air of shoes. And, after all, maybe
there is only a lot of old trash in the box."

"Oh, I thought maybe my doll was in it," sighed Violet.

"Can't you take your boat, Tom, and row out and get the box?" asked
Cousin Ruth.

"Yes, I could do that," he said. "I will, too! The water is calm, though
I can't tell how long it will stay so."

But before Cousin Tom could go back to the pier in the inlet, where the
boat was tied, the box was washed quite a distance out from shore. Then
the wind sprang up and the sea became rough, and it was decided that he
had better not try it.

"Let the box go," said Daddy Bunker. "I guess there was nothing very
much in it."

But the children thought differently. They stood looking out at the
unopened box, now drifting to sea, and thought of the different things
that _might_ be in it. Each one had an idea of some toy he or she liked
best.

"Well, we waited too long about opening it," said Mr. Bunker. "We should
have pulled the box farther up on the beach, Russ."

"That's right," said Cousin Tom. "The tides are getting high now, as
fall is coming on, and the tides are always highest in the spring and
the autumn. But maybe we can get the box back, after all."

"How?" asked Russ eagerly.

"Well, it may come ashore again, farther up the beach," replied Cousin
Tom.

"Then somebody else may find it and open it," Russ remarked.

"Yes, that may happen," said his father. "Well, we won't worry over it.
We didn't lose anything, for we never really had it."

But, just the same, the six little Bunkers could not help feeling sorry
for themselves at not having seen what was in the box. They kept
wondering and wondering what it could have been.

But a day or so later they had nearly forgotten about what might have
been a treasure, for they found many other things to do.

One afternoon Margy and Mun Bun, who had been freshly washed and combed,
went down to the wharf where Cousin Tom kept his boat.

"Don't get in it, though," warned their mother. "You were carried away
in a boat once, and I don't want it to happen again. Keep away from the
boats."

"We will!" promised Mun Bun and Margy.

When they reached the shore of the inlet Mun Bun said:

"Oh, Margy, look how low the water is! We can wade over to that little
island!"

"Yes," agreed Margy, "we can. We can take off our shoes an' stockin's,
an' carry 'em. Mother didn't tell us not to go wadin'."

And Mrs. Bunker had not, for she did n