"Robert_McCloskey-Homer_Price" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mccloskey Robert)

Homer waited around until the sheriff and the men came back and the sheriff said, "They got clean away. There's not hide or hair of 'em the whole length of 56 or 56A."

While they were eating dinner that evening, Homer told the family about what had happened in town. After helping with the dishes he went up to his room, and after he had pulled Aroma up in the basket, he listened to the news report of the robbery on his new radio. "The police are baffled," the news commentator said, "Mr. N.W. Blott is offering half of the prize money and six bottles of the lotion to anyone who helps him get his prize back."

"Aroma, if we could just catch those robbers we would have enough money to build lots of radios and even a television receiver!" said Homer.

He decided that he had better go to bed instead of trying to think of a way to catch robbers, because he was going to get up very early the next morning and go fishing.

He woke up before it was light, slipped on his pants and ate a bowl of cereal. Then he found his fishing pole, gave a low whistle for Aroma (the whistle wasn't necessary because Aroma was waiting in the basket. Homer put the basket on his bike and they rode off down 56A.

They turned into the woods where the bridge crossed the brook. And Homer parked the bike and started to walk along the brook with Aroma following right along.

They fished all morning but didn't catch anything because the fish just weren't biting. They tried all of the best places in the brook and when they were ready to go home they decided to go straight through the woods instead of following the brook because the woods path was much shorter.

The path through the woods was an old wood road that was not used any more. It had not been used for years and almost everybody had forgotten that it was ever built. Before they had gone very far Homer thought he heard voices, then he smelled bacon cooking. He thought it was strange because nobody ever came up on this mountain to camp, so he decided to sneak up and investigate.

When Homer and Aroma looked around a large rock they saw four men! "THE ROBBERS!" whispered Homer, and indeed they were the robbers. There was the suitcase with the two thousand dollars and the one dozen bottles of after shaving lotion lying open on the ground. The robbers had evidently just gotten up because they were cooking breakfast over an open fire and their faces were covered with soapy lather for they were shaving.

Homer was so interested in what the robbers were doing, that he forgot to keep an eye on Aroma. The next thing he knew, Aroma had left the hiding place and was walking straight toward the suitcase! He climbed inside and curled up on the packages of money and went right to sleep. The robbers were busy shaving and having a difficult time of it too, because they had only one little mirror and they were all stooped over trying to look in it.

"I can hardly wait to finish shaving and try some of that fragrant after shaving lotion," said the first robber.

Then the second robber (who had a cramp in his back from stooping over and from sleeping in the woods) straightened up and turned around. He noticed Aroma and said, "Look at that thing in our money!" The other robbers turned around and looked surprised.

"That, my dear friend, is not a thing. It is a Musteline Mammal (Genus Mephitis) commonly known as a skunk!" said the third robber who had evidently gone to college and studied zoology.

"Well I don't care if it's a thing or a mammal or a skunk, he can't sleep on our money. I'll cook that mammal's goose!" Then he picked up a big gun and pointed it at Aroma.

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"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said the third robber with the college education. "It might attract the sheriff, and besides it isn't the accepted thing to do to Musteline Mammals."

So the robbers put a piece of bacon on the end of a stick and tried to coax Aroma out of the suitcase, but Aroma just sniffed at the bacon, yawned, and went back to sleep.

Now the fourth robber picked up a rock and said, "This will scare it away!" The rock went sailing through the air and landed with an alarming crash! It missed Aroma, but it broke a half dozen bottles of Mr. Dreggs' lotion. The air was filled with "that distinctive invigorating smell that keeps you on your toes," but mostly, the air was filled with Aroma!

Everybody ran, because the smell was so strong it made you want to close your eyes.

Homer waited by the old oak tree for Aroma to catch up, but not for Aroma to catch up all the way.

They came to the bike and rode off at full speed. Except to stop once to put Aroma and the basket on the rear mud guard, they made the trip home in record time.

Homer was very thoughtful while he did the odd jobs that afternoon. He thought he had better tell his mother what had happened up on the mountain. (His father had gone into the city to buy some things that were needed around the place, and he would not be back until late that night.) At dinner time he was just about to tell her when she said, "I think I smell a skunk around here. I'll tell your father when he gets home. We will have to get rid of that animal right away because people will not want to spend the night at our tourist camp if we have that smell around." Then Homer decided not to say anything about it, because he didn't want his father to get rid of Aroma, and because the robbers would no doubt get caught by the State police anyway.

That evening Homer was taking care of the gas station and helping his mother while his father was in the city. In between cooking hamburgers, and putting gas in cars, he read the radio builders' magazine and looked at the pictures in the mail-order catalogue. About eight o'clock four men got out of a car and said, "We would like to rent a tourist cabin for the night."

Homer said, "All right, follow me," and he led the way to one of the largest cabins.