LOVE FOR A DOG.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 81, 16 January 1930, Page 8

LOVE FOR A DOG.

OWNER’S 7000 MILES CHASE.

FIANCEE BREAKS ENGAGEMENT

A man for the love of his dog, recently traversed 7000 miles of land and sea by ship, train, and aeroplane, consuls were agitated, arguments raged in two Mediterranean ports, and lives were risked, all for the sake of Jimmie, a little wire-haired terrier from Bognor, the Epglish seaside resort immortalised by King George’s recent stay there.

Jimmie, had been loaned by his master to his fiancee to accompany her on a trip she was making to the East. Master was to go with them as far as .Marseilles. \ Everything was perfect until the day before Jimmie’s ship, the British-India liner M-odasa, sailed. Then suddenly the girl broke off the engagement, and the trouble started. Jimmie’s master sailed in the ship because his passage was booked and he wanted to get his dog friend back. The girl had changed from first to second class, and persuaded the captain to extract a promise from her former fiancee that he would not attempt to speak to her as long as he was on board. Master was content with this, ,for ■Timmie had to he exercised on deck, and they could at least see each other. Then, the day before they reached Marseilles, Jimmie chased a ball rather -too vigorously and fell overboard. Master promptly jumped into the sea and rescued him.

Master later sent a letter to the girl from Marseilles! hv courier, asking for the return of the clog. He received a reply telling him to come and fetch it. Fie rushed to the ship, only to be informed by the captain that the girl had changed her mind. Argument followed argument, and after the ship had been delayed an hour, the young man was politely but forcibly put ashore.

The dog owner then determined to heat the ship to Port Said, and there make another attempt to recover Jimmie. He caught a train the same afternoon for Genoa, arriving there at "5 o’clock the next morning, and after some hours’ dashing about in a taxicab he found the local manager of Imperial Airways, and aslcedi for a passage in the next aeroplane to Alexandria. He was 'some pounds short of the t fare, however, and so could only get a ticket to Tobruk, a remote'town iii Italian Libya.

The man took the risk and left by air, in the hope of being able to borrow the rest of the fare from the British Consul. At Corfu lie was fined lor not having a visa. He borrowed enough money from the British Consul at Athens to carry him on in the aeroplane to Alexandria, whence he rushed by train to Port Said, arrivipg a day before the Modasa and in time to cable home for money.

Jimmie’s master boarded the liner accompanied by" the Consul. 4 boated triangular argument followed between the captain, the young man and the Consul. The girl at first locked' herself in the c-abin, and refused to speak even with the captain, but Jimmie’s master was so persistent that at last the dog was returned to its owner.