Free Clive Cussler by The Adventures of Vin Fiz Page A

the outer wheels lifting off the rail. Yet, dragged by the brakes and the drive wheels that were forcing it backward, the train clung to the track like an owl on a tree limb.
    For a few seconds it was touch and go, but finally, to the great relief of Lacey, Casey, the engineer and fireman in the cab of the Moonlight Limited's engine and all the passengers on the Sunrise Express, the train ground to a stop, a great puff of black smoke rising through its smokestack with a billowing hiss of steam.
    Oh, the excitement, the adventure, the danger and the thrill! Thankfully, it was all over.
    But not quite.
    Before they could be thanked by the engineer, fireman and all the passengers of the Sunrise Express for saving their lives, Lacey and Casey turned their sights on catching the bandits who had caused such a great calamity. Once more they rose into the sky, with Vin Fiz lifting them straight up from the coal tender and turning back to where they had last seen the despicable bandits. Now the trick was to pick up the trail the bandits had left during their getaway. Was Vin Fiz up to the chase? the twins wondered. Could she track a cold trail to the bandits' hideout?
    The twins didn't have long to wait.
    As they flew over the spot where the Sunrise Express was robbed, they could see four cars marked Oglebee County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Mugwump and his deputies were talking to the engineer and fireman from the Sunrise Express, who had been untied from the tree. They flew on until they came to a crossroad. Then Casey told Vin Fiz to land, and she did.
    The enchanted airplane wasn't the only one who could track a human trail. As soon as the wheels rolled to a halt, Casey lifted Floopy to the ground and said, "Floopy, go get 'em!"

    Floopy instantly barked up a storm and began running down the road that led west. Knowing they could never keep up with Floopy on foot, the twins jumped back in the airplane, which lifted off and followed the basset hound from a hundred feet in the air. They studied the surrounding countryside, looking for a green bus. At every crossroad, Floopy stopped and sniffed the air with his supersensitive black nose. Catching the scent of the bandits, he rushed down a road leading to the north. A mile later, he stopped at a junction where a small dirt road angled into a forest. He circled with his nose to the ground, then, satisfied, picked the correct scent and chased off over a road that was overgrown with weeds.
    Lacey, Casey and Vin Fiz followed from the air but saw only a thick blanket of leaves after Floopy disappeared under the trees. Vin Fiz quieted her engine so it ran silently with no popping from the exhaust pipes. Only she knew how, and she did it. Now for the second time, Lacey and Casey felt like they were in a glider soaring soundlessly with the breeze.
    They flew over a field of weeds that had once been filled with crops. It looked to have been long abandoned and had returned to nature. In the middle of the field was a deserted mansion. Not an ordinary house, mind you, but a country manor built of stone and almost as large as a castle. It must have belonged to a local landowner whose family moved away long ago.
    There was a gatehouse with a high archway that led to a central courtyard. The main three-story building was arranged around the courtyard with smaller outer buildings for the stables and quarters for the servants. But they all looked deserted and run-down, not having been maintained in many years. Spires rose everywhere, joined by at least eight tall chimneys. Four round towers with cone-shaped roofs stood on the four corners of the manor.
    Lacey thought it looked spooky and haunted. She could almost imagine the clip-clop of ghostly horses in the courtyard. The manor stood partially ruined, a sad shadow of its former glory.
    Floopy sat in front of the big rusty gate to the courtyard, happily wagging his tail at knowing he had traced the bandits to their hideout.
    "After we land, you and