ABSTRACT
In about 1921, Father was transferred from Dacca as Commissioner of Burdwan division. The headquarters of the Commissioner was in Chinsurah, Hooghly district. Part of the journey from Dacca we did by river. Our two dogs Brownie and Bacchi were with us. Bacchi had not been well for some days and on the launch he grew steadily worse; he was old and had become very feeble. I was sitting by his side and so was Willie, slowly stroking his dying body to let him feel that we were next to him. I noticed his breathing was laborious and growing steadily worse. There was no help to be got mid–river. Faithful to the last, when I called him by his name, he tried to respond by a feeble wag of his tail, but the effort was too great, his stout heart was failing and he died soon after. I was deeply upset, Willie wept unrestrainedly. I moved away dragging Willie by the hand. The launch was halted and our faithful friend’s body was lowered into the river. It took us several days to get over our tragic loss. Brownie, though he could not speak, mourned his lost comrade by becoming listless and refusing food. He died one morning in Chinsurah, quietly without suffering.
