He had not
as yet visited the patio, and surprise and delight were in store
for him. He found himself lost in a labyrinth of green and
rose-bordered walks. He strolled around, discovering that the
patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but he failed to discover
the young ladies. So he called again. The answer came from the
center of the square. After stooping to get under 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.
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