"You pry the lid up on one side, and then give me a chance at the other side," proposed Tom Reade.
But Greg, smiling quietly, soon had the entire lid off the box.
Nothing but a lot of multi-colored, curly packing paper met their gaze.
"The world destroyer must be underneath this ton of rubbish," grunted Darry, kneeling and prying the strings of paper out.
At last he delved down to a parcel wrapped in stout manila paper and securely tied with cord.
"Cut the strings," advised Reade, passing Dave a pocket knife with one blade open.
Darrin, however, had lifted the parcel out to lay it on the ground. It was fairly heavy, but Dave handled it with ease. Now he cut the strings. As the papers were pushed aside he and the others saw nothing at first but a lot of khaki-colored canvas.
"Fellows," declared Dick, "I don't believe this is a practical joke, at all. It looks to me as though someone had sent us something very much like a cook tent."
All thought of danger having now passed, Prescott and his comrades unfolded the canvas. At the bottom of the package they found something that caused them to send up a wild hurrah.
Two daintily modeled white maple paddles lay there. There were two other objects made of wood that looked like seats.