← He was closeted there for hours at a time. With his books held open by a stone, and with a piece of chalk gripped between the knuckles of his trotter, he would move rapidly to and fro, drawing in line after line and uttering little whimpers of excitement. 🔊
← He walked heavily round the shed, looked closely at every detail of the plans and snuffed at them once or twice, then stood for a little while contemplating them out of the corner of his eye; then suddenly he lifted his leg, urinated over the plans, and walked out without uttering a word. 🔊
← But just at this moment Napoleon stood up and, casting a peculiar sidelong look at Snowball, uttered a high−pitched whimper of a kind no one had ever heard him utter before. 🔊
← Some of the pigs themselves, however, were more articulate. Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval, and all four of them sprang to their feet and began speaking at once. 🔊
← Only old Benjamin refused to grow enthusiastic about the windmill, though, as usual, he would utter nothing beyond the cryptic remark that donkeys live a long time. 🔊
← When they were all gathered together, Napoleon emerged from the farmhouse, wearing both his medals (for he had recently awarded himself "Animal Hero, First Class," and "Animal Hero, Second Class"), with his nine huge dogs frisking round him and uttering growls that sent shivers down all the animals' spines. 🔊
← Napoleon stood sternly surveying his audience; then he uttered a high−pitched whimper. Immediately the dogs bounded forward, seized four of the pigs by the ear and dragged them, squealing with pain and terror, to Napoleon's feet. 🔊
← For some time nobody spoke. Only Boxer remained on his feet. He fidgeted to and fro, swishing his long black tail against his sides and occasionally uttering a little whinny of surprise. 🔊
← And when they thought of how they had laboured, what discouragements they had overcome, and the enormous difference that would be made in their lives when the sails were turning and the dynamos running−when they thought of all this, their tiredness forsook them and they gambolled round and round the windmill, uttering cries of triumph. 🔊
← It was as though the world had turned upside−down. Then there came a moment when the first shock had worn off and when, in spite of everything−in spite of their terror of the dogs, and of the habit, developed through long years, of never complaining, never criticising, no matter what happened−they might have uttered some word of protest. 🔊
← And by the time the sheep had quieted down, the chance to utter any protest had passed, for the pigs had marched back into the farmhouse. 🔊
← Here it became apparent that Mr. Pilkington was about to spring some carefully prepared witticism on the company, but for a moment he was too overcome by amusement to be able to utter it. 🔊