“Well, what are we waiting for? Why don’t we open it?”
“Go ahead,” Dan encouraged.
Brad pried at the lid but could not raise it.
“Stuck,” he observed. “At least the box doesn’t seem to be locked.”
Determined to open it, Brad rapped one corner of the lid against the hard cement floor.
The cover flew back so suddenly that an object tumbled out.
Brad and Dan stared. At their feet lay a package of bank notes, neatly held together with a rubber band.
“Money!” Dan exclaimed. “Twenty dollar notes! Must be counterfeit.”
“Gosh, it looks genuine enough,” Brad muttered, equally dumbfounded. “And look at the rest of ’em here in the box!”
The boys counted ten stacks of paper money. Some were in fives and tens, but a larger portion was in twenty dollar bills with at least a few fifties.