A BIT OF AN ADVENTURE

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12507, 24 July 1926, Page 16

A BIT OF AN ADVENTURE

‘Tom, To-omi-ie,” called Mrs Pedder. “Hurry, dear, 1 want you,” she added, as Tom, a cheery youngster of ten, came running up. He was a bright youth, with crisp, curly hair, and a happy, twinkling eye, which sometimes looked rather sly. "Yes, Mum,” he said. “1 want you to mind Norman, dear,” she replied. “Right-oh!” he said. ‘Til mind him.” A little while later, as Tom was wheeling Norman along the footpath, a dog with a chain dangling from its neck came dashing up. “Stop him!” yelled a man. Tom stepped forward! . . . The dog galloped faster! Then, with its utmost power, it sprang .... right over Tom’s head it leaped! Next moment it landed just before Norman’s perambulator. With a quick movement it dodged aside, but, alas, the chain caught in the pram! Suddenly, as pram followed dog, it knocked against a telegraph pole. With a crash it capsized! The dog, through being checked so suddenly, hit the ground with terrific force, and lav still. 3 Sick with fear, Tom and the man rushed up, to find the dog with a broken neck, and the baby very frightened, but little worse for the accident. It appeared that the man was a vet., and had beep returning the dog to its master, when, as they were crossing a street, a motorcar, travelling at a terrible rate, whizzed round a bend. An instant later it shrieked its sire*n, giving the dog such a scare that it ran away. . . . The rest we know. The dog’s master, after hearing the story, said he was very sorry to hear his dog was dead, but very glad to hear no one was hurt. “The result may have been very much graver,” he said. “So, to pay for damages to the pram, I’ll give you a pound—that ought to be enough. As for yourself, just take this half-crown and say as little of the matter as possible, for I don’t want a scandal about it. Thus the incident ended comparatively happilv. It coma M une easily have been worse, Tom thought. The death of the dog was sadly taken by its master; but he did not complain. —, KEITH HUTCHESON Lower Hutt. (Aged 12)., iiiiimiiiiimiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiimiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiimiiiimr