he would be indeed "her boy."

That afternoon they all drove away from the ranch, leaving Cousin
Harriet smitten with a sudden sense of loneliness, for she had even.
grown attached to Claude as well as to his sisters. The boy looked
back at the ranch. It was rapidly being left behind, but he could
still see the green patch of corn that covered the place where the
alkali used to be. Rut the boy was, not thinking of the alkali patch
alone. A look of reverent thankfulness came into his face. "Mother
will be glad I ever met Neil," he thought.

TWO small brown hands were held outstretched in the air. Cautiously
they moved forward, lower and lower. Then they darted and grasped
with speed what seemed to be some sand. Something in the sand
objected, but the boy held on and gathered sand and all into his
tin. He looked with much satisfaction at his presumably indignant
prisoner, a spiny gray "horned toad" that had been peaceably sunning
himself, nearly buried in sand, on the hill.

The owner of the two nimble hands, Arturo, smiled.

"Get four bit, maybe!" he anticipated.

"Get four bit for tia Marta!"

In California "four bits" means a half dollar. Occasionally somebody
on the overland train that stopped at the station in town would be
attracted toward a spiny "horned toad" as a curiosity, and would buy
one. Arturo meant to try to sell this specimen in that way. If he
got the money, he would give it to tia Marta.

Tia Mama was Arturo's aunt. "Tia" means "aunt" in Spanish.
Presumably for the reason that nephews are sometimes troublesome to
their aunts, there is a Spanish proverb that warns a nephew against
making his aunt too frequent visits:

En casa de tia, Mas no cads dia:' ("In the house of thy aunt, But
not every day.") Notwithstanding this adage, however, the boy Arturo
lived with his Aunt Marta. This was not always pleasant, for neither
Arturo nor tia Marta was perfect. Yet they really thought a good
deal of each other. The third member of the household was Tia
Marta's husband, do (uncle) Diego, but he was very old and lame, and
could not work. Tia Marta earned the living, and Arturo usually
thought of himself as dwelling with tia Marta rather than do Diego.
Arturo never quarreled with his uncle.

When the overland train stopped at the station for water, and Arturo
rushed breathlessly to sell his horned toad, the eager boy found no
passenger who was desirous of being a customer save an old gentleman
who doubtf