shrubs
and wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full of
magnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the other
side, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls. Mercedes
sitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket.

"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like that.
What is it?"

"Palo verde," replied Nell.

"Senor, palo verde means 'green tree,'" added Mercedes.

This desert tree, which had struck Dick as so new and strange and
beautiful, was not striking on account of size, for it was small,
scarcely reaching higher than the roof; but rather because of its
exquisite color of green, trunk and branch alike, and owing to the odd
fact that it seemed not to possess leaves. All the tree from ground to
tiny flat twigs was a soft polished green. It bore no thorns.

Right then and there began Dick's education in desert growths; and he
felt that even if he had not had such charming teachers he would still
have been absorbed. For the patio was full of desert wonders. A
twisting-trunked tree with full foliage of small gray leaves Nell
called a mesquite. Then Dick remembered the name, and now he saw where
the desert got its pale-gray color. A huge, lofty, fluted column of
green was a saguaro, or giant cactus. Another oddshaped cactus,
resembling the legs of an inverted devil-fish, bore the name ocatillo.
Each branch rose high and symmetrical, furnished with sharp blades that
seemed to be at once leaves and thorns. Yet another cactus interested
Gale, and it looked like a huge, low barrel covered with green-ribbed
cloth and long thorns. This was the bisnaga, or barrel cactus.
According to Nell and Mercedes, this plant was a happy exception to its
desert neighbors, for it secreted water which had many times saved the
lives of men. Last of the cacti to attract Gale, and the one to make
him shiver, was a low plant, consisting of stem and many rounded
protuberances of a frosty, steely white, and covered with long
murderous spikes. From this plant the desert got its frosty glitter.
It was as stiff, as unyielding as steel, and bore the name choya.

Dick's enthusiasm was contagious, and his earnest desire to learn was
flattering to his teachers. When it came to assimilating Spanish,
however, he did not appear to be so apt a pupil. He managed, after
many trials, to acquire "buenos dias" and "buenos tardes," and
"senorita" and "gracias," and a few other short terms.