San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-11-11
Paul Jones' Alias
Commenced in No 237

Commenced in No 237
unseemly hurry. But with that une2S-
pected windfall from the Majors early
winnings he had, to the great surprise of
half-a-dOzen creditors scattered as many
hundreds abroad. He had likewise made
some expensive purchases, for he was
believer in Mr.. Wemmick's theory of
portable property" and liked to utilize
good fortune in that way. 1t was his
mode of provision against the inevitable
rainy day to buy articles of value upon
which his Aunt or his Understanding
TO his residence in France or England
would advance him money If need were.
Now, what with his incautiOus payment
of old debts and his eXtravagant purchases,
he found himself within two or three hun
dred pounds of poverty, and the land of
Golconda had turned out to be no better
than a mirage The real owner of ten
millions sterling was as little likely to
come to his call as any man alive. 1t was
really bitter to awake from such dream,
and even people who do not make a pre-
carous living by experiment on the vices
and folies of his fellowmen may have a
sympathetic understanding of Captain
Medhurst's situation.
Lila had scrambled out of sight, and
he was so absorbed in his own reflections
that he had forgotten her. The child had
found at the bottom of the headland an
imposing precipice of some six feet In
depth between her and the pebbly strand,
and, not being disposed to face this, had
wandered on in search of an easier descent.
The road she hit upon led upward rather
than downward and in while she found
herself upon a small promontory OF rock,
which iutted out into clear water, and,
somewhat to her urprise, commanded a
view of the artist. She signaled him with
a laugh of artless triumph, as if she had
been successful in game of hide -and-seek;
and he, looking up at this gay burst of
childish music, waved his hand to her. A
second later he rose with some sign of ag-
itation from his camp-stool, signing her
back, and shouting to her, Take carep'
Whether this energetic warning precipi-
tated the accident 1t might be difficult to
say Perhaps the childs perch, foreshort-
ened from the artists point of view, looked
less tenable than it really was; but, at the
cry she felt sudden insecurity, and
looked about her for a way of return. AL
most Immediately upon the artists shout,
her father cried, "Lillap' in voice of
alarm; and, seeming swiftly to realize a
danger she had not felt till then, she made
false step, lost her foothold, and plunged
backward with shrek of terror into the
water. Medhurst was already afoot when
the cry of the falling child reached his
ears. He scrambled madly down the rock,
bruising his limbs and tearing his clothes
in his progress. In a minute he stood on
the spot from which his child had fallen,
and realized with thrill of hopeless hor-
rOr that the water below him was full
twenty feet in depth. To attempt a rescue
was to go to certain death; for he could
not swim a yard; but at the very instant
when this horror attacked him he caught
q flash of something white in the water,
and realized the fact that Paul Jones was
| there, swimming at prodigious pace to-
waSds the spot where Lila had fallen.
| The painter had thrown off his coat in
| running, and the flash of white came from
| his shirt-sleeves. He swan like seal or
an otter, for he had many a time spent the
| third part of long summer day mile OF
| two out from the cliffs of his native place,
wallowing in the waves of the salt Allan
| tic, and was almost as much at home in
|
| father, wringing his hands together, stood
helplessly to watch. Lila had sunk, and
| his agonized gaze sought her in vain; but
Paul Jones knew her whereabouts, and
arriving just as she came to the surface
put one mighty arm about her, and held
her there in safety. He looked up at Med
| hurst and sang out cheerily-
"She's all right, old mani It's nothing
more than a ducking. Don't be fright
ened, darling; you're all right now. Nc
danger. Nothing but dip and out again.
He rolled over like some monster native
to the deep, and swan in shore, bearing
| his light burden easily. AS he waded t
the land, he took the child in both arms
and saw that she had tainted from thu
shock of fear
Come on to the hotel, " he beloved t.
Medhurst. There no harm done. Shell
be all right in half an hOur!"
He ran to where he had left his JACKIE
on the beach, and, folding it tightly abOu
the child, he raced off towards the hote
with her, leaving a shining track of moist
ure behind him as he went. The million
are and DR.. Morris, who had arrived il
time to witness the rescue, hurried afte
him; and Medhurst, climbing back to tn
footway in wild excitement, shot past then
at racing speed in pursuit of the painte
and his burden. They arrived at the hote
almost together.
"She's all right, the little darling" sal
Paul, as Medhurst came up painting
Look at her. There's them pretty littl
violets opening again, and the roses CON
ing back. Scared, wasn't you, pretty
No wonder neither. Send one of the W.
men-folk up" he added to Medhurst, st