"And there can't be a dog in it, or he'd smother," added Sue, "'cause the cover is nailed on tight."
The box was near the point of land now, and Bunny and Harry were wading out to get it. Mrs. Slater and Sue could see that the box was a square one, about three feet long, and as many high and wide. And there was a cover on it.
"Catch hold now!" cried Bunny to Harry, and the two boys took hold of the sides of the box and easily guided it up to the beach. It soon grounded in the shallow water, but it was so heavy that when Bunny and Harry had got it to the shore of the point of land they could move it no farther.
"It's nailed tight shut all around," Bunny said, as he looked on all four sides.
"Ain't there a cover that you can put back like on a trunk?" Sue wanted to know.
"No, there ain't," answered Harry, "for if there was the hinges would show—they always do."
"Oh, what do you think can really be in it?" cried Sue, dancing around in excitement.
"Maybe it's a boat chest of some sort," suggested Bunny, who had heard Captain Ross speak of such things.
"From China?"
"Oh, I guess it couldn't come from as far away as that."