oard the train, and vanished from the scene of his recent discomfiture.
But the bitterest thing about it all was that he had gone without
capturing the heart or even the attention of that haughty little
school-teacher. "And she was such a pretty girl," he said, regretfully,
to himself. "Such a _very_ pretty girl!" He sighed deeply to himself as
he watched Arizona speed by the window. "Still," he reflected,
comfortably, after a moment, "there are always plenty more! What was
that remarkably witty saying I heard just before I left home? 'Never run
after a street-car or a woman. There'll be another one along in a
minute.' Um--ah--yes--very true--there'll be another one along in a
minute."

CHAPTER XVIII

School had settled down to real work by the opening of the new week.
Margaret knew her scholars and had gained a personal hold on most of
them already. There was enough novelty in her teaching to keep the
entire school in a pleasant state of excitement and wonder as to what
she would do next, and the word had gone out through all the country
round about that the new teacher had taken the school by storm. It was
not infrequent for men to turn out of their way on the trail to get a
glimpse of the school as they were passing, just to make sure the
reports were true. Rumor stated that the teacher was exceedingly pretty;
that she would take no nonsense, not even from the big boys; that she
never threatened nor punished, but that every one of the boys was her
devoted slave. There had been no uprising, and it almost seemed as if
that popular excitement was to be omitted this season, and school was to
sail along in an orderly and proper manner. In fact, the entire school
as well as the surrounding population were eagerly talking about the new
piano, which seemed really to be a coming fact. Not that there had been
anything done toward it yet, but the teacher had promised that just as
soon as every one was really studying hard and doing his best, she was
going to begin to get them ready for an entertainment to raise money for
that piano. They couldn't begin until everybody was in good working
order, because they didn't want to take the interest away from the real
business of school; but it was going to be a Shakespeare play, whatever
that was, and therefore of grave import. Some people talked learnedly
about Shakespeare and hinted of poetry; but the main part of the
community spoke the name joyously and familiarly and witho