“Why, yes, I did,” answered the big animal. “Have you any objections? For if you have——”
“Oh, no, not any, I do assure you,” spoke the sailor, quickly. “Only I didn’t know that elephants could speak.”
“Neither did I until I tried,” said the elephant. “One seldom does know what one can do until one tries. However, I’m glad I can speak, because I want to help you, but there are two things I’d like to mention before I do.”
“What are they?” asked the sailor. “Please ask them as quickly as you can, for my wooden leg is freezing fast in the mud, and I fear I shall never get loose in time to go get the Trippertrot children.”
“Well, my first question,” said the elephant, “is why did you sing about boiling a chocolate cake? A cake is baked, never boiled, you know.”
“Well,” said the sailor, “that just shows how little I do know. I never made a chocolate cake, though I am very fond of them, and I supposed boiling them was as good as baking.”
“Never,” spoke the elephant through his long nose. “Never!”
“Well, what is your second question?” asked the jolly sailor, thinking how strange it was for the big animal to talk.
“For my second question,” spoke the elephant, “I should like to know how you could roast a lemon pie?”
“Well, I suppose I was wrong about that, too, just as I was about the cake,” admitted the sailor.