"But the contents might prove more than a disappointment.

A real danger, for instance." "Do you really think so ?" Dick mused wonderingly.
"Well, let's not be too rash," Darrin urged.

"When I try to think of the friends who might take the trouble to come away out here to leave something for us, about the dearest friends I can think of are---Dodge and Bayliss." "And what would they leave in the box for us ?" pondered Prescott.
"Anything from a nest of rattlesnakes to an infernal machine," Greg Holmes suggested.
"That doesn't sound quite reasonable," Dick replied slowly.

"Neither Dodge nor Bayliss amount to much, and both fellows are pretty mean; but do you imagine they would dare do anything that might come very close to murder?
I don't." "Oh, well, open the box, then," Dave agreed.

"Whatever may be in it of a dangerous nature, I'll stand by and take my share of it." "A few minutes won't make any difference," said Dick, rising and dropping hammer and chisel.