It was about ten inches long and eight high, so tiny that he anticipated no difficulty in raising it, but, to his astonishment, found it required the exercise of all his strength to pull it from the bed of sand in which it had lain so long.
“I’d like to know what’s inside,” he said as he stood looking at the small but exceedingly heavy package. “There’s no hope of breaking it with one of the poles, for the rawhide would hold it together, even if I should splinter the wood. I reckon it wouldn’t be a bad idea to burn one end off.”
This last thought seemed to be a happy one, and the boy set about carrying the “find” to the hut.
It required all his strength, and more than once was it necessary for him to rest, but he finally succeeded, the last portion of the journey having been made after nightfall, and once at the place where the camp-fire was usually built, he forgot about supper.
He was curious to see the contents of the odd box, and this desire was greater than his hunger.
Building a glowing fire, he placed the case in such a manner that only one end would be affected by the flames, and as the rawhide began to crackle and shrivel it suddenly occurred to him that the package might be filled with cartridges.
“If it is I reckon this is no place for me,” he said in something like alarm, moving off a short distance, and then recovered his composure as he added:
“The danger can’t be great, no matter how much powder may be there, for the box must have been under water a long time, an’ I don’t allow fire could do it any harm.”
Now he approached sufficiently near to heap the coals up as the wood began to smolder; but despite the amount of fuel expended, it was fully an hour before his purpose was accomplished.
One end of the case was now so charred that he anticipated little difficulty in forcing it open with a stake from the roof of his hut, and the package was drawn back to a comfortable distance from the flames.