Charles is riding alone through the snowy Dales in search of Tom Walter. He is attacked by a
dog pack, attracted by a rabbit he is carrying in his saddlebag. He is rescued by a stranger who scares the dogs off with an automatic rifle, but not before he has been bitten on his forearm. Luckily his thick coat cushions the bite, and it hardly breaks the skin.The stranger, called Fenton, berates Charles for carrying meat. He explains that the area is full of urban dogs who have moved out from nearby cities when their food supply ran out. The
same applies to many of the local people. Fenton is a trader, mainly in arms which he'd acquired from an army camp. Charles is excited to learn that he makes notes on all of the people he meets in his travels as a kind of hobby. Charles is desperate for the information his notes must carry.
Fenton worries Charles when he mentions that there is a rabies problem in the area. He himself had been attacked by a dog recently.
Fenton is cynical about Charles' big
federation ideas, in fact he believes that the human race will die out within a few years. Charles despises this attitude. Fenton winds Charles up by telling him he is a doctor. Charles is angry that he is not helping mankind like Ruth, until Fenton reveals he's actually a doctor of philosophy! He had met Greg, who had been in the area looking for open cast coal mines. Fenton thought him a fanatic, doomed to failure.
Fenton lives some distance away,
but Charles wants a look at his notes, so travels with him. They stay the night at Fenton's 'half-way' house. Overnight, Fenton develops a fever. He realises it is rabies, and nothing can be done for him, so asks Charles to shoot him. Charles cannot bring himself to do this, also he has yet to find out where Fenton lives, so ties him up and goes for help.
Charles finds a farm - there are two men there. He tells them he has a sick friend, but they
are not interested. Once they recognise the friend is Fenton, the decide to help. They return to the half-way house. Fenton has escaped his bonds, and is frothing at the mouth and violent. The men shoot him. Then they see Charles' ripped sleeve and make him show them his forearm and the bite mark. They are so scared of the spread of rabies, they decide to shoot Charles as well, intending to burn both bodies so dogs cannot eat them and contract the disease.
Charles makes a break for it, and manages to reach his horse. He is wounded in the arm as he flees and when out of sight, carries on on foot. He manages to avoid his pursuers, and has to remove the bullet from his wound with his own knife. He continues to search for Fenton's place, which he eventually stumbles upon. His pursuers are also in the area, having guessed he'd make for there - they are also after Fenton's stock of weapons.
At Fenton's, Charles
finds the all important notebook - it includes an entry about Greg, who Fenton had labelled an idiot. He avoids the men again and makes off on foot.
His arm is still very painful, and eventually he collapses through pain and exhaustion. He is found by a simpleton, named Ron, who runs off to tell the person he lives with. Her name is Ellen - she takes Charles into her barn and looks after him. She has experience of rabies through living in Africa, and
realises that Charles is in no danger, as his thick coat would have cleaned the dog's teeth of saliva as it bit through it.
She doesn't approve of the locals' fears, but understands why they are afraid. The men arrive at Ellen's looking for Charles. Ellen does not give him up. However they scare Ron by telling him he's in danger from the stranger. Ellen gives Charles a horse to travel back on. He promises he'll be back. Unfortunately Ron had been
scared, and tells the men of Charles' presence. As he rides off, they give chase again, ignoring Ellen's pleas that he is well.
The chase continues across country. Eventually, Charles is thrown from his horse jumping a wall, and carries on on foot. He reaches railway cutting, and is surprised to see a steam engine on the line at the bottom. The driver has stopped to load coal from an open seam by the track. Charles slips into one of the trucks of
the train and lets it carry him to safety.
The driver and his friends look after Charles, and carry him south to the extent of the line. Predictably Charles is very excited at the prospect of joining the country via the rail network. The drivers mention that another person with the same idea had been there a few weeks previously - Greg.
