THE three succeeding months were filled with many new and novel experiences. I had never taught before, and did not know exactly how to commence.2 The district, moreover, had just been organized, and I was the first teacher. Everything was crude and primeval. There was not even a schoolhouse yet. Down by a little lake in the heart of a wood, an abandoned log cabin had been designated for this purpose, and here I was told to organize my flock. Furniture there was none. We rolled in logs for the children to sit on, and my throne consisted of an empty syrup-keg. Empty, I say, although the thing had a way of rising with me at times -- especially on hot days which induced doubts upon this point. The woodpeckers had bored so many holes in the shake roof that it became necessary to pile brush on top to keep out the sunlight, and my big girls stuffed wild grasses and fern leaves into the glassless and solitary window-sash at one end of the structure. Immediately in front of the door, which was massive and never shut, lay the wreck of an immense steel trap which the former occupant of the place had used for catching grizzlies, and just beyond it, nailed high up against the trunk of an oak, were the spreading antlers of a buck.
   I soon found out, in fact, that my lot was cast among a race of hunters. The larger boys had a way of sauntering down to school in the morning with shot-guns and rifles on their shoulders, and the grand "stack arms" in the cow-shed would have done credit, on occasions, to an Oakland military company. This kind of business made me a little nervous at first, although I soon became accustomed to it, and even carried a gun myself before the term was finished.
   Fortunately for me, there were no arms in sight on the first morning, else I should have taken to the brush like a quail. Since my adventure with Stumpit, I had largely lost confidence in things terrestrial, and held myself in readiness to shy on the slightest provocation.3 There were three or four boys in my class-wirey, muscular mountaineers, who could have whipped me easily in the event of war. One of them had already killed his man -- an Indian, in a sheep-herder's quarrel -- and was looked up to as a hero by his admiring companions. There were likewise two or three buxom lasses in my flock who took no back seat -- as I afterwards found out -- when it came to a question of muscle and grit. Two of them were very pretty, and I was secretly in love with them during the whole term, but never dared to say so for fear some of the young bucks in the neighborhood would murder me. Besides, I could not decide in my own mind which one I preferred. So I concluded to preserve my dignity, and that silence which, if not always golden, is most frequently discreet.4
   There were, all told, about thirty youngsters in my school, varying in age from six to twenty years.5 Most of them came down on horseback, and it would have done you good to hear them whooping in the canyons and screaming through the woods as they came and went. For a long time their movements were a mystery to me. They seemed to spring up in the morning like wild things from the bushes, and disappear at night in the same marvelous manner. I could not see any houses anywhere, or any signs of human habitation; and but for my limited knowledge of woodcraft I should have believed that they lived in the forest like blue jays.
   All this mystery, however, was destined to be made clear, for my contract provided that I should "board around."6 How much this means can only be understood by the man of vast and varied experiences. To me it meant that I should learn all the sheep trails and hidden paths through the hills; that I should make the acquaintance of busy housewives, diversified babies, and suspicious dogs; that I should know every body's business, and eat all kinds of food; that I should sleep in strange places and in strange company; and that I should learn to go to bed in the dark, and dress like lightning in the nick of time on the following morning. The acquirement of this latter accomplishment gave more trouble than all the others. The homes of my patrons were simple and rustic. Few of them contained over two rooms, most of them but one. When bed-time came, the men folks would withdraw to the corral or go out a little way into the brush, upon which the women would retire and put out the lights. It then behooved the masculine biped to sneak in and undress himself in the dark. It was a delicate and trying ordeal for a timid man -- one requiring blind faith in providence and an intimate knowledge of the topography of the room. Subdued giggles would occasionally reach his ears as he struggled with a boot or stumbled over a chair; and on one occasion which the writer recalls, there was a wild outburst of fiendish female laughter when the schoolmaster's bed went down with a crash. I am morally certain that those young women manipulated that bed in such a manner that it would fall upon being occupied, but they never had the grace to acknowledge their guilt.
   If going to bed, however, was surrounded with such difficulties and dangers, the act of rising was not less perilous. Woe be to the young man who slept with his face turned from the wall! The women rise first in this mountain land, and early in the dim dawn they cast an eagle eye about to see that the coast is clear. Turn over, young man, and go to sleep, or some one will dextrously toss a horse-blanket or a sheep-skin over your face; and then, when the old woman has gone down to the spring and the girls are out milking the cows, you rustle around and get into your clothes, for you may not have another chance. These rosy lasses have a streak of humor in their composition, and sleepy fellows have been known to stay in bed until noon before they could "clear" -- all because they failed to embrace the early opportunity given.
   After getting fairly under way with my school, all went well for several weeks. There appeared to be no insubordination or disposition to give me trouble on the part of my pupils, and everywhere I was greeted with cordiality by the bluff mountaineers when I met them in their homes or on the roads. One morning, however, on going down to the school-house a little earlier than usual, I was surprised to find the great oaken door closed and barred. Tethered here and there in the bushes were the horses of most of the pupils, but not a child was in sight, and perfect stillness reigned in the little clearing. This was such an unusual state of affairs that my suspicions were at once aroused that some mischief was on foot. Going closer, I attempted to open the door. A wild shout of laughter immediately went up from the assembled youngsters on the inside.
   "Open the door," I commanded.
   "Hi yi! Whoop la! Open it yourself!" came back the response.
   Peering in through a crack, I could see the larger boys and girls on guard at the window and door, both of which were strongly barricaded, while the younger children were huddled together and frightened in the corners. For some little time I was undecided how to act. Should I attempt to enter by force with these odds against me, or go for assistance?
   Should I consider this matter as a serious breach of discipline, or give the boys a tussle and let the thing go as a joke?7
   Of one thing I was certain: if I did not conquer now I should lose prestige, and probably all control of the school. Upon the outcome of this affair depended not only my future influence, but my ability to remain in the district. To go for help would cause them to despise me. Better make a square fight and get whipped.
   First, however, I would try parley. But parley would not work. They flatly refused to come out or open the door unless I should declare the day a holiday and send a boy down to Lower Lake to purchase a supply of nuts and candies as a peace-offering.
   This I would not do. The latter part of the condition I could not do if I would, be cause of financial stress. So war was determined upon.
   Going back into the woods a little way I procured a stick -- the heaviest I could carry -- and charged the butt end of it with all my force against the window barricades. The splinters flew and there was a whoop of defiance from within. Again and again I charged it, and then there was a crash, and I could see that the old wagon-bed which they had braced up against the window on the inside had gone down. Springing instantly into the opening, I succeeded in getting my body half-way through, when I was met by a dozen arms, and a lively skirmish took place on the sash, nearly breaking me in two. As a result, I was violently expelled, my coat was split up the back to the collar, and my hat remained in the hands of the enemy.
   In the second round I directed my battering-ram against the door. For a while it resisted my best endeavors, and the boys on the inside were laughing in derision, when a luminous idea struck me. Extending out over the school-house was a limb of the oak tree to which reference has already been made in this article. To throw a rope over this branch and suspend my battery was a very simple matter, and I soon had a ram at work which made the old log house tremble. Bang, bang, bang it went; the door began to groan and grumble; the younger children screamed with terror, and the older ones yelled in unison; and then came a grand splintering, and before the dust cleared away, I was standing in the middle of the schoolroom in triumph. Immediately three or four of the large boys seized me, and a desperate struggle took place. There was no disposition to strike blows on either side, but the boys were bent on putting me out of the building, and I was equally determined to stay in. Although overpowered from the start, it was still possible for me to make a very respectable resistance, and the combined enemy did not succeed in evicting me until my clothing was pretty much all torn off, and a number of scratches, bruises, and bloody noses testified to the intensity of the struggle.
   My breath was now exhausted, and I sat down to take a rest. The boys in the mean time had replaced the fallen door and cut down my battering-ram. During the fracas of the smaller children had escaped to the woods, and I could see their scared little faces peeping into the clearing from the surrounding circle of trees and bushes. While thinking the matter over, and wondering if it would not be a good idea to hitch a horse to one corner of the building and pull it down, a little girl approached very timidly from the direction of the school-house, and handed me a scrap of paper.
   "Nancy Clark put this through a crack," she said, "and told me to give it to you."
   I opened and read as follows:

"Git in at the winder; we will help you.
"NANCY."

   "This would seem to indicate," I thought, "that I have friends in the garrison." The "we" was somewhat indefinite, it is true, but it certainly meant more than one. "If I can effect another lodgment in that shanty," I argued, "and there are two persons on the inside who will stand by me -- male or female -- we can hold the fort."
   Approaching cautiously from a blinded corner, I peered through a crevice at the rebel crew inside. All told, they were nine -- five boys and four girls. The boys, I noticed, were guarding the door, while the window was left to their female companions. This latter had not been barricaded since I demolished the wagon-bed, my early repulse at that point having led them to the conclusion that it was not necessary. Nancy stood nearest to the opening, her face flushed with excitement, and her lithe, graceful figure as alert as a cat. Around her were grouped the other girls -- no doll-faces, by the way, but healthy, rosy lasses with plenty of firm, shapely muscle; girls who could handle a rifle or an ax, ride a mustang or lasso a steer.
   "If these radiant creatures," I thought, "have concluded to desert the rebel cause and join my standard, I will win this battle yet." I was ungallant enough to have some doubts as to their fidelity; but reflecting that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain by so powerful an alliance, I resolved to throw myself into their hands. Procuring an immense club, I renewed my assault on the door with all the vigor at my command. To demolish it without the aid of the swinging battery I knew was impossible, but another purpose was shaping itself in my mind. When satisfied that the attention of the garrison was fully fixed upon the door, I suddenly dropped the club, and slipping quietly around the building, sprung into the open window and down into the arms of my Amazonian friends before a masculine hand could be raised to stop me.
   The scene which now ensued was the liveliest, I ween, that the old log school-house ever witnessed. The boys made a dash for me, but the girls rallied to the defense like Spartan heroes, and gallantly stood off the assault.
   "Open the door," some one shouted, "and we will drag him out."
   The door was opened, but the dragging-out process did not follow. Securely intrenched in a corner with four gritty girls to defend me, I was prepared to defy the county. I even wished that I had Stumpit there. Now that my hand was in and my support was so excellent, I felt sure of our ability to soundly trounce him. For half an hour the struggle lasted, and then everybody was out of breath. Taking advantage of the lull in the storm, I mounted the syrup-keg to make a speech.
   "Boys," I said, "you have done nobly, but your sisters are better men than you are."
   "Hooray for the gals!" shouted a barelegged urchin near the door.
   "I think," I continued, "that we have had fun enough. Let's call this thing quits, and get back to work."
   "You ain't mad, then?" queried one of the rebels, an active youth of about sixteen, who had taken a leading part in the revolt. There was something in the gravity with which the question was put that excited my risibility; but before I could frame a reply the head of the syrup-keg caved in, and I came to the floor amid a general laugh.
   "Hooray for the teacher!" shouted the bare-legged youth; and a chorus of whoops and approving yells greeted the proposition.
   The tide had now turned completely in my favor, and all resistance was at an end. At my suggestion the boys put the room in order, the little ones were called in from the brush, and studies were resumed. When the noon-hour came, I noticed Nancy and several of the other girls holding a whispered conversation under the trees; and then one of the boys was mounted on a swift pony and hastily dispatched over the mountain trail. Three-quarters of an hour later he returned with a bundle on his saddle, and I was waited upon by a select committee of young ladies, and requested to accept the loan of a suit of Pete Blethen's Sunday clothes until they could repair my own badly dilapidated garments. They asked, furthermore, that I would repair at once to the woods and make the exchange, as they were provided with needles and thread, and proposed to put my wardrobe in order without further delay.
   This consideration was indeed most timely, for my condition was pitiable. I was literally torn to pieces, and had to tie things up with a bale-rope; so I accepted the proffered apparel with deepest gratitude. Pete Blethen was a larger man than I am. There was room, as one of the boys remarked, for a bale of hay inside my waistband after I had donned his unmentionables; but this was a matter of slightest consequence under the present stress of weather. Anything was better than rags; and Pete Blethen's suit, with its sleeves rolled up a foot, a double reef in the back, and the pants tucked into my boots, was a vast improvement on fig-leaves and balerope.
   It took the girls most of the afternoon to sew me up, and in the mean time but little pretense was made of keeping school. So the youngsters had their holiday, after all; but I don't know who had more fun out of it -- they or I. The candies and nuts demanded were missing, but these I furnished on another occasion; and the store-keepers in Lower Lake wondered what I was going to do with so much rubbish. I am really under the impression that I exhausted the confectionery supply of that thriving town.
   On the morning after the fracas I found that the boys had been down to the school-house during the night and repaired the door. They had also improvised a desk for my use out of the old wagon-bed, and every thing was swept up and stored away in the nicest order. From that day forward I had not the slightest trouble. My every wish was law, and a happier little community would be hard to find in all the wilderness. The three months of my brief term slipped quickly away, and then the last day came. I was not a hardened sinner in those times, and this, to me, was a trying ordeal. You may smile if you will, 0 cynical reader, but if you had seen those big boys, who so shortly before were bent on tossing me out of the window, sitting around the room blubbering like babies; if you had seen the grief of the girls, and the affection of the little ones who came for the last time to clamber over me and fill my hat rim full of wild things; if you had learned to know them as I knew them, and then a black day came when you must say good by and go away -- I am quite sure you would have seated yourself on that log beside me and cried too.8

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