o the
train that was just then starting.

Nan began to laugh. "Did you hear that funny man?" she asked Bess. "Do
stop your crying, Bess! You have no reason to cry. You are not hurt."

"But, but you might have been, been drowned, too," sobbed her chum. "I
didn't help you a mite."

"Bother!" exclaimed Nan Sherwood. "Don't let's talk about it. We'll go
home. I guess we've both had enough skating for tonight."

Bess wiped away her tears and clung to Nan's hand all the way to their
usual corner for separating. Nan ran home from there quickly and burst
into the kitchen to find Momsey and Papa Sherwood in the midst of a very
serious conference.

"What is the matter?" cried Nan, startled by the gravity of her father
and the exaltation upon her mother's face. "What's happened?"

"A very great thing, Nan, honey," said Momsey, drawing her daughter to
her side. "Tell her, Papa Sherwood."

He sighed deeply and put away the letter they had been reading. "It's
from Mr. Blake, of Edinburgh," he said. "I can no longer doubt the
existence of the fortune, my dears. But I fear we shall have to strive
for it in the Scotch courts."

"Oh!" cried Nan, under her breath.

"Mr. Blake tells us here that it is absolutely necessary for us to come
to Scotland, and for your mother to appear in person before the court
there. The sum of money and other property willed to Momsey by her great
uncle is so large that the greatest care will be exercised by the Scotch
judges to see that it goes to the right person."

"As your mother once said, we must throw a sprat to catch a herring. In
this case we shall be throwing a sprat to catch a whale! For the amount
of money we may have to spend to secure the fifty thousand dollars left
by Mr. Hugh Blake, of Emberon, is small, in comparison to the fortune
itself.

"We must go to Scotland," finished Mr. Sherwood firmly. "And we must
start as soon as possible."

Chapter IX. ON THE WAY TO THE WILDERNESS

It seemed to Nan Sherwood that night as though she never could get to
sleep. Her mind and imagination worked furiously.

Momsey and Papa Sherwood had sent her to bed early. There had been no
time to tell them about the accident on the ice and her part in it.
Her parents had much to discuss, much to decide upon. The Scotch lawyer
urged their presence before the court having jurisdiction in the matter
of the late Mr. Hugh Blake's will, and that as soon as they could cross
the ocean.

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