"They're no good to us now, are they, Cap'n ?" "I'm not sure as to that," he replied.

"If they were eaten by one who had never eaten the lavender berries, they might have no effect at all; but then, contrarywise, they might.

One of 'em has got badly jammed, so I'll throw it away, but the other three I b'lieve I'll carry with me.
They're magic things, you know, and may come handy to us some time." He now searched in his big pockets and drew out a small wooden box with a sliding cover.

The sailor had kept an assortment of nails, of various sizes, in this box, but those he now dumped loosely into his pocket and in the box placed the three sound purple berries.
When this important matter was attended to they found time to look about them and see what sort of place the Ork had landed them in..