Dell

“ Through the open window he caught sight of Dell Benedict dancing in Herb Ward's arms. Dependable old Herb! He watched them approvingly. Dell was lovely, and no mistake. Sometimes, when he was lonely and discouraged, he would think sadly of what might have been. That would, in the last analysis, be much more satisfactory than if what might have been had been. "He travels fastest who travels alone." True talk.
He was still musing gently in this strain when, ten minutes later, Dell appeared, somewhat breathless, before him.
"Bob—I want you to take me home," she said. ”

“ Dell went on gently. “Some time later, but not now. Now—if you stop work for an instant we're lost. You've got to go on making money. I'm afraid it's like that, Bob. Being married, I mean.” He said nothing. “I've been thinking, too,” Dell continued. “My plan is, let's go up to Boston and take a studio apartment. It's cheaper than New York, and I've got a lot of college friends there; people who would help us. I'll arrange an exhibit of your work and we'll sell something, I'm sure. Then, too, there's Myra Tell. They've loads of money, and they want a portrait of the grandmother. ”

“ The groceries were still lying on the chair where Dell had thrown them. He carried them to the kitchen—Dell's spotless kitchen, where he had helped with the dishes each evening. He went into the bedroom. There in the window they had stood every morning, scanning the harbor to see if their ship was in.
He wandered about, taking one last look at all these things that Dell had loved. The highboy—how she did fuss over that stiff old thing! The Georgian chair. The sewing table. He encountered the packing cases again—look here! Full of silver—valuable—how about it? ”

“ Even after he had seen Della Benedict again his purpose did not consciously alter. The grown-up Dell was sweet and clever and desirable, and if he had been settled in a good business—but he wasn't; he was an artist, and he knew well that artists should not marry. ”

“ Dell was a good listener. Any story, even at his own expense, was enjoyed. "Whether we had corn beef or venison," said he to Sargent, "you promised to tell a story at dinner to-day."
"The one that you reminded me of when you shot the rifle into the ground at your feet and scared the antelope away? No offense if I have to laugh; you looked like a simpleton."
"Tell your story; I'm young, I'll learn," urged Dell.
"You may learn to handle a gun, and make the same mistake again, but in a new way. It's live and learn. ”

“ I—you can trust the granddaughter of Eight Per Cent Benedict to steer clear of the rocks.”
“Dell!” cried her mother.
“Well, what I mean is, with one of our family managing finances, it seems to me the subject is closed,” Dell said gayly.
“It isn't just the money,” Mrs. Benedict began. “Going way off to Massachusetts to live! I've always hoped Dell would settle down right here in Mayfield. And what's all this about travel? Travel isn't for married people; at least not when they're young. I didn't even get to New York until Dell was eighteen. ”

“ When Louis Mitchell flung himself into the dark body of his cab, late that evening, and sank his legs knee-deep into those hateful blue-prints, he blessed that engineer, for Dell had told him all he wished to know, all he had tried so vainly to discover through other sources. The average "overhead" in British mills was one hundred and thirty per cent., and Dell knew. ”

“ If I could only get up in the morning and have those rolls in Rome—melt in your mouth, they would, and the golden butter, and that honey! Life, Dell, life has possibilities."
"You sound rather happy tonight," she said.
"Why not? Eight hundred hard-earned dollars in my pocket. Going to put over a big real-estate deal in a day or two. Then—there are a few places I haven't caught that old moon shining, and thank God the boats still run."
"I wish I were a man!" Dell said suddenly. ”

“ Eugene had been represented amid the wedding gifts by a generous and easily carried draft on a New York bank. In the midst of the honeymoon Bob had discovered that Dell had lists—long, appalling lists of things that were needed. For it seemed that this prodigious array of presents would not serve; there were other things vital to housekeeping—beds, tables, more chairs, prosaic kitchen ware. As soon as they reached the cottage Dell's purchases began pouring in.
“Where we going to put all this stuff, Dell?”
“Oh, we must make room somehow. Not a thing we don't actually need. I'll find a place.” ”

“ The difficulty in getting localized information about a place like Dell is shown in the following quotation from the Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties, page 553, written as of about 1902: "Dell is located at Cole's ranch ... on Willow Creek. ”

“ But I think I would rather you stayed here. We have men enough, you know.”
“This is the last time I shall ever ride with you, pard,” said Dell. “I am going back to Arizona, you know, as [252] soon as Lawless is captured. You’re going to let me go, aren’t you? For the last time?”
Dell’s intention of returning to Arizona had been talked over among the pards for several days. Dell’s ranch, the “Double D,” was needing her, and she and the rest of the pards were near the time when their trails forked. Under those conditions, the scout could not deny the girl her wish. ”

“ At last, after two hours of sweating labor, Dell pulled Silver Heels to a halt under the brow of a steep hill.
“Going to rest and breathe the bronks?” asked the scout.
“Nary, pard,” answered Dell, with an easy return to the colloquialism of the West; “we’re close to the end of our trail, and that’s why we’re rounded up. Squaw [167] Rock is just over the rise. I thought perhaps you might like to reconnoiter before we shacked down on the place.”
“That’s the sensible thing to do, of course. Cayuse will look after the horses while you and I climb the slope.” ”

“ Our first move must be to get the horses from the gully. I suppose it will be best to leave you here, Dell, to stay with Wah-coo-tah, while I go for the horses.”
“I will take care of Wah-coo-tah, pard,” returned [192] Dell, pressing the Indian girl’s hand affectionately as she spoke. “You ought to find Cayuse in the gully.”
“Wherever the horses are, I think I am pretty certain to find the boy. Whenever he is told to do a thing, he generally does it, so I feel confident he has stayed with the live stock. I won’t be gone long,” the scout added, as he took to the bridle-path and began the ascent. ”

“ As at Lymm, it has given existence also to a dell beneath, into which, after heavy rain, causing the water to overflow, there descends a cataract of at least a hundred and fifty feet fall. The dell is the only place near Manchester where the lily–of–the–valley [223] appears to grow truly wild. In autumn it abounds with golden–rod, ferns, hawkweeds, and the blue jasione, and upon the slopes, as in Hurst Clough, there are many bushes of the deepest–coloured of the wild English roses, the Rosa villosa. ”

“ The military telegraph between Bonita, Bowie, and Grant had been repaired by the time the scout and his pards regained Bonita, and the first message sent through by Colonel Grayson asked after Dell.
Dell herself answered the message. Patterson, in a hospital at Bowie, sent his report of the trip from Grant to Bonita, and it followed closely on the heels of Dell’s message to the colonel. After hearing of the girl’s daring and bravery, the colonel sent another telegram to Dell, [310] forgiving her for the way she broke out of Fort Grant, and asking her to come back and finish her visit. ”

“ At one place, too, Dell forced Silver Heels to a jump of half a dozen feet over a crevasse; and at another place she made a leap downward over a bluff of twelve feet. Bear Paw and his two riders were always behind, the scout marveling at Dell’s perfect horsemanship.
The girl, it was plain, was entirely at home in the saddle. Was there anything, the scout was asking himself, in which Dell Dauntless did not excel?
Throughout the entire journey it was necessary to keep a keen lookout for enemies, white and red. None were seen, perhaps because none would dare this almost impossible trail. ”

“ I have a ranch in Arizona, and my mother is there. I intended to leave my pards very soon, anyway, but I should like to stay with them until Lawless is captured and forced to pay the penalty of his crimes.”
“You go then?”
[191]
“Yes.”
“Then Wah-coo-tah glad you stay. Mebbyso Yellow Hair got good heart, and Wah-coo-tah got bad heart? Quien sabe?”
“No, no, Wah-coo-tah,” whispered Dell, “you’ve got a good heart, and you’re a brave girl; only there are some things you don’t understand.” ”

“ The result of their planning was that the next morning Dell appeared at Clara’s room with a triumphantly extended hand.
“Eighty-eight dollars! Well, they can say what they choose about actors, but when it comes to practical generosity, they’re there, right down to the last little girl in the chorus. Look here! Forty dollars from English Toppling! And we used to call him a tight-wad.”
An hour later Clara and Dell, half hoping, half fearing to find Jean in such a place, walked into a little shop bearing the sign: “Lizzie Lord. Manicuring.” ”

“ At the corner of Park Avenue and Market Street he narrowly escaped being hit by an automobile.
He awoke in time, however, and leaped nimbly to safety. The car ran up to the curb, stopped, and a familiar voice called "Whoo-oo!"
"What's the idea?" asked Dell as he went up to her. "Trying to end it all? You gave me a turn, I'll say."
"Sorry," he apologized. "Just one of those boneheaded pedestrians. You should have run me down. World's better without my sort. Better for motorists, I mean." ”

“ And lest Rose, who already numbered six, should come out in the majority, three long marks were put down against the $10,000 to be inherited at the death of a grandmother, whose name Dell bore.
“Then Dell has an air, which shows at once what she is, and no man need be ashamed of her in any place.” (Mark No. 5.) “Then, again, she’s handsome—decidedly so—such beautiful eyes! such small feet! and curls!” ”

“ Colonel Eldridge sat considering, his eyes on the papers in front of him. "What about the other two who were taken on at the Grange?" he asked.
"They've gone off, sir," said Dell. "They didn't like the job, and wouldn't have stayed anyhow."
"They have gone off? They're not hanging about the village?" ”

“ The spring had penetrated even into the dreary court of the house in Piazza della Consolazione, to that great yellow well, which exhaled the odours of victuals, and was noisy with the voices of servant maids and the piping of imprisoned canaries. ”

“ T’other end o’ ther blind gully opened inter a gulch. When I hit ther gulch, I seen you an’ Dell ahead o’ me, [283] an’ at fust glance I thort ye was ther same two ’Paches I passed in ther gully; then another look, with ther moonlight shinin’ full on ye, showed me I was mistook. I seen one o’ ye was er gal, an’ t’other er man, but I didn’t suspect one was Dell an’ t’other Buffler Bill till I’d come closter. ”

“ Dell Dauntless faced about in her saddle.
“I can tell you,” said she, in a low, tense voice.
Her manner claimed the fullest attention of Nomad and Golightly. She was about to tell them something of vital importance—the fact stood out in her eyes.
“Don’t hang fire, gal,” urged Nomad. “Our ears aire wide open.”
“They took the buckboard and horses because the rig is known in Phœnix as belonging to Mr. McGowan,” said Dell.
“Waal, what o’ thet? Arter stealin’ ther rig ther scoundrels wouldn’t drive et inter Phœnix.” ”

“ Ye got up, staggerin’like, an’ I tuned up ergin. Then I seen Dell tumble off ther clift, an’ I near tumbled off’n thet other clift, up thar, myself. I scrambled eround fer er place ter git down, an’—an’—— Waal, thet’s erbout all. Hyar we aire, big as life, an’ we hev come through things, Buffler, like we never went through afore, an’ like I hopes we’ll never go through ergin. ”

“ It’s all too easy.... No, I’m in earnest about it.—I came to Chicago expecting to have to fight my way. Chicago was too damned nice to me. I’ve been living in a pasteboard world ever since. Look at my job—I come and go when I please; and I can say anything I like.”
“The Fortunate Youth!” she murmured.
“The Intellectual Playboy,” he said. “I can say what I like—because nobody cares. That’s the truth. There’s nothing heroic in differing with the crowd when the crowd pays you to do it.”
“Do you want to be heroic, Felix?” ”

“ Is thet Annie McGowan?”
“Annie! Jest from ’Frisco in that rig? Niver! That’s Dell, av th’ Double D Ranch—a fri’nd av Annie McGowan’s.”
“Whoever she is, Golightly, she needs us, an’ we’ll cut her out o’ thet bunch in er couple er jerks. Hang on, kase I’m goin’ ter plow through ther chaparral at top speed.”
Pointing straight for the wagon-trail, the old trapper made quick use of his spurs, and the double-burdened horse crashed away on the jump.
By the time Nomad and Golightly had reached the wagon-trail, Dell of the Double D was well to the north of the basin. ”

“ Poor little Hedvig knew that she wasn’t getting anything to eat; but some of us don’t realize that for years and years; we dutifully masticate the innutritious contents of text-books while we are starving for a taste of reality.
Take geography, for instance. I know quite well that it was not the intention of the author of the text-book which I studied that I should conceive the state of Illinois as yellow and the neighbouring state of Indiana as pale green: but I do to this day. ”