Vet in a Spin Read online

Peverishly but vainly I sc anned each farm entrance in Grampton village

  as I shot through, and when I saw the open countryside ahead of me

  again the tension was almost unbearable. I was tell ing myself that

  the whole thing was hOpeless when in the far distance above a row of

  trees I spotted the familiar top f kIallock's wagon It was a high,

  wooden-sided vehicle and I couldn't mistake it. Repressing a shout of

  triumph I put my foot on the boards and set off in that direction with

  /~+0 ve' In a oy`TI the fanatical zeal of the hunter. But it was a

  long way off and I hadn't travellq~ a mile before I realised I had lost

  it. ~ Over the years many things have stayed in my memory, but the

  Great Co] Chase is engraver deeper than most. The sheer terror I felt

  is vivid to this dat9 I kept sighting the wagon among the maze of lanes

  and side roads but by the time I had cut across country my quarry had

  disappeared behind a hillside d dipped into one of the many hollows in

  the wide vista. I was constantly deceive~ by the fact that I expected

  him to be turning towards Darrow by after passing through a village,

  but he never did. Clearly he had other business on the way3L The whole

  thing seemed to last a very long time and there was no fun in ~ for me.

  I was gripped throughout by a cold dread, and the violent swings if.

  alternating scents of hope and despair were wearing to the point of

  exhaust io.

  I was utterly drained when at last I saw the tall lorry rocking along a

  straight road in front of me.

  I had him now! Forcing my little car to the limit, I drew abreast of

  him sounding my horn repeatedly till he stopped. Breathlessly I pulled

  up in front~ of him and ran round to offer my explanations. But as I

  looked up into the~ driver's cab my eager smile vanished. It wasn't

  Jeff Mallock at all. I had beef 1t following the wrong man.

  It was the 'ket feller'. He had exactly the same type of wagon as

  Mallock a he went round a wide area of Yorkshire picking up the

  nameless odds and en of the dead animals which even the knacker men

  didn't want. It was a st rang job and he was a st range-loo king man.

  The oddly piercing eyes glittere4, ~ uncannily from under a tattered

  army peaked cap. - :~ f~.

  "Wot's up, guvnor?" He removed a cigarette from his mouth and sp2~:

  companionably into the roadway.

  My throat was tight.

  "I - I'm sorry. I thought you were Jeff Mallock."

  The eyes did not change expression, but the corner of his mouth

  twitched F briefly.

  "If the wants Jeff he'll be back at his yard now, ah reckon." He sp'

  again and replaced his cigarette. .* I I nodded dully. Jeff would be

  there now all right long ago. I had been ..

  chasing the wrong wagon for about an hour and that cow would be dead

  an4( hanging up on hooks at this moment. The knacker man was a fast

  and skiff' worker and wasted no time when he got back with his beasts.

  i~j: "Well, ah'm off 'ome now," the ket feller' said.

  "So long, boss." He winked me, started his engine and the big vehicle

  rumbled away. - I trailed back to my car. There was no hurry now. And

  strangely now the' all was lost my mood relaxed. In fact, as I drove

  away, a great calm settled OD ~: me and I began to assess my future

  with cool objectivity. I would be drumau' out of the Ministry's

  service for sure, and idly I wondered if they had ar, special ceremony

  for the occasion perhaps a ritual stripping of the Par~: Certificates

  or something of the sort. t I tried to put away the thought that more

  than the Ministry would bl~: interested in my latest exploit. How

  about the Royal College? Did they strili~ you off for something like

  this? Well, it was possible, and in my serene state4 mind I toyed with

  the possibilities of alternative avenues of employment. I h~l.

  often thought it must be fun to run a secondhand book shop and now

  that' began to consider it seriously I felt sure there was an opening

  for one~ Darrow by. I experienced a comfortable glow at the vision of

  myself sit ting und.

  the rows of dusty volumes, pulling one down from the shelf when I felt

  liked or maybe just loo king out into the street through the window

  from my safe little world where there were no forms or telephones or

  messages saying,

  "Ring Mi In Darrow by I drove round without haste to the knacker yard.

  I left my.

  outside the grim little building with the black smoke drifting from its

  chim' *.~

  ~G ~616 ~=}~116

  I pulled back the sliding door and saw Jeff seated at his ease on a

  pile G. l hides, holding a slice of apple pie in blood-stained fingers.

  And, ah yes, the~

  I

  just behind him hung the two great sides of beef and on the floor, the

  lungs | bowels and other viscera the sad remnants of Mr Moverley's

  pedigree Ayrshire.

  / "Hello, Jeff," I said.

  "Now then, Mr Herriot." He gave me the beatific smile which mirrored

  his personality so well.

  "Ah'm just havin' a little snack. I all us like a bite about this

  time' He sank his teeth into the pie and chewed appreciatively.

  "So I see." I sorrowfully sc anned the hanging carcase. Just dog meat

  and not even much of that. Ayrshires were never very fat. I was

  wondering how to break the news to him when he spoke again.

  "Ah'm sorry you've caught me out this time, Mr Herriot," he said,

  reaching for a greasy mug of tea.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, I all us reckon to have t'beast dressed and ready for you but

  you've come a bit early."

  I stared at him.

  "But ... every thing's here, surely." I waved a hand around me.

  "Nay, nay, that's noter

  "You mean . . . that isn't the cow from Moverley's."

  "That's right." He took a long draught from the mug and wiped his

  mouth with the back of his hand.

  "I 'ad to do this 'un first. Moverley's cow's still in t'wagon out at

  the back."

  "Alive?"

  He looked mildly surprised.

  "Aye, of course. She's never had a finger on 'en Nice cow for a screw,

  too."

  I could have fainted with relief.

  "She's no screw, Jeff. That's the wrong cow you've got there?"

  "Wrong cow ?" No thing ever startled him but he obviously desired more

  information. I told him the whole story.

  When I had finished, his shoulders began to shake gently and the

  beautiful clear eyes twinkled in the pink face.

  "Well, that's a licker," he murmured, and continued to laugh gently.

  There was nothing immoderate in his mirth and indeed nothing I had said

  disturbed him in the least. The fact that he had wasted his journey or

  that the farmer might be annoyed was of no moment to him.

  Again, loo king at Jeff Mallock, it struck me, as many times before,

  that there was nothing like a lifetime of dabbling among diseased car

  cases and lethal bacteria for breeding tranquillity of mind.

  "You'll slip back and change the cow?" I said.

  "Aye, in a minute or two. There's nowt spoil in'. Ah never likes to

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