was gone forever.

But now, when Russ came running in, telling about a big box being cast
up on the beach, his mother did not know what to think. The children had
heard her read stories about shipwrecked persons, who found things to
eat, and things of value, cast up on the sands, and she knew Russ must
imagine this was something like that.

"Hurry, Mother, and we'll see what it is!" cried the little boy, and
taking hold of her hand he fairly dragged Mrs. Bunker along the path
toward the beach.

"What sort of box is it?" the little boy's mother asked.

"Oh, it's a wooden box," Russ answered eagerly.

"Well, I didn't suppose it was tin or pasteboard," said Mrs. Bunker with
a laugh. "A tin box would sink, and a pasteboard box would melt away in
the water. Of course I know it must be of wood. But is it closed or
open, and what is in it?"

"That's what we don't know, Mother," Russ answered. "The box has a cover
nailed on it, and it isn't so very big--about so high," and Russ
measured with his hands.

"Did you open the box?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"No'm," Russ answered. "We were all playing on the sand when I saw
something bobbing up and down on the waves. We threw stones at it, and
then it washed up on the beach, and I ran down into the water and
grabbed it.

"Maybe it's gold in it, Laddie says," went on Russ. "But I told him it
wasn't heavy enough for gold."

"No, I hardly think it will be gold," said his mother with a smile.

"And Vi thinks maybe it's her doll," went on the little boy.

"Oh, it hardly could be that. Her doll is probably at the bottom of the
ocean by this time. It could hardly have been got up and put in a box.
I'm afraid you will find nothing more than straw or shavings in your
treasure-trove, Russ. Don't count too much on it."

"Oh, no, but we're just hoping it's something nice," Russ said. "You go
on down where the box is and I'll go get a hammer from Cousin Tom so we
can open the box."

He led his mother to a little hummock of sand, from the top of which she
could look down and see the children gathered on the beach about a
square wooden box that had been cast up by the sea. Then Russ ran back
to get the hammer.

Mrs. Bunker looked at the box. There seemed to have been some writing on
a piece of paper that was tacked on the box, but the writing was blurred
by the sea water and could not be read.

"Oh, Mother! what you s'pose is in it?" asked Vi. "My doll, maybe!"

"No, I hardly think