Dolph

“ These were golden moments for Dolph. No sooner was the doctor out of sight, than pestle and mortar were abandoned; the laboratory was left to take care of itself, and the student was off on some madcap frolic.
Indeed, it must be confessed, the youngster, as he grew up, seemed in a fair way to fulfil the prediction of the old claret-coloured gentleman. He was the ringleader of all holiday sports, and midnight gambols; ready for all kinds of mischievous pranks, and harebrained adventures.
There is nothing so troublesome as a hero on a small scale, or, rather, a hero in a small town. ”

“ Dolph was undeniably tired enough to welcome the chance for some hours’ sleep. And it seemed to him that his head had hardly hit the pillow, which consisted of a bag filled with the same kind of stuff that constituted their beds, hemlock browse, stripped by hand from its attendant stems, than he lost consciousness. ”

“ He was suddenly aroused by a tremendous bang; and although for the moment Dolph found himself unable to place himself, some sort of intuition caused him to feel for his gun, and crawl hastily out of the tent.
Amos had been just ahead of him, and was on his feet as Dolph appeared.
“What is it; more cats invading us?” demanded the latter, when he saw the figure of Teddy just beyond the fire, in the act of half raising his gun, as if tempted to shoot again. ”

“ But the most happy being in the household was a little, plump, blooming lass, his only child, and the darling of his heart. She came bounding out of the house; but the sight of a strange young man with her father called up, for a moment, all the bashfulness of a homebred damsel. Dolph gazed at her with wonder and delight; never had he seen, as he thought, any thing so comely in the shape of woman. She was dressed in the good old Dutch taste, with long stays, and full, short petticoats, so admirably adapted to show and set off the female form. ”

“ Jacob Dolph got out of the Broadway stage at Bowling Green, followed by Eustace Dolph. Eustace Dolph at twenty-two was no more like his father than his patrician name was like simple and scriptural Jacob. The elder Dolph was a personable man, certainly; a handsome man, even, who looked to be nearer forty than fifty-two; and he was well dressed—perhaps a trifle out of the mode—and carried himself with a certain genial dignity, and with the lightness of a man who has not forgotten that he has been a buck in his time. But Eustace was distinctly and unmistakably a dandy. ”

“ Indeed, a crafty look had come over Dolph's face, as though something pleasant might have struck him.
"What's the matter with you?" demanded Dolph, who, while he deserted his bunk, did so in a leisurely manner, as if to show his indifference.
"Didn't yuh hear that yell?" exclaimed the lean hobo.
"Sure I did; think I ain't got ears?" replied Dolph, sneeringly. "But what ails the two of ye? Look like ye wanted to skip out, and make tracks."
"But who'd be comin' away up here, 'cept they wanted tuh git us? ”

“ Some shook their heads, and thought it a shame that the doctor should put Dolph to pass the night alone in that dismal house, where he might be spirited away, no one knew whither; while others observed, with a shrug, that if the devil did carry off the youngster, it would be but taking his own.
These rumours at length reached the ears of the good Dame Heyliger, and, as may be supposed, threw her into a terrible alarm. For her son to have opposed himself to danger from living foes, would have been nothing so dreadful in her eyes as to dare alone the terrors of the haunted house. ”

“ These young people should know each other."
Mr. Dolph said he would, and showed a becoming sense of the honor of the invitation; and he made young Jacob say a little speech of thanks, which he did with a doubtful grace; and then Mr. Dolph sent his compliments to Madam Des Anges' daughter-in-law, and Madam Des Anges sent her compliments to Mrs. Dolph, and there was more stately bowing, and the carriage lumbered on, with the little girl looking timorously out of the window, her great eyes fixed on the yellow kerseymeres, as they twinkled up the street. ”

“ Dolph went on. “I imagine the poor fellow’s feelings when his appetite keeps on calling for another, and he sees his comrades holding up a tempting morsel on their forks, but none for him! It is a terrible thought.”
“Make your mind easy, old fellow. Never despair. See, I’m game enough to offer myself as the victim. I’ll take just four as my portion,” Teddy cried out.
“I refuse to accept the noble sacrifice. We’ll have to draw lots,” said Dolph, with [99] an air of determination; while Amos listened to the humorous dialogue with a broad smile of appreciation on his face. ”

“ When Jacob Dolph returned to his wife's chamber, her feeble gaze was lifted to the ceiling. At the sound of his footsteps she let it fall dimly upon his face. He was thankful that, in that last moment of doubtful quickening, she could not read his eyes; and she passed away, smiling sweetly, one of her white old hands in his, and one in her child's.
Age takes small account of the immediate flight of time. To the young, a year is a [135] mighty span. Be it a happy or an unhappy year that youth looks forward to, it is a vista that stretches far into the future. ”

“ The heart of the old bushwhacker yearned toward the young man, who seemed thus growing up in his own likeness; and as they approached to the end of their voyage, he could not help inquiring a little into his history. Dolph frankly told him his course of life, his severe medical studies, his little proficiency, and his very dubious prospects. The Heer was shocked to find that such amazing talents and accomplishments were to be cramped and buried under a doctor’s wig. He had a sovereign contempt for the healing art, having never had any other physician than the butcher. ”

“ It is unwise to speak in profane language, it is injudicious to speak disrespectfully of old age, yet the Recording Angel, if he did not see fit to let a tear fall upon the page, perchance found it convenient to be mending his pen when young Jacob Dolph once uttered certain words that made his wife cry out:
"Oh, Jacob, don't, please don't. She didn't mean it!"
This is only a supposition. Perhaps Madam Des Anges really had meant well. But oh, how much happier this world would be if all the people who "mean well" and do ill would only take to meaning ill and doing well! ”

“ Jacob Dolph the elder looked more interested in life than he had looked in four years when he stood on the hearthrug in the drawing-room and received his son's guests. He was a bold figure among all the young men, not only because he was tall and white-haired, [51] and for the moment erect, and of a noble and gracious cast of countenance, but because he clung to his old style of dress—his knee-breeches and silk stockings, and his long coat, black, for this great occasion, but of the "shadbelly" pattern. ”

“ He was going to make a business man of his own boy. After all, it was through the workers that great cities grew. Perhaps we were not ripe yet for that European institution, the idler. He himself had certain accomplishments that other Americans had not. He could flâner, for instance. But to have to flâner through fifty or sixty or seventy years palled on the spirit, he found. And one thing was certain, if any Dolph was ever to be an accomplished flâneur, and to devote his whole life to that occupation, the Dolph fortune must be vastly increased. Old Jacob Dolph had miscalculated. ”

“ Dolph wondered if Amos would be kept at the playing business until he fell over, utterly exhausted.
And what of poor Teddy, who must be terribly cramped below the floor? What, if unable to remain there any longer he suddenly threw up the trap, and appeared before the two men as the original “ghost” of the old cabin?
Dolph wondered what would be the proper [187] caper for him under such conditions. He could see no other thing possible than that he should thrust his head and gun through the narrow window, and threaten the men into submission. ”

“ Dolph. Then come a Gods name, I feare no woman
Puzel. And while I liue, Ile ne're flye from a man.
Here they fight, and Ioane de Puzel ouercomes.
Dolph. Stay, stay thy hands, thou art an Amazon,
And fightest with the Sword of Debora
Puzel. Christs Mother helpes me, else I were too
weake
Dolph. Who e're helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me:
Impatiently I burne with thy desire,
My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu'd.
Excellent Puzel, if thy name be so,
Let me thy seruant, and not Soueraigne be,
'Tis the French Dolphin sueth to thee thus
Puzel. ”

“ The doctor looked at him with a gaze of wonder and reproach.
"It is a male child, sir," he said.
Jacob Dolph crept up the stairs on tiptoe. As he paused for a moment in front of a door at the head, he heard the weak, spasmodic wail of another Dolph.
"There's no help for it—I've got to do it," said Jacob Dolph.
It was another wintry morning, just after breakfast. The snow was on the ground, and [89] the sleigh-bells up in Broadway sent down a faint jingling. Ten winters had come and gone, and Mr. Dolph was as comfortably stout as a man should be who is well fed and forty. ”

“ He looked up into the night through the open hatch of the companion-way. The pale glimmer of the swinging lamp tossed a mild flare against the blackness and lighted two faces which were limned against that pall. Both Oakum Otie and Smut-nosed Dolph were at the wheel. Their united strength was needed because the schooner was yawing madly every now and then when the mightier surges of the frothing sea hoisted her counter, chasing behind her like wild horses. Those faces, when Mayo looked on them, were very solemn. The two were crouching like men who were anxious to hide from a savage beast. ”

“ Why don’t you sit with us and do some sewing till Bobby’s bed-time? You’re so selfish.”
Another ferocious glare—and Dolph was gone.
“Charming fellow, isn’t he?” remarked Jenny lightly. She shrugged her shoulders, and followed him out.
The soldier looked at Deb expressively: “Bit thick, isn’t it?”
“I hate Dolph Carew!”
“He doesn’t count. But she—she’s the pluckiest little soul in England. One can’t interfere, that’s the worst of it.”
“Why can’t one? Because one might compromise oneself?” ”

“ To Dolph's surprise, Olive opposed him.
"Isn't there always good in simple, downright sincerity?" she queried.
"Not a bit of it," Dolph assured her bluntly, for a certain talk between them, weeks before, a talk disastrous to the best of Dolph's plans for life, had in no sense put an end to their good friendship. "Sincerity itself is nothing. It's the thing one gets sincere about." Then, without waiting for an answer, "What a woman you are, Olive!" he said.
"Because I stand up for Mr. Brenton?" ”

“ Why, the woods must be full of them! We’re going to be swamped with lynxes, boys; and this gun just won’t behave half-way decent,” and Dolph ended with a groan as he kept working away excitedly at the mechanism of his repeating weapon.
“Where? I see one!” cried Teddy, as he swung his gun around swiftly.
“Bang!”
“That’s the end of him; now show me the other cat, will you, Dolph? Bring ’em on as fast as you like; as long as my little Marlin’s got a single shell left, I’m good for any amount of game. Where’s the next victim?” ”

“ We command every side of the same; and unless he can fly, we ought to get another crack at him. Be lively, now, and try to do better than I did. I must still be in the greenhorn class, though I thought I’d graduated three years ago.”
“Oh! don’t worry about that!” sang out Dolph, cheerily: “mistakes will happen you know, even in the best regulated families. I’ve done worse than that more’n a few times; and I’ve hunted in a good many countries with my dad, you know. ”

“ Dolph even ventured to take another sly look. This revealed the fact that while Crawley was rudely binding up the arm of his companion, Amos had taken the job out of his hands, and was doing it as cleverly as any surgeon might, considering the poor material at hand.
From their talk it seemed that Big Gabe had caught his foot in a root he failed to see in the darkness. In falling clumsily he had managed to drop his hunting knife, and it pierced his arm, giving him a painful wound that bled freely.
Sometimes the fate of a nation hinges on a trifle. ”

“ These sort of wood voyagers are accustomed to waking by instinct when the fire burns low, and a chill pervades the air of the camp; the soft footfall of a cat might arouse them.
And Sallie knew it.
Dolph remembered what his instructions had been. He was to make use of his gun as a gentle persuader in case of trouble while Teddy was creeping forward. Now that the task of setting Amos free had been transferred [211] to the shoulders of another there was just as much reason for vigilance.
Accordingly, Dolph brought his gun to bear upon the burly figure of Big Gabe. ”

“ With all his advantages, however, Dolph made very slow progress in his art. This was no fault of the doctor’s, certainly, for he took unwearied pains with the lad, keeping him close to the pestle and mortar, or on the trot about town with phials and pill-boxes; and if he ever flagged in his industry, which he was rather apt to do, the doctor would fly into a passion, and ask him if he ever expected to learn his profession, unless he applied himself closer to the study. The fact is, he still retained the fondness for sport and mischief that had marked his childhood ”

“ However this may have been, Eustace Dolph ruled for himself his going out and his coming in. He went further, and chose his own associates, not always from among the scions of the "old families." He found those excellent young men "slow," and he selected for his own private circle a set which was mixed as to origin and unanimously frivolous as to tendency. ”