← However, these stories were never fully believed. Rumours of a wonderful farm, where the human beings had been turned out and the animals managed their own affairs, continued to circulate in vague and distorted forms, and throughout that year a wave of rebelliousness ran through the countryside. 🔊
← But there were also rumours of something more serious. One day, as Mollie strolled blithely into the yard, flirting her long tail and chewing at a stalk of hay, Clover took her aside. 🔊
← Except through Whymper, there was as yet no contact between Animal Farm and the outside world, but there were constant rumours that Napoleon was about to enter into a definite business agreement either with Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood or with Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield−but never, it was noticed, with both simultaneously. 🔊
← All this while no more had been seen of Snowball. He was rumoured to be hiding on one of the neighbouring farms, either Foxwood or Pinchfield. 🔊
← At the same time there were renewed rumours that Frederick and his men were plotting to attack Animal Farm and to destroy the windmill, the building of which had aroused furious jealousy in him. 🔊
← As the summer wore on, and the windmill neared completion, the rumours of an impending treacherous attack grew stronger and stronger. 🔊
← All these rumours had probably originated with Snowball and his agents. It now appeared that Snowball was not, after all, hiding on Pinchfield Farm, and in fact had never been there in his life: he was living−in considerable luxury, so it was said−at Foxwood, and had in reality been a pensioner of Pilkington for years past. 🔊
← A rumour went round that Snowball had after all contrived to introduce poison into Napoleon's food. 🔊
← Now that the small field beyond the orchard had been set aside for barley, it was rumoured that a corner of the large pasture was to be fenced off and turned into a grazing−ground for superannuated animals. 🔊
← Late one evening in the summer, a sudden rumour ran round the farm that something had happened to Boxer. 🔊
← And sure enough, the rumour was true. A few minutes later two pigeons came racing in with the news: "Boxer has fallen! 🔊
← It had come to his knowledge, he said, that a foolish and wicked rumour had been circulated at the time of Boxer's removal. 🔊
← For a long time there had been rumours−circulated, he had reason to think, by some malignant enemy−that there was something subversive and even revolutionary in the outlook of himself and his colleagues. 🔊