"'Deed I do," answered Alice heartily, "I don't want to miss anything."
"Then with me you go, for even if I can't stay with you long, you can have the ride out and back. But now for the surprise."
He guided them across a bridge and down a sheltered path to a tiny lake and there riding on the water were several great white swans. No, they weren't swans either. They were much too big for real swans and there were seats on a platform right behind. Boats—that's what they were of course. Boats in the shape of swans!
"Can we ride on them?" asked Mary Jane breathless with excitement, "really ride on them—people can?"
"To be sure people can," laughed Uncle Hal, "and we're going to this very minute."
He bought four tickets while Mary Jane and Alice climbed into the nearest seats and then he and Mrs. Merrill sat just behind them.
"Where's the engineer?" asked Mary Jane.
"Coming," replied Uncle with a chuckle, "there he is, now."
Mary Jane watched an elderly man step aboard the boat and take his place on a queer-looking seat between the wings of the "swan" and much to her surprise he didn't start any engine: instead he began pedaling as if he was riding a bicycle. The swan boat moved away from the pier and, as the man pedaled, they rode with a slow and stately motion out into the little lake.
It was a queer way to ride, being bicycled around a lake in a boat built to look like a swan but Mary Jane loved it. They moved slowly—just like a swan in a fairy tale—and it didn't take Mary Jane a minute to forget all about Boston and the Commons and to fancy that she was a princess in a fairy tale and that the kind swan was drawing her in a magic boat through her country to visit her subjects. She didn't see the flower beds by the side of the tiny lagoon; she didn't see the children playing on the beach; she didn't hear the talk Mrs. Merrill and Uncle Hal were enjoying; she didn't even talk to Alice sitting right by her side. Mary Jane saw only the magic of the fairy tale that was in her mind and enjoyed the thrill of being a princess.