“Oh, no, I am afraid he would be lonesome,” sighed Anne.
“Then you must come often to see him here,” said Nelly Sackett eagerly.
“Yes. I will.” Anne hugged the rabbit closer, while she smiled upon the old man and his niece for the first time that day.
“I wish I could have saved the pony for you too, Anne,” said the Captain. “But he cost too much. I’m not rich, you know.”
“The pony was growing old and cross,” confided Anne. “I didn’t love him as I do Plon. But why were the animals sold? I don’t understand!”
The Captain shook his head. “Orders,” he said, “Mr. Poole’s orders. His agent sold everything about the place, furniture and all.”
“The furniture!” Anne stared. “Then the house is quite bare inside?”
The Captain nodded. The other girls who had been roaming about the house examining the Captain’s treasures now came running out to ask questions. “Oh, Captain! What’s this big tooth with pictures on it?” asked Beverly holding up an engraved ivory cone.
“That’s a whale’s tooth,” said the Captain, “tattooed out in China. And that’s a swordfish’s sword,” he answered Gilda’s question about the strange natural weapon she was carrying.
“Oh, won’t you tell about this, please?” begged Norma, holding out a bottle in which was a tiny ship with all sails set. She had found it on the mantel-shelf among the other treasures.