A second auto with the servants and luncheon followed at a convenient distance. There was no dust to take for the roads were all neatly covered with velvet carpet whenever the King and Queen went abroad. The automobile having been wound up just before it left the garage, there was no fear of its running down, and even if it had, Sally felt quite sure that her golden key would have been quite sufficient to start it up again.
The child could not but think that the King and Queen looked exceedingly comical automobiling in their royal robes and jeweled crowns. The long train of the Queen was dreadfully in the way, and was always overflowing the sides of the auto and having to be re-arranged, while her golden crown wabbled to such an alarming extent that she was obliged to hold on to it with both hands, a proceeding which was not at all comfortable. Nor was the King any better off, but rather worse, for the Queen’s long and carefully dressed hair admitted of hat-pins and formed a much better receptacle for a crown than did his own short and curly locks.
However, the little party was a very merry one in spite of wabbly crowns and inconvenient court-trains. And great was the fun and laughter as they sped gaily along through the charming country. Presently they crossed a rustic bridge and turned into a beautiful strip of woods, and here the Queen declared that their luncheon should be served. It was, indeed, a lovely location. A silvery stream rippled by and formed a charming cascade, the water having been turned on from headquarters for the benefit of the royal party. A number of birds of brilliant plumage hopped about among the green branches, most of them warbling sweetly. That they had all been wound up for the special occasion Sally did not for a moment doubt, but she was already so well accustomed to this sort of thing that she did not in the least mind it or consider it queer. As for Bedelia, she had never noticed the difference.
Just then the servants who had been approaching, bearing the big hamper in which the lunch had been packed, suddenly dropped it and retreated with every semblance of terror. Sally’s heart sank into her boots, and she glanced nervously over her shoulders to ascertain if Bedelia were missing. But the little bear was close behind and with the rest of the party rushed forward to see what on earth ailed the royal servants. The hamper lay upon the ground, while in one side yawned a great hole. And within appeared a long, solemn face, terminated by a considerable growth of beard. For Mary did not always find it quite convenient to shave her Little Lamb as often as was really necessary. The goat’s beard had sprouted, although the horns had not, and was proving a great nuisance to everybody concerned.
In a moment the solution of the whole thing burst upon Bedelia. She remembered having seen the Little Lamb skipping out of the basement door and surmised that he must have hidden himself in the automobile until they were all under way and had then chewed a hole in the side of the hamper, as he could not unfasten the lid, and finally managed to squeeze himself in by dint of throwing out a number of articles utterly valueless to goats but considered quite indispensable to royalty. Of course all this had taken place behind the backs of the servants, who evidently had never once looked around.
Poor Sally, who recognized at the first glance the countenance of the Little Lamb, felt that it would have been a huge relief had the ground opened and made one mouthful of her. She was too much scandalized, as well as too honest, to join in the terrified exclamations of the royal couple, who, however, had but short space in which to express their emotions. Not seeing any good reason why he should remain in his rather cramped quarters, which he would have deserted much sooner had he not feared to jump from the rapidly moving auto, the Little Lamb suddenly wriggled out through the hole in the hamper’s side and taking nimbly to his heels, scampered away and disappeared among the trees, leaving the royal party to mourn over its departed feast.