Clive Cussler by The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy Read Free Book Online Page A

colors of the powerboats caught the morning sun and sparkled like Christmas ornaments on the blue-green water. The thrill of excitement was in the air as the pilots revved their powerful engines, the exhaust sounds going from a muffled throb to a low gurgling growl. Now all the boats broke out of the circle and headed slowly toward the start line so they could sneak into a good position to get the jump on the other boats and make a clean getaway.
    The orange flare signaling the one-minute warning shot into the blue sky as the pilots looked left to right and back again, seeing how far they were spaced apart. The pack was building into a stampede across the bay. Their big one-thousand-horsepower engines roared as the drivers surged toward the starting line in the same instant the chief official in the white cap raised his hand that held the flare gun.
    Unnoticed, Hotsy Totsy moved slowly behind the official yacht and approached from its stern. The race officials were looking the other way as they watched the boats gather in a rough lineup for the start. The excitement was building, but the boat pilots and the thousands of spectators failed to notice Hotsy Totsy suddenly rushing forward behind the fleet. Then the green flare was shot into the air and exploded with green streamers against a white-clouded sky.
    The race was on.
    Like a Thoroughbred leaping from the starting gate, Hotsy Totsy dug her stern in the water, lifted her bow and leaped over the water into the wake of the powerboats that were cutting across the bay like multicolored missiles.
    As they hurtled past the official yacht, Lacey grasped one of Floopy's paws and waved it at the race officials, who were frantically trying to wave them off the course. At first it seemed as though they needn't have bothered. Hotsy Totsy was quickly being left behind in the wakes of the much-faster boats.
    "She'll never keep up," cried Lacey miserably. "She isn't nearly fast enough. Maybe we were wrong to bring her here."
    "She can do it," Casey said gamely. "I know she can. If Vin Fiz did it, so can Hotsy Totsy."
    Lacey peered through the windshield and saw that the field of boats was halfway across the bay. "Speed!" Lacey pleaded. "Speed like the wind . . . please."
    Magically, as if Hotsy Totsy knew what she must do, her big Wright engine whirled into a screeching whine and spun the bronze propeller into a blur that cut through the water at a speed that pressed the twins and Floopy against the seats. She took off like a shell out of a cannon. In almost no time she was passing the boats trailing the main pack.
    "Hotsy Totsy has the same magic as Vin Fiz," shouted Casey, overjoyed.
    Lacey held her arms tightly around Floopy's neck as he barked from joy. "It's so wonderful," she shouted back.
    Hotsy Totsy had become a part of them. Casey and Lacey no longer had any doubts that she had a mind of her own and was going to use all her magical powers to win the race.
    The pleasure boats and expensive yachts formed a corridor for the boats roaring across San Francisco Bay. Casey and Lacey were stunned by the number of people watching from their boats. Everyone was waving and cheering them on.
    The gleaming white Bim Bam Boom, burst into the lead as the herd swept under the Oakland Bay Bridge and past Treasure Island. Hotsy Totsy pulled between two boats. One was rose-colored, the Tickled Pink, and the other, the Twitter Tweet, was painted a flashy lavender. The green water of the bay had turned white with froth as the spinning propellers of the boats shot it into the air in vast swirling waves. To see so many powerful boats speeding at over a hundred miles an hour was an incredible sight no one who saw it would ever forget.
    The first-turn marker buoy, a yellow one in the shape of a tall glass of lemonade, was coming up, and the pilots prepared to cut a turn without slowing down. Trailing, but beginning to move up,Hotsy Totsy kissed the waves from the wakes of the front-running boats as