The barrels seem tight, but we won't need to
broach one for a while. There's a bag of coffee--gone to dust, and
some hard bread that isn't fit to eat; but this'll do." He picked up
the open can.
"Boston," said the doctor, "if those barrels contain meat, we'll find
it cooked--boiled in its own brine, like this."
"Isn't it strange," said Boston, as he tasted the contents of the can,
"that this stuff should keep so long?"
"Not at all. It was cooked thoroughly by the heat, and then frozen.
If your barrels haven't burst from the expansion of the brine under the
heat or cold, you'll find the meat just as good."
"But rather salty, if I'm a judge of salt-horse. Now, where's the
sail-locker? We want a sail on that foremast. It must be forward."
In the forecastle they found sailor's chests and clothing in all stages
of ruin, but none of the spare sails that ships carry. In the
boatswain's locker, in one corner of the forecastle, however, they
found some iron-strapped blocks in fairly good condition, which Boston
noted. Then they opened the main-hatch, and discovered a mixed pile of
boxes, some showing protruding necks of large bottles, or carboys,
others nothing but the circular opening.
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