The Box

Dexter Stanley, head of the zoology department at one of the eastern universities in America, found a large wooden box with the inscription “Arctic Expedition, 1834” under the staircase in the building of his department. Although nearly one and a half centuries have passed since 1834—and the box is covered with almost four inches of dust—Dexter keeps getting the feeling that something is moving inside it. Still, he decides to open it.