Dink

“ Stover languidly extended his head and beheld Tough McCarty.
"Hello there, Dink."
"Hello yourself."
"Come over to the Woodhull and meet my family."
"What!" said Dink in consternation.
"They're over for the game. Hurry up now and help me out!"
Dink tried frantically to call him back, but Tough, as though to shut off a refusal, disappeared around the house. Dink returned to the room in a rage.
"What's the matter?" said the Tennessee Shad.
"I've got to go over and meet a lot of women," said Dink in disgust. "Confound Tough McCarty! That's a rotten trick to play on me. I'll wring his neck!" ”

“ Do you?"
"For slugging," said Dink faintly.
"Not at all. I fired you because you lost your head; because you forgot you were playing football. If you're only going into this to work off your private grudges, then I don't want you around. I'll fire you off and keep you off. You're here to play football, to think of eleven men, not one. You're to use your brains, not your fists. Why, the first game you play in some one will tease you into slugging him and the umpire will fire you. Then where'll the team be? There are eleven men in this game on your side and on the other. ”

“ Ware, thinking of Dink.
Stover, having once perceived that the game was an intellectual one, learned by bounds. McCarty, under instructions, tried his best to provoke him, but met with the completest indifference. Dink found a new delight in the exercise of his wits, once the truth was borne in on him that there are more ways of passing beyond a windmill than riding it down. Owing to his natural speed he was the fastest end on the field to cover a punt, and once within diving distance of his man he almost never missed. ”

“ Dink found himself outside of one of the dozen classrooms in a throng that waited hopefully, as [Pg 98] other classes waited hopefully every hour of every day in the hopes of an improbable cut.
"The Roman," said the Tennessee Shad wisely, "is the one master you want to stand in with. Study like the devil the first two weeks; and say, get up on the gerund and the gerundive—they're his pets."
"I will," said Dink.
"You can't bluff him and you can't beat his system," continued the Tennessee Shad. "If you guess don't hesitate; jump at it. ”

“ Meanwhile, true to his resolve, Dink, with the assistance of Finnegan and the Tennessee Shad, had started the fad of souvenir toilet sets; which, like all fads, ran its course the faster because of its high qualities of absurdity and uselessness. Dink's intention of recouping himself by selling his own set of seven colors at a big advance was cut short by a spontaneous protest to the Doctor from the house masters, whose artistic souls were stirred to wrath at the hideous invasion. ”

“ It’s always Dinkie minutes to Dink. When you read a book you’re only reading about what your Dinkie might have done or what your Dinkie is some day to write. When you picture the Prime Minister it’s merely your Dinkie grown big, laying down the law to a House of Parliament made up of other Dinkies, rows and rows of ’em. When the sun shines you’re wondering whether it’s warm enough for your Dinkie to walk in, and when the snow begins to melt you’re wondering whether 27 it’s soft enough for the beloved Dinkie to mold into snowballs. ”

“ He waited breathless for the first shock of the Andover attack. It came with a rush, compact and solid, and swept back the Lawrenceville left side for a good eight yards.
"Good-by!" said Harris in a whisper.
Dink began to whistle, moving down the field, watching the backs. Another machine-like advance and another big gain succeeded.
"They'll wake up," said Dink solemnly to himself. "They'll stop 'em in a minute." ”

“ Stover began to laugh.
"All alone in a cold, cold world—wicked, very wicked?"
"Perhaps."
"And it was rather a nice feeling, too, wasn't it?"
"I didn't know, you——" said Dink, blushing to find himself back in the common herd.
"Me, too," said the Tennessee Shad, sucking a straw. "Good old sporting days!" Presently he began mischievously:
"Then stand by your glasses steady,
This world is a——"
But here Dink, rising up, tumbled him over. ”

“ After much anxious and gloomy cogitation he [Pg 308] hit upon a novel plan and, approaching Stover at the end of the last recitation, gave him a mysterious wink.
"What's up?" said Dink instantly.
McCarty pulled him aside:
"I've got a couple of A. No. 1 millionaire cigars," he said in a whisper. "If you've got nothing better, why, come along."
"I'm yours on the jump," said Dink, trying to give to his words a joy which he was far from feeling in his stomach. ”

“ Nookie walked over to the furnace, and taking one of the irons from the fire, she spat on it to test the heat. As she began pressing her dress, she said:
“Soongy, you ain’ foolish, no. Good as you know how to make b’lieve you is.”
Ignoring the remark, Soongy went to the table and fell to washing the dishes which Dink left in the pan. Very soon, song took the place of conversation; and the two women worked on, singing cheerfully over their tasks. Now and then the wavering sound of Dink’s voice came from the next room, like a broken response. ”

“ Now the advantage of Dink's method of signaling was in its absolute naturalness. For the growing boy wiggles his ears as a pup tries his teeth or a young goat hardens his horns. Moreover, as Dink held to his plan of judicious flunking, The Roman's suspicions were completely diverted. For three days more the lover of the gerund and the gerundive sought to localize and detect the sources of information without avail.
Finally on the sixth day The Roman arrived with a briskness that was at once noted and analyzed. P. Lentz was called and translated. ”

“ Flat Face Dink lifted the corner of his lips; then he gave the long, red, cherry wood bar an extra dry polish.
“My gracious!” the observing Tid Ricks whispered. “Dink don’t care f’r anybody in the world! He’s all nerve, Dink is! Come the devil himself and Flat Face’d say to him, ‘Name yer pisen, old boy—how’s hell t’day?’ He would, honest! I bet he would.”
A heavy footfall out in front of Legere’s shook the planks till they boomed and creaked. Rearing Bill of Big Buck Hill surged into the middle of the barroom. Tid Ricks shrank into a corner. ”

“ They've put me in Coventry."
"You must have been pretty fresh."
"What!"
"Oh, don't mind me," said Dennis cheerfully. "I'm fresher than you ever thought of being. I was the freshest bit of verdure, as the poet says, that ever greened the place. I'm the freshest still. But I'm different. I'm under six inches—that's the cinch of it."
"Yes, I was fresh," said Dink, intensely relieved.
"You're always fresh if you're any good, the first term," said Finnegan. "Don't mind that. Next year you'll be an old boy, and then they'll follow you around for sugar."
"I hadn't thought of that," said Dink slowly. ”

“ No matter what happens don't lose your temper, don't be so stupid, so brainless—do you hear?" [Pg 237]
"Yes, sir," said Dink, who had gradually retired under his blanket until only the tip of the nose showed and the terror-stricken eyes.
"And don't forget this. You don't count. It isn't the slightest interest to the team whether some one whales you or mauls you! It isn't the slightest interest to you, either. Mind that! Nothing on earth is going to get your mind off following the ball, sizing up the play, working out the weak points—nothing. Brains, brains, brains, Stover! ”

“ Dink took this check severely to heart and, of course, beheld in this thwarting of his scheme to dispose of the abhorrent set with honor a [Pg 217] fresh demonstration of the implacability of The Roman.
He wandered gloomily from Laloo's and Appleby's to the Jigger Shop; where, after pulling his hat over his eyes, folding his arms inconsolably, he confided his desires of revenge on Doc Macnooder to the sympathetic ears of the guardian of the Jigger.
"Why not get up a contest and offer it as a prize?" said Al. ”

“ Down the walk she ran after Dink. Whatever got Peter would have to get her as well. Dink was gaining on Peter; Polly was gaining on Dink. In imagination Peter felt long, strong, slim fingers grabbing him by the collar of his little jacket. Dink had caught him in that manner in days gone by and shaken him and slapped him—even pinched him with those long, strong fingers. She would do it again. She would surely get him. Good-bye to the sand pile and three meals a day! Good-bye to dear Mrs. Dexter and her wonderful stories and frequent treats! Better to be adopted than to have Dink get him. ”

“ Having studied the preferences and dislikes of his tyrants he succeeded, however, in bluffing through most of his recitations with the loyal support of Beekstein. But The Roman was not thus to be circumvented, and as Dink, in the Byronic period of grief, had no heart for florid improvisations of the applause of the multitude he contented himself, whenever annoyed by his implacable persecutor, The Roman, by rising and saying with great dignity:
"Not prepared, sir." ”

“ The boys strained to the utmost their strong young muscles, and, with paddles bent almost double, drove their little craft like the wind before them. Down past Turtle Creek they flew; Licking Banks were soon left behind, and shortly, they were alongside the Sycamores. Dink looked back over his shoulder, and whispered:
"We ain't gained on 'em a bit, an' they seem to be goin' strong." ”

“ That means seventy dollars apiece profit."
"Let's begin," said Dennis.
"I'm unalterably opposed," said Dink, "to allowing Doc Macnooder in the firm."
"Me, too," said Dennis.
"Doc is strong on detail," said the Tennessee Shad doubtfully.
"I'm unalterably opposed," said Dink, "to allowing Doc Macnooder to swallow this firm."
"Me, too," said Dennis.
"Doc has great business experience," said the Tennessee Shad; "wonderful, practical mind."
"I'm unalterably——" said Dink and stopped, as the rest was superfluous.
"Me, too," said Dennis.
"Some one's got to work for us in the other Houses." ”

“ Goats is mollusks, but the centipede is infantry. The pede is found in the torpid zone, but the rhi nupple dinkey is a three legger and makes the welkin ring! Jack Brily, which is the wicked sailor, swears and chews tobacco, and every thing, says the dink is the gem of the ocean and can swaller 2 men to once. One day Jack seen a dink a follering the ship which he worked on, and he told the captain. The captain he said: “That is mighty mournful, cause the dinky is bad luck unless he is fed a sailor21 every day. ”

“ The Dinkas call the Nubians "women," because they wear clothing, although it is not much, and a true Dinka would allow himself to be frozen to death rather than put on a garment to keep his body comfortable. "But they do not consider it effeminate," continued the Doctor, "to seek the shelter of their huts when the cold wind blows, and in this way they get along without much suffering."
Abdul had been among the Dinkas, and said their herds of cattle would astonish the boys if they could see them. ”

“ The Dinka must be reckoned amongst the darkest of races, but the deep black of their complexion gives place to a manifest tint of brown when the ashes are washed off with which they delight in rubbing themselves. When they have smeared themselves with oil, or taken a bath, their skin shines like dark bronze. ”

“ It wasn’t until half an hour later, when Dinkie was sound asleep again and tucked away in his crib, that I remembered my frantic promises to God to forgive Dinky-Dunk everything, if He’d only bring my boy back to me. And there’d been other promises, equally foolish and frantic. I’ve been thinking them over, in fact, and I am going to make an effort to keep them. I’m so happy that it hurts. And when you’re happy, you want other people to be that way, too. ”

“ Even Dinky-Dunk admits that spring is coming. For three solid hours an awakened blue-bottle has been buzzing against the pane of my bedroom window. I wonder if most of us aren't like that fly, mystified by the illusion of light that fails to lead to liberty? This morning I caught sight of Dinky-Dunk in his fur coat, climbing into the buckboard. I shall always hate to see him in that rig. It makes me think of a certain night. And we hate to have memory put a finger on our mental scars. ”

“ The clouds are already quite heavy enough over Casa Grande.
Dinkie and his mater, however, have been drawn much closer together during the last few days. I’ve talked to him, and read to him, and without either of us being altogether conscious of it there has been an opening of a closed door or two. Dinkie loves to be read to. The new world of the imagination is just opening up to him. And I envy the rapture of the child in books, rapture not yet spoiled by the intellectual conceit of the grown-up. ”

“ Of a reddish black colour, fairer than the Dinka, they are well proportioned, with the hair short. Tattooing is not common, but when found is similar to that of the Dinka; they pierce the ears and nose, and in addition to the ornaments found among the Dinka (q.v.) wear a series of iron rings on the forearm covering it from wrist to elbow. They are mainly agricultural, but hunt and fish to a considerable extent; they are also skilful smiths, smelting their own iron, of which they supply quantities to the Dinka. They are a prosperous tribe and in consequence spinsters are unknown among them. ”