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Page 58
Hi got down on his knees and peered at the object, then, lighting
a match, looked it over more closely.
"Reckon it's a cracker box. Pull it out."
"I wouldn't do that," protested Grace, who now saw what had so
interested Hippy and the guide. "It seems like a sacrilege to
disturb it."
"On the desert, Mrs. Gray, one's life may depend upon the
thoroughness with which he investigates everything that he was not
before familiar with--anything unusual. This is unusual."
"I know, but---"
"Out she comes," answered Hippy.
"Oh!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe under her breath.
"Another match, please, Hi."
By the light of the flickering match the men and the two girls
peered at the object that Lieutenant Wingate took from the sand
and held up for their inspection.
"It isn't a cracker box at all. It looks more like a safe deposit
box," he declared. "What shall I do with it, Hi?"
"Take it into camp and open it, of course."
Grace protested again, but not so insistently as before. The guide
said he had a theory about the cross and the supposed grave, a
theory which he proposed to prove or disprove before leaving that
night's camping place.
"I know what it is," volunteered Miss Briggs. "I have one like it
to keep my private papers in, except that this one shows wear and
has lost most of its enamel, I suppose from the action of sand and
weather."
"What is it? What is it?" cried Emma, unable longer to restrain
her curiosity. Following her, as she came running to the scene,
were Anne and Nora.
"We don't know yet. It is a box, but we haven't opened it," Grace
informed her.
"Who found it?" demanded Emma.
"Mr. Lang and Hippy."
"Do--do we get what is in it?" persisted Miss Dean.
"This is an Overland affair, Emma," said Hippy. "Mr. Lang is an
Overlander so far as this party is concerned, and, as a matter of
fact, he discovered the box."
"You mean you did, Lieutenant," corrected the guide.
"We discovered it. That, I think, is the best way to settle it.
However, we are counting our chickens before they are hatched.
Let's go in by the fire where we can see."
Hippy carried the box under his arm, followed by the entire
Overland party, their curiosity being intensified by his delay in
opening it. Observing this, Lieutenant Wingate took his time,
helped himself to a drink of water, discussed their find with Hi,
then shifted the box to the other arm and began, discussing the
weather.
"Are you ever going to open that thing?" cried Emma. "You are so
aggravating."
"Oh, yes, the box," exclaimed Hippy. "Come over by the fire where
we can see what we are about."
Hippy sat down, held the box up to his ear and shook it.
"Yep! Something in it. Sounds like gold rattling about in there,
but the box is locked. Get a hammer so I can break it open."
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