U niversity of O regon M onthly
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Jim killed it. Then he delivered the funeral sermon which
was an inform al rem ark, “I guess you w ont gnaw any more
of our fruit trees soon.”
From here they w ent to the pond and took a two hours
swim. Coming out they wandered about and after a while
found them selves in their water-m elon patch. W hile John
was sittin g down squeezing juice into the rind of his second
melon a big brown lizard came up. It stopped w ithin three
feet of him and began panting. “Come here, George,” he said,
“I ’ve found a new kind of lizard.”
George came up. “W hy John, th a t’s a Mr. Cated lizard.”
“ No it aint,” John insisted. “A Mr. Cated lizard is p ak i
than him and aint so big— Is this a Mr. Cated lizard, Jim ?”
“Of course it aint. Me and George found one like him
W ednesday. I told George it was a new one. H e said no
it was only a fat Mr. Cated th at had always had lots to eat.
I asked w hat made it look so black and he said th at was be
cause it was sun b u rn t.”
George observed the lizard more closely and finally con
cluded th at he guessed it was a new kind. “ But w hat are we
goin’ to call him, Jo h n ?”
“A int Mr. Cated got a pa living in the other district? I
guess Grandpa Cated lizard would be about as good a name
for him as any.”
Across from the melon patch was a pool which had plen
tiful quantities of red mud. Besides there were iron weeds
and shade trees. It was a nice place to play farm er in.
John took a claim ” under one tree, George under one
close by, and Jim under one on the other side of the pool.
John cut down iron weeds and began to fence his farm
w ith a good “worm fence.”
George w ent down to the edge of the w ater and got a
handful of mud, dividing it he threw one part into the water.
“ See there John,” he said, “th at mud sunk. Now this mud
th a t I ’ve got in my hands, which is every bit as heavy— I
can make it sw im .”
“T h a t’s nothin’, I can, too,” John replied.
But John,” George w ent on, “it’s kind o’ funny how a