← All were agreed that no animal must ever live there. The animals had their breakfast, and then Snowball and Napoleon called them together again. 🔊
← This was to be the name of the farm from now onwards. After this they went back to the farm buildings, where Snowball and Napoleon sent for a ladder which they caused to be set against the end wall of the big barn. 🔊
← The birds at first objected, since it seemed to them that they also had two legs, but Snowball proved to them that this was not so. 🔊
← At this some of the other animals murmured, but it was no use. All the pigs were in full agreement on this point, even Snowball and Napoleon. 🔊
← This was just what Snowball had intended. As soon as they were well inside the yard, the three horses, the three cows, and the rest of the pigs, who had been lying in ambush in the cowshed, suddenly emerged in their rear, cutting them off. 🔊
← This arrangement would have worked well enough if it had not been for the disputes between Snowball and Napoleon. 🔊
← (How these were to be procured, Snowball did not say.) But he maintained that it could all be done in a year. 🔊
← As usual, Snowball and Napoleon were in disagreement. According to Napoleon, what the animals must do was to procure firearms and train themselves in the use of them. 🔊
← The animals listened first to Napoleon, then to Snowball, and could not make up their minds which was right; indeed, they always found themselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at the moment. 🔊
← At last the day came when Snowball's plans were completed. At the Meeting on the following Sunday the question of whether or not to begin work on the windmill was to be put to the vote. 🔊
← By this time the weather had broken and the spring ploughing had begun. The shed where Snowball had drawn his plans of the windmill had been shut up and it was assumed that the plans had been rubbed off the floor. 🔊
← On the contrary, it was he who had advocated it in the beginning, and the plan which Snowball had drawn on the floor of the incubator shed had actually been stolen from among Napoleon's papers. 🔊
← Now that Snowball was out of the way, the plan could go forward without his interference. 🔊
← Napoleon snuffed deeply at them and pronounced them to be Snowball's. He gave it as his opinion that Snowball had probably come from the direction of Foxwood Farm. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← The rats, which had been troublesome that winter, were also said to be in league with Snowball. 🔊
← The plot was for Snowball, at the critical moment, to give the signal for flight and leave the field to the enemy. 🔊
← "I do not believe that Snowball was a traitor at the beginning," he said finally. 🔊
← on his lips. The wounds on Snowball's back, which a few of the animals still remembered to have seen, had been inflicted by Napoleon's teeth. 🔊
← The animals felt a little uneasy at this. Except for Mollie and Snowball, no other animal had ever left the farm, and they did not like to think of their sick comrade in the hands of human beings. 🔊