All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot Read Free Book Online Page A

would be the worst thing you could give him. He’s in agony now, but that would drive him mad. It acts by contracting the muscles of the intestines.”
    “God dammit,” snarled Soames, “don’t start giving me a bloody lecture. Are you going to start doing something for the horse or aren’t you?”
    I turned to the big man in the corner. “Slip on that head collar and I’ll examine him.”
    With the collar on, the horse was brought to a halt. He stood there, trembling and groaning as I passed a hand between ribs and elbows, feeling for the pulse. It was as bad as it could be—a racing, thready beat. I everted an eyelid with my fingers; the mucous membrane was a dark, brick red. The thermometer showed a temperature of a hundred and three.
    I looked across the box at Soames. “Could I have a bucket of hot water, soap and a towel, please?”
    “What the devil for? You’ve done nothing yet and you want to have a wash?”
    “I want to make a rectal examination. Will you please bring me the water?”
    “God help us, I’ve never seen anything like this.” Soames passed a hand wearily over his eyes then swung round on the big man.
    “Well, come on, don’t stand around there. Get him his water and we’ll maybe get something done.”
    When the water came, I soaped my arm and gently inserted it into the animal’s rectum. I could feel plainly the displacement of the small intestine on the left side and a tense, tympanitic mass which should not have been there. As I touched it, the horse shuddered and groaned again.
    As I washed and dried my arms, my heart pounded. What was I to do? What could I say?
    Soames was stamping in and out of the box, muttering to himself as the pain-maddened animal writhed and twisted. “Hold the bloody thing,” he bellowed at the horseman who was gripping the head collar. “What the bloody hell are you playing at?”
    The big man said nothing. He was in no way to blame but he just stared back stolidly at Soames.
    I took a deep breath. “Everything points to the one thing. I’m convinced this horse has a torsion.”
    “All right then, have it your own way. He’s got a torsion. Only for God’s sake do something, will you? Are we going to stand in here all night?”
    “There’s nothing anybody can do. There is no cure for this. The important thing is to put him out of his pain as quickly as possible.”
    Soames screwed up his face. “No cure? Put him out of his pain? What rubbish is this you’re talking? Just what are you getting at?”
    I took a hold on myself. “I suggest you let me put him down immediately.”
    “What do you mean?” Soames’ mouth fell open.
    “I mean that I should shoot him now, straight away. I have a humane killer in the car.”
    Soames looked as if he was going to explode. “Shoot him! Are you stark raving mad? Do you know how much that horse is worth?”
    “It makes no difference what he’s worth, Mr. Soames. He has been going through hell all day and he’s dying now. You should have called me out long ago. He might live a few hours more but the end would be the same. And he’s in dreadful pain, continuous pain.”
    Soames sunk his head in his hands. “Oh God, why did this have to happen to me? His lordship is on holiday or I’d call him out to try to make you see some sense. I tell you, if your boss had been here he’d have given that horse an injection and put him right in half an hour. Look here, can’t we wait till Mr. Farnon gets back tonight and let him have a look at him?”
    Something in me leaped gladly at the idea. Give a shot of morphine and get away out of it. Leave the responsibility to somebody else. It would be easy. I looked again at the horse. He had recommenced his blind circling of the box, stumbling round and round in a despairing attempt to leave his agony behind. As I watched, he raised his lolling head and gave a little whinny. It was a desolate, uncomprehending, frantic sound and it was enough for me.
    I strode quickly