t want to be hungry," murmured Laddie, with a queer look at his
father.

"Oh, he's only joking," whispered Russ. "I can tell by the way he laughs
around his eyes."

"Yes, I'm only joking," said Laddie's father. "I guess Cousin Ruth will
have plenty to eat. We'll walk along the beach a little way and then go
home."

The two men reeled in their fish lines and, with the two little boys,
strolled along the sand. Laddie and Russ were wondering what they could
do to have some fun, and they were thinking of different things when
Cousin Tom, who was a little way ahead, cried:

"Look! Isn't that a box being washed up on the beach?"

They all looked and saw something white and square being rolled over and
over in the waves nearest the shore. It was quite a distance ahead of
them, but Cousin Tom, handing his pole and basket to Daddy Bunker, ran
and, wading into the surf with his high rubber boots, caught hold of the
box.

"It shan't get away from us this time!" he called to Daddy Bunker, Russ
and Laddie as they hastened toward him. "I'll keep it safe this time,
all right!" and he carried the box well up among the sand dunes, or
little hills, well out of reach of the highest tide.

"Why do you say 'this time'?" asked Daddy Bunker. "Did you ever pull in
this box before?"

"Indeed I did, or, rather, one of us did. This is the same box the
children found once before; don't you remember? This time we'll find out
what is in this box for sure. And we won't wait for a hammer, either.
I'll use a piece of driftwood."

As Daddy Bunker and the two boys gathered around the box they saw that
indeed it was the same one that had been cast up before by the waves.

What could be in it?

CHAPTER XXII

THE UPSET BOAT

Cousin Tom had said he was not going to wait for a hammer to open the
box, and he was as good as his word. When he had carried the box well up
on the beach, out of reach of even the highest waves, he looked about
for a piece of driftwood that he could use in knocking the cover off the
case. And while he was thus searching, Daddy Bunker, Russ and Laddie
examined the box.

"It looks just like the same one," said Russ.

"I'm positive it is," added his father. "I remember the size and shape
of the other box and this is just the same. And there were two funny
marks in the wood on top, and this has the same marks."

"There was a piece of paper tacked on the other box," said Russ. "That
isn't here now."

"That w