Clive Cussler Read Free

amber hair. She didn't have to wait more than a minute before Casey walked in carrying the toy boat he had built with loving care. It was a sleek little craft with a tiny cockpit for the crew to sit in and steer. There was even a miniature American flag mounted on a staff in the stern.
    "We can't make it big in the barn," said Lacey. "The river is nearly a hundred yards away."
    He handed her the boat. "Here, you carry the Hotsy Totsy. I'll bring the pad and the mystical box."
    She peered at the teeny words Casey had lettered on the bow, which is the front of the boat. "Hotsy Totsy? How did you come up with that?"
    "It was the name of the powerboat I told you that won the Gold Cup."
    "Vin Fiz," Lacey muttered to herself. "And now Hotsy Totsy." She carefully held the fragile little boat in her hands as she walked with Floopy trotting beside her down to the Nicefolk dock, which ran from the shore along the farm thirty feet into the Salinas River. She held the navigation charts of the California coastline and the Sacramento River under her arms.
    Casey followed carrying the big shimmering pad over his shoulder and the copper box with two levers in his hands. At the end of the dock, he said, "I'm going to set the boat in a shallow part of the river so she can float."
    He took off his shoes and socks and waded into the river until he climbed up a small mound of silt that rose from the bottom. He laid the pad down on the mound and set the copper box on the dock. Then he reached up, took the model boat from Lacey and placed it on the pad. Next, he climbed out of the water and sat on the dock as Floopy, tail wagging, trotted over and licked his face.
    Lacey sat down beside Casey and stared at the model powerboat. "How big do you think it will be?" she asked.
    "From what I read, Hotsy Totsy was a little over twenty-eight feet long by seven feet wide. It had a V-shaped hull with a shingled bottom like the roof of the farmhouse that made the boat slip easier through the water as it raised the bow."
    Excitement grew in Lacey as she tried to imagine what the model boat would look like full size. She couldn't help but admire Casey's craftsmanship. "Okay, let's do it," she said, trembling with anticipation.
    He nodded. "All right, wish with all your might." He picked up the copper box with two levers on the top. The left one made things big. The right one made things small. He pushed the Get Big lever and stared at the little model on the mound, wishing with all his heart that it would grow.
    Casey and Lacey watched breathlessly as they wished and wished. The little boat glimmered and sparkled, followed by a swirling, whirling purple mist. Then came a burst of tiny stars and in the blink of an eye Hotsy Totsy became real, as real as the dock the twins stood on.
    Lacey's blue eyes widened and she jumped for joy. "Oh, she's beautiful," she gasped in amazement.
    Casey said nothing. He just stared and stared.
    Hotsy Totsy was indeed a beautiful boat. Her long lines were sleek and graceful. Her hull, beginning with a small bow, widened as it reached the engine compartment in the middle and began rounding past the cockpit into a torpedo-shaped stern. The wooden hull was formed from dark mahogany and was varnished and highly polished. The seats of her cockpit were covered in a rich red leather. She was built for speed and appeared to be hurtling over the water even though she was sitting still.
    Floopy jumped about the dock and barked and barked and barked.
    "I'll bet she's fast," said Lacey.
    Casey nodded. "The real Hotsy Totsy had a big Wright V-l2 aircraft engine that could push her over the water faster than any other boats."
    Lacey held her hand over her eyes and glanced at the rising sun. She handed Casey a black baseball cap and tied a bandanna around her hair. "We'd better get moving if we want to reach San Francisco and sign up to run in the race."
    Casey checked to see if he had his Swiss army knife in his pocket and jumped in the water,