CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE 1 [An Unusual Gift] 9 2 [Make Ready to Sail!] 20 3 [Shakedown Cruise] 33 4 [The Man with the Gun] 51 5 [Storm Fears] 67 6 [Something Lost—Something Found!] 75 7 [A Million Dollars’ Worth of Trouble] 82 8 [Double Blackout] 87 9 [To the Freighter] 97 10 [Aboard the Floating Prison] 108 11 [Escape to Danger] 120 12 [The Race Begins] 136 13 [A Race of Mistaken Identity] 146 14 [Slow-Motion Chase] 153 15 [Turn and Turn Again] 160 16 [The End of the Race] 169 17 [Another Discovery] 177 18 [Homeward Bound] 183
CLIFFPORT CALIFORNIA
SLOOP
(1) Mainsail (2) Jib (3) Mast (4) Boom (5) Shrouds (standing rigging) (6) Headstay ( ” ” ) (7) Backstay ( ” ” ) (8) Rudder (9) Tiller (10) Mainsheet (11) Hawk (12) Halyards
CHAPTER ONE
An Unusual Gift
Sandy Steele slowly put down the phone and pushed his blond cowlick back from his brow. Excitement and confusion were mixed in equal parts in his expression as he turned to his father, John Steele, who stood leaning against his workbench, idly tossing a piece of quartz crystal in the air.
“Wow!” Sandy said. “Leave it to Uncle Russ to come up with a real surprise!”