Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-10
A \deLaide'S
Adventure

II
di IN from the big hotel, chatter
ing and hughing in gay, good humor as
tbey fol Nwed the waves and then ran
back ag yin. just in time to escape a
wetting. But she had no intention OF
turning ack to join them. She meant
to keep q until she had gone far be-
yond the sound of their merry voices,
for Adela zoe was in very unhappy
humor.
To begin with. she did not make
friends cas- By. Her grandmother, with
whom, she lived, could not understand
,yhv she d hl not seem to care to play
with the est of the children. But
Adelaide in her heart of hearts knew
that this WI Is; not her fault 1t was the
fault of her thick boots, her stout ging-
ham froclls. rler plain round sailor hat
ana her hail :, that would not curl. and
was nlaited in two tight, unlovely
braids ON eli. her side of her head. All
the other lit tile girls at the hotel had
heautiful fui " white dresses and little
low sinners and bright colored SaShes.
Tbeir hair w; lss curled three times a day
nv their nurs ess or cropped stylishly and
tied with hi lge bows, and they had
beautiful pic1 Ire hats, trimmed with
feathers and flowers.
Adelaide tn ought it was no wonder
they could da nee so lightly in the ball
room on the hiIdren's hop nights. Her
grandmother did not care for her to
dance and she was glad not to. She
would have I tlt most uncomfortable
among those beautiful frocked little
girls Even IL le boys We're more gayly
Clothed than Adelaide.
She had run away from the maid IN
order to get ut of reach of the little
voices which we're already discussing
what sort of I iiobons each girl was to
wear in the ne Xt hop night. Now and
then she looket 1 around to see whether
Mary. the mai d, had missed her, but
Mary was deeI Ny engaged in the con-
quest of the we lEhing machine man and
she still suppos ed Adelaide to be with
the rest of the children in the sands.
The little girl ran on tirelessly. This
part of the bea ch was hard and mixed
with pebbles an Shells so that she was
able to cover good distance in short
time. Gradually the sound of the chill
dren's voices di ed away and even the
bathing houses in front of the hotel
were almost los sight of The inter-
venng sand hi lis hid Adelaide COM
pletely from the group of children and
nurses at the pie +.
1t was hot on the beach that morn
ing. so hot that a fter Adelaide had been
walking and ruI ming for a long time
she felt she won Id like very much to
have a glass of water But there was
not a house in slight where she might
have asked, nothi ng but the sand hills,
the fiddler crabs and the sea-"water,
water everywhere and not Il drop to
drink" said Adelaide to herself dis
Consolately. Still she did not wish to
turn back. After iill, it was very salts
factory being off by ones self in this
fashion.
She scampered over the sands glee-
fully to great sp ar that stuck up out
of the sand, the list piece of a great
vessel which had been wrecked there.
1t would be shady on the other side of
the piece of wreck. Adelaide thought,
and no one could see her there if they
should chance to llaVe discovered her
absence from the beach. She decided to
go around TO the water side of the piece
of wreckage and rest awhile. But one
may not always be quite sure of what
Is behind a wreck. Adelaide trotted
around the end of the big ship nimbly
and-found herself suddenly i'm the
arms of a big young man who was
smoking pipe and sitting on camp
stool before an easel A big umbrella
was stuck in the sand and a napSaCk
lay on the ground where also in the
shade of the big umbrella another big
young man lay at his ease also smok-
ing a pipe and sketching busily.
In her haste Adelaide had almost up
set the entire establishment.
Mercy" she calculated.
We'll, I should think so" said the
young man on the camp stool. Here.
steady now, princess" he added, setting
the astonished Adelaide on her feet.
"But / am not a princess" declared
Adelaide. Although perhaps some per-
sons might call me So" She knew that
many persons referred to her grandpa
as a cattle king, and she was wonder
ing whether royal title of this sort
descended to grandchildren.
OF course she said nothing of this
train Of reasoning to the two young
men, and yet they seemed to UNDER
stand perfectly, AT least they asked no
questions Adelaide wondered how they
knew who she was,
"Of course, people call you ii prin-
cess,' said the young man on the camp
stool because you Just are one. That
IS why He paused in his painting Il
moment. 81 never knew better prin-
cess he said looking at Adelaide, sol
emnly.
The young man who was lying on the
ground looked up at his friend and
SMILED indulgently. Adelaide saw he
he'd pleasant blue eyes, and his smile
was so agreeable that she smiled back
oooin. "How would you like to leave
or being a princess just for a little
WhileH' ne asked nsinuatingly II
would so like you TO be q mermaid for
me II wouldn't take you long
Yes, do urged the young man on
the camp stool. Royal persons should
always be obligng"
"Oh ! know" said Adelaide. mo
blesse obliRe."
That's it," said the young man on
the ground.
"But how can / be a mermaid?"
asked Adelaide, curiously. She thought
Il very entertaining just exactly like |
fairy story, and yet she could not ex-
actly understand about the young men. !
They We're not at all fairylike. certain !
ly. A suspicion that they might be
making fun of her crossed her mind, |
and yet somehow she felt they were
quite honest about wanting her to be a
mermaid. 4