The Queen was much pleased at this message. She clapped her hands and said: “O, I dearly love to go sailing! If it pleases the Ladies to do so, we will go at once.”
The Ladies said they certainly would enjoy taking a sail on the beautiful lake.
But though the Ladies spoke this way, all in truth were quite a little afraid, and wondered if it were wise for them to venture out of the Castle, with the army of Grumbletown so near the city; they were sure, however, the King would not have sent such a message unless he knew the outing to be perfectly safe.
When the Queen and her Ladies had gone to their apartments to dress in their yachting costumes, Long Jim took a careful survey of the room to see that there was nobody near, then he broke into a villainous laugh. “I have {101} fooled them now,” he said. “King Red Beard will reward me for this. I tell you, I am a clever one,—too clever for these numskulls in Toyville! When their King comes home and finds his Queen gone, won’t he tear around and be angry though! And won’t he be twice as angry when he learns she has been betrayed into the hands of the Buccaneers of Grumbletown! Big Bill, the captain of the Buccaneers, will say I am a clever one too, when he sees the boat bearing the Queen and her fine Ladies sailing away out on the lake. It won’t take Big Bill long to run his fine ship, the
, that flies the black flag, right alongside of the Queen’s boat, and then in about two jiffies he will have the Queen and her Ladies made captive. I tell you I am a clever one to plan all this! Ha, ha, ha! yes, I certainly am a clever one!”
That was a long speech for the crafty courtier to make, and he had but little breath left when he finished, so that his laugh at the end didn’t ring nearly so loud as it did at the beginning. Lucky for his wicked plans that his laugh wasn’t so loud either, for he had hardly finished when he heard the Queen and the Ladies returning.
Bowing again very courteously, Long Jim said: “It is the King’s wish that I escort the Queen and the Ladies to the lake. Is this also the Queen’s wish?”
The Queen answered that the ladies and herself would certainly be pleased to comply with the King’s wishes, and, as it was yet early in the afternoon, she had no doubt that all would have a very pleasant sail, and thoroughly enjoy their outing.