“Indeed you are a loyal little maid,” replied Mrs. Stoddard approvingly, “and you must always keep a promise, but see to it that you promise nothing quickly. I think the better of John Nelson that he took great risk to make sure his little daughter was safe and well cared for. The captain will think it good news, too.”
“My father will come back some day,” declared Anne, and Mrs. Stoddard agreed cheerfully.
“To be sure he will,” she said, “but do not think of that too much, dear child. See, I have the stitches all cast on, and your scarlet stockings are really begun.”
CHAPTER VI
CAPTURED BY INDIANS
The more Anne thought about Brownie the more fearful she became that some harm had befallen the pretty brown cow.
“Her foot may have caught in those twisted roots on the hill,” thought the little girl, “or perhaps the Indians have fastened her in the woods. I do believe I could find her, and save Uncle Enos the trouble,” and the more Anne thought of it the more eager she became to search for Brownie; and, on the day that the scarlet stockings were begun, Anne resolved to walk up the hill and look about for the missing cow.
As she trudged along she thought of many things, of the gray wolf, which had disappeared completely, having probably made its way up the cape to better hunting grounds; and she thought a great deal about her father, and of the day he had come to tell her of his safety. But Anne did not think much about the Indians. The cape settlements had been on friendly terms with the Chatham Indians for some time, and the people of Province Town were more in peril from the freebooters of the sea than from Indians.