The table-setters were busy; and the car was between him and them.
By the time the other member of the party succeeded in finding the things he was seeking under the rear seat, Lad had rounded the bend and was out of sight.

To this day, none of the motorists has the remotest solution to the mystery of the vanished lunch.
Lad had not stolen the basket.

He would have suffered himself to be cut in three, before sinking to theft or to any other sneaking act.

He had found a basket standing alone in the highroad, several feet away from the nearest humans.

He had no way of guessing it belonged to them.