“Huh! candy and pop-corn balls would all be wet in the ocean,” exclaimed Laddie.

By this time Russ came running back with the hammer.  Behind him came Cousin Tom, Cousin Ruth and Daddy Bunker.

“What’s all this I hear about a million dollars being found in a box on the beach?” asked Daddy Bunker with a laugh.

“Well, there’s the box,” said Russ, pointing.  “Please open it.”

“I wonder what can be in it,” said Cousin Ruth.

“Oh, maybe nothing,” replied her husband, who did not want the children to be too much disappointed if the box should be opened and found to hold nothing more than some straw or shavings for packing.

“Lots of boxes that are cast up on the beach have nothing in them,” said Cousin Tom, as Daddy Bunker got ready to use the hammer on the one Russ and the others had found.

“There is something in this box, all right,” said Daddy Bunker, as he lifted one end.  “I don’t believe this box is empty, though what is in it may turn out to be of no use.  But we will open it and see.”

The six little Bunkers crowded around to look.  So did Mother Bunker and Cousin Tom and his wife.  And then a very disappointing thing happened.  All of a sudden a wave, bigger than any of the others that had been rolling up on the beach, broke right in front of the box resting on the sand.  Up the shore rushed the salty, green water.

“Look out!” cried Mother Bunker.  “We’ll all be wet!”

Daddy Bunker, not wishing to have his shoes soiled with the brine, jumped back.  So did the others.  And, in jumping back, Mr. Bunker let go his hold on the box, which he was just going to open with Cousin Tom’s hammer.  And the big wave, which was part of the rising tide, just lifted the box up, and the next moment carried it out into the ocean, far from shore, as the wave itself ran back down the hill of sand.

“Oh!  Oh, dear!” cried Rose.

“Grab it!” yelled Russ.

“I’ll get it!” exclaimed Laddie.

He made a rush to get hold of the box again before it should be washed too far out from shore, but he stumbled over a pile of sand and fell.  He was not hurt, but when he got up the box was farther out than ever.

Daddy Bunker looked at the water between him and the box, and said: 

“It’s too deep to wade and spoil a pair 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.