends fell asleep, exhausted.
    The rain had stopped when Benny woke them at dawn. “Someone ruined my new tent,” he blurted.
    Encyclopedia and Charlie took a look. Benny’s new tent was full of tiny holes.
    “Who would do such a mean thing?” Benny said. He seemed on the verge of tears.
    “Didn’t you hear or see anyone last night?” Charlie asked.
    “I had my head in my bedroll, trying to keep dry,” Benny replied. “It was like sleeping in a car wash.”
    Encyclopedia examined the muddy ground around Benny’s tent. He found an adhesive bandage like the one Gower Bell had put on John Carter’s finger. Beside the bandage was a penny.
    “Did you find something?” Benny asked.
    The detective picked up the muddy bandage and penny. “These.”
    Benny’s face brightened. “Are they clues?”
    Encyclopedia nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “But they only tell how the holes in the tent were made, not who made them.”
    “I know who made them,” Charlie said. “Gower Bell and John Carter. Benny’s snoring kept them awake, so they put holes in his tent, the dirty rats!”
    Charlie was all for marching over to Gower Bell and John Carter and knocking heads. Encyclopedia