Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Ed Casulli and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Frontispiece] JAN A DOG AND A ROMANCE BY A.J. DAWSON NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Published by Arrangement with Harper & Brothers JAN: A DOG AND A ROMANCE Copyright, 1915, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America Published October, 1915 _CONTENTS_ I. HOW FINN CAME HOME II. NUTHILL AND SHAWS III. INTRODUCING THE LADY DESDEMONA IV. THE OPEN-AIR CALL V. DESDEMONA'S WANDERINGS VI. HOW DESDEMONA FOUND HER NEST VII. DESDEMONA FORGETS HER MANNERS VIII. FINN IS ENLIGHTENED IX. THE LONE MOTHER X. FAMILY LIFE--AND DEATH XI. JAN GOES TO NUTHILL XII. SOME FIRST STEPS XIII. SAPLING DAYS XIV. WITH REFERENCE TO DICK VAUGHAN XV. JAN'S FIRST FIGHT XVI. GOOD-BY TO DICK XVII. JAN BEFORE THE JUDGES XVIII. FIT AS A TWO-YEAR-OLD XIX. DISCIPLINE XX. SUSSEX TO SASKATCHEWAN XXI. INTRODUCING SOURDOUGH XXII. MURDER! XXIII. THE FIGHT ON THE PRAIRIE XXIV. PROMOTION XXV. JAN GOES ON HIS TRAVELS XXVI. THE RULE OF TRACE AND THONG XXVII. MUTINY IN THE TEAM XXVIII. THE FEAST AND THE FASTER XXIX. THE FIGHT IN THE WOODS XXX. REAL LEADERSHIP XXXI. THE COST OF INCOMPETENCE XXXII. JAN OBEYS ORDERS AT THE GREAT DIVIDE XXXIII. BACK TO THE TRAIL XXXIV. THE PEACE RIVER TRAIL XXXV. THE END OF JAN'S LONE TRAIL XXXVI. "SO LONG, JAN!" XXXVII. BACK TO REGINA XXXVIII. THE FALL OF SOURDOUGH XXXIX. HOW JAN CAME HOME _JAN_ I HOW FINN CAME HOME Rightly to appreciate Jan's character and parts you must understand his origin. For this you must go back to the greatest of modern Irish wolfhounds, Finn; and to the Lady Desdemona, of whom it was said, by no less an authority than Major Carthwaite, that she was "the most perfectly typical bloodhound of her decade." And that was in the fifteenth month of her age, just six weeks before Finn's arrival at Nuthill. When the Master was preparing to leave Australia with Finn he said, "It's 'Sussex by the sea' for us, Finn, boy, in another month or so; and, God willing, that's where you shall end your days."