ted, "Bundle!
Bundle!" and then exclaimed, "Oh, dear, she doesn't know what I say."
The girl now came a step or two nearer, holding out the doll for Anne to
take. Her hair was very black and thick, and braided in one heavy plait.
There was a band of bright feathers about her head, and she wore a loose
tunic of finely dressed deerskin which came to her knees, and was
without sleeves. Her arms and feet were bare, and as she stood smiling
at Anne she made a very pretty picture.
Anne reached out her hand for the doll, and as she did so the Indian
girl grasped it firmly, but in so gentle a manner that Anne did not draw
back. The girl drew her along, smiling and saying strange sounding words
in her own language, of which Anne could understand but one--"Mashpee."
This was the name of a tribe of Cape Cod Indians who owned land, and who
were always kind and friendly toward the white settlers; Anne was quite
sure that the girl was telling her that she belonged to that nation.
The Indian girl circled around the big tree near the spring, and there
lay--spread out on the moss--Anne's pretty blue cape, her white muslin
dress, and her shoes and stockings and the bright coral beads. The
Indian girl knelt down and picking up the beads fastened them about her
own neck; she then threw the cape over her own shoulders, and, picking
up the shoes and stockings, placed them in front of Anne, and put the
muslin dress beside them.
It needed no words to explain this; she had selected what she wanted
from the bundle and Anne could have the things that the Indian girl did
not want.
Anne's face must have expressed what she felt, for the smile faded from
her companion's lips, and the dark eyes grew unfriendly. She snatched
the doll from Anne, and turned as if to run away.
"Nakanit!"
Both the girls gave a little jump, for they had been too much engrossed
in each other to notice that an Indian squaw had come along the path,
and had stopped a short distance from them. As she spoke the Indian girl
started toward her, and began to talk rapidly. Anne stood waiting, and
wondering what would happen now, and heartily wished herself safely back
in the Stoddards' snug little house.
As the Indian woman listened Anne could see that she was angry and when
Nakanit, for that was the Indian girl's name, had finished the squaw
snatched the cape from the girl's shoulders, and, pointing to the beads,
evidently bade her unfasten them. As the Indian girl
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