Read The Case of the Three Rings for Free Online

“Didn’t I tell you it would be easy as pie?”
    â€œI admit I had some doubts.”
    â€œWith buffalo, it’s all about how you approach ‘em. You can’t crowd ‘em, see, ‘cause when a buffalo don’t want to be somewhere, he won’t be there for long.”
    â€œI see,” said Slim. “And how do they feel about barns?”
    â€œSlim, as long as I keep hay and water in there…”
    I didn’t hear the rest of Uncle Johnny’s Lesson on Buffaloes, and neither did anyone else, because at that very moment, his voice got lost in a loud CRASH. It was so loud, I jumped two feet in the air and, well, sent Secret Encoding Fluid spraying in all directions.
    I whirled around, looked toward the barn, and witnessed an incredible spectacle.

Chapter Six: Maybe I Shouldn’t Have Barked

    S omething large, brown, and shaggy had just walked out of the barn, and it appeared to be WEARING HALF OF THE BARN DOOR ON HIS HEAD!
    Have you figured it out? That was Winkie, Uncle Johnny’s pet buffalo, and I guess he didn’t like staying in the barn. He’d walked right through the overhead door and had a big section of sheet metal skewered on his horns. He was as blind as a bat and tossing his head to get rid of the piece of the door that was stuck to his horns.
    But that was only the first part of the drama. The second part was…can you imagine what a young horse would think if he saw a buffalo clanking around with a barn door on his head?
    Socks was pretty calm by nature and had a nice, quiet disposition under ordinary circumstances, but he got over that real quick. When he saw Winkie clanking around and coming towards him, he lost his mind. His ears shot up, his eyes bugged out, he snorted and ran sideways, flattened Aunt Marybelle’s yard fence, and went to bucking like a National Finals bronc—through the yard and around the house.

    Well, you know me. When my cowboy gets caught in a storm, I don’t just stand around looking simple. I hit Turbo Six and went streaking up the road to the barn, but you’ll be proud to know that I didn’t bark. See, when a horse blows up, a barking dog very seldom helps the situation.
    Oh, and don’t forget what Uncle Johnny had said: Winkie wasn’t fond of dogs, so I, uh, felt this would be a good time to keep silent.
    Anyway, Socks bucked across the front lawn and was heading round the south side of the house. The front door flew open and out stepped Aunt Marybelle, Uncle Johnny’s wife. She stared in open-mouth amazement and let out a scream. “Slim Chance, get that horse out of my yard!” Then a look of horror came over her face. “Slim, watch out for the clothesline!”
    Uh oh. All eyes turned toward the north side of the house where a bunch of wet clean clothes were flapping on two clotheslines. Have we ever discussed horses and clotheslines? Bad combination. You should never ride a bucking horse through a yard with a clothesline.
    But this deal had moved way beyond Slim’s control. He had a double handful of bronc and was doing well just to stay aboard. He was making a good ride, but this appeared to be one of those situations when a cowboy can’t decide if he’s better off staying in the saddle or getting bucked off.
    When he disappeared around the back side of the house, he was still ahorseback and for several seconds I lost visual contact. I could hear some amazing snorts and grunts coming from Socks, and Slim yelling, “Whoa, Socks, easy boy!” When they came around the northeast corner of the house, Slim was still aboard…and Socks was highballing it straight toward the clotheslines.
    He hit them with a full head of steam. Wires snapped, clothes flapped, and Slim’s horse came out wearing the whole mess. He looked like a float in a parade and was pitching harder than ever. Right before he flattened another section of the yard fence, Marybelle