The Case of the Fiddle Playing Fox Read Online Free PDF Page A

anything.”
    â€œI thought I heard someone speak.”
    â€œNot me. I didn’t say a word.”
    â€œHmm, that’s odd. I could have sworn . . . Drover, this case has me stumped. I can’t seem to find a handle.”
    He looked around in a circle. “No, there aren’t many around here.”
    â€œOftentimes, when we reach a dead end in a case, the best way to proceed is with a radical departure, something that will blow the case wide open. If you agree with that, as I’m sure you will, then tonight at dark we will stake out the chicken house and wait for the villain to strike again.”
    â€œWho’s we ?”
    â€œWe, Drover, meaning the entire Security Division.”
    â€œWell, I don’t know, Hank, I’m liable to be . . .”
    â€œWe’re going to throw all units into this case, and stay with it until we’ve got a suspect. I guess I don’t need to tell you that this could get us into some combat.”
    He stood up and began limping around in a circle. “You know, this change in the weather has sure done something to this old leg of mine. I don’t know but what . . .”
    â€œA good long nap will fix you right up, Drover. Come dark, you’ll be good as new.”
    â€œI don’t know. This dampness . . .”
    â€œTry it, Drover. I’m sure it’ll work. But just in case it doesn’t, think about life without dog food.”
    â€œIt does feel a little better, now that I’ve worked some of the soreness out.”
    â€œGood. Now let’s get some shut-eye. I’ve cancelled all the afternoon’s operations. Everything is on hold until we break this case. Good night, Drover. Or maybe I should say, good afternoon.”
    â€œI think it’s still morning.”
    â€œVery well, good morning.”
    â€œGood night, Hank, I hope I can sleep with all this pain.”
    We curled up inside the machine shed and spent the entire afternoon throwing up long lazy lines of Z’s. It was a wonderful experience.
    Oh, there were a few minor interruptions. The flies were bothersome, but we expect that in the fall and take certain corrective measures to reduce the nuisance factor. We’re able to put our ears on Automatic Twitch, don’t you know, and that pretty muchly takes care of the fly problem.
    Then, sometime in the middle of the afternoon, Loper came blundering into the machine shed and spent half an hour running the high-speed grinder. I have no idea what he was doing over there—grinding on a piece of steel, I suppose, and it was very noisy, and after a while he must have gotten bored because he turned the grinder around so that it threw a shower of sparks on ME.
    There are certain people in this world who can’t stand to see someone else enjoying a peaceful sleep. It seems to bring out the very worst qualities in their nature. It turns them into maniacs and statistic pranksters. They won’t take a hint, they won’t go away, they won’t quit tormenting the innocent party until the innocent party is dragged from the warm vapors of sleep.
    I ignored him as long as I could. I mean, I was aware of what he was doing. I knew that tiny fragments of red hot metal were hitting the lower dorsal quadrant of my body. But I also knew that my hair would trap the sparks and allow them to cool before they made contact with my skin, which meant that I was fairly safe.
    I knew what he wanted: a big explosive reaction from me. Maybe it was stubbornness on my part, but I didn’t want to yield to his childish prank. Twice I raised up and gave him a long patient stare, and whapped my tail on the cement floor, as if to say, “Okay, you’ve had your fun. Now go away and leave me alone.”
    Do you think that was good enough for him? I’m telling you, these cowboys are childish beyond your wildest dreams. No sir, that wasn’t good enough for him, and do you know what he did?
    He bore down