Dixie Martin, the Girl of Woodford's Cañon

  CHAPTER TWO NEW TEACHER

  And the new teacher, what of her? She had arrived by stage the nightbefore, after a long journey across the country to Reno by train, andfrom there over rough roads of the wonderful Sierra Nevada mountains,and, just at nightfall, she had been deposited, bag and baggage, infront of a rambling old road-house known as Woodford's Inn. It had beentoo dark for her really to see anything but the deep abyss of blacknessbelow, that was the canyon through which she had just ridden, and thepeaks of the rugged range towering above her, the dazzling stars thatseemed so much nearer than they had in the East, and the lights of thecomfortable and welcoming inn toward which the stage-driver was leadingher.

  Mrs. Enterprise Twiggly, the innkeeper's wife, a thin, angular woman,whose reddish-gray hair was drawn tightly back, and whose dress waseconomical in the extreme, as it boasted neither pleat nor fullness,appeared in the open door, and her greenish-blue eyes appraised theguest at a glance. Long training had taught Mrs. Enterprise Twiggly toknow at once whether to offer a new arrival the best bedroom or theslant-walled one over the kitchen.

  The sharp, business-like expression changed to one of real pleasure whenthe innkeeper's wife beheld the newcomer. She advanced, with a bonywork-hardened hand outstretched. "Well! I declare to it, if I'm notmistaken, and I never am, this here is the new teacher. I am Mrs.Enterprise Twiggly of the Woodford's Inn. Like as not you've heard ofme. I'm that glad you've come, Miss Bayley. Do you want to go right toyour shack, or would you rather stay at the inn, where there's folks,until you get used to the strange night noises?"

  Miss Josephine Bayley, late of the city of New York, marveled at theremark, for never before had she been conscious of such intensestillness.

  "I have indeed heard of you, Mrs. Twiggly," the girl declared, andtruly, for the letter she had received from the board had mentioned thatshe would live near the inn. "I'm sure that I am going to just adoreyour wonderful mountain country." Then, realizing that she had notreplied to the query of her hostess, she added, "I am perfectly willingto sleep in my own apartment, that is--shack, did you call it?"

  The tall angular woman nodded. "Enterprise!" she then called to a short,apologetic-looking man who was serving sandwiches and coffee to thestage-driver in the dining-room of the inn. "Fetch the key that'shangin' by the stove, and maybe you'd better fetch along some matchesand a candle, too."

  "Ye-ah, I'll be there directly." Which he was. Taking a large suit-casein one hand, and a lighted lantern in the other, he led the way, and hiswife followed with another suit-case. The stage-driver, at the end ofthe procession, had a steamer-trunk over his shoulder. Mr. Twigglyopened the door and stepped back to permit his wife to enter first. Thisshe was about to do, when, remembering her manners, she, too, steppedback to permit the school-teacher to go first, and so it was thatJosephine Bayley entered the log cabin that was to be her home for sheknew not how long.

  How she wanted to sink down on the nearest rocker and laugh, for themirth within seemed determined to bubble over, but when she glanced atthe angular, business-like Mrs. Enterprise Twiggly, the newschool-teacher knew that laughter would be greatly misunderstood, and soshe managed to remark meekly, "I am sure that this will be a verypleasant apartment,--that is, I mean, shack."

  She looked about the large square room, wondering where she was tosleep. Mrs. Twiggly surmised as much, and, as soon as the men were gone,she said rather disparagingly: "The last teacher we had was thenew-fangled kind from down Los Angeles way, and nothing would do but shehad to have what she called a screen-porch bedroom built, and bein' asshe paid for it herself, the board couldn't keep her from doin' it. Too,she was set on havin' it on the offside from the inn, which seemed queerto me. You'd have thought she'd built it next to where folks was, butshe said she liked to feel that she was 'way off by herself in themountains. Howsomever, she always kept a loaded six-shooter handy in thecorner."

  As she talked, the woman led the way through a door, and the girl,advancing, uttered an exclamation of delight, for she found herself on aporch so open that she was hardly conscious that there were walls. "Oh,"she thought, "blessings on the head of my predecessor, outlandish thoughshe may have seemed to mine hostess!"

  Mrs. Twiggly was eyeing her curiously. "You like it?" she inquired,rather hoping that she would not. She decided that all teaching folkwere hopeless, when Josephine Bayley turned around with eyes thatglowed, and, clasping her hands, exclaimed, "I never had such aperfectly wonderful place to sleep in all my whole life!"

  Mrs. Twiggly's sniff was not audible. "What poor folks she must comefrom!" she was thinking. Aloud she remarked: "Miss Bayley, I'll fetchover your breakfast to-morrow, bein' as it's your first mornin', and ifyou're scared, fire off the gun twice, but mind you aim it in the air.Well, good-night."

  "Good-night, and thank you for your kindness." Then Josephine Bayley wasleft alone with the stars and the silence, but somehow her desire tolaugh was gone. She felt awed by the bigness and stillness of things,and standing in the darkness in her out-of-doors bedroom, she reachedher arms toward the star-crowned peaks and prayed, "God of themountains, give me _here_ some work to do for You."