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He led the way to a bigger enclosure, holding several sheep. There was a

  scurry as we went in but he caught expertly at the fleece of a darting

  ewe. "This is the first one. You can see we haven't a deal o" time."

  I lifted the woolly tail and gasped. The lamb's head was protruding from

  the vagina, the lips of the vulva clamped tightly behind the ears, and

  it had swollen enormously to more than twice its size. The eyes were

  mere puffed slits in the great oedematous ball and the tongue, blue and

  engorged, lolled from the mouth.

  "Well I've seen a few big heads, Rob, but I think this takes the prize."

  "Aye, the little beggar came with his legs back. Just beat me to it. Ah

  was only away for an hour but he was up like a football. By hell it

  doesn't take long. I know he wants his legs bringin" round but what can

  I do with bloody great mitts like mine." He held out his huge hands,

  rough and swollen with the years of work.

  While he spoke I was stripping off my jacket and as I rolled my shirt

  sleeves high the wind struck like a knife at my shrinking flesh. I

  soaped my fingers quickly and began to feel for a space round the lamb's

  neck. For a moment the little eyes opened and regarded me

  disconsolately.

  "He's alive, anyway," I said. "But he must feel terrible and he can't do

  a thing about it."

  Easing my way round, I found a space down by the throat where I thought

  I might get through. This was where my 'lady's hand" came in useful and

  I blessed it every spring; I could work inside the ewes with the minimum

  of discomfort to them and this was all-important because sheep, despite

  their outdoor hardiness, just won't stand rough treatment.

  With the utmost care I inched my way along the curly wool of the neck to

  ~L the shoulder. Another push forward and I was able to hook a finger

  round the leg and draw it forward until I could feel the flexure of the

  knee; a little more twiddling and I had hold of the tiny cloven foot and

  drew it gently out into the light of day.

  Well that was half the job done. I got up from the sack where I was

  kneeling and went over to the bucket of warm water; I'd use my left hand

  for the other leg and began to soap it thoroughly while one of the ewes,

  marshalling her lambs around her, glared at me indignantly and gave a

  warning stamp of her foot.

  Turning, I kneeled again and began the same procedure and as I once more

  groped forward a tiny lamb dodged under my arm and began to suck at my

  patient's udder. He was clearly enjoying it, too, if the little tail,

  twirling inches from my face, meant anything.

  "Where did this bloke come from?" I asked, still feeling round.

  The farmer smiled. "Oh that's Herbert. Poor little youth's mother won't

  have 'im at any price. Took a spite at him at birth though she thinks

  world of her other lamb."

  "Do you feed him, then?"

  "Nay, I was going to put him himself. He pops from one ewe to ttother

  and gets chance. I've never seen owl like it." with the pet lambs but I

  saw he was fendin" for gets a quick drink whenever he "Only a week old

  and an independent spirit, eh?"

  "That's about the size of it, Jim. I notice 'is belly's full every

  mornin" so I reckon his ma must let him have a do during the night. She

  can't see him in the dark - it must be the look of him she can't stand."

  I watched the little creature for a moment. To me he seemed as full of

  knock-kneed charm as any of the others. Sheep were funny things.

  I soon had the other leg out and once that obstruction was removed the

  lamb followed easily. He was a grotesque sight Lying on the strewed

  grass, his enormous head dwarfing his body, but his ribs were heaving

  reassuringly and I knew the head would shrink back to normal as quickly

  as it had expanded. I had another search round inside the ewe but the

  uterus was empty.

  "There's no more, Rob," I said.

  The farmer grunted. "Aye, I thowt so, just a big single 'un. They're the

  ones that cause the trouble."

  Drying my arms, I watched Herbert He had left my patient when she moved

  round to lick her lamb and he was moving speculatively among the other

  ewes. Some of them warned him off with a shake of the head but

  eventually he managed to sneak up on a big, wide-bodied sheep and pushed

  his head underneath her. Immediately she swung round and with a fierce

  upward butt of her hard skull she sent the little animal flying high in

  the air in a whirl of flailing legs. He landed with a thud on his back

  and as I hurried towards him he leaped to his feet and trotted away.

  "Awd bitch!" shouted the farmer and as I turned to him in some concern

  he shrugged. "I know, poor little sod, it's rough, but I've got a

  feelin" he wants it this way rather than being in the pen with the pet

  lambs. Look at 'im now."

  Herbert, quite unabashed, was approaching another ewe and as she bent

  over her feeding trough he nipped underneath her and his tail went into

  action again. There was no doubt about it - that lamb had guts.

  "Rob," I said as he caught my second patient,"why do you call him

  Herbert?"

  "Well that's my younger lad's name and that lamb's just like 'im the way

  he puts his head down and gets stuck in, fearless like."

  I put my hand into the second ewe. Here was a glorious mix up of three

  lambs; little heads, legs, a tail, all fighting their way towards the

  outside world and effectively stopping each other from moving an inch.

  "She's been hanging about all morning and painin"," Rob said. "I knew

  summat was wrong."

  Moving a hand carefully around the uterus I began the fascinating

  business of sorting out the tangle which is just about my favourite job

  in practice. I had to bring a head and two legs up together in order to

  deliver a lamb; but they had to belong to the same lamb or I was in

  trouble. It was a matter of tracing each leg back to see if it was hind

  or fore, to find if it joined the shoulder or disappeared into the

  depths.

  After a few minutes I had a lamb assembled inside with his proper

  appendages but as I drew the legs into view the neck telescoped and the

  head slipped back; there was barely room for it to come through the

  pelvic bones along with the shoulders and I had to coax it through with

  a finger in the eye socket. This was groaningly painful as the bones

  squeezed my hand but only for a few seconds because the ewe gave a final

  strain and the little nose was visible. After that it was easy and I had

  him on the grass within seconds. The little creature gave a convulsive

  shake of his head and the farmer wiped him down quickly with straw

  before pushing him to his mother's head.

  The ewe bent over him and began to lick his face and neck with little

  quick darts of her tongue; and she gave the deep chuckle of satisfaction

  that you hear from a sheep only at this time. The chuckling continued as

  I produced another pair of lambs from inside her, one of them hind end

  first, and, towelling my arms again, I watched her nosing round her

  triplets delightedly.

  Soon they began to ans