A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 239 



my steps elsewhere. But when the hour came 

 round I could think of nothing else I wanted so 

 much to do as to see that hummer again. And I 

 followed my inclination. It was well I did. 



We were both prompt. As I drew near I saw 

 the tiny creature perched as usual at the tip of 

 the mesquite. How many times he came and 

 went during the hour that I stayed by him I fail 

 to remember ; but on the second or third occa- 

 sion a verdin happened into the neighborhood. 

 The hummer descended upon him hotly, drove 

 him away in no time, and then, as if in celebra- 

 tion of his triumph, mounted straight into the 

 air till he was like a dot, and came down again 

 almost vertically to his perch. It was a brilliant 

 and lovely display, an ebullition of vital spirits 

 well worth a forenoon of any man's life to wit- 

 ness. There are city parades, hours in length, 

 with martial music and all manner of bright re- 

 galia, that might better be skipped. And a few 

 minutes later, the enemy having returned, the 

 entire performance was repeated, ecstatic flight, 

 vertical drop and all. The verdin's presence, it 

 appeared, was extremely annoying to the hum- 

 mer. This place was % his. Trespassing was for- 

 bidden, and the verdin ought to know it. 



Once, watching for another flash of color, I 

 had my glass on the hummer as he sat quiet. 



