And I never even had a ride in one before. I can't get over the
fact that it's yours. It wouldn't seem so funny if it belonged
to one of the fellows."
With steady hand and gradually increasing speed, Linda put the
Bear Cat over the roads of early morning. Sometimes she stopped
in the shade of pepper, eucalyptus, or palm, where the larks were
specializing in their age-old offertory. And then again they
went racing until they reached the real desert. Linda ran the
car under the shade of a tall clump of bloom-whitened alders.
She took off her hat, loosened the hair at her temples, and
looked out across the long morning stretch of desert.
"It's just beginning to be good," she said. She began pointing
with her slender hand. "That gleam you see over there is the
gold of a small clump of early poppies. The purple beyond it is
lupin. All these exquisite colors on the floor are birds'-eyes
and baby blue eyes, and the misty white here and there is
forget-me-not. It won't be long til thousands and thousands of
yucca plants will light their torches all over the desert and all
the alders show their lacy mist. Of course you know how
exquisitely the Spaniards named the yucca 'Our Lord's Candles.'
Isn't that the prettiest name for a flower, and isn't it the
prettiest thought?"
"It certainly is," answered Donald.
"Had any experience with the desert?" Linda asked lightly.
"Hunted sage hens some," answered Donald.
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