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[Illustration: Fire!]
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The Thirteenth Chapter.
_Here the Crafty Courtier plays a clever Trick on Queen Helen and her
Ladies. Here, too, is told of an Adventure with the Three Buccaneers._
[Illustration]
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.
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