Friday night. The children stood in a disconsolate
little group to bid her good-by. They knew Bear Canyon teachers of old.
There would be no more stories, no more circuses at recess, no more flower
hunts in the woods, no more plays. School now would become just a weary
succession of days--all pointing toward Saturday. Figures would take the
place of reading, and the Rhine would again be just a crooked, black line,
not a river surmounted by frowning castles and golden with legends.

The little girl in the pink apron again used it as a handkerchief as Mary
rode down the trail.

"I--I'd go to school all my life--with her!" she said loyally.

The school-teacher halted at the residence of Mr. Benjamin Jarvis, second
trustee. He it was who was to sign the check for her services, give to her
the very first money she had ever earned. He was waiting for her, the
check in his hand.

"I--I think I ought to tell you, Mr. Jarvis," said Mary, "especially since
you're strong on figures in Bear Canyon, that I haven't taught many this
week. I'm afraid I'm very weak on system. That will be one of the things
I'll have to learn in college, I guess. The days have gone so fast I just
haven't seemed to have time to get them in. And--and to tell the truth,
Mr. Jarvis, I'm not very strong on figures myself."

"Figures!" said Mr. Benjamin Jarvis as he shook hands with her. "I guess
you've given that boy o' mine somethin' better'n figures, God bless you!"

The boy himself came around the house just as Mary was mounting her horse
to ride away. He had left school before the others, and had said no
good-by. Now he came up to her, a brown paper parcel in his hand.

"It's a rattlesnake skin I fixed for you," he said shyly. "You said you
liked 'em once. And the heavy thing in the end's my jack-knife. I carved
your letters on the handle. I thought it might come in handy when you went
to college."

CHAPTER XV

MR. BENJAMIN JARVIS ENTERTAINS

Bear Canyon did not forget Mary. A score of heart-broken children was
proof against such oblivion. Moreover, hope began to dawn in the hearts
beneath pink gingham and outing flannel when the teacher from Sheridan,
discouraged perhaps by a total lack of cordiality in her students,
resigned after two lugubrious days of service. Then Mr. Samuel Wilson,
accompanied by Mr. Benjamin Jarvis and the third trustee rode in a body to
the Hunter ranch, and offered Mary a substantial "raise" if she would only
s