The Brown Fox Mystery

By Ellery Queen

During a lakeside vacation, Djuna hunts a mysterious fire starter

Whenever Djuna leaves the house, he seems to get into trouble. Whether it’s catching bank robbers or sniffing out a ring of counterfeiters, something about this young man makes him a magnet for mystery. When Miss Annie Ellery plans a summer vacation by the shores of Silver Lake, Djuna and his friend Tommy while away their time fishing, swimming, and sleeping till noon. Djuna promises to stay out of trouble—but it isn’t long before trouble finds him.
 
Djuna’s best friend at Silver Lake is Captain Ben, a fisherman who shows him the tricks of the trade. When Ben’s boat and fishing shack go up in smoke, Djuna promises to find the person responsible, even if it means getting into more trouble than ever before.
 
Ellery Queen is one of the world’s finest detectives, but his adventures are nothing compared to the Ellery Queen Jr. Mystery Stories. Join Queen’s apprentice, Djuna, and his trusty Scottie, Champ, on adventures filled with danger, suspense, and thrills.
 
The Brown Fox Mystery is the fifth book in the Ellery Queen Jr. Mystery Stories, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Mar 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504003964

Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty-two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age “fair play” mystery. Although eventually famous on television and radio, Queen’s first appearance came in 1928, when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who uses his spare time to assist his police inspector uncle in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee’s death.

Book preview

Chapter One

Exciting News

The boy named Djuna leaned forward and lifted the stringer that was tied to an oarlock of the rowboat out of the water. He grinned ruefully as he gazed at the one chubby sunfish and lone white perch that dangled on the end of the line.

A fine pair of fishermen we are, he said to his friend, Tommy Williams, who was sitting on the stern thwart watching his bobbin with sleepy eyes.

Chattering chimps! said Tommy in quick protest as he came awake. "There isn’t any way to make fish bite if they don’t want to bite. Anyway, Mr. Boots says Lost Pond is almost fished out. He says it hasn’t been stocked in five years."

Champ, Djuna’s little black Scotty, opened one eye and looked up at his master from where he was sleeping in the bottom of the boat as though to say, See? I told you this fishing was a lot of foolishness. He lifted his head and cocked it on one side to look at the two dangling fish for an instant, then plopped his head back on his paws and went back to sleep.

Golly, Djuna said with a sigh. I wish there was some place around here where you could really catch some fish, like that place Mr. Furlong took me up to in Canada.

You mean Socker Furlong, the newspaper man? Tommy asked. He must be an awful nice man.

Oh, sure. He is, said Djuna. We caught musk—musk-e-llunge that were three feet long. Djuna stuck his homemade fishing pole under one knee and spread his hands apart as wide as he could spread them, as all fishermen do, to exaggerate the size of the fish they had caught.

Hoddy-doddy! said Tommy. Maybe if Mr. Furlong takes you fishing again, he’d take me, too.

Sure he would, Djuna said. But it wouldn’t be before next summer, because he has already used up his vacation for this summer.

Then I guess we won’t catch any fish until next summer, said Tommy as his bobbin jerked beneath the water. Cripes, a bite! he added excitedly, and he yanked his pole so hard that his hook flew out of the water and the worm that was on it flew off the hook and landed twenty feet away.

There, said Djuna as he watched the worm disappear beneath the surface, goes our last worm.

Let’s go dig some more, Tommy said. I just had a bite.

It was only a little sunfish, said Djuna. They’re too small to catch and they’ve been stealing our bait all afternoon. He looked up at the sun that was hanging low over the gravel pit to the west and added, Anyway, we’d better be getting home if we want any supper.

Okay, said Tommy after a wistful look at his empty hook. Pull up the anchor and I’ll row.

Hoist your hook, you mean, Djuna said with a grin as he began to pull up the flat stone they were using as an anchor.

What do you mean, I mean, ‘hoist your hook’? asked Tommy. What’s a hook?

An anchor, Djuna explained. Real sailors call an anchor a hook because a real anchor is shaped like two hooks.

Oh, sure, said Tommy. He carefully grasped the gunwales as he moved from the stern up to the midship thwart to man the oars.

Djuna eased the heavy stone into the bottom of the boat and just as carefully moved to the stern thwart as Champ stood up, stretched his short, stubby body and legs and stuck out a red tongue while he yawned. Then the terrier pattered forward to put his forefeet up on the bow of the boat and looked ahead as though he was standing a watch. After a moment he looked around impatiently and barked twice to say, Let’s go!

All right, all right! Tommy said as he dipped his oars, took his bearings and headed for the upper-left-hand corner of Lost Pond, where Mr. Boots kept the rowboat they were using.

Only the creaking of the oars in the oarlocks and the chattering of some red-winged blackbirds in the marsh grass and cattails that lined the shore broke the stillness of the late afternoon until Tommy suddenly rested on his oars and said impatiently, Jeepers! I wish we could go some place where we could really catch some fish. All this spring, in school, I used to think how much fun we were going to have fishing this summer, and now we can’t even catch enough for supper.

I’ll tell you what let’s do! said Djuna excitedly as he pointed at the sky. Let’s pretend we can see the evening star and make a wish.

What’s the evening star? Tommy asked, and he looked bewildered.

It’s the first star you see at night, Djuna explained. When you see it you make a wish.

A lot of good that’s going to do, said Tommy. What’d we wish?

Just what you said a minute ago, Djuna said. You said you wished that we could go some place where we could really catch some fish. Let’s both wish that, only don’t say it out loud or it won’t come true.

It won’t come true anyway, said Tommy with conviction. I remember one time I wished and wished for a pair of skates for Christmas, and what do you think I got?

Golly, I couldn’t guess, Djuna said as he looked up at the sky again.

A bicycle! said Tommy with disgust.

Chattering chimps! Djuna said. Weren’t you satisfied?

Sure, said Tommy. "But I wished for skates."

Let’s try it anyway, Djuna said, and he looked up into the clear blue sky where he thought the evening star would be if he could see it. It won’t hurt us to try.

Okay, said Tommy, and then they both snickered as they silently made their wish.

Just as they finished Champ abandoned his position in the prow of the boat where he had been standing watch and put all four paws on the bottom of the boat, and began to bark so fiercely that they both looked at him in astonishment.

What in the world is the matter with him? Tommy wanted to know as Champ stopped barking for a moment to growl deep down in his throat.

He must hear something, or smell something, Djuna said, as Champ looked at him questioningly and then began to bark so hard that both the boys began to laugh.

Quiet, Champ! ordered Djuna. Champ stopped barking for a moment and when he turned his gaze on Djuna again he looked as though he was scowling at the interruption.

Then, while Champ was quiet, the dim, faraway baying of hounds cut through the stillness of the afternoon and Champ looked at both of them as though to say, You hear? and started to bark again.

It’s those hounds of old Mr. Beach’s, said Djuna. They must be running something. Prob’ly a rabbit.

What kind of dogs are they? asked Tommy. Before Djuna could answer he added, Champ must have good ears. He heard them long before we did.

He may have gotten a scent of them before we heard them, Djuna said, and added, I think Mr. Beach’s dogs are foxhounds. Anyway, they’re hounds of some kind.

The faraway baying faded until they could no longer hear it as Tommy nosed the boat up on the gravel beach beside the post where Mr. Boots moored his rowboat.

As soon as the bow of the boat was on dry land Champ scrambled over the side and his short, stubby legs moved like black pistons as he dashed toward the gravel pit and skidded around a clump of bushes, to disappear.

Champ! Champ! Djuna shouted as loud as he could shout. Come back here!

For Pete’s sake, what’s the matter with him? asked Tommy as Djuna scrambled over the side of the boat and started after Champ.

He’s prob’ly got the scent of whatever those hounds are running, Djuna shouted back over his shoulder. Tie up the boat and come on and help me. He’ll get lost like he did before.

Tommy stared after Djuna for an instant and then he grabbed the mooring line and made it fast to the ring in the mooring post and sprinted toward the gravel pit where Djuna had disappeared. He could hear Champ barking in the distance and could hear Djuna calling to him but when he ran into the pit they were both out of sight.

Suddenly Champ’s barking rose in pitch and became so frantic that Djuna spurred his own efforts to get through the brambles and brush on the west side of the pit. His hands and face and legs were scratched and bleeding by the time he came out on the other side and paused on the edge of a deep ravine.

Looking down, directly below him, Djuna could see where Champ had skidded down the side of the steep ravine in his mad haste. Now, Champ was trying desperately to clamber up the other side; but each time he got about three feet up the side it became so steep that he toppled backward and rolled over and over before he landed in the bottom again.

Stop it, you fathead! Djuna shouted at Champ, but in spite of his anger and his scratches he couldn’t help laughing at Champ’s frantic efforts.

Champ looked up at him through his tangle of whiskers with his beady black eyes and barked five times to say, Get me out of here!

Okay, Djuna said. I’ll get you out, but I ought to leave you there to teach you a lesson.

Hey, Djuna! Tommy shouted. Where are you?

On the edge of the ravine beyond the gravel pit, Djuna shouted back. But don’t try to come through that patch of brambles. If you go down to the south end of the pit you can walk right up the ravine. I’m going to slide down the side to get Champ. He fell in.

Djuna slid down the side of the ravine to land beside Champ who promptly began to lick his face with his long red tongue. They were sitting side by side as Tommy came running around the lower end of the ravine. When he saw them he stopped and began to laugh, because Djuna was scolding Champ, and Champ was looking so mournful that it seemed as though he might burst into tears any minute.

For Pete’s sake, what was the matter with him? asked Tommy.

Oh, every once in a while he gets the idea that he’s a great hunter, Djuna said as he took a leash out of his pocket and clipped it to Champ’s collar. Twice he ran so far, chasing something, that he was too tired to get back home and I had to get Mr. Boots to help me find him, with his truck. Sometimes he doesn’t have any sense, he finished and grabbed at Champ’s leash as the baying of hounds came to their ears again and Champ started to bolt.

Djuna got hold of the leash just in time. But Champ had started off at such speed that when Djuna grabbed the leash Champ came up and over and landed on his back with all four feet churning the air.

There! Djuna said. Maybe that will teach you.

But it didn’t. When Champ got back on his feet he reared up on his hind legs so that he could pull harder at his leash when he came down on all fours. The hounds were coming closer now and it took all of Djuna’s strength to keep Champ from breaking away from him.

Hoddy-doddy! said Tommy excitedly. Those hounds are certain’y right on something’s tail. Let’s hurry down the ravine and climb up on that knoll where we can look down across the fields. Maybe we can see what they’re running.

They ran down the ravine, with Champ giving Djuna plenty of assistance, and clambered up the side at a point where it wasn’t so steep. From the knoll they gazed down on an open expanse of two fields that were separated by a stone wall, and farther on there was another stone wall that ran parallel to a stretch of woodland.

Just as they reached the top of the knoll they saw something that was a dull reddish brown and about the size of a small dog flash out of the woodland and soar over the stone wall in one long graceful leap. They could see white underneath the brown and the long, bushy tail of the animal as it hung aloft and then struck the ground running in stride.

"It’s a fox!" Djuna shouted as two black-and-tan hounds burst out of the woods with their noses close to the ground. Their baying was deep and resonant as they leaped to the top of the wall and came down on the other side to lengthen their stride in the open field.

Golly! said Tommy with staring eyes. Look at that fox go! How fast do you think he’s running?

I don’t know, Djuna said excitedly, but he must be doing almost thirty miles an hour. Those dogs couldn’t catch him in a million years. Look at the way he’s circling back towards the woods again.

Jeepers, look at him go, said Tommy, and Champ was almost choking himself between pulling on his leash and barking as hard as he could bark.

Suddenly the streaking brown fox altered its course again and it was only a hundred yards away from the boys as it soared over the stone wall closest to them, with its long, bushy tail streaming behind it.

But when it landed this time it did not dash on straight ahead. Instead, it swung to the right and ran parallel to the stone wall with long effortless leaps that gave it the appearance of running only fast enough to stay ahead of the two black-and-tan hounds.

And a moment later, just after the two hounds had climbed over the stone wall and were running parallel to it with their noses to the ground, the fox leaped to the top of the wall and came back on top of it. Anyone who had taken the trouble to look closely enough could have seen a grin of derision on the tapering face of the fox as it sped back past the two hounds on the ground below it!

When the fox reached the approximate point where it had leaped over the stone wall it jumped down on the other side and doubled back over the very course it had led the two hounds across the field. A few moments later it disappeared into the woodland at almost the same spot where it had first appeared, while the two hounds milled around desperately in a corner of the field, beside the stone wall, where the fox had leaped on top of it.

Oh boy, oh boy! said Djuna, his brown eyes gleaming with admiration. "Have you ever seen anything as smart as that in your life before? Look at those two crazy dogs, they don’t have any idea where it went."

I betcha they start looking up in the air, in a minute, Tommy said as they watched the two dogs darting and circling, trying to pick up the scent again.

I guess a fox is about the sharpest wild animal alive, Djuna said. I read some place that most of them just laugh at a pack of dogs because they can run so fast and so long, and know how to fool ’em.

They’re certain’y smart, all right, said Tommy. That one fooled those two dogs without even trying. His face puckered in a frown and he added, "I wonder how they know how to do things like that? They must have to learn someway."

I s’pose it just comes natural to them, Djuna said and then he grinned. Or maybe their fathers and mothers teach them.

Maybe, Tommy said. Or maybe they have to go to school the way we do, to learn things.

Yeah, said Djuna. Imagine a lot of little foxes sitting at desks with books!

Then he yanked at Champ’s leash and said, Stop it, Champ! That fox is miles away from here. You couldn’t catch him anyway, if you had a head start and eight legs!

Champ gave two barks and looked at Djuna as though he had said, says you! and began to strut down the knoll as the two boys started back to get their fishing rods and the oars from Mr. Boots’s boat.

Mr. Boots was changing a tire on his small truck in front of his workshop when Djuna and Tommy arrived there. Mr. Boots looked up at them with his very bright blue eyes and smiled as he saw the small sunfish and perch they had caught.

Not much luck today, eh? he said with a chuckle.

I think you’re right, Mr. Boots, said Djuna. I don’t think there are any more fish in that pond. But, say, we saw a fox!

Oh, there’s a few left around here, Mr. Boots said. But ’tain’t like it used to be. Just put the oars in the corner of the shop, boys. You know where they go.

Sure, they said in unison and put the oars away in a corner of the workshop that was filled with Mr. Boots’s tools of trade.

Thanks very much for letting us use your boat, Mr. Boots, they told him when they came out.

You’re welcome, boys, anytime, said Mr. Boots. On’y I wish there was someplace near by where you could really get some fishin’.

"Golly, so do we, said Djuna. Good night, Mr. Boots."

Good night, good night, boys, Mr. Boots said and disappeared into his workshop.

Boy, I’m getting hungry, said Tommy as the two boys plodded back down the dusty road, past Mr. Pindler’s store, toward Miss Annie Ellery’s, where Djuna lived.

So am I, Djuna said. I’m glad it’s almost supper-time.

Just as the boys cut across the lawn to go in the kitchen door at Miss Annie Ellery’s a sudden stiff breeze sprang up that whipped through the maples on the lawn and caused Miss Annie’s wash to straighten out on her clothesline.

Look! said Tommy, pointing at two suits of long summer underwear that were whipping on the line. They look just like dancing ghosts! The suits of white underwear looked like two banners unfurled in the breeze, and then as though they were dancing a jig, as the breeze subsided.

Hey, Miss Annie, Djuna shouted through the window. Tommy says your long underwear looks just like a couple of dancing ghosts!

A little bit of a woman, hardly taller than Djuna, appeared in the doorway. She had gray hair, and wore spectacles, but her eyes were twinkling behind them.

You never mind about my long underwear! she said to Tommy, pretending to be severe. I guess a body’s underwear can dance if it wants to!

Both of the boys were convulsed with laughter as one leg of the underwear would whip out and then the other one, just as though it was kicking.

Then they stopped laughing as quickly as they had started, when Miss Annie pointed at the two small fish they had on their stringer and said, "Glittering glories of Golconda! I wouldn’t make any remarks about anybody’s underwear if I couldn’t catch more and bigger fish than you’ve got there."

"They’re not very big, Djuna admitted as he held up the two fish and looked at them disgustedly. There just aren’t any fish left in the pond except little shiners that steal your bait."

Maybe, Miss Annie said with a smile, you don’t know where to fish.

Gosh, Miss Annie, said Tommy earnestly. There just aren’t any fish left there.

Well, Miss Annie said mysteriously, "just come on in the house an’ perhaps I can tell you where