', she hurried
off to join the other Seniors in their last sing, the troubling
question echoed: "To what?"

CHAPTER II

WEBB

A clatter of departing hoofs, a swirl of dust--and Nancy was left alone
on the hot railroad platform of North Hero. Her heart had seemed to
fix itself in one painful lump in her throat. She was so very, very
close to facing her adventure!

"If you please, can you tell me in what way I can reach Freedom?" Her
faltering voice halted the telegraph operator as he was about to turn
the corner of the station.

"Freedom? Well, now, old Webb had ought 'a been here for the train.
Isn't often Webb misses seein' the engine come in! Just you go in and
sit down, Miss, he'll come along," and scarcely had the encouraging
words passed the man's lips than a rickety, three-seated,
canopied-topped wagon, marked "Freedom Stage" turned the corner.

"_Hey_, Webb, here's a lady passenger goin' along with you to Freedom!
And did you think the express would wait fer you?"

Webb and his dusty, rusty and rickety wagon was a welcome sight to poor
Nancy. It had already seemed to her that her journey was endless and
that Freedom must be in the farthest corner of the world. For the
first few hours she had been absorbed by her grief at parting with
Anne. But a night in a funny little hotel in Burlington had given her
time to reflect upon her undertaking and it had assumed terrible
proportions in her eyes. The courage and confidence she had felt with
her chums, back in the room in the dormitory, deserted her now.

"Goin' to Freedom you say, Miss?" the man Webb asked, a great curiosity
in his eyes. "Wal, you jes' come along with me! Had an order for
Tobiases and it set me late, but we'll git thar. Climb up here, Miss,"
and with a flourishing aside of his reins he made room for her on the
dusty seat he occupied.

Nancy handed him her big bag and climbed easily over the wheel into the
seat he had indicated. Then with a loud "get-ap" and a flourish of his
whip they rumbled off on the last leg of Nancy's journey.

"Ain't ever been to Freedom before?" he asked as they turned the corner
of the maple-shaded street of the little town, and the horses settled
down into a steady trot. "Reckon not or old Webb 'ud have known
ye--ain't any folks come and go on this here island thet _I_ don't
know," he added with pride, dropping his reins for a better study of
his passenger.

The air was fragrant with spring o