Suddenly, early in the spring, an alarming thing was discovered. Snowball was secretly frequenting the farm by night! 🔊 The animals were so disturbed that they could hardly sleep in their stalls. Every night, it was said, he came creeping in under cover of darkness and performed all kinds of mischief. 🔊 He stole the corn, he upset the milk−pails, he broke the eggs, he trampled the seedbeds, he gnawed the bark off the fruit trees. 🔊 Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball. If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Snowball had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store−shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Snowball had thrown it down the well. 🔊 Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal. 🔊 The cows declared unanimously that Snowball crept into their stalls and milked them in their sleep. 🔊 The rats, which had been troublesome that winter, were also said to be in league with Snowball. 🔊

Napoleon decreed that there should be a full investigation into Snowball's activities. With his dogs in attendance he set out and made a careful tour of inspection of the farm buildings, the other animals following at a respectful distance. 🔊 At every few steps Napoleon stopped and snuffed the ground for traces of Snowball's footsteps, which, he said, he could detect by the smell. 🔊 He snuffed in every corner, in the barn, in the cow−shed, in the henhouses, in the vegetable garden, and found traces of Snowball almost everywhere. 🔊 He would put his snout to the ground, give several deep sniffs, and exclaim in a terrible voice, "Snowball! 🔊 He has been here! I can smell him distinctly!" and at the word "Snowball" all the dogs let out blood−curdling growls and showed their side teeth. 🔊

The animals were thoroughly frightened. It seemed to them as though Snowball were some kind of invisible influence, pervading the air about them and menacing them with all kinds of dangers. 🔊 In the evening Squealer called them together, and with an alarmed expression on his face told them that he had some serious news to report. 🔊

"Comrades!" cried Squealer, making little nervous skips, "a most terrible thing has been discovered. Snowball has sold himself to Frederick of Pinchfield Farm, who is even now plotting to attack us and take our farm away from us! 🔊 Snowball is to act as his guide when the attack begins. But there is worse than that. 🔊 We had thought that Snowball's rebellion was caused simply by his vanity and ambition. 🔊 But we were wrong, comrades. Do you know what the real reason was? Snowball was in league with Jones from the very start! 🔊 He was Jones's secret agent all the time. It has all been proved by documents which he left behind him and which we have only just discovered. 🔊 To my mind this explains a great deal, comrades. Did we not see for ourselves how he attempted−fortunately without success−to get us defeated and destroyed at the Battle of the Cowshed?" 🔊