t's," agreed Sue.
A little later Bunny and Sue were running down to the sandy shore, and
there they saw their new friend Harry, who was walking along with his
mother.
"Wasn't it a terrible storm?" called Mrs. Slater, when she saw the two
Brown children. "I never remember a worse one!"
"Yes, it was bad," agreed Bunny. "It was worse than when we were on the
_Fairy_. Did you see anything washed up?" he asked.
"Not yet," replied Harry. "What do you find after a storm?"
"Oh, lots of things," answered Bunny. "Once I saw a whale washed up on
shore. He was awful big."
"I wish I could see a whale washed up," said Harry longingly.
He looked across the tumbling waters of Christmas Tree Cove, as though
he might catch sight of some monster of the sea. But there was nothing
in view just then.
The three children, with Mrs. Slater, walked along a little farther.
Suddenly Sue, who was a short distance ahead, gave a delighted cry.
"What is it?" asked Bunny. "A cocoanut?" Once a ship laden with
cocoanuts had been wrecked and the shore strewn with the nuts.
"Is it a whale?" asked Harry.
"It's a big box," answered Sue, pointing. "Look, it's floating out
there, and I guess it's coming to shore right here."
The others looked toward the object at which Sue pointed and saw,
bobbing up and down in the waves, what appeared to be a large chest. The
wind and tide were fast bringing it up to where they stood on the
beach.
CHAPTER XXI
MR. RAVENWOOD
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue stood with Harry Slater and his mother on
the beach and watched the wind and the tide bringing nearer and nearer
to shore the floating box. As it came into plainer view, the children
could see that it was no ordinary refuse of the sea, like a broken
orange or lemon box, some of which floated ashore at Bellemere.
"That's a nice, good box," said Bunny, as he watched it bobbing up and
down on the waves. "It's a box just like Mr. Foswick, the carpenter,
makes."
"And it isn't broken, either," added Sue. Usually the boxes she and her
brother found on the beach were empty and smashed.
"Maybe it has something in it," suggested Harry. "Oh, wouldn't it be
funny if my dog was in it!" he cried.
"How could your dog be in it, dear?" asked his mother. "Sandy was lost
on shore. How could he be out in the ocean?"
"Well, maybe, after he jumped out of our auto he went on a boat and
maybe the boat sank and he got in this box, like a little bo
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