Dunc and the Scam Artists Read Free Page A

andclimbed over the squeaky gate so that it wouldn’t groan and attract attention.
    They were dressed in the black clothes and ski masks they always wore for special night missions.
    Step by step they silently worked their way to the shed.
    “You start digging and I’ll keep a lookout,” Dunc said.
    “Naturally,” Amos murmured. “Hey, where’s the shovel? Shine your light over here. I thought it was right here.”
    “It was. Let’s look around for it.”
    “It’s not here now, so I guess we’ll have to go home and forget all about it, right?” Amos was hopeful.
    “We’ll just have to use our hands. Start digging. I’ll help you.”
    They scooped the dirt out with their bare hands.
    “I’ve found something Dunc. Turn on your flashlight.”
    The light caught the top of a green metal box with a white handle in the shape of an angel.
    “Let’s see if we can get the rest of it uncovered,” Dunc said.
    The screen door on the front porch slammed shut. A tall figure walked out onto the porch and lit a cigarette.
    The boys froze.
    Dunc whispered softly, “Help me cover up the box and then get up against the wall. We’ll watch out the window. If he comes this way, we’ll have to make a run for it.”
    Amos nodded.
    A second figure walked out onto the porch but it was too dark to tell much about it. They were too far away to make out what was being said.
    “… won’t be long … enough money … retire … after … one … more … job …”
    The boys inched toward the door of the shed. Suddenly the doorknob turned and an extremely large person walked into the shed. It was the creep.
    “Where’s the light switch? I can’t see a thing in here,” the big man said. He felt around and grabbed Amos by the ear.
    “Run!”
Amos screeched.
    They ran wide open, out the door of theshed, right over the big man. He went down,
whumping
up a cloud of dust.
    In the dark it was hard to tell which direction they were running. Then Amos’s foot pounded down onto a rake—rakes seemed to wait for him—and it came up and hit him perfectly between the eyes.
    “Rake!” he yelled. “I’ve been raked—”
    “Keep quiet Amos, I think we’ve lost them.”
    “Easy for you to say.” Amos held his nose.
    Dunc took his belt off and handed one end of it to Amos. “Hold on. We’ve got to stay together. Come on.”
    The boys crashed through some thick brush and ran smack into a picket fence.
    “Our bikes are along here somewhere. Hurry
up
Amos. Amos? Amos, where are you?”
    “I’m stuck Dunc. Turn on the flashlight and help me.”
    Dunc pointed the light at Amos, whose head was jammed between two rails of the wooden fence.
    “Quit fooling around Amos. They’ll be here any second. Pull it out.”
    “I’m not fooling around—help me get it off.”
    Dunc grabbed the fence and heaved. Amos’shead didn’t budge. “I can’t move it. The whole section wobbled but your head doesn’t seem to want to come loose.”
    “Pull,” Amos said. “Pull hard.”
    Just then, Dunc heard noise in back of him and he grabbed in panic and heaved, felt something give, and took off for the bicycles, dragging Amos behind.

Amos had bright red ears and a purple goose egg between his eyes.
    Dunc inspected the bruises more closely. “Did you have any trouble explaining your appearance to your parents?”
    “I was kind of worried when my dad had to use the power saw to get that section of fence off of my head. I thought he might ask how it got there. But you know, he never did. He just kept mumbling something about how it wasn’t fair how you couldn’t pick your kids.”
    “I guess they’re sort of used to your accidents by now,” Dunc said.
    “That’s for sure. This morning my momlooked right at me, fence and all, and asked me if I had slept well.”
    “Cheer up Amos. We came awful close to getting our case solved last night. Let’s go up to my room and figure out where we went wrong.”
    “I can’t. My uncle Alfred and my