"They didn't hurt you, did they?" said Sam.
"I don't know but what they would, some of them, if it hadn't been for the coast police that came," said Kroom. "They kep' the crowd off, so we saved what we had on; and then they marched us away and put every man of us in jail, where the civilized Englishmen could feed us."
"That was awful!" said Pete; but he had already turned over the wet clothing once, and it was drying fast. He pulled out the wrinkles too.
"'Tisn't rotted," remarked the Captain, "or you'd ha' pulled it to pieces. I ain't worried about your having of 'em. Nor the tackle. All I want to get at is if there's been a wreck. Yes, sir, when I was wrecked in China, we saved all our chists—but then a Chinee can't wear anything we can. Perhaps they didn't want 'em. They treated us first rate."
He had been fumbling with the rusty key with one hand while he steered with the other, and now the boys heard a click.
"There!" muttered the Captain. "The lock wasn't sp'iled. I'll unstrap it."
Sam and Pete leaned forward to watch, but the soaked straps did not pull out easily, and they had to wait.
"How they do stick!" said Pete. "Captain, I can do it. It takes both hands."
The Elephant careened just then in a way to compel its sailing-master to use both of his own hands in bringing it before the wind again.
"Pitch in, Pete," he said. "Just as like as not it'll tell where it came from."