"I think he's starting to pack it in." "Now, Stephen!" "2 hours, 20 minutes, 53 and two fifth seconds." "Six and a half minutes longer than Wednesday's test, about 12 minutes longer than the one before that." "It's remarkable how regular the increase appears to be, isn't it?" "It'll be interesting to see what happens when its expectation of removal is countered by its physical limits." "Shouldn't wait too much longer." "Shall I schedule the tank for Monday, doctor?" "Same procedure as last time." "And oh yes." "Stephen, Cambridge are anxious for us to go ahead with the social deprivation series." "We do have a monkey set aside for that, don't we?" "Just waiting for the go-ahead." "Right." "Then, get it into the cylinder this evening." "Oh, and that tank, Stephen..." "Better clean it out a little bit." "Ah, well that's for thee there." "Now, get ya down." "Here up, ol' lad." "You're not still getting nowhere?" "Eh, what's this?" "Poor little bugger." "Too much for you, was it?" "Harry?" "Harry?" " Hallo!" "You still mucking about in there?" "Right!" "Well I'm going into Coniston for a pint." "Catch you out on the car?" "Aye, alright!" "Just a few more packets here and I'm done!" "Can't keep me awaiting' forever!" "Just comin'." "Rowf!" "Come back!" "I can't do it." "I-..." "I'll fight." "I'll tear their white coats." "Damned white-coats." "It's not the white-coats, Rowf." "It's me, Snitter." "Listen." "The door is not a wall anymore." "The tobacco-man lit it with his matches." "Can you smell it burning?" "I can't stand the water anymore." "When I shut my eyes, the water comes again." "How do you get out?" "Do you drink it?" "Or does the Sun dry it out?" "Or what?" "I don't know." "I hate it, Snitter." "The water's terrible." "The wire's loose here, Rowf." "Along the bottom." "If I put my nose under it, I might be able to get through." "Why do they do it, Snitter?" "I'm not a bad dog." "I don't think they do it because they think you're bad, Rowf." "Do you think you're the only one who hates this damn place!" "?" "Rowf." "Now I remember." "That's why I came." "The door in your pen is unfastened." "We can go through it, Rowf." "They'd only bring us back." "We can do it." "We can get out of here." "It's..." "It's safe in here." "I don't mean out of your kennel, I mean out of here." "The whole place." "We can do it." " It's bad out there." " Bad?" "Think of the water." "What could be worse than that?" "Hours of struggling in the metal water with the white-coats peering down into the tank, watching you." "And one day you won't get out." "They'll let you drown." "They say "Go in the water", I'll-..." " They're not masters." "I had a master once, and I know whatever the white-coats are, they are not masters." "Where are you going?" "How did you get loose?" "And what's that on your head?" "It's smells of the stuff the white coats put over everything." "The white-coats made me better." "First they made me ill, and then they made me better." "I've been ill, you know." "Look, flat face." "How does the tobacco-man go through that door?" "He is usually carrying things." "And he pushes it with his shoulder or his foot, and then edges through sideways." "Let me tell you what happened when I was ill." "First of all, the white-coats made me better, as I said and then they made me worse." "I didn't know whether I was coming or going first I was well, then I was ill..." "Don't jump at it, Rowf." "Just push." "That's it." "There must be some reason, mustn't there?" "It must do some sort of good." "Some terrible sort of disease in there." "That's what the smell's about." "Leave it spilt, old Rowf." "Let it trickle away." "It's made the floor sharp, and the blood will run out of your nose." "Come on." "Mud and rain gutters and leaves' smell." "No good, though." "Won't get through here." "It's cold." "My feet are cold." "Something's been burnt in there." "It's a death place." "Bones... hair..." "They must burn creatures in there." "Fresh air, Rowf." "Sheep, rain..." "I can smell it underneath the ashes." "In there?" "Smells come through cracks." "Dogs don't." "Outside." "Don't you see?" "Past the burnt smell." "Snitter!" "Are you hurt, old Rowf?" "I was afraid I'd never get through." "Alright now." "This is your idea of fresh air and rain?" "Snitter, stay!" "It's that terrier!" "It was its fault!" "The dog killed him!" "Wake up, Rowf." "We've got to get on." "Not yet, I'm tired." "It's warm in here." "This is where it's coming from." "Fresh air, Rowf." "...the bloody hell is all this?" "Rowf, we can't stay here." "The white-coats will find us." "We've got to get out!" "There isn't any out." "Yes there is." "You can smell it out here." "We could be free!" "Go on, Rowf!" "Go on!" "Get on, Rowf!" "Come on, light, damn it." "What's the matter with the thing?" "Damn this place." "Damn the white-coats." "Damn you all!" "You bit me!" "I bit you?" "I didn't!" "Really, I didn't." "You did." "You've hurt me." "Get up and come with me, old Rowf." "We're free!" "They've taken everything away." "The houses, the roads..." "cars, pavement." "The lot." "How did they do it Rowf?" "The white-coats must've changed it, so they could do something or other to animals." "My master never used to do anything to me." " I don't want to hear about your master." "When I was at home, my master..." " Aren't you listening to me?" "Masters are different, Rowf!" "You will see what I mean when we've found one." "Suppose there aren't any masters left." "What then?" "There must be!" "It's just that I wasn't expecting this." "Look." "Rowf, look." "Everything's so still in there." "If I was in there, covered over..." "My head would be cool." "Things would keep still." "If you fall in, they won't let you out." "Well It's better out here than in the pens." "Isn't it Rowf?" "When are we gonna eat?" "I'm hungry." "The flies in my head... .. they keep buzzing." "Feels like smoke." "Look, how the wind sends the leaves running across the sky." "There are the houses!" "I knew they couldn't have gone far." "Come on Rowf!" "We're alright now." "Go on, get out ya bugger!" "Get out!" "Away with ya!" "You spoiled it, Rowf!" "You've got to treat the properly if you want to get anything from them." "Did he hit you with that stone?" "No." "If he had, I'd have really gone for him." "You mustn't rootle about in dustbins, however nice they smell." "Not if masters are anywhere near." "Makes them angry for some reason." "The proper thing, if you want to get food out of a man, is to go and make friends first." "Then, he gives you something." "You do the man before the food." "Not after." "Look." "There's a shop." "A shop." "You know, where they keep meat, and biscuits, and things." "Now, watch me, Rowf." "And remember do the man first." "Ey, a dog with cap on!" "Oh why, look at that!" " White-coats!" " It was a white-coats place?" "Maybe the towns are all white-coats." "I must've made a mistake." "It looked like a shop." "One of them had a knife." "They must cut them up on those glass tables in there." "Why has everything changed so much?" "Rowf!" "I'm blind!" "Rowf, the truck's coming." "The truck's coming!" "Been run over, do you think?" "Nay, not run over." "It's been to the vet, look at the dressing on its head." "Ought to be inside somewhere, by rights." "Must've got out." "It's got this green collar, Jack." "Nothing on it but a number." "Let's put it in the back of the car and get it over with." "Bloody hell!" "I told you, Snitter." "I told you." "You think you you know everything about men..." "They were trying to help me." "They were masters!" "It was my head..." "all on fire, I couldn't see!" "They were white-coats, they were gonna take you back." "Are you alright?" "I think..." "Yes, I think so." "Aye, there's two of them gone." "I thought I better let thee know, like, first thing." "You said all the doors and windows were locked." "There's just no other way they could've got out." "They'll not have gone far." "Last time they were fed, were Friday night." "So they'll have to get some groob somewhere." "If they've been chasing sheep out fell an' all, that'd be a right do, that would." "That's offence against the law, ya know." "Being in possession of a dog that worries sheep." "Rowf!" "Look!" "Take a good look." "I was right." "I told you." "That, Rowf, is a master." "A real master of dogs." "We'll do what they're doing." "Don't you see?" "And then the man will take us home with him." "Oh, what luck!" "My master used to throw sticks, or a ball." "They like you to run about and do things." "This man uses sheep instead of sticks, that's all." "We'll show 'em, Rowf!" "We'll show 'em!" "What the hell art thou playing' at?" "!" "Art thou stark bloody mad, or what?" "We just need a master." "Just need a master?" "Of all the-..." "Art thou out of thou minds, chasing yows up an' down fell?" "Snappin' an' biting'." "Where's thy farm at?" "Where's thy master?" "Tha's nipped yon yow too, tha bastard!" "It's bleedin'!" "Lay off!" "You don't own this place." "Don't own it?" "Then I'd like to know who bloody does." "Ey Wag, it says we don't own fell 'ere." "Bloody cheek!" "What they reckon they're up to, then?" "What're you up to, then?" "Gatherin', you daft sod!" "Seekin' wooled sheep, of course." "An' then they comes down like bloody bulls, and spoils half hour's good work." "Aye, they'll be tourists." "Thee, with yon patch on the head..." "Where's thy master at?" "Has he been hurt and thee run away?" "We haven't a master." "We thought, maybe your master-..." "Aye, fill thee with lead, he will." "Worrying sheep!" "We were only doing the same as them..." "Don, come by here!" "Yo Wag, come by here!" "We better get out of here." "They belonged where they were." "You could smell it." "No white-coat does anything to them." "But what are we going to do, Rowf?" "This isn't the world I left when I was sold to the white-coats." "Must've changed when I killed my master." "Everything I do turns out wrong." "You would kill me, wouldn't you?" "Rowf?" "I mean, if they try to take us back." "What're you talking about?" "You're getting crazier all the time." "We would've been fed by now, wouldn't we?" "We couldn't even find our way back to the white-coats." "I mean, supposing we wanted to." "Do you want to go back?" "I don't know." "There's nothing up here." "I don't anyone's been up here since it was made." "Well..." "The white-coats won't come up here, anyway." "No." "They won't come up here." "But neither will your master." "My master can't anymore." "Rowf," "If we don't find food soon, we'll die." "I'm not gonna die." "Not without a fight." "Who are you going to fight?" "There's no one here." "I'll fight... this." "But we'll have to change." "Change?" "Change to what?" "To what we used to be." "Real animals." "Wild animals." "We'll find food." "We'll live by our teeth, and kill." "That's what we'll do." "Kill." "Those sheep belonged to that man then this one must, too." "We must get away." "And leave this?" "We can finish it off later." "Come on." " Where?" " I don't know, down there." "Into that valley." "Slowly, Snitter." "I'm sore all over." "That sheep battered me to bits." "It's most unfortunate." "I still can't quite understand how it happened." "As far as I can make out, there was a length of wire netting loose, and 815 must've got under sometime that night." "But if the door had been fastened..." "It wouldn't open of its own accord, would it?" "It is possible, that Tyson didn't shut the door properly, of course." "They couldn't have gotten into Dr. Goodner's section, could they?" "No, no, no." "We're quite sure of that." "That was the first place I checked." "I've spoken to Dr. Goodner, and he's sure that..." "Yes." "Well, that's something, anyway." "I can't, Snitter." "You better go on." "I..." "I've had enough." "Maybe I'll feel better later." "But if you stay here, Rowf in the open..." "Might as well lie here as anywhere." "Where are we going, anyway?" "I've got to stop, Snitter." "My leg hurts." " Rowf!" "Listen, listen to me." " Go away, leave me alone." "I have found a place, Rowf." "A sort of house." "Secret." "Dry, out of the rain." "They won't find us there." "Man must've made it." "No, no, Rowf!" "I'm sure I've found something good." "How can anything be good in a place like this?" "Come, see!" "Wouldn't there be a chance?" "Just a chance?" "This goes a long way in." "No one will be able to find us." "Ever." "There's no smell of man." "Maybe you're right, Snitter." "It does seem safe." "Look at the clouds, Rowf." "They never go backward, do they?" "They go only one way." "They must be starving by now." " Suppose they start worrying sheep?" " Well, then some farmer will shoot them." "Or realize where they're from and get onto us." "In which case we'll only have to pacify one local instead of the whole district." "Damn shame though." "All that work on those dogs, gone for nothing." " They've left little enough." " It's not just them." "Some other creature's been at it." "You're right." "I can smell it." "I don't know what it is, but it makes me angry somehow." "It's not here now." "Yes, it is." "Lurking about, watching." "I can feel it." "Stay where you are." "I mean it." "Howway now, kidda." "No need for you an' me to start battling'." "Where'd you get that crack on your head, bonny lad?" "The road was black and white, and then the truck came and lightning shot down my head." " It is a dog, isn't it?" " He's a thief!" "Now, give ower." "Let's all be mates, no need for a barney." "Stick with me, and we'll all be jumpin'." " Else you'll soon be dead." " Dead?" "Aye, dead." "And no argument about it." " We're not about to die." " No?" "Why hinny, you've got no chance at all." "I've been watchin' ya the last two days, ye'll not last." "Hollerin' yer heads off, racing' about the fell." "What do you mean?" "What're you saying?" " Just a proposition, bonny lads." "If you'll hunt an' kill with me," "I'll keep you right and you'll get your meat." "You'll run through the night and follow me feet." "I don't understand a word he's saying." "He's saying he'll show us how to live out here, if we let him share what we kill." "Aye, laddie." "That's it." "Why, you'll have no bother with me." "I'm a delicate eater." "I don't naught but pick at me meat." "He'll cheat us and run away when it suits him." "Bloody thief, that's what he is." "Well, we've nothing to lose." "He's a sharp one, Rowf." "If you're still here when it's light, we'll decide what to do then." "Ah, now yer talking sense." "Keep a tight hold of your meat, an' good luck gan wi' ye." " What do you call yourself?" " I'm the Tod." "Tod, you know canniest Tod on Moss an' Moor." "...we wanted to help them, but they drove us away." "I'ts hard to find food." "It's not like having a master." "Even the white-coats fed us." "Snitter wanted to find some man who'd take us to his house, and look after us." "I told him it was a silly thing to expect." "Yer right, laddie." "Guns an' dogs an' traps an' all." "Have you ever had anything to do with men?" "Ay, now and again." "But as a rule, as little as possible." "You'd be loose in the head to seek out the likes of them." "Live as a wild animal." "That's what I mean to do." "O aye, without me, bonny lad?" "If you go the way you're goin', you'll have no more than three mornings." "I've not seen a dafter pair." "Lyin' flat out on the fell, as like there was neither dogs nor shepard about kills his sheep, bolts it down, keeps away for a spell an' comes back like cubs." "Ya pair of daft twits." "But mind, you pull yon yow down clever, though." "By hinny, you're a hard one." "I'm still bruised all over." "Laddy, there's ways of gettin' stuck in hard, an' ways of ducking' out" "With me beside ya, a great hard bugger like you would have no bother at all." "You'll sharp learn the ways." "Do you kill sheep, then?" "Well, maybe a wee lamb in the spring, if the chance comes." "But you could take care of any size." "Come to that, you could both be dab hands." "And you think you could help us to live out here?" "Aye." "Us tods we're used to runnin'..." " ...'til the Dark comes, anyway." " The Dark?" "What's the Dark?" "That's the place when you stop runnin' for good." "An' unless I'm along, that would be in no time at all." "What do you mean, I "won't have to kill it"?" "No need to, hinny." "But it'll be movin' sharply, so you'll have to watch yerself." "You don't want to go down with it." "It'll be coming up as fast as we can drive it." "Do you think you can do it?" "Ah, don't worry." "You'll manage canny." "Snitter?" "Well done, Snitter." "How far down do you think it is?" "A canny way down but better that getting bashed about, isn't it?" " What's happened to you?" " What do you mean?" " Your head." " It's just a hole." "Not all that strange, not really." "Holes after all, I've seen holes in cars, and pipes..." "You know, running under the road?" "Of course, that was before the truck came." "Time we were goin' down." "You'll be no doubt hungered like me." "You see?" "There's nothing to it, lad." "The next one will be yours." "Go on, lad." "Don't wanna hang about." "There's some bloody beast or other living up there." "There is that." "Two sheep inside eight or nine days." " Where'd ya find 'em?" " First one were almost at the top." "But it's real steep and it were two year old." "Not an old one, Bob." "I saw its teeth an' all." "Two other were out by town, near Rough Ground." "They were both the bloody same." "Pulled to pieces." " No fox could've done it." " That'll be dog then." "Bloody hell." "Have ye got no brains in yer head, you great nit?" "!" "As soon as me back's turned, then yer bloody up an'- ..." "Could you not wait till I tell ye?" " Ya great stupid..." " What's the matter, Tod?" " What did he do?" " What did he do!" "?" "Kill out in the open, right on the shepard's trod, clotting' the place up with blood..." "Do you think he's blind!" "?" "Yer for it, tinny." "Yer arse will be inside out by mornin'." "I'm not biding' with you lot." "Me, I'm goin'." "But... where are you going?" "Oh, I'm goin' to bark at the farmer's door." "Maybe he'll let me shove me head up his gun." "Save a lot o' bother that will." " Tod!" "Tod, wait!" " Let him go." "Good riddance." "I was just wondering what it would be like to have a master." "The kind you talk about." "But there's no one." "Only us." "The Dark that Tod talks about, its..." "It's all around us." "I can feel it." "Alright, go on." "Out you get." "Not too early for ya?" "Too early?" "It's always too early." "How are you, alright?" "I'm alright." "I'll be a damn sight better if we can get this business over with." "Give us a bite now, kidda." "There'll be naught left." "You're quick enough to come crawling around for a piece." "Now hang on, lad." "I've come back to tell you to lowp off sharp." "The farmers are down in the valley, heading' this way." "Dogs all over the place." "And they've got guns." "How is it doing to end?" "Running around these mountains?" "We've got to go, Rowf." "The Tod's right." "We're wild animals now." "Are we goin' now, or do I go meself." "And you'd best be sharp." "Maybe what they're doing to us is right." "I'm a good dog, Snitter." "You're no dog at all, now." "You're a sheep-killer." "And they'll blast yer arse out, hinny." "No trouble." "I tell you, we best be off or you'll both be dead or dying inside half an hour." "Look at that." "Yeah, that's dog, alright." "Well, that proves it." "Bastards!" "They're shifty, and they know their way about." "They got away going through that old less used mine." "The one near Leaver's house." "Bloody irresponsible, it is." "Letting dogs loose on fell." "I just had an idea, Dennis." "Wasn't old Larry Tyson saying something about lost dogs?" "He's over at Coniston, isn't he?" "In the research station?" "Ah, that's right, he is." "Coniston's government controlled." "Government department responsible for sheep killing dogs?" "Be real embarrassing, that would." "They'd not like it at all." "Not at all." "It's plenty a good save I was stuck in court." "Well it's a serious matter, Harry." "He's sheep killing'." "And there's no doubt they're dogs." "Can't be nothing else, living systematically off the sheep." "But the boss at the lab says they're nothin'." "And them as pays the piper, goes the tune." "Can I help you?" "I'm ringing to ask if you're missin' any dogs." "Um, could you tell me a little bit more about this, mister..." "My name is Williamson." " I farm sheep up Dunnerdale way." " How do you come to be asking us?" "There's sheep being killed in Dunnerdale." "Three of four of 'em and I'm not the only farmer, who reckons it's stray dogs." "Now, I'm just asking for a straight answer to a straight question." "Have you lost any dogs?" "I'm sorry, I can't tell you straight off the cuff, Mr. Williamson but if I..." "There must be somebody there who knows how many dogs you've got." " Uh, may I ring you back?" " I hope it'll be soon as some chaps here have to work for a livin'." "D'one there." "That yow." "We'll fell that one." "Telling this Williamson that we have nothing to say was exactly the right light to take." "He's gonna think that's very suspicious." "And what about Tyson?" "I've already had a word with Tyson, and the most he can say, if he's asked is that two pens were found empty." "You think Williamson's going to accept that?" "I don't think we're under any obligation to answer that farmer's questions." "If he thinks evil, let him prove evil." "If he can." "Come on, then." "That's a good fella." "Come on." "Yes, that's it." "Come on, boy." "Who did that to you?" "Come on then." "Yes, that's it." "Come on boy, come on." "That's a good fella." "Come on, up we go..." "There he is!" "That's one of the buggers!" " Sneaky sods." " Are they looking for us?" "Who else?" "Let's away now, an' stop yer yammering'." "Not without Snitter." "If they're hunting the valley for us, Snitter's in danger." "That may be, hinny." "But that looks like real trouble." " Ackland here." " Mr. Ackland I wonder if you'd consider doing a small job for me." "Uh, who's this I'm talking to?" "Boycott." "Dr. Robert Boycott." "I'm with the Lawson park experimental station, in Coniston." "Alrigh'." "What kind of job?" "Well, I understand that there are two dogs, that have worrying sheep up near Thirlmere." "If you have the time, I'd..." "I'd be most grateful if you could see your way clear to ensuring that they they don't do anymore damage." "Rowf!" "What are you doing here?" "I've been searching for the past two days." " What happened to you?" " Didn't you hear it?" "I mean, when the air all blew to pieces." "I know it's my fault, but I didn't do it on purpose." "What blew to pieces?" "What're you talking about?" "We're dead, you and I." "I've killed us both." " I've destroyed everything." " Now, calm down and tell me everything." "I was coming back and all the grass and stones in my head were very loud." "Sort of humming, like a strong wind." "And I was on a road like last time." "He called me, and smiled." "And I went to him and everything smashed to pieces." "I smashed it like I did the other time." "It all comes from me, Rowf." "Out of my head." "I killed that man, like I killed my master." "That's why we're here now, like this." "We'll be punished, Rowf." "They can't do anything worse than they've done already." "Everything bad comes out of my head." "Don't you see?" "Perhaps dying even dying doesn't stop it." "I don't understand what you're saying but as for dying..." " ..." "I'll fight before I'm killed." " They'll shoot you, Rowf when they come with guns." "The noise breaks the world to bits." "If we send someone up there now, we'll have a national exclusive." "Oh, I'm sure we can do a big number on it "exclusive from our reporter in Cumberland", etc All that, and then the whole thing folds in the middle." "We could look very foolish." "Suppose a farmer shoots the dog next week." " That'll be the end of it." " That's not the point!" "In the first place, half the conservation groups in the country were opposed to the lab being set up in a national park." "Secondly, no one has the teeniest idea what on earth it is that they're doing there anyway!" "Do any of you?" "No." "Now there's talk of sheep killing, and a member of the local gentry gets himself shot by the dog!" "Ah, but was there a dog involved in the shooting at all?" "There were muddy paw marks on him, and dog hair..." "I've got a feeling about this one." "Get someone up there right away." "Today, in fact!" "Vera, are you awake?" "Yes I am." "Did you hear that noise?" "Do you think it's a sheep got in at the back?" "I can't tell." "Eh, wait a minute." "Hey, it's two dogs down there!" "They're pulling the rubbish all over the place." " Oh, what a nuisance." " But whose dogs are they?" "I've not seen them before." "Lord save us, what ever happened to that little one?" "It's head..." "Look, it's almost cut in two." "Did you ever see anything like it?" " Look, the other one." " The big one?" "Did you remember what Dennis said?" "That must be the dog that killed poor Mr. Chetwind down at Cockley Beck." " Don't go down, Vera!" " I am going down." "I'm not hiding indoors while a couple of stray dogs pull rubbish up and down the yard." "Be off with ya!" "And go on!" "Will you get out of here!" "?" "Go on!" "Go on, out!" "I don't think this one's likely to give any trouble, Vera." "Poor little thing, I think it's sick." "No wonder either, with that head." "Look at it." "Well it's freightened to death." "Here now, what's your name, then?" "It might be best not to touch it if there's something catching." "Especially if it's comes from that research place." "We'll shut it in the shed and telephone the police in Broughton." "They'll know what to do." "You lookin' for me?" "The way ye were runnin', I thought yer arse was afire." "Snitter's in bad trouble." "Your wee friend's still lost, is he?" "Just come with me quickly, please." "We need you." "Snitter!" "Can you hear me?" "I'm inside my head now and it's where I should be." "This is no time for one of your turns." "Come on out, you great fond fool!" "Sharp with ya now, before we're all caught!" "I can't come out." "If I do, I'll go mad again." "Move yerself!" "Sharp now, ya great nannyhammer!" "Get out of the way." "Right in front of ya." "That drain." "Follow it to the end." "That's the way out of the shed." "...we keep fairly accurate records of our animals..." "I'm sure you do, sir." "Show this identification before the matter request." " Sir, the laboratory is concered." "If you'll just come through here, see..." "Look!" "There!" "He's getting out!" "Got him!" "By..." "The bugger bit me!" " ..." "I'm so sorry to keep you waiting." " Oh, it's alright." "Fill it up, please." "As a matter of fact we've had a bit of a rumpus." " Quite a to-do, while it lasted." " Really?" "Early this morning some stray dogs broke in and upset our dustbins." "Both the dogs had green collars." "And they say that means they come from the Coniston research place." "We had one of them shut up in the shed..." "And a young gentleman come over from Coniston, with a policeman." "Positive identification, aight." "But he got away." "The dog, I mean." "Say though, won't the dogs come back?" "We'll try to see, that they don't." "Their sheep killing's a nasty business." "Could've read about that in the paper." "Something about a man being killed, wasn't there?" "I still need to get a proper look at him." "They both had green collars on." "Did you not see that one, as it was pushing itself through the drain hole?" "Kind of a terrier, it was." "With that terrible gash." "And I don't know where a dog could come." "by such a cut-across head as that terrier had except by Well, by vivisection, if that's the right word." "It was a terrible sight!" "Well it had just about got away by the time we got there." "So I really didn't get a good look." "I've got to stop by station first Mr. Powell, before I take it back to Coniston, if that's alright." "I'm heading towards Coniston, Mr. Powell." " I'd be happy to give you a lift." " Oh well, uh..." "That's very kind of you." "Thank you very much, Miss..." "Driver." "Lynn Driver." "Away, now." "We've got to get the wee fella back before night." "He'll manage well enough." "But if the dogs were from the lab, they couldn't have been in good enough physical condition to kill sheep, could they?" "Well, I'm not so sure about that." "732 was a biggish labrador." "And strong." "We were doing some survival endurance tests with it." "Doing fantastic times." "And the other dog?" "Um well I..." "I wouldn't think it's likely to be alive, much less out killing sheep." "It had a pretty drastic operation a short while before it escaped." " What sort of operation?" " A brain operation." "Something quite new, I think." "Confusing the subjective with the objective in the animal's mind." "Yeah, I think that's right." "I wasn't all that involved in it." "Terrible waste, you know." "All that work down the drain." "Now we'll never know if it was successful." "I suppose there are compensations Defense contracts...?" "...Hush-hush stuff?" "No, I don't get that sort of work." "Goodner's the chap for that." "Far off, Tod." "Look, out tere." "That's the sea." "Have you never seen it before?" "Salt an' the weeds." "It's all water there." "If only I could've stayed inside my head this morning I might've been able to decide how to get there." "How to reach it." "It was the police, I had to go." "By going with them, it looks as though we're admitting our connection with the matter." "Oh well, it can't be helped now." "Perhaps our best cause is to make a short announcement, acknowledging that two dogs have escaped." "You think that'll satisfy them?" "All they're concerned with, is not getting involved." "They know the kind of work we do here." "If we prove to be an embarrassment..." "They'll drop us in a minute." "Lakeland shopkeeper Phyllis Dawson was awakened early yesterday by two dogs which have recently been causing havoc with farmers around Dunnerdale, in the heart of the Lake District." "Scientist Stephen Powell, hastening 18 miles from the Lawson park animal research station,." "arrived too late to..." "Accidental death?" "Aw, well that's all he could've found." "Couldn't have found nothin' else, Dennis, could he?" "He never said nothin' about a dog though, did he?" "But it was a bloody dog, brought it about." "Well, Coroner couldn't bring that up." "No evidence." "And even if he had, they'd still call it accidental death, wouldn't they?" "Aye. but if the Coroner had pinned blame fair and square on the dogs then the police should have sommit." "Go out, find 'em and shoot 'em." "The way it's been left now, we could lose a couple more sheep tonight, and three next week an' nobody'd give a damn." "...Are these dogs indeed a public danger, as local farmers haughtily maintain or are they wrongly blamed?" "This is Lynn Driver, reporting from Coniston." "Wait a minute, Rowf." "I know where we are." "That first night after we escaped after we'd left those sheep dogs, who got so angry with us..." "Would you remember?" " And then we changed into wild animals." " You two?" "Wild animals?" "Don't be daft." "This story of his, about killin' a man with a gun is it true?" "Or is it just the crack in his head talking?" "As far as I can make out, it's true." "I don't know how it happened, exactly." "You know how he goes on." "By... the little bugger, shoot a man." "Now that's something." "Mind, it's bad." "Damn these cobwebs!" "Your mate's gone daft as a brush, ya know." "If I had the sense I was born with, I'd be off an' away, an' leave you to it." "You're always leaving when it gets rough." "Give ower, bonny lad." "No need to go on so." "Do you know why we're still alive, with hundreds, maybe thousands of men that'd be glad to kill us?" "They wouldn't dare." "I've only got to drown or jump under a truck, and the sky will fall down, and all the men will die." "Have you ever thought of that, Rowf?" "That puts us one up on them." "I'll tell the pair of ya why." "Because I know them." "The way they think." "So as long as you do what I say, we'll stay ahead of them." "If not, there's just no chance." "...I don't have nothing to do with it." "It's secret, like I told ya." "Do you have any idea what he does?" "He works in a special place, like, an' it's kept locked." "But I do know it's got to do with rats." "Dr. Goodner were talking to me about dispose of the beasts' bodies, and I've seen a letter at his office." "It were from government." "And marked." "Secret." "What I want to know is, how did the media get hold of all this?" " Have you said anything to anyone?" " Me?" "No, not a thing." "You're absolutely certain?" "Not to anyone?" "Oh well I..." "I might've mentioned something about dogs to a lady who drove me back to the lab after the incident with the police." "But nothing about Goodner's work, or bubonic plague." "I couldn't, could I?" "I didn't even know he was working with the damn plague." "...Sometimes I feel sure I caused everything bad to happen." "But if you really can do these things, why don't you make men afraid of us and send us a nice warm chicken?" " Now that really would be something." " I wouldn't go in there." "There's two of them blathering' away." "What's that you're licking off your face?" "Oh eggs, hinny." "There was a lay-away nest in the nettles 'round the back." "I ate the whole lot." "You..." "What about us?" "Goes in there stuffs itself full of eggs." "I'm finished with him." "And for good, this time." "We don't need him to help us, we never did." "He can't help what he is." "Anyway..." "I admire him." " He's... natural." " Natural?" "It drives me crazy." " But Rowf, the Tod warned us..." " I don't care what the damn Tod said!" "We're going to eat." "Don't!" "Look at them collars!" "Didn't they say something on telly about dogs with green collars escaping from Lawson park?" "Plagued, they said." "What're you going to do with them after they're shot?" "Let 'em go." "And let them take contaminated chickens with 'em." "I'll call police." "They can catch them if they want." "Awkward." "If the media are intent on making a meal of this plague business, it could be extremely awkward." "I agree." "But tell me, could the dogs in fact have had any contact?" "Almost certainly not Boycott says it's out of the question." "But, uh... fleas, cracks, doors." "Precisely." "How can the secretary of state stand up in the house and swear for certain that not a single flea escaped and popped on one of the dogs?" "Damn Tod." "He was only doing what he'd have done for himself if he was alone." "I wish you hadn't driven him away." "He'll never come back now." "Good riddance." "Just the smell of him My paw's starting to hurt again." "Getting harder and harder like..." "like..." "Like what?" "Like the white-coats' tank." "Last night, the medical officer of health for Coniston reported that farmers near Glenridding were attacked by two dogs thought to be as escapes from the Lawson park animal research laboratories." "The dogs, one described as a fox terrier with a wound on his head, and a mixed labrador retriever have been terrorizing a large section of the Lake District, killing sheep and other livestock." "Of perhaps more importance is the accidental killing of wealthy landowner Mr. Pierce Chetwind with who's death the dogs are implicated." "The police have asked the public to look out for the dogs and phone them at Coniston 1798, should they be seen." "Why, do you suppose they've done it?" "To try and kill us, I suppose." "They're trying to make it too cold for us to live." "Ooh, they're clever." "Everywhere we go, they can see where we've been." "No they can't." "They've been too clever this time." "As long as this stuff goes on falling, it blots out the marks we make." "There have been new developments in the plague dogs over the Lake District." "Here, from the scene, is our reporter, Lynn Driver." "We have with us Geoffrey Westcott who was attacked by the dogs, which have been terrifying Lakeland for the past four weeks." "Mr. Westcott, can you tell us exactly what happened?" "I'd just got out of the car, for a minute, about five miles north of Dunmail Raise when all of the sudden, I saw these dogs." "Mad dogs, and that's what they were." "There were two of them, both wild and ferocious as wolves." "I don't know if plague sends its victims mad, but I wouldn't be surprised." "And did these dogs attack you?" "Well, not me exactly." "But my car." "They took everything edible." "I happened to have my pocket camera with me, so I was able to get some photos." "These are the photos Mr. Westcott took." "You can just make out the numbers on the collars." "With the help of these photos, we've been able to verify that these are indeed the dogs accused of killing sheep and other livestock in the Lake District." "But are these the dogs form Lawson park research station as these collars appear to confirm?" "And if so what's so secret, that for nearly three weeks the authorities there denied these animals escaped?" "This is Lynn Driver, reporting from the Lake District." "What art doing here?" "We've nowhere to go." "How does tha mean?" "You've not been biding' on fell all night?" " Where've all the sheep gone?" " Sheep?" "You don't leave sheep on fell once it starts to snow." "All the sheep were brought down yesterday..." " ...an' damn cold work it were an' all." " Wag, come by here!" "Yo, Wag!" "I've never seen anything like it, since there were that dog reckoned sick with rabies." "Rabies?" " What's that?" " You don't know?" "It's a sickness." "Kills dogs." "I'll bet the gaffer thinks you's got it, or else he'd not have run." "But... you're not afraid of us." "Nay." "I'd know right enough if thou had sickness." " You're thin, the both o' ya." " Hey Wag!" " Do I know thee?" " Hey Wag!" "Wag, Wag, Wag,Wag!" "Hey Wag!" "He didn't recognize us." "What are we going to eat, Rowf if there aren't any sheep?" "Have you ever though, Rowf that we won't need food when we're dead?" "Or names, for that matter." "Cold." "Wonder who the buzzards will like best?" "You or me?" "I hope you make sure we're properly dead before you start, old rip-beak!" "I'd rather die here that in the white-coats' tank." "It's little enough dignity we've got left." "Damn foolish, going out in weather like this." "He should've known better." "Even the best could get cought out up here." "There are some tracks down below, what're they?" "It looks like two sets of animal tracks and footprints." "I'll follow them." "What's that up ahead?" "By the base of Dow Crag?" "Can you get closer?" "Oh... my God, look at that!" " I'm glad you're back, Tod." " Well, I never really went away, laddie." " Just sort of lagged a bit behind ye." " Todd what I said before, I'm sorry." "It was..." "No need to be sorry about anythin'." "But if it wasn't for you, I'd be dead now." "We're certainly not denying that two dogs got out." "We said as much in an early press release, but what happened to them after that, I'm afraid I can't tell you." "You'll forgive me doctor Boycott, if I can't help feeling that that's just a shade lacking in... well frankness." "Now, when we say something here, it's always 100% reliable." " But, for all practical purposes..." " Would you care to amplify that a little?" "No, I don't think I would." "It's really a matter between the local hill authority and the responsible government." " If they're not bothered..." " Not bothered?" "They're not bothered that any risk of bubonic plague exists." "Now, if you want to know more than that..." "Excuse me, please..." "Dr. Boycott." "You were sure it was one of ours?" "...a green collar?" "Uhm yes, I'll I'll ring you back." "Yes, immediately." "And uh, someone will be down the station straight away." "I hope that my right honourable friend will be able to deal with this rather serious matter promptly and not make it a political issue." "We have learned, not because the research station told us of their own accord... but because the media reported it, and they could not deny it that these dogs may have been infected, during their escape with bubonic plague." "So, this is how we find out that scientists are studying bubonic plague at Lawson park." "We do not know why they're doing this but since the disease has not been a serious public health risk for many years, one must assume that the work is connected in some way with defense." "Surely, such work, if necessary at all, should not be carried out in the middle of a national park." "I come finally to the matter of the distressing tragedy which occured two days ago." "It would be pointless for me to try to allot blame for a thing of this kind." "The point is and I address this to my right honourable friend, the secretary of state of defense..." "What is going to be done?" "I am glad." "I am glad my right honourable and gallant colleague is not attempting to ascribe any kind of blame to the Ministry of Defense." "And indeed the member for Keswic is right in demanding quick and decisive action." "Accordingly, the Ministry has taken the following steps." "Two companies or the third battalion of the parachute regiment are at this moment on their way to the Lake District." "Tomorrow they will begin an intensive search of the most likely areas, and they will continue until the dogs are found, and destroyed." "Mr. Speaker?" "Ordinary people, and that includes honourable members have no idea at all of the distressing use these animals are put to." "The house must have an opportunity through a parliamentary inquiry, to fully examine the conduct of experiments at Lawson park." "B- company will go three miles down the valley to Eskdale Green where they'll deploy two platoon north of the river, and two south maintaining lateral communications." "Search any cover, that might conceal the dogs." "Sergeant, let you dogs reign freely until they get the scent." "You do not, on any account, break the line of advance." "The C-company will deploy widely as practicable, and they'll start patrolling down the Esk." "Operational HQ will remain in radio-telephone contact, and in ground-to-air contact with the helicopters." "If the helicopters spot the dogs anywhere along the tops, they'll inform HQ and further orders will be issued as appropriate." " Do you think they're looking for us?" " No one else, laddies." "They're going to kill us, Rowf." "They're watching us." "If we can get across the valley, without them seeing' us we'll be away an' free." "Flies out of my head." "Look." "They've grown huge." "Circling round and round over the hills." "I'll ahead and see how the land lies." "Make sure he doesn't get crazy an' start shouting'." "We don't need that just now." "He knows what he's doing, that one." "We've never been very good at being wild, have we?" "We just started too late." "Doesn't look like it'll much longer now." "We ought to be back in Catterick by this evening." "Oh yes, it looks that way." "I feel sorry for the dogs, don't you Major?" "It's this whole damn business." "Well, they have cause a lot of damage." " And eating a dead man's body..." " Damn it, that's exactly the point." "They were starving." "They didn't set out to cause all this havoc." "The place is crawling' with men." "I've never seen anything like it." "That's the fly I've been talking about." "It's got out of my head." "They're white-coats." "Todd, can we cross the valley?" " Is it safe?" " We might get them." "Now, whatever happens, don't stop." "Remember." "Keep movin'." "This place is gettin' distinctly overcrowded." "Nothing after all." "This is where we part, me old mates." "I've got a few tricks up me sleeve that ought to surprise 'em," "Now howway, lads!" "And do as I said." "Straight across the valley, and up the other side." "They'll be too busy with me to bother with you." " Do you think that..." " They'll never catch him." "Way too crafty." " Get those dogs on leash, Sergeant!" " It's a fox, sir." "They've got a bloody fox!" "Rowf!" "Do you smell something?" "It's the sea, Rowf." "Like the Tod said, it's the sea." "Down there." "I've spotted them." "Look." "That's the sea, Rowf!" "The salt and the weeds." "That's what the Tod said." "It's moving all the time." "And it's nice here too." "There they are." "Let me rest a while." "Wake me when the Tod comes back." "Boycott here." "The undersecretary?" "Well yes, of course I'll speak to him." "Good afternoon, Sire." "It has been, uh, inconvenient." "I've taken the steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again." "...Suspend work completely, sir?" "Couldn't we perhaps...?" "No..." "No, of course not, Minister." "I..." "I understand completely." "I'm not going back." " They won't take me back!" " All clear, Rowf." "Look out there!" "It's our island!" "Don't you see it?" "That's where we have to go." "We can be free." "They're directly in front of you." "Poor little bastards." "Go forward get it over with quickly." "Wait!" " Wait for me!" " It's a wonderful island, Rowf." "Snitter, wait!" "Come on, move it!" "Move it!" "Is it far, Snitter?" "Not very far, old Rowf." "I can't see anything in front of us." "I'm getting tired." "Can't seem to move my legs anymore." "Keep going." "Try." "Can't swim anymore, Rowf." "We must be near the island." "There isn't any island, Rowf." "There is." "There." "Can't you see it?" "Our island." "Just stay with me." "I'll get you there." "I don't feel no pain no more" "I don't feel no pain no more" "I've left this cruel world behind and I've found my peace of mind" "I don't feel no pain no more"