The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-04-18

/ PuA PobSg OAtNBb W iooh ONNl
out of mere curiosity.
| That evening Hazel took up her
Western papers and naturally
turned to the Help Wanted" ad-
vertisements. The thing which
impressed her most vividly was
the dearth of demand for stenog-
raphers, but down near the bot
tom of the column she happened
on an inquiry for school teach
er, female preferred, in an out
of-the-way district in the interior
of the province.
Now, that Hazel thought.
She had a second-class certifi-
cate tucked away among her be-
longings. Originally it had been
her intention to teach, and she
had done so one term in a back
woods school when she was IS.
Other people had made a fresh
start in countries where none
knew or cared whence they came
or who they were. Why not she?
She spent that evening going
thoroughly over the papers and
writing letters to various school
boards, centering her hopes on
the country west of the Rockies.
Her letters finished, she went to
bed feeling better than she had
felt for two weeks.
Very shortly thereafter-al-
most, it seemed, by return mail
Hazel got replies to her letters
of inquiry. The fact that each
and every one seemed bent o.
securing her services astonished
her.
"Schoolma'ams must certainly
be scarce out there she told
herself. This is an embarrass-
ment of riches. I'm going some
where, but which place shall 1t
be-"
But the reply from Cariboo
Meadows, b. c., the first place
she had thought Of, decided her.
The member of the school board
who replied held forth the nat
ural beauty of the country as
much as he did the advantages of
the position. Within an hour Miss
Hazel Weir had written to accept
and was busily packing her trunk.
CHAPTER VI.
CariboO Meadows.
A tall man, sunburned, slow
speaking. met Hazel at Soda
Creek, the end of her stage jour
ney, introducing himself as Jim
Briggs.
Pretty tiresome trip, amt it,"
he observed. You'll have a
chance to rest decent tonight, and
| got a team uh bays that1l yank
yuh to the Meadows in four hours
m a half. My wife'll be plumb
tickled to have yuh. They amt
much more'n half dozen white
women in ten miles uh the Mead
ows. We keep a boarding house.
Hope you'll like the country
That was a lengthy speech for
Jim Briggs, as Hazel discovered
when she rolled out of Soda
Greek behind the team uh bays.
His conversation was decidedly
monosyllabic. But he could
drive, and his team could travel.
And so by IL O'Clock Hazel found
herself at Cariboo Meadows.
] Her first afternoon she spent
loafing on the porch of the Briggs
domicile, within which Mrs
Briggs, a fat, good-natured per-
son of 40, toiled at her cooking
for the "boarders."
Cariboo Meadows, as a town
was simply a double row of build
ings facing each other across a
wagon road. Directly opposite
Briggs boarding house stood a
building labeled Regent Hotel"
Hazel could envisage it all with
a half turn of her head.
From this hotel there present
ly issued a young man dressed In
the ordinary costume of the coun-
try-dire hat, flannel shirt, over
alls, boots. He sat down on a
box close by the hotel entrance.
In a few minutes another came
forth. He walked past the first
few steps, stopped, and said
something. The first man was
filling a pipe. Apparently he
made no reply; at least, he did
not trouble to look up. Hazel
saw his shoulders lift in shrug.
Then he who had passed turned
square about and spoke again,
this time lifting his voice a trifle.
The young fellow sitting on the
box instantly became galvanized
into action. He leaped from his
seat straight at the other man.
Hazel saw him who jumped
dodge a vicious blow and close
with the other; and saw, more
over, something which amazed
her. For the young fellow swayed
with his adversary second or
two, then lifted him bodily off
his feet almost to the level of
his head, and slammed him
against the hotel wall with a
sudden twist.
Then other men came out of
the hotel, and Hazel heard the
Iyoung fellow say:
Better take that fool in and
bring him to. | wonder how
many more of you fellers I'll have
to lick before you'll get wise
enough not to start things you
can't stop"
They supported the unconscious
man through the doorway; the