The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams (English) Paperback Book

Description: The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams Originally published: London: Allen Lane, 1977. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description This modern-day classic is an unforgettable tale of fantasy and adventure, a powerful exploration of the limits of human cruelty and kindness. A "gripping ... compelling tale of emotional force and high suspense" (The Wall Street Journal). Rowf, a shaggy black mongrel, and Snitter, a black-and-white fox terrier, are among dozens of animals being cruelly held in a testing facility in North West England. When one of the handlers fails to close Rowfs cage properly, the two dogs make a daring escape into the English countryside, where they befriend a red fox who helps them survive in the wild. But as rumors circulate that the dogs may have been the test subjects for biological weapons and could be carrying a terrible plague, they soon find themselves targets of a great dog hunt. Local farmers, politicians, scientists, and even the military join in the search to track them down. Author Biography Richard Adams is the author of many bestselling novels, including Watership Down (1974), Shardik (1976), The Plague Dogs (1978), The Girl in a Swing (1980), Maia (1985), and Traveller (1988), as well as several works of nonfiction, including his autobiographical The Day Gone By (1991). The winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award for Childrens Literature, he currently lives in Hampshire, England. Review "Gripping. . . . A compelling tale of emotional force and high suspense." —The Wall Street Journal "Adams takes us to places where no author author has taken us." —The Washington Post"Engrossing. . . . Bears the abundant mark of sheer genius." —The Plain Dealer "Better and more powerful than Watership Down." —Providence Journal"Marvelous. . . . An excellent drama." —Newsweek "Excellent." —New York Daily News "Adams writes brilliantly about animals. . . . When these dogs are on the move, they compel us to follow, trotting along the narrative path on all the legs we have." —Saturday Review "The genuine and moving feeling for animals that dominated Watership Down emerges here in intense dramatic form. Adams engenders such compassion, such desperate, urgent sympathy for the plague dogs, that the reader yearns for a happy ending." —Publishers Weekly Review Quote "Gripping. . . . A compelling tale of emotional force and high suspense." -- The Wall Street Journal Excerpt from Book Fit 1 Friday the 15th October The water in the metal tank slopped sideways and a treacly ripple ran along the edge, reached the corner and died away. Under the electric lights the broken surface was faceted as a cracked mirror, a watery harlequins coat of tilting planes and lozenges in movement, one moment dull as stone and the next glittering like scalpels. Here and there, where during the past two hours the water had been fouled, gilded streaks of urine and floating, spawn-like bubbles of saliva rocked more turgidly, in a way suggestive--if anyone present had been receptive to such suggestion--of an illusion that this was not water, but perhaps some thicker fluid, such as those concoctions of jam and stale beer which are hung up in glass jars to drown wasps, or the dark puddles splashed through by hooves and gum-boots on the concrete floors of Lakeland cattle sheds. Mr. Powell, his note-pad ready in hand, leant across the flanged and overhanging edge of the tank, wiped his glasses on his sleeve and looked down the two or three feet to the contents below. "I think its packing in, chief," he said. "Oh, no, wait a jiffy." He paused, drew back the cuff of his white coat to avoid another, though weak, splash and then bent over the water once more. "No, I was right first time--it is going. Dyou want it out now?" "When it definitely sinks and stops moving," answered Dr. Boycott, without looking up from the papers on the table. Although there was in the room no draught or air movement whatever, he had placed the two graphs and the log sheet on top of one another and was using the heavy stop-watch as a paperweight to ensure that they remained where he intended them to remain. "I thought Id made it clear the other day," he added, in a level, polite tone, "what the precise moment of removal should be." "But you dont want it to drown, do you?" asked Mr. Powell, a shade of anxiety creeping into his voice. "If it--" "No!" interjected Dr. Boycott quickly, as though to check him before he could say more. "Its nothing to do with want," he went on after a moment. "Its not intended to drown--not this time anyway; and I think probably not the next time either--depending on results, of course." There were further sounds of splashing from inside the tank, but faint, like metallic echoes, rather as though a ghost were trying, but failing, to come down and trouble the waters (and indeed, as far as the occupant was concerned, any sort of miracle, being unscientific, was entirely out of the question). Then a choking, bubbling sound was followed by silence, in which the rasping call of a carrion crow came clearly from the fell outside. Mr. Powell stood up, walked across the concrete floor and took down a shepherds crook which was hanging on a peg. Sitting down once more on the edge of the tank, he began unthinkingly to tap with the butt of the crook the rhythm of a current popular song. "Er--please, Stephen," said Dr. Boycott, with a faint smile. "Oh, sorry." The large mongrel dog in the tank was continuing to struggle with its front paws, but so feebly now that its body, from neck to rump, hung almost vertically in the water. The spaniel-like ears were outspread, floating on either side of the head like wings, but the eyes were submerged and only the black, delicately lyrated nose broke the surface. As Mr. Powell watched, this too went under, rose again for an instant and then sank. The body, foreshortened by refraction as it descended, seemed to move sideways from its former floating position, finally appearing on the bottom of the tank as an almost flattened mass and disturbing round its sides, as it settled, little clouds of dirty silt. Dr. Boycott clicked the stop-watch. Mr. Powell, looking quickly back to see whether he had noticed the silt (for his chief was particular about the cleanliness of equipment), made a mental note to insist to Tyson, the caretaker and head-keeper, that the tank should be emptied and cleaned tomorrow. Then, allowing for the refraction with the skill of a certain amount of practice, he plunged in the crook, engaged the dogs collar and began to drag it to the surface. After a moment, however, he faltered, dropped the crook and stood up, wincing, while the body subsided once more to the floor of the tank. "Christ, its heavy," he said. "Oh, no, chief, I dont mean its any heavier than usual, of course, only I pulled a muscle in my wrist last night and its been giving me a spot of gyppo. Never mind, never say die, here goes." "Im sorry," said Dr. Boycott. "Let me help you. I wouldnt want you to suffer avoidably." Together they pulled on the crook, raised the heavy, pelt-sodden body head-first, broke the surface tension with a concerted heave and laid the inert dog on a foam-rubber mattress beside the tank. Here it resembled an enormous, drowned fly--very black, with a compressed shape something like that of a raindrop; and smaller than life, on account of a kind of collapse of the limbs and other excrescences into the central mass of the trunk. Mr. Powell began resuscitation; and after a little the dog vomited water and commenced to gasp, though its eyes remained closed. "Right, thatll do," said Dr. Boycott briskly. "Now the usual tests, please, Stephen--pulse, blood sample, body temperature, reflexes--the various things weve been working on--and then plot the graphs. Ill be back in about twenty minutes. Im just going over to the Christiaan Barnard block to learn what I can about this afternoons brain surgery work. And please dont smoke while Im gone," he added, mildly but firmly. "Youll appreciate that that could have an effect on results." "All right to put its muzzle on, chief?" asked Mr. Powell. "Only this one, seven-three-two, s been known to be a right sod at times and it might come round enough to start in on me--sudden-like, you know." "Yes, theres no objection to that," replied Dr. Boycott, picking up the stop-watch. "And the time, chief?" enquired Mr. Powell in a rather sycophantic tone, as though the time were likely to be something to Dr. Boycotts personal credit. "Two hours, twenty minutes, fifty-three and two fifths seconds," answered Dr. Boycott. "Without looking at the papers, I think thats about six and a half minutes longer than Wednesdays test and about twelve minutes longer than the test before that. Its rather remarkable how regular the increase appears to be. At this rate the graph will work out as a straight incline, although obviously we must reach a diminution somewhere. There must come a point where the additional endurance induced by the dogs expectation of removal is counterbalanced by the limits of its physical capacity." He paused for a moment and then said, "Now, theres another thing Id like you to see to, please. I forgot to mention it this morning, but Cambridge are anxious for us to go ahead at once with the social deprivation experiment. We have a monkey set aside for that, havent we?" "Yeah, Im pretty certain we have," replied Mr. Powell. "I thought you told me we definitely had?" Dr. Boycotts voice was a shade sharper. "Yes, thats right," said Mr. Powell hastily. "We have." "Good. Well, it can go into the cylinder this evening. Now youre sure that that cylinder excludes all light?" "Yep. No light, restricted movement, adequate ventilation, wire mesh floor, faeces and urine fall through. Its all checked." "Right, well, start it off, keep it under twice daily observation and, of course, mark the particulars up in a log. The total number of days should be kept up to date day by day, on a slate beside the cylinder. Thats a matter of courtesy to the Director. Hell probably want to see it." "Wheres it to be kept, chief?" asked Mr. Powell. "It doesnt matter, as long as its somewhere where you can readily keep an eye on it," answered Dr. Boycott. "I suggest, near where you normally work, as long as its not anywhere near any other animals. There should be silence, as far as possible, and no organic smells, of course. Thats part of the deprivation, you understand." "How about the balance-cupboard in Lab. 4, chief?" asked Mr. Powell. "Plenty of space in there at the moment and quiet as the grave." "Yes, thatll do," said Dr. Boycott. "Dont forget to tell Tyson about feeding, and keep me informed how it goes on. Well aim at--well, say--er--forty-five days." "Is that the lot, chief?" "Yes," said Dr. Boycott, with his hand on the door. "But since it seems necessary to mention it, youd better see that this tanks cleaned out. Theres silt on the bottom which shouldnt be there." It was only after a considerable administrative and political battle that the site for Animal Research, Surgical and Experimental (A.R.S.E.), had been approved at Lawson Park, a former fell farm on the east side of Coniston Water. As a Departmental project the scheme had, of course, attracted deemed planning permission, but following Circular 100 consultation both the County Council and the Lakeland National Park Planning Board had objected to it so strongly that the responsible Under Secretary at the Department of the Environment (having, no doubt, a vivid mental picture of himself in the chair at any confrontation discussions that might be arranged to try to resolve the matter in Whitehall) had taken very little time to decide that in all the circumstances a public local inquiry would be the most appropriate course. The inquiry had lasted for two weeks and at various times during the proceedings t Details ISBN1101970693 Author Richard Adams Short Title PLAGUE DOGS Language English ISBN-10 1101970693 ISBN-13 9781101970690 Media Book Format Paperback Pages 528 DEWEY 823.914 Illustrations Yes Year 2016 Publication Date 2016-04-05 Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2016-04-05 NZ Release Date 2016-04-05 US Release Date 2016-04-05 UK Release Date 2016-04-05 Place of Publication New York Publisher Random House USA Inc Imprint Vintage Books Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:97680170;

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