James Herriot.org

Chapter 1
James Herriot reminisces about the cold winter days in Yorkshire. He treats a horse with a new medicine and supplements it with an older type, just to help. Instead, the horse collapses, and he and the owner both worry that the horse has died. Herriot fears he added one medicine too many, but just then the horse regains his footing, and the spots he was suffering from are nearly gone. Herriot learns a lesson about using too much technology when the new drugs are more effective.

Chapter 2
Every sense heightened by his near-loss of the lovely horse, Herriot notices everything around him more fully. He walks in heather with his dog, wondering anew at the countryside where he works, with all of its wonders and natural beauty. Sadly, he has to head along to his other farm calls for the day. Herriot treats a dog who has been eating the chips from fish and chips, which is what his owner always feeds him. When Herriot has found a medication to help him, he realizes that the tender beef they keep to hide pills in doesn’t tempt this dog. So, he writes the prescription order for the meds to be given with chips.

Chapter 3
Herriot has just endured three nights of lambing, and is feeling the effects. He heads to the local confectioner for some cough drops, and enjoys watching the way the man interacts with his candies and with his customers. The confectioner’s cat sits on the counter and is as much a part of the show as the owner of the shop. When the cat takes ill, Herriot is sad to see that it affects the owner as well. He loses weight, and his banter with his customers. After Herriot heals the cat, the owner is soon himself once again.

Chapter 4
Herriot gets a newer vehicle since his Austin can’t be driven anymore, and this brings some of his less charitable clients to accuse him of overcharging them, to be able to afford a newer car. Herriot never overcharges people, and even treats some animals without pay, so these taunts affect him. His spirits are lifted when he visits his “nephew”, Tricki-Woo, a Pekingese whose owner dotes on him. They talk about a new Chinese restaurant in Darrowby, and Herriot determines to visit it more often, since it’s just a small, new business.

Chapter 5
Tricki-Woo’s owner has given Herriot a suit that her late husband had ordered, but Herriot and his wife laugh when he tries it on, since the man was obviously much bigger than he. They decide to try and have it altered, since it’s a very expensive suit. Herriot delivers a difficult calf, using an epidural to slow the cow from pushing so hard, so that he can get a hand in to get the calf’s legs. As he drives away from the farm, he recalls how much more difficult the farmer’s life is than his.

Chapter 6
Herriot is speaking to the local dairy board on behalf of a farmer friend, who wants his dairy TB-test license. He wears his newly-altered suit, and sweats the whole way to the meeting, and during the meeting’s first two hours until it’s his turn to speak. The committee enthusiastically agrees to the license, and mentions after he leaves how dapper he looked.

Chapter 7
Herriot recalls farm visits with his then-young son Jimmy along as his helper. Jimmy doesn’t get in the way, and shines the flashlight beam right where it is needed. His daughter Rosie is the self-appointed gate-opener, which saves Herriot a lot of work. They both take their jobs seriously. Jimmy even second-guesses his father about a possible case of mastitis, and Herriot is embarrassed that his son is right, but pleased, too. Jimmy disappears after school one day, and everyone is worried until they find him in farmer Suggett’s barn, where he has just learned to milk a cow. Herriot looks on his children now, and Jimmy is a vet, and Rosie is a doctor. He ponders that she could have been a good vet, too.

Chapter 8
Herriot is called dishonest in this chapter, and he is stunned by the statement. He has always tried to do his honest best. A veterinarian from a nearby town thinks that Herriot and Farnon are stealing his clients, when actually they only do what is asked, and always talk to him when a client of his shows up at their office. Things look worse when that veterinarian is out of town and his prized hunter colic’s. Siegfried and James cure the horse, but are worried what will happen when the other veterinarian finds out. But they needn’t have worried. The veterinarian is thankful for their help and even invites them to dinner.

Chapter 9
Herriot recalls a woman and her dog, and she always thought something was wrong with the dog. He was the healthiest dog one could want, but she always found something she thought was wrong, and the vets at Skeldale House gave him shots or vitamins to make his owner feel better. One night, Herriot has been ill and is in a delusional state when this woman comes into surgery. He tells her there is nothing wrong with her dog and there hasn’t been anything wrong with him for all her visits. She is quite shocked. He fears after he is himself again, that she will file charges, but instead she thanks him for explaining that she had been pestering the practice for unneeded services.

Chapter 10
John Crooks, who has helped at the practice before, has been hired as a full-time assistant. Herriot worries about him, but as it turns out, he is a splendid veterinarian, good with the animals and very confident and cool with the clients, as well. As much as Herriot is happy for John, he knows he is bound for bigger and better things.

Chapter 11
John introduces Herriot to his girlfriend Heather, whom he will ask to be his wife. She lives in his home town of Beverley. One day shortly after that, John is on a farm call and gets word that Heather is sick. His vehicle is stuck, so he gets a ride to the train station and leaves to be with her. Happily, her illness is not serious. Herriot realizes that John is a man who makes decisions quickly and correctly. John will eventually become the President of the British Veterinary Association.

Chapter 12
Herriot is determined to get a smaller place to live for himself, Helen and the kids. Skeldale House is too damp and drafty, and there is too much work to be done to keep it up. He feels badly that Helen has to do that. He meets a widow who is selling her house, but it goes to auction, and Herriot bids 1000 pounds more than he can afford, and still doesn’t get the house for Helen. But he finds out it wasn’t all a lost cause, since the widow appreciates the additional funds the auction brought to her.

Chapter 13
Mr. Dowson is a vet’s best friend. He thinks every medication that Herriot has used has been like a magic potion, that instantly has restored his animals to good health. His newest case is a calf that keeps knocking over the milk bucket instead of drinking. Herriot doesn’t want to leave the man with no hope of ridding the calf of the habit, so he gives the calf a shot and the calf no longer knocks his bucket over. Another miracle for Herriot, or at least Mr. Dowson thinks so.

Chapter 14
Old Dick Fawcett has no one in the world except his cat, “Frisk”. The cat has brought laughter into a sad house. Fawcett brings the cat into the surgery, feeling he is dead, or near dead. Herriot finds a heartbeat, and gives the cat a stimulant. The next day the cat is fine, but every other day he collapses again. As it turns out, the cat has been licking the saucer of medications that Mr. Fawcett is taking for late stage cancer. Herriot sees Frisk and his owner in the man’s bed and the man is calling the cat’s name softly. Dick Fawcett dies later that day.

Chapter 15
Calum Buchanan arrives at the Darrowby train station for his new job as assistant veterinarian with his pets – a massive dog and a badger. They get quite a few looks, as one might imagine. They’re not sure what to think of him, so when they get a call in for someone to help with a calving, Siegfried sends Calum to the farm. After a few hours, he and Herriot start to worry, but Calum returns and tells them he did a successful Caesarean section. They check the farm, to be sure, and the cow is neatly stitched and the calf looks fat and happy. They still think Calum is odd, but there is no doubt that he is a good veterinarian, so far.

Chapter 16
Mrs. Coates brings a big dog into surgery to have his anal glands cleaned out, and Herriot thinks the dog is not objecting to the procedure, because his tail is wagging. But the dog comes at him with teeth bared, and Herriot is quite surprised that he would come so close to a successful attack while wagging his tail. Later, worried about robbers in Mrs. Coates’ neighborhood, he visits she and her dog Wolfie at home. As it turns out, someone did try to rob her – but Wolfie attacked one of the men and chased them away.

Chapter 17
Herriot works on a Clydesdale with a hoof abscess in this chapter. The horse kicks and bites at him, so he decides to bring back the blacksmith to help, since the horse is shod. Herriot picks up Denny, the farrier, and tries to warn him about the ill-mannered horse. Denny is afraid of the farmers’ dogs, but he catches the Clydesdale’s foot, and uses the hoof knife to pare away until he has drained the abscess. They head along to the next farm, where Denny worries about bad dogs again, even though he has no trouble with horses.

Chapter 18
Herriot and Calum head to a bar after a farm call, but Calum’s pet badger brings pandemonium to the place. Calum also meets the Herriot family, including Dinah, their overweight beagle. Dinah likes Calum right away, as Herriot is to learn most animals do. Calum plays their piano and harmonica, and their concertina. Marilyn the badger gets chimney soot all over the Herriot’s furniture, so even while the children had enjoyed her, Herriot isn’t sure about Calum and the badger.

Chapter 19
Herriot recalls the tailor, Mr. Bendelow, in this chapter. The man speaks more than he stitches, and the customer he is speaking to left her coat at his shop three months ago and it still isn’t done. Herriot just has some pants he wants fixed, as they are frayed at the bottom. Mr. Bendelow talks Herriot’s ears off, but doesn’t look at the pants to be fixed. An irate customer comes in, but the tailor’s big dog keeps him at bay. The dog is seen at the surgery soon afterward, but the pants are still not done. The man is quite a talker, but not so much a tailor.

Chapter 20
Herriot is called out to a lambing in the middle of the night. It’s cold, and he doesn’t want to go out. The ewe is out in a field, and the one lamb inside is very large. He delivers the big lamb and washes up. He gets to be home to eat breakfast, but then has to go out to remove a cow’s afterbirth. Each of these procedures involves soaping up the arms, and his arms are nearly raw from the scrubbing and the cold. At the Birrell farm, however, the grandmother takes care of him, with expensive soap and fluffy towels. The grandmother has passed away now, though. As it turns out, she has trained her grand-daughter to do the same thing for Herriot.

Chapter 21
Herriot remembers the day his partially-built house blew down. He had bid on another house for Helen, still feeling badly about her keeping up with all the chores at Skeldale House, but the bidding once again went too high for his budget. He and Helen design a house, but progress is slow. The house is rebuilt after the wind storm, and they have the house of their dreams.

Chapter 22
Calum has bought a badger friend for Marilyn, and he has the run of Skeldale House. Siegfried is not pleased, but is interrupted by a farm call for a horse. Calum and Herriot work on a ewe with ringwomb. Calum sees a cage of cats when they finish, and wonders why they are being sent to another vet to be spayed. Calum tries to spay a cat and can’t find the uterus, and Herriot is called away on an emergency farm call. Calum spays three cats while no one is watching, and then more are admitted, and he calls Herriot to watch, but cannot find the uterus once again. The piece of tissue he keeps grabbing is nick-named Herriot’s duct.

Chapter 23
Herriot is pondering the changes in their new home, and not missing the drafty cold of Skeldale House. The kids are enjoying playing practical jokes on their dad. Yet he remembers more fond things about Skeldale House, too, the times with Tristan and Siegfried. James wonders if they will ever be as happy as in their days at Skeldale.

Chapter 24
People are starting to ask for Calum when they call into the practice, in this chapter. He is a good vet, just as John Crooks was. Calum is harder to keep track of, though, and Herriot needs to know when he is available between farm calls. Calum begins to call in, asking permission to eat, and that becomes a standing line at the practice.

Chapter 25
Herriot is planning to build a grass tennis court in his back yard for the children, and for he and Helen. He buys a bunch of netting from a retiring fishermen. Helen fears that he has been taken in, and sure enough, there are many large holes in the netting. Herriot looks for other ways to spruce up the back yard, and he orders some protective cloches for the plants. These arrive in a small envelope, and look to be worthless. Helen arranges to buy a rug of dubious origin, and says that the seller is on his way back, to see James. Now James has something to keep over Helen, because the rug is a fake.

Chapter 26
Herriot speaks in this chapter about Bouncer, a border collie who is a true gamesman. His owner is a bit of an exaggerator. Later, Bouncer has taken ill, and Herriot is shocked by his appearance. Bouncer has diabetes. Herriot gives Bouncer shots of insulin to stabilize him, and he begins to look a bit more like himself. He will get better. And, as it turns out, Bouncer’s owner does know nearly as many famous cricket players as he has always said.

Chapter 27
Herriot believes that most of his clients see him as capable, but not brilliant. And he is relatively sure that at least one client thinks he’s not right in the head. The Hardwicks are that family. He has taken their father’s eyeglasses by accident, and locked his keys in his car at their farm, among other things. In addition, he asks the farmers to get extra help to slip a cow’s hip back into place, and she does it herself when she rolls over.

Chapter 28
Herriot helps with medications for an elderly man’s equally elderly dog. While he is there, he gets the man’s television to show a proper picture. When the man calls him back three days later, he is afraid the old dog has died. Instead, the man needs help with his television again.

Chapter 29
Herriot meets Farmer Whitehead’s new hand, a young man named Basil. Herriot is checking a lame cow for Whitehead. He cleans out the cow’s abscess, and Basil invites him in to wash up. Herriot notices that Basil does things differently than most barn hands. He is elegant and graceful, but not too much like the average farmer. Herriot checks on some of Whitehead’s calves that have the scours. He leaves medication for them, but they don’t look any better on his next visit. After an overnight snow, Herriot stops in, and there are no tracks in the snow outside the barns at Whitehead’s farm. Basil has not given the calves their medications. Later, Herriot and Helen travel to Brawton, where Basil is now working as a waiter, and he seems much more at home.

Chapter 30
Calum asks Herriot if he would like to do some nature-walking with him. Herriot knows he doesn’t know as much about the flora and fauna of the area as he should. Herriot doesn’t know that accepting Calum’s invitation will mean riding bareback draft horses to the lookout site. They would see many deer, after Herriot bangs his leg on a gate post. Afterwards, Calum invites Herriot to dinner, which is a not-fully-plucked duck. It has been a Calum day.

Chapter 31
Herriot and Siegfried head out to call on a local man’s horse and an ailing calf. William Hawley has a sick calf, but Siegfried is his hero, so he has hope that all will be well. Siegfried asks for a length of string, and the farmer thinks it’s to help cure the calf. Instead, it’s for Siegfried’s coat. He injects the calf with a B-vitamin for a brain anomaly, and the calf is better the next day. Herriot thinks that the farmer wistfully wishes that the string had been part of the cure, so it would have been more magical.

Chapter 32
Herriot visits Siegfried at his home in the evening after a farm call nearby. They talk about televisions and the farmers of the area. Siegfried points out a few things that Herriot has forgotten to attend to of late. This is ironic, because Siegfried forgets more things than anyone Herriot knows. In fact, as they speak, the phone rings, and it is someone who is waiting for Siegfried, at a speaking engagement that Siegfried has missed.

Chapter 33
Calum wants to bring another dog to his flat, and Siegfried is upset, since the man already has two badgers and a dog now. Finally, Siegfried breaks down and says that it’s alright for Calum to get another dog, from his mother’s house. Instead, Calum has two more dogs when Siegfried next sees him. The Dobermans block Siegfried in the outhouse when he needs the loo in a hurry, and Calum has to call them off. Herriot feels guilty, because he helped talk Siegfried into letting Calum bring in “one” more dog.

Chapter 34
Herriot prepares to head out to see a sick calf and a dog who is ill. The Labrador is in a basket and the family completely ignores him as they watch the television. The dog has mange, and Herriot gives the medication to the father. Herriot leaves for the Farrow’s farm, to check their calf. He injects the calf and the farmer wraps the calf’s chest to keep him warm. Herriot feels good for the future health of the calf, but worries about the dog, that he won’t get his proper treatments. Herriot visits the dog’s home, and the family has done no treatments on their poor dog. Herriot treats the dog himself, as a neighbor watches, and the next Monday, the neighbor is giving the dog his medicinal bath. As it turns out, the neighbor has taken on the dog, by convincing the original owners that his vet bills will be high. A few weeks later, Herriot sees Jet, the dog, with his new owners, and his coat is healthy and shiny.

Chapter 35
Mr. Busby calls Herriot out to work on his cow, and is upset when Herriot is delayed at surgery working on a dog. He feels that the cow is his livelihood, and is more important than a pet. A few weeks later, Helen gives James a message from a client that is bringing in a dog, but he has an emergency farm call for a bull, which he attends to first. When he comes back, the client in his office with a dog is Mr. Busby, who is now chastising Herriot for dealing with farm stock before pets.

Chapter 36
Herriot receives a call from the police about a possible robber, but he knows it’s just Bernard, the younger brother of a sister who runs a farm outside Darrowby. He is always being berated by his sister, and he is not really from farmer stock. When he has to assist with anything that smells, he puts on a bandana. The veterinarians at Skeldale House have taken to calling him Cisco Kid, and that’s who the police thought was a robber.

Chapter 37
Herriot muses that sometimes he works figurative miracles at some farms, with little acknowledgment or appreciation. At one farm, he constantly has excellent luck with bringing animals back to health, but the barn hands never even look at him. One day, he happens to take out his winnings from the football pool, which he occasionally bets on successfully. Suddenly the barn hands are all ears, and he does several coupons for them, and they all win. He tells them he won’t do that anymore, but he does win over 77 pounds on the pool, and he tells Siegfried that if he’d only had one more draw, he would have won sixteen thousand pounds. Siegfried spreads the rumor that Herriot won sixteen thousand pounds, and suddenly all the barn hands look at him with what he feels he earns at his job – respect.

Chapter 38
Herriot is having trouble with a calving, but can’t quite reach as far into the heifer as he needs to. He recalls that Calum is at a neighboring farm, and they call him over. He and Herriot work on the calf together, with no initial luck. While they rest, Calum tells Herriot that he is getting married soon. They deliver the calf, and Herriot gets to meet Calum’s fiance, but there will be no public wedding. They are married in a private ceremony. They have a brief honeymoon, and Herriot thinks that the new wife would make Calum’s quarters less spartan, but she doesn’t. She is exactly in tune with him, and that is with nature and the outdoors.

Chapter 39
Calum acquires another badger named Bill in this chapter. He conveniently doesn’t tell Siegfried. Siegfried asks Calum to release an owl that Calum has worked on, since it has regained its health. There is also a family of foxes living in Skeldale House. Then it turns out that he is also babysitting a monkey while his owner is on holiday. Later, Herriot walks in on Calum and his zoo of animals. In addition, Calum tells Herriot that his Doberman is pregnant. Herriot knows this will not be a good thing for Siegfried, since it looks like all the animals will be staying.

Chapter 40
Herriot discovers an igloo-type shelter by the gate of a farm where he is to do some TB testing. A man and his cat come from the shelter, greet Herriot, and head off walking toward town. He tells the farmer what he has seen, and the farmer says that he’s met Eugene, then. He’s been living there for some time, and Herriot has only just now visited the farm, so he hasn’t seen him before. He is the brother of a millionaire. A few days later, Herriot returns to check the TB test results, and Eugene is sitting in a chair outside his structure. His cat makes friends with Herriot. Herriot is a cat lover, and it appears that the cat can sense this. Herriot accepts an invitation to tea, after checking the TB tests. They have tea in the igloo, for lack of a better term. From then on, Herriot visits Eugene whenever he goes to the Carless farm. He talks to Eugene about having Emily the cat spayed, since she may encounter Tom cats in her wanderings. Eugene is worried about his cat having an operation. Next time Herriot visits, though, the cat is already pregnant. Herriot sees someone he thinks is Eugene at a formal meeting not long afterward, and he is surprised at the man’s elegant dress. As it turns out, it is the millionaire brother he sees. Later, Herriot sees that Emily the cat is having a hard time delivering her kittens, so he takes her to the surgery. As it turns out, she is only having one huge kitten. Herriot realizes that it will be difficult for Eugene to make his usual rounds with two cats, and he has found a home for the kitten, which Eugene accepts.

Chapter 41
Nat Briggs is accidentally stuck with Herriot’s vaccine needle, and the other farm help are having a good laugh about it. Nat worries about having gotten some of the vaccine, but he didn’t. He complains about the event during subsequent visits by Herriot to the farm where they work. Later on, Nat tells Herriot that the vaccine (which he didn’t get any of) is preventing he and his wife from becoming pregnant. On a later farm call, the other workers, or the movements of the animal they are wrestling with, put Briggs on the business end of a needle again. The joke, after Nat and his wife are expecting, is that the second shot was the antidote for the first one.

Chapter 42
Siegfried tells Herriot about a house coming up for sale outside Darrowby. Herriot has always liked to think about living in a tiny village in the countryside. Hannerly is a quiet, very small town with no pubs or street lights. Herriot and Helen visit the house and enjoy relaxing in the grass by the brook. They buy the house, and enjoy living like they are on the edge of the “real” world.

Chapter 43
Herriot and Albert Budd have been roped into Calum’s Highland dance class, and they are exhausted – and Albert is gassy. The dances are fun to learn or re-learn, and Albert is pulled back to the floor for another dance. Herriot reflects that Calum has brought many changes to the town, including the dancing that is presently not going well for Albert.

Chapter 44
Helen puts out some milk and food for a stray cat and her kittens, at their new house in Hannerly. They watch, and it appears that the mother is a feral cat, and she won’t allow her kittens to come to the porch – she grabs the food and takes it back to them. They make their new home in the log shed, but a few days later, the mother cat disappears. The kittens are accepting of the food and milk. Herbert Platt, a local dustman, comes to visit and says he has known the family of cats for a long time, and they won’t be domesticated. Herriot wants to alter the animals, so they won’t be breeding more feral cats. He catches them in a cat cage, and takes them to surgery. The cats struggle, but don’t scratch or bite, like even some of their domestic cats do in surgery. He lets them loose back at home after they have recovered. Eventually, Helen can pet them as they eat, but they won’t come inside, regardless of the weather. They will disappear for a few days at a time, but once they are gone for a week, and the Herriots think they have lost them. When the cats return, they are sick. Helen calls to them and they come right into the kitchen. Herriot gets drugs from the boot of his car, and treats them, but they don’t want to stay in the house. They allow themselves to be treated, though, and when they feel better, James has to put medication in their food, since they aren’t fully recovered yet. When they are fully recovered, they will no longer let James handle them.

Chapter 45
Siegfried wants Herriot to go home from the surgery, since Herriot is sick. Siegfried tells Herriot that he cannot work, but that he can ride along with Calum on his rounds if he wants to. They have to walk a long way at their first farm, and Herriot introduces the farmer to Calum. The farmer Mr. Stott, thinks he is always right about everything. Calum asks the farmer what the sick cow’s symptoms are. The farmer rattles off some, and watches as Calum soaps up and inserts his arm into vagina and then rectum, but can’t find nothing wrong. Turns out that cow isn’t the one that was sick, and the farmer gets a good laugh. Calum keeps laughing, and then heads to the cow who is sick. He makes up symptoms and tells the farmer it will take two veterinarians and a great deal of money to cure her. The farmer is upset, and then Calum tells him it was all a joke, since he knows how much the farmer likes a good joke.

Chapter 46
The Herriot’s “wild” cats are becoming more tame, but not toward James. Olly has long hair, and it gets matted, since he can’t be caught to be combed. He won’t let Helen trim his knots, either. Herriot drugs Olly’s food to anesthetize him, but he has to watch everywhere the cat walks, so that he won’t be sedated somewhere in the wild, where a predator could get at him. The cat isn’t completely drugged, and watches James as he clips the knots out. The cat looks better, but when he sees James the next morning, he runs away from their food.

Chapter 47
Herriot is checking out a little dog that looks very afraid, and is shaking. The dog has a 105 temperature but no other symptoms. Herriot gives the dog a shot of an antibiotic, glad to be able to help, and sends the owner home with pills. The next day, he rechecks the dog and Robbie is no better. His temperature was still 105. A urine test also shows nothing. More tests, a different antibiotic and Robbie is no better. Herriot gives the dog a shot of dexamethasone and the dog is more himself the same afternoon. But a month later, Robbie has the same symptoms again. He treats him until he is better, but this same scenario plays out over years. Finally, the attacks worsen, and Robbie’s owner asks Herriot to put the dog down. He does as she asks, and she pats Robbie’s fur. Herriot’s memories of Robbie will not leave him. Molly, Robbie’s owner, dies only a few weeks after the dog did. Herriot has a bad day shortly afterward, when all the farmers he visits seem to be calling him a failure. He mentions his feelings to Helen, and she brings in something that has been recovered at Molly’s home sale. It is a framed photograph with “My Favorite Men” written across the top. In the photo are John Wayne, Sir Charles Armitage and James Herriot.

Chapter 48
Herriot is called to the cottage of the Colwells, and the gas man, who is leaving, tells him that the family has fleas, on his way off the porch. Herriot thinks the man is daft, but he seems happy enough. He enters the house to see the family’s dog Roopy, who has been hit by a van. There is dust thick everywhere, and the house seems in disarray. The dog has no broken bones, but some acute discomfort, so Herriot gives him a shot for pain and an antibiotic. Mrs Colwell invites Herriot to stay for tea, and he does. When he gets back in the car, he feels prickles around his ankles. The gas man wasn’t daft, after all. He rushes home for a bath, and has Helen throw his clothes in the washer. They head out for their afternoon together, but James is feeling like he has fleas again, and it distracts him during their lunch. Surely enough, several fleas land on the tablecloth from his collar, and they finish, quickly pay and head out. They are going to be attending a concert with friends, so James bathes again and puts on a different suit. In the concert hall, he feels a flea once more. He is fairly sure there is only one, as he sits between their guests, and he tries to squash it, but draws their attention, since they are seated on either side of him. He makes it through the night, but a few days later, the Colwell’s call for him to clip a snagged nail on Roopy’s paw. He can’t get out of it, so he plans to go by a bicyclist’s house first, to get clips for his trousers.

Chapter 49
Sister Rose has a terrier that Herriot is checking over. She takes in dogs whose owners have dumped them. Herriot feels rage for those people and pity for the dogs. He is at Sister Rose’s to check on the animals, and give them their required shots. The terrier has a broken hind leg that was never set, and he trembles when Herriot and Sister Rose speak. He is emaciated and needs love. Another dog has an infected foot. A man walks down the rows of cages. Herriot knows the man, a grocer who used to bring his dog in for routine treatment, until it died a few days back. Rupe, the grocer, is having trouble deciding on which one dog to take home. Herriot reassures him that Sister Rose won’t put down any unadopted animals – hers is a no-kill shelter. He seems to fancy the terrier that they have just been working on. The grocer and his dog arrive at Skeldale House a week later for inoculations. The terrier, Tritch, no longer looks emaciated and is no longer afraid of everything. The grocer would like Herriot to fix the little dog’s leg, if he can. Calum will help, as he appreciates new methods of surgery. Tritch’s leg heals nicely, but he still won’t bear any weight on it. Later, they travel to see the grocer’s induction as the mayor, and he has the little dog beside him, happily trotting on all four legs. Calum smiles at Herriot. Sometimes you win.

Chapter 50
Herriot heads into a bar, The Lord Nelson Inn, to get a drink, passing Bob Stockdale at the bar. The inn used to be a quiet place where few gentlemen sat and drank, but now it is a raucous and busy place. Bob Stockdale still frequents the bar, and sits with his dog Meg. The dog is his cattle dog, and she is aging. They drink together for a bit, and Herriot watches Bob’s show as he tries to get on his bicycle after having too much to drink. Herriot sees Bob at the bar a few months later, but Meg isn’t with him. Herriot asks why not, and is told that she has cancer. He hasn’t consulted a vet, because he doesn’t want her put down, but she has a growth. Herriot explains that not all growths are cancerous. Herriot goes to Bob’s house, that he shares with his brother Adam, and checks Meg. He is reasonably sure he can remove the growth, and that it’s not cancerous. Bob doesn’t want to bring her in, so Herriot tells him that he can do the surgery there in Bob’s house. Bob can’t watch, once the surgery starts, but his brother helps. The tumor is removed and they share a cup of tea, Bob still a bit queasy from all the blood. Herriot sees Bob – and Meg – a month later, and both are themselves once more.

Chapter 51
Calum is ready to head on to a new place to work, in Nova Scotia. It has a lot of desolated country, just the type of place Herriot feels that Calum will like. Siegfried bids Calum a fond farewell, too, but as they speak, a heron walks past in the hall. Once Calum leaves, the surgery is a quiet place, with none of his menagerie there. Calum opens an auction mart in addition to his veterinary practice, and trains Border Collies. He has six children, and still decides to leave his new practice, and move to Papua, New Guinea. He adds to his menagerie there, and soon has more animals than he did at Skeldale House.

Chapter 52
Herriot still cannot get their stray cats to come to him, as Helen can. And he needs to trim Olly’s matted hair again. He catches him by hiding behind Helen when she feeds them. He and Siegfried work to remove the mats after they anesthetize the cat. The next day, Olly looks even better than his sister Ginny. But he flees at the first sight of Herriot. This weighs on Herriot, since his life is devoted to helping animals. Helen explains that they only see him when something they perceive as bad is going to happen, so he helps with the feeding and brings them milk. One day he is able to gently pet Olly on his chin. But sadly, less than two days later, Olly dies. It is perhaps a stroke, or some other brain problem. Ginny will not eat for days and it is obvious that she misses Olly as much or more than Helen and James do. It takes months for Ginny to befriend James as Olly had, since she was always more skittish. But it finally happens, and Herriot regards it as one of his greatest triumphs.

Chapter 1
James Herriot is happy to be home from war, but he remembers some of the harder times he has spent in his veterinary practice, too, like the gates (seven of them) at a local farmer’s spread. The last gate gets him every time, and it’s no different now. The farmer promises to set appointments for castrating his bulls when they are younger and to fix the gate, but of course nothing was done the whole time Herriot was off to war.

Chapter 2
This chapter tells the story of an older man who dotes on his precious dog, but feels guilty when he goes off drinking at the track one day a week, and calls Herriot in the wee hours of Sunday mornings. There is never anything wrong with his dog, but Herriot always gives her a vitamin so that the farmer believes something needed to be done. When Herriot finally refuses to go out on an early Sunday morning, he realizes that the dog is sick, and he flies to the farm, where the dog has eclampsia. He is able to save her.

Chapter 3
Herriot relaxes by the side of the road, remembering the dells fondly, and overlooking the landscape he missed so much when he was off at war. Many things have changed for veterinary medicine, but he is happy to see that the dales have not changed. He misses the times when he had to do more than poke animals with a needle to treat them, but he admits to himself that he appreciates being able to cure more animals than he used to be able to.

Chapter 4
Herriot heads for Russia, on a trip everyone has advised him not to go on. He is taking care of expensive sheep on the journey, and he marvels at their health and vigor, even on a moving ship. He is worried that the ship is not larger, but all in all, he is excited about the journey ahead of him.

Chapter 5
Herriot remembers his then-young son in this chapter, and how he always wanted to go on farm calls with his father. Helen Herriot bought him real boots like the farmers of the day wore, and he could not have been more pleased. Herriot also has memories about one day when he was working on removing a thorn from an animal’s paw, and he saw his son outside the window, climbing the wisteria, which he had been forbidden to do. Eventually, his son climbed higher, than hung upside down, and then fell. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured.

Chapter 6
Mongolian Russians who helped Herriot on his rounds are the subject of this chapter. These men were taken prisoner during the war, but they were good workers and treated well by the farmers where they were living after the war. One of them actually catches a bull and holds him by the ear, so that he can be worked on. Neither Siegfried nor Herriot has even been able to do that, although they have tried.

Chapter 7
Herriot speaks again about his trip to Russia in this chapter. He treats a couple minor injuries in the sheep, but worries that they may have husk. He is afraid that his meals, meanwhile, will be small, after he sees the tiny galley, but actually he is served chef-quality foods.

Chapter 8
In this chapter, Herriot works with a student, who leads him to believe he knows how to do a c-section on a cow in hard labor. He cuts into one of the stomachs instead of the uterus, and Herriot fears that the animal will die, since it took so long to get her organs back in, and since they might become infected. However, the cow is fine, and has eight more calves over time. Herriot berates the student when he learns that he doesn’t know the operation, but later apologizes.

Chapter 9
Herriot speaks in his journal about one of his days onboard the ship to Russia. The crew member, Raun, who has been helping him recalls that cattle died on one trip since there was no vet along to help them. Herriot and Raun check on the sheep with the wounded hoof, and isolate it in a separate pen. Herriot hopes he will be able to earn his wages for the trip by taking good care of the sheep.

Chapter 10
In this chapter, Herriot uses a new medication to treat foul of the foot in cattle. It is injected into the neck, and old-time farmers are hard to convince that a shot in their cow’s neck will fix a foul foot problem. In one animal, a clot develops at the injection site, and the cow dies. Still, the farmer calls him out for another sick cow, and he is able to help that cow back to health.

Chapter 11
Herriot talks about a client of their veterinary practice in this chapter. She sends her goat droppings to be examined by whichever vet she has taken a shine to on that day. It’s a humorous chapter, but Herriot talks about the lady in a way such that it doesn’t seem he is making fun of her.

Chapter 12
Herriot remembers his Russian trip once more. The seas are rough and his wards, the sheep, are sick. Herriot realizes that they are ill from the stress of the trip, and he injects them with prednisone. The sheep recover, and Herriot recalls that some of the new ways of practicing veterinary medicine are a positive thing for veterinarians

Chapter 13
Herriot talks about the town barber in this chapter. He gives proper cuts in his barber shop, but when he is drunk on the weekend, he gives free – and very bad – haircuts. Herriot meets Josh’s new dog, who has a chicken bone stuck in his throat. He gets the bone out while the dog is under anesthesia, but the dog’s breathing stops and Herriot has to whirl him around to restart his breathing, and it works. When Josh comes back, he mentions the dog probably felt like he was flying, which puzzles Herriot, since Josh wasn’t there during the surgery. He recalls that people say Josh can read your mind when he runs your hair through his fingers, so Herriot makes a mental note not to think about the incident when he gets his hair cut.

Chapter 14
Herriot tells the reader more about his trip to Russia. The ship docks, and he introduces us to the Russians who check the sheep feed to make sure it’s alright. He also talks about the lady who takes each sheep’s temperature, which takes an entire five hours. Then he recounts how he and the captain are almost attacked by guard dogs, trying to find a short cut to the local club.

Chapter 15
Herriot sometimes becomes too close to his patients, and one is a local Sister’s dog, named Amber. He is treating the dog, but she is not responding, and he keeps treating her anyway. When he sees how thin she has become in his headlights, he decides he must do the right thing, and needs to put her to sleep.

Chapter 16
Herriot travels out in a blizzard to try to treat a local animal. He drives as far as he can drive, and then takes off on skis. But nothing is familiar in the swirling snow, and he heads back to his vehicle, rather than to get lost. Back home, he calls the farmer and tells him how to get his pig’s milk flowing, and his plan works.

Chapter 17
Herriot tells us about the birth of his daughter Rosie in this chapter. Helen is patient and waits until the proper time for them to go to the hospital. He hears his daughter’s cries, and goes in to see her, and is appalled at how bloated she looks. It’s strange that he has seen so many animals born, yet doesn’t expect that a human birth might not be a lovely thing.

Chapter 18
Herriot’s curiosity almost gets him into trouble, in Russia. He and the captain wander into a school, because Herriot wants to see what they are like. He walks into a teachers’ meeting and is almost arrested, before the captain can explain that they are simply visitors. Herriot enjoys talking to the school’s English teacher, but he almost went to jail – something the folks in Darrowby had warned him about.

Chapter 19
We meet Mr. Biggins in this chapter. Although he is a long-time client, he lets his animals’ maladies go, until it becomes an emergency, and then calls the veterinarian A cow that Herriot is called to treat dies, since it was too far along to save, and the man wants to know why, but then complains at the cost of the testing. He also refuses to use the newer method of treatment on one cow, until Siegfried gives the cow a shot (actually just vitamins) which he tells Biggins will kill the cow if he doesn’t give her the right medication. Biggins does as told and the cow survives.

Chapter 20
Herriot writes in this chapter about two brothers who are unwittingly committing insurance fraud. They have many accidents at their farm, and they take the money that should be used to pay others do their work, and pocket it, doing the work themselves. They don’t seem to understand fraud; rather they see having accidents as a way to make money.

Chapter 21
Herriot recalls his return from Russia and high seas where the ship is sailing. Even the seasoned seamen get sick, but Herriot is fine, and he attributes this to the seafaring men in his family. On the trip, the chef makes sure he is kept fed with excellent delicacies.

Chapter 22
Herriot talks about his daughter in this chapter. He enjoys spending time with her, and taking her on calls with him. He also fondly recalls the same type of trips he made with his son, when he was younger. She came close to injury on one farm call, when an ill-behaved cow got away from the farmer, but she just stood there and said “mama” very softly, and the cow ignored her and went the other way. Rosie also worried about her dad when school started, and he didn’t have her help for farm calls anymore.

Chapter 23
Herriot remembers talking with farmers who are not at all well-read. He once made a comment about a cow with a broken leg, since he had read in the newspaper that George Bernard Shaw had broken his leg as well. The farmer ended up believing that Shaw was a friend of Herriot’s, and the veterinarian believes that there was probably an amused comment at the farmer’s dinner table that evening.

Chapter 24
Herriot talks more about his return trip from Russia in this chapter. He had wondered why the tablecloth was wet every day, and as it turns out, it’s done so that it doesn’t slide off the table when the ship rolls. He takes a pleasant exploratory walking trip while the ship is docked in Poland, and checks his return cargo of pigs, happy that they are getting along. The men are kind to him since his anniversary is celebrated while he is on board, and when he arrives home, he thinks the ship’s cook will miss him more than the others, since he was the only one who felt well enough to eat for the whole return trip.

Chapter 25
Herriot starts this chapter talking about how he wants to speak with a client about putting off calling the vet until Sunday, when the vet needs his rest that day, too. But he is drawn into the story of a little Dachshund, who is suffering from what Herriot believes is a progressive paralysis. The owner gives the dog what Herriot calls “quack” meds, but the dog recovers. Of course, the clients think their “quack” medicine healed the dog, but Herriot is more inclined to believe that the dog had a spontaneous recovery. Nevertheless, he offers a toast to the man who suggested the quack medicine, since Herriot has grown close to the family by this time.

Chapter 26
Artificial inseminations are new to the veterinary world of Herriot’s time, and he meets up with his old friend Tristan, while Herriot is trying to get sperm from a bull. Although the sessions does not go easily, Tristan handles it with his usual grace, and retrieves the device after the bull falls. Previous to this, Herriot himself was nearly trampled trying to get the sperm into the artificial vagina.

Chapter 27
Herriot introduces us to Jack Scott in this chapter. He gives all of his animals a chance, even if they appear to be too ill to recover. Scott’s dog Rip suffers two injuries to a hind leg, and the next time Herriot sees the dog, he is still herding, just on three legs. He also tells of a cow of Jack’s that walks in circles all the time. She doesn’t get better rapidly, but over a period of years, there is little trace left of her circling, and she even wins first prize at a farm show.

Chapter 28
Herriot talks about various people he has met in his work in and around Darrowby. On one farm call, a goat ate prized tomatoes, but when Herriot arrives at their house, he feels more like he has been called to referee a marital spat. Herriot tells of clients who seem to know what is wrong with their animals, and some that actually have no idea. He meets quite a variety of people in his farm calls.

Chapter 29
Herriot is excited about another trip as a ship’s vet – until he finds out that they are flying, not sailing. The plane is old, and he is afraid it won’t make the journey in one piece. As if reading his mind, the plane has an engine catch on fire. Nevertheless, they make it to Istanbul. Herriot feels that this was certainly not the leisurely trip he signed on for.

Chapter 30
Herriot remembers a piano recital his son is in, that doesn’t go well, in this chapter. The piano teacher gives him another chance at the end of the recital, since he can’t make it through his piece at his assigned time, and this time he makes it all the way through. Afterwards, Herriot finds it ironic that his son thinks music is soothing, but the recital made his father a nervous wreck.

Chapter 31
Herriot teaches us a lesson in this chapter. A crotchety old scrap metal dealer has a cat that he is fond of. Someone puts rubber bands on the cat’s leg and even his neck. The owner is worried about the cat, but it heals from these ills. Later on, the cat becomes ill with distemper, and Herriot can’t save him. The old man cries, even though he thinks this will make Herriot think less of him. Instead, Herriot understands his feelings for the cat.

Chapter 32
Herriot’s Istanbul trip continues in this chapter. He had wanted to travel, but they wait for hours to unload the cattle. There seems to be a cow # 15 not on the charter the buyers have, but eventually, they take that cow, too. On top of that, the plane needs repairs and cannot take passengers to Copenhagen, where the repairs will be done. Herriot and the crew get stuck in a lousy hotel, and end up crashing a wedding reception when they can’t find a pub. Back at the hotel, noisy partiers keep them awake all night.

Chapter 33
Dehorning is the main subject of this chapter. A friend helps Herriot dehorn bulls, and although he says he is jealous of Herriot’s freedom and outdoor job at the beginning of the day, he doesn’t envy him by the end of the day. Siegfried thinks that maybe hedge clippers will work to dehorn cattle, but doesn’t have any luck when he tries them out.

Chapter 34
We meet Brandy the Labrador Retriever in this chapter. He is forever getting into things, like getting his nose stuck in food cans in the garbage. He develops pneumonia, and although he recovers, he doesn’t act like the dog he used to be. After a period of time, though, Brandy visits Herriot at his office, and he is happy and running again, like he used to.

Chapter 35
Herriot and the crew in Istanbul decide that since he can’t write a check to British Airways, that they will sign a waiver and ride on the plane with the bad engine, to Copenhagen. They fly low, but that gives Herriot a chance to take in the view. Months later, he hears a rumor that the plane crashed in the ocean, with the loss of the crew. He doesn’t know for sure if this is true, but he clings to hopes that it’s false.

Chapter 36
Herriot recalls two terrible Westies owned by clients of their practice. The owners let the dogs do whatever they like, and the dogs have no manners. They always nip and bite at the veterinarian who is unlucky enough to be on call that day. After this pair of terrors die, the owners get two Westie pups, and they end up being the same way – until one day one of them bites their owner. Herriot thinks they may be easier to handle if the owners practice simple discipline.

Chapter 37
In this chapter, Herriot tells of a farmer who had a ragtag pen made of all sorts of materials, and many animals. He decides to raise pigs, and has a brand new piggery built. But his pigs develop swine fever, and many of them die. The remaining pigs have to be sold at lower prices. He has the piggery cleaned and tries again. This time the pipes stop up and the pigs are without water for a time. They recover, but after this second bad experience, the farmer decides not to raise pigs anymore. Now that he is a smalltime farmer again, the man is happy, like he was before he started the piggery.

Chapter 38
Herriot and Siegfried share thoughts in the final chapter of this book. They opine that these may be the best times of their lives, with their families growing up and their practice doing well. Siegfried assures Herriot that there are still good times ahead, as well.

Chapter 1
This book begins with James Herriot, the country veterinarian, beginning his life in England’s military. He desperately wants to go home to his wife and their home. He remembers an old cow named Blossom, who was due to be sold since she was old, but she kept eluding the fatstock driver. She was quite creative in her means of escaping her inevitable fate. Her owner eventually lets her stay at his farm.

Chapter 2
In Chapter 2, Herriot remembers heading for a Lord’s manor to test his cattle for TB. The Lord liked to make a show of helping Herriot, even though, truth be told, he was actually not very much help. Later, James receives a call from the Lord about a sick pig. Herriot has tried to save pigs with this ailment, a prolapsed uterus before, and both times he has failed. This time, happily he succeeds.

Chapter 3
Chapter 3 has James remembering his terror of dentists, and the military dentist now has to work on him. He is even more scared when he learns that the military dentist is called “The Butcher”. When he is finally done with Herriot, after a lot of pain, Herriot is reminded of the many wolf teeth he has pulled from horses, and so he tells the military dentist that he pulls teeth the same way – on animals.

Chapter 4
In Chapter 4, Herriot hears various types of gas and other emanations from his fellow military men. It leads him to remember the gas problem that a bulldog had in their home town. The dog’s owner was petite and feminine, and couldn’t have a dog “behaving” that way. Herriot eventually paired the dog up with a man who had lost his sense of smell, and all was well.

Chapter 5
In Chapter 5, Herriot notices a policeman chasing a young street urchin, which reminds him of a boy back home. Many pranks are blamed on Wesley Binks, that young boy. One day, Wesley adopts a dog who has distemper, and takes on an actual job to pay Herriot for treatment. Sadly, the dog dies, bringing Wesley to tears. Then he goes right back to his life of mischief.

Chapter 6
James remembers Skeldale House in Chapter 6 with humor, and a time when Tristan was filling in for the housekeeper. They don’t know that there is only one dish he can cook. At the same time, James and his boss-turned-partner, Siegfried, were confused over a rash of deaths at a local cattle farm. As it turned out, the cattle were eating bits of antlers that had fallen into their feed. As Tristan prepares yet another meal of the same thing, Siegfried says he can empathize with the cattle, and heads out to eat.

Chapter 7
Chapter 7 finds Herriot reflecting on how little attention veterinarians are given, even when they are called to a farm. He especially recalls an incident where a family’s collie had swallowed a ball, and he was able to dislodge it from outside the throat, since he couldn’t reach it from the dog’s mouth. The family wrote a thank you note that began with a greeting to the vet with a bandage on his finger.

Chapter 8
Winters in Darrowby are on James’ mind, in the military. He especially remembers his first winter there, when one of his clients is dressed like he is ill-prepared for the weather, even though James is bundled up. But the client is comfortable and James is not. The farmer’s skillful, calm manner is one of James’ first indications of how much he has to learn as a veterinarian.

Chapter 9
James remembers another Christmas back home in Darrowby in Chapter 9. One particular client is the type he enjoys, since she lovingly cares for her animals and calls even with smaller concerns. A stray cat brings a kitten to live at the client’s house, and then the cat herself dies of cancer. The following Christmas, James visits her house again, and sees the little kitten, now a cat, playing with the client’s Basset Hounds.

Chapter 10
Times are especially hard for Herriot right now, since his wife is almost ready to deliver their baby, back home. He experiences queasiness, like her morning sickness, and pseudo-contractions. James goes AWOL and home to see his wife, then returns to duty. He is not one to break many rules, but he feels that Helen’s pregnancy was worth the visit.

Chapter 11
Herriot is at the lowest rank in the military. It’s a feeling he is used to, since for a long time in his practice, he would reach a farm for a vet call, only to find the owner upset that Siegfried hadn’t been the veterinarian to respond to the call. But one of the horses of such a client is choking while Herriot is there, and he realizes it’s an allergic reaction, and cures the horse with one shot. After that, the farmer respects him more.

Chapter 12
Herriot is guarding a hotel in this chapter, which he finds as humorous, since the hotel doesn’t seem to need guarding. It reminds him of a battle he had with a local man’s sheep dog, Shep. Shep leaps onto unsuspecting visitors from a hiding place in the garden, and he does so to Herriot, when the veterinarian is deep in thought. He is worried about a cow he is treating, who ends up being cured by an idea the postman has, of all people. James takes his frustration out on Shep, not allowing him to scare him, but later sees that Shep is still himself, scaring a local tinker.

Chapter 13
James goes AWOL once again in this chapter, as Helen prepares to give birth to their baby. He gets home in time to see his new son. He is unaccustomed to the look of newborn humans, and the others are amused at his reaction. He is more used to seeing animal babies. James fakes a telegram and gets more time off, to spend with Helen and their son.

Chapter 14
James remembers some of the harder parts of being a country veterinarian in this chapter. He recalls a time in a pub after a hard farm call, and how he saw another customer’s dog, who needed surgery. The patrons pitched in money and he performed the surgery on the dog, but the owner just treated the fact as though the dog’s illness had cleared up by itself.

Chapter 15
In this chapter, Herriot finds out just how not in control he is, in the RAF. The men are ordered to nail the windows shut for a bad storm, and the incidence of lung infections rises alarmingly. In addition, they have to take up shadow-boxing, to keep themselves alert and on the ready. The men feel demoralized and out of control of their own lives.

Chapter 16
Herriot remembers a sad outbreak of dog poisonings in this chapter. He feels that he needs to better the lives of the animals in his area, and purposeful injury makes him especially upset. One of the dogs that is poisoned is a seeing-eye dog, which is especially painful for Herriot. He gives it one last chance at life by using a risky drug, and this dog is the only one of the poisoned dogs who survives. Herriot is glad that if only one dog could be saved it was one who has such an important task in life.

Chapter 17
Herriot recalls an older women who was very good at not paying bills, back in Darrowby. Rumor had it that she was rich, she just didn’t pay her bills. She wants her cat spayed, and cries until James says he’ll do it for half price. They end up having to transport the difficult cat to and from the old woman’s house, and then she won’t pay until the stitches are taken out.

Chapter 18
Chapter 18 finds Herriot thinking about how the war has changed life for everyone. He is a Leading Aircraftsman now, a higher rank. The promotion has also brought with it a pay raise. As he is marching away from the Grand Hotel, he promises himself to return after the war, to see it as it should be seen.

Chapter 19
James recalls in Chapter 19 that the ways of speaking in different areas are much different. His understanding of coarse and sexual language has become more clear since he has been in the RAF. At home, it’s hard to get a farmer to explain what is the problem with an animal, if it is in any way a sexual problem. He finds it rather amusing that particularly the Methodist clients he has won’t say anything about any body part in that area, even if a cow runs into them there.

Chapter 20
In Chapter 20, Herriot remembers a time before he met Helen, when he was sent along to Hensfield so that he could cover for his former boss, Siegfried. Hensfield is a dreary, dark mill town, and the vet he is covering for generally works on animals for poor owners, for low pay. The veterinary facilities are not what he is accustomed to, and when a Golden Retriever comes in with a severed leg, Herriot has no idea how to treat the dog.

Chapter 21
In this chapter, Herriot does the best he can, with what he has available, to put the Golden Retriever’s broken body back together. He worries about infection, but does everything he can think of doing, to save the dog. He plasters the dog in a cast, in a way they did in the Spanish Civil War, when they would allow the limb to heal in its own fluids. After a week, the dog is better, and James cleans the leg and applies a new cast.

Chapter 22
In this chapter, Herriot inspects dogs at a Greyhound track. It is a low quality track, and he finds many problems with the health of the animals. This puts him on the outs with the track owner, but James won’t compromise his standards for the man. At the end of his stay, the Golden Retriever, Kim, comes back for a visit, and Herriot is happy to see how well the dog is doing.

Chapter 23
James hears a lot of shouting while on duty in the RAF, but none that compares to one farmer back in Darrowby, Len Hampson, who it is said could be heard from farms away when he shouted. James cannot save Len’s pig, but he does save his soft-spoken neighbor’s bull. Later, they all meet up at the local pub, and of course, the soft-spoken man who tells of his bull being healed is sorely drowned out by the big mouthed man whose pig died.

Chapter 24
Herriot remembers a small animal vet, Granville Bennett, who always drank him under the table, back home. James just cannot seem to get out of socializing with Bennett, and on one visit, he is so drunk that he forgets that he should not eat hot dogs, and he eats entirely too many of them. He pays for that, later on.

Chapter 25
James thinks about his successful business partnership with Siegfried Farnon, in this chapter. He feels that they work well together because they are opposites, since he is more traditional, while Siegfried likes to try new methods. However, he has noticed that Siegfried doesn’t tell him when some of his newer contraptions don’t work. Siegfried also occasionally chastises Herriot for giving away services to poor clients, even though he does at least as much of that, if not more.

Chapter 26
James helps farmers bring in their crops in this chapter. He has trouble, and he doesn’t have the skills he needs. The farmer says he just needs to learn how to do it right. Later on in the day, the farmer has trouble delivering a calf, and James helps, and has little problem with the delivery. So he learns that it isn’t a matter of brute strength at all, but of knowing the proper procedure.

Chapter 27
James heads off to flight school in this chapter. Throughout all the journeys, he sleeps a lot and dreams about Helen. During training, though, all the men are instructed to always have their ID discs with them, since this will be the only way their bodies can be identified if they happen to be shot down. That brings the war more realistically into Herriot’s mind.

Chapter 28
James is in flight school in this chapter, and his instructor is not very good with trainees. He is rough on Herriot, but no harder than Herriot was on himself, as a veterinarian. He remembers a night when there was an animal who had eaten too much fallen fruit and was in distress. Although he would have preferred to stay at home, he went out in the cold to help the animal, and in the process exposed him to the coughs and chills of the owners.

Chapter 29
In this chapter we meet one of Siegfried’s pharmaceutical reps, who believes he is seldom wrong. He pitches a new sedative, and they buy some, but they find out that it doesn’t work as a sedative. Herriot and Siegfried try, but they cannot bring themselves to tell the pharmaceutical rep that the product performed so badly.

Chapter 30
Tristan answer’s the practice phone with a funny accent, until he realizes the caller is a serious man. He would end up dating the man’s daughter. Mr. Mount has a horse with canker, and they stable the horse for six weeks at Skeldale House, to treat him. Tristan continues with his characteristic pranks, but he is caught twice by Mr. Mount, who is not a man of good humor. He is happy with the way his horse was treated and cured, though.

Chapter 31
This chapter speaks of comradeship, and how necessary it is between men and also between animals. One dog comes in for treatment, and his friend-dog must be in the treatment room with him. You cannot separate the two dogs. When the sick dog dies, the dog’s friend is heartbroken, but when the owners buy a new puppy, the same breed as the dog’s lost friend, he returns to his former happy self.

Chapter 32
Herriot’s flight instructor talks constantly while he is learning to fly. This reminds him of a family he knows back home, the Birtwhistles. They all try to explain what their animal’s ailment is, with the end result that he can’t hear any of them. One of the sons in the family can’t tolerate the sight of blood, and knocks James out by accidentally hitting him in the head.

Chapter 33
Herriot remembers a trip to the local market with Siegfried, where they see a dog, begging for food. After a time, the dog is hit by a car and they spend an evening patiently stitching him back together, but if no one adopts him in a week, he will be put down. Luckily, the policeman who called in the accident adopts the dog, and this is a happy thing for the vets.

Chapter 34
Herriot remembers, in this chapter, a time when tuberculosis was common in their area back in Darrowby, and the veterinarians had to check many herds of cattle. Herriot usually goofs up the forms that they have to send to the Ministry of Agriculture. He recalls that he is a much better veterinarian than a clerical person.

Chapter 35
In this chapter, Herriot is sent to fly a plane with only nine hours of learning. He fears a crash or at least getting lost, but he does much better than he thought he would. Even though this realization temporarily throws him off a bit, he flies well and finds his way back to the airfield, where congratulations await him, even from his flight instructor.

Chapter 36
Herriot remembers a farmer whose dairy farm has been automated. One day a cow is having a difficult time calving, and James assists her. He doesn’t know her name, only her number, but it is refreshing for him to see that veterinarians are still needed even with more machines taking the place of other aspects of farming.

Chapter 37
At the Drovers Arms, he talks to Paul Cotterell who has Theo, the pub terrier. He looks at Theo’s paw and snips the broken claw which has been bothering him. Paul also asks about Theo getting a little thin and they think it might be worms. James gives him some pills but that doesn’t work and James realizes the dog has Hodgkin’s disease. They put the dog down and Paul doesn’t seem that bothered by it but ends up committing suicide.

Chapter 38
Andrew Vine has a dog, Digger, who has eye problems. He is given lotion, but his vision keeps getting worse. James and Sam see them them on walks while Digger slowly goes blind. Andrew is depressed and James is worried he will end up like Paul and commit suicide. James convinces him that Digger needs him more than ever and eventually, Andrew gets over it and realized James is right.

Chapter 39
James has David, a 15 year old, coming on rounds with him. They go on three calls which are all false pregnancies and then the last call is a cow who calves and then hides the calf. David thinks James has quite a funny job.

Chapter 40
In the RAF, James has surgery and the anesthesiologist is from his vet school days. James remembers Judy, Eric Abbot’s sheepdog, who used to watch James fix up the farm’s animals, almost like his own personal nurse.

Chapter 41
Siegfried is tired of Tristan’s womanizing and partying ways, so he tells him to stay in and study. Then he leaves for Brawton for the night. Tristan has a date with Lydia but has to watch Hamish, a Scottie. He invites Lydia over but when James comes home he hurriedly kicks her out thinking James is Siegfried and in the process he loses Hammish. James and Tristan spent the night looking for the dog which eventually is found on its own front porch, Lydia comes back a few times to yell at Tristan in the process, but by the time Siegfried comes home, Tristan is hard at work studying.

Chapter 42
James learns he will be discharged. He remembers Mr. Potts, a retired farmer who always likes to talk about animals with James. Sam and Mr. Potts’ dog, Nip used to play and when Mr. Potts dies, James continues to go around to his house so Nip can play with Sam.

Chapter 43
In the RAF, James gets assigned to laundry and the boot repairs store. The other guy who is also working there doesn’t organize anything, so James doesn’t either. This ends up causing a huge mess when other military people want their clothes or boots back.

Chapter 44
James sees Roddy Travers, who pushes his dog Jake around in a pram. He does odd jobs around town and when Jake has fainting spells, James thinks it is epilepsy. While James is looking at him in the surgery, he has a fainting episode and James realizes there is something choking him. He operates right then and discovers a pebble that had been causing it. After removing it, Jake is perfectly healthy.

Chapter 45
Mr. Duggleby is a big cricket fan and talks about it the whole time James is looking at his lame pigs. James thinks it may be Foot and Mouth disease and has to send samples away. Foot and Mouth is confirmed and there are a few anxious weeks while James waits to see if any other farmers get it. He thinks Terence Baileys cow has it but it turns out it just has cowpox which is has gotten from the baby who was just vaccinated for smallpox.

Chapter 46
Mr. Daggett, a farmer, has a farmhand named Ned Finch that he is always complaining about. They live a hard life on a spartan farm and Mr. Daggett doesn’t like the fact that Ned stays at the pub until ten o’clock and doesn’t get up until seven some days. James then goes to a wonderful rebuilt manor house owned by Miss Treymayne. James discovers that her housekeeper, Elsie, is getting married to Ned. James is happy to hear that Ned will get to leave the hard farm and live in the nice manor house.

Chapter 47
Marjorie Simpson, brings in a cat with his intestines hanging out. Tristan and James patch him up and up and he starts purring. Helen decides to keep him, names him Oscar and he spends his time going around to social gatherings in town. Then the Gibbons family comes to claim him and confirm it is their cat by saying how much he likes to visit people. They rename him Tiger. Helen is sad, but eventually James and Helen go and visit him.

Chapter 48
James is finally discharged from the RAF. The bus brings him back home and he is excited about getting back to his life and all the wonderful experiences that come along with it.