Not so with the valise. It was larger than the bundle, and it must have been very heavy; but it did not seem to weigh much in the strong hands of old Kroom.
"Here we go!" he shouted. "I'll just tack around till I get a hitch on that spar. It's just what I want for a new mast to the Tiger!"
"That's his sail-boat," said Pete to Sam. "She isn't so fast as some, but she can go right out to sea. She's decked over."
"She's as safe as a pilot-boat," added the Captain. "But the feller left his key in the lock. I won't open it now. This here stuff wasn't any part of a raft. It was just a tangle. Those knots wasn't ever tied by a sailor." He seemed to read knots and ropes and sails and spars as if they carried tokens as clear to him as print. "Sam," he said, "haul that rope a little. Now I can bring her about. We'll have that spar."
So he did, in a few minutes; but the Elephant was not likely to sail any too fast with that thing towing astern. Pete had been eying the bundle curiously, and the moment he was permitted to pull in his oars he exclaimed:
"Now let's have it open. I say, Captain, it's covered with tarpaulin!"
"That didn't keep it from soaking," replied Kroom. "Cut it. Bless my soul! What on earth is that?"
The two boys had worked together in untying and opening the bundle, and now all its contents suddenly sprawled around the bottom of the boat.
"Best lot of fishing-tackle ever I saw," said Pete. "And if it isn't a full suit of blue!"
"Hope it'll fit you," said the Captain.