BEFORE Long Jim had time to give a second rap, tap, tap, the front door of the Castle opened and a servant in royal livery stood ready to usher the crafty courtier into the Audience Hall.

“You may announce to Her Majesty the Queen, that I come from the King with a very important message,” said Long Jim.

The servant departed. “Ha, ha, ha,” chuckled Long Jim, “I certainly am a clever one! I told the man to tell the Queen I had a message from the King, but I didn’t tell him it was from the King of Grumbletown; and he thinks it {100} is from his own King. He does not know what a clever one I am and how I can fool all of them, but he will find out very soon.”

“Her Majesty will give you an audience,” announced the servant, as he returned. Then, he conducted Long Jim to the Royal Parlors, where the Queen sat surrounded by her Ladies.

“Your Majesty,” said Long Jim, addressing the Queen, after taking off his hat and bowing courteously, “the King sends you greeting, and begs to inform you that the army of Grumbletown is being held in check and has even been driven back in some places. He wished me to say to you that there is no danger at present, and he hopes you and these noble Ladies will have a good time and enjoy yourselves. He suggests that you might find it a pleasure to go for a sail on the lake.”

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 Black Rover, 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.

Long Jim thanked the Queen and said he was sure the sail would prove very entertaining. {102}

When Long Jim said that, if the Queen had but glanced at his face, she would have seen an expression, sly and crafty enough to frighten her; for the entertainment which he meant was of a kind that would not prove very safe for the Queen.

The Queen, however, had no suspicions, so, telling Long Jim they were now ready to start, the little company left the Castle and set forth for the lake. Laughing and chatting merrily, with never a thought of danger, they came presently to the Royal Boat Landing.

Two trained sailors rowed them to the Royal Yacht, now riding at anchor a little way from the shore. After assisting the last Lady to step aboard, Long Jim ordered the sail hoisted, when, a gentle breeze filling the canvas, the trim boat cut a way through the silver tipped ripples, and sped rapidly out on the lake.

Long Jim was such a good sailor that Queen Helen could not help remarking to her companions the pleasure it gave her to see the boat handled so skilfully. The Ladies said it pleased them, too, for now they felt perfectly safe and had not the least particle of fear of anything happening to cause danger, or to mar the enjoyment of such a nice afternoon, and such a delightful sail.

Long Jim chuckled to himself when he heard this conversation, for he thought, “I guess these Ladies would sing a new tune if they knew how this sail is going to end, and the Queen would certainly think I am a clever one if she knew how I have kept the boat headed right up the lake towards the river, and all the while with the sail set so not one of them can see that black pirate ship just beyond the bend.” {103}

But if Queen Helen and her Ladies did not see the pirate ship, the Buccaneers saw their ship, and now ran up their long black flag; and steering a course for the mouth of the river, drew the sail taut, so as to catch every particle of the breeze and went scudding out of the river into the lake, laying their course straight for the Royal Yacht.

“Down with the helm!” cried Big Bill. “Run out the cannon, take careful aim, I will touch the fuse, and we will put a round shot across their bow, that will make them stop, I think. Then we can run alongside and board their vessel. Every man to his post! There now, are you ready?”

“All ready!” yelled the two Buccaneers. “Fire!”

No sooner was the word uttered than there sprang from the mouth of the cannon a flash of flame, followed by a great puff of black smoke and a mighty rumbling roar, like thunder. Then skipping through the water, not ten feet before the bow of the Royal Yacht went the big ball, sending up sheets of spray which spattered the deck of the yacht and even reached the little group seated in the cockpit.

The Queen and her Ladies screamed with fright, which certainly was no more than natural, for they were taken very much by surprise. Before any of them could utter one single word, Long Jim threw over the helm and headed the yacht into the wind so that in a moment it lost headway and drifted with the sail flapping useless in the breeze.

Meanwhile, the pirate ship drew rapidly nearer, and presently swung about and came alongside. The Buccaneers then threw grappling irons on to the deck of the yacht, and lashed the two boats together. {104}

“Ha, ha, ha! We have them now!” laughed Big Bill. “Come, my little birds, which one is your Queen?”

Not one of the Ladies answered Big Bill. No one would be so disloyal as to betray the Queen, and none of the Ladies, at least none of the Royal Ladies, would ever stoop so low as to speak to a pirate.

Long Jim quickly stepped forward. “This is the Queen,” he said as he pointed to Helen. “Take her and don’t bother with the others. That cannon shot of yours is sure to alarm the whole town, and we will have to make rapid work of it, if we get away safely. You were a stupid old noodle head to make such a noise.”

Big Bill scowled and drew his pistol when Long Jim said this.

“A stupid old noodle head, am I? Well, that shows how much you know about pirating. Did you ever hear of a pirate capturing a ship without firing a shot across her bow? Answer that now, if you can.”

But Long Jim, when he looked into the muzzle of the pistol, didn’t care to say any more, so he jumped across to the deck of the pirate ship and left Big Bill, who was not long in capturing Helen.