The machinery had still to be installed, and Whymper was negotiating the purchase of it, but the structure was completed.
In the teeth of every difficulty, in spite of inexperience, of primitive implements, of bad luck and of Snowball's treachery, the work had been finished punctually to the very day!
Tired out but proud, the animals walked round and round their masterpiece, which appeared even more beautiful in their eyes than when it had been built the first time.
Moreover the walls were twice as thick as before.
Nothing short of explosives would lay them low this time!
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.
Napoleon himself, attended by his dogs and his cockerel, came down to inspect the completed work; he personally congratulated the animals on their achievement, and announced that the mill would be named Napoleon Mill.
Two days later the animals were called together for a special meeting in the barn.
They were struck dumb with surprise when Napoleon announced that he had sold the pile of timber to Frederick.
Tomorrow Frederick's wagons would arrive and begin carting it away.
Throughout the whole period of his seeming friendship with Pilkington, Napoleon had really been in secret agreement with Frederick.
All relations with Foxwood had been broken off; insulting messages had been sent to Pilkington.
The pigeons had been told to avoid Pinchfleld Farm and to alter their slogan from
‘Death to Frederick’ to
‘Death to Pilkington’.
At the same time Napoleon assured the animals that the stories of an impending attack on Animal Farm were completely untrue, and that the tales about Frederick's cruelty to his own animals had been greatly exaggerated.
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.
The pigs were in ecstasies over Napoleon's cunning.
By seeming to be friendly with Pilkington he had forced Frederick to raise his price by twelve pounds.
But the superior quality of Napoleon's mind, said Squealer, was shown in the fact that he trusted nobody, not even Frederick.
Frederick had wanted to pay for the timber with something called a cheque, which it seemed was a piece of paper with a promise to pay written upon it.
But Napoleon was too clever for him.
He had demanded payment in real five-pound notes, which were to be handed over before the timber was removed.
Already Frederick had paid up; and the sum he had paid was just enough to buy the machinery for the windmill.
Meanwhile the timber was being carted away at high speed.
When it was all gone another special meeting was held in the barn for the animals to inspect Frederick's bank-notes.
Smiling beatifically, and wearing both his decorations, Napoleon reposed on a bed of straw on the platform, with the money at his side, neatly piled on a china dish from the farmhouse kitchen.
The animals filed slowly past, and each gazed his fill.
And Boxer put out his nose to sniff at the bank-notes, and the flimsy white things stirred and rustled in his breath.
Three days later there was a terrible hullabaloo.
Whymper, his face deadly pale, came racing up the path on his bicycle, flung it down in the yard and rushed straight into the farmhouse.
The next moment a choking roar of rage sounded from Napoleon's apartments.
The news of what had happened sped round the farm like wildfire.
The bank-notes were forgeries!
Frederick had got the timber for nothing!
Napoleon called the animals together immediately and in a terrible voice pronounced the death sentence upon Frederick.
When captured, he said, Frederick should be boiled alive.
At the same time he warned them that after this treacherous deed the worst was to be expected.
Frederick and his men might make their long-expected attack at any moment.
Sentinels were placed at all the approaches to the farm.
In addition, four pigeons were sent to Fox-wood with a conciliatory message, which it was hoped might re-establish good relations with Pilkington.
The very next morning the attack came.
The animals were at breakfast when the look-outs came racing in with the news that Frederick and his followers had already come through the five-barred gate.
Boldly enough the animals sallied forth to meet them, but this time they did not have the easy victory that they had had in the Battle of the Cowshed.
There were fifteen men, with half a dozen guns between them, and they opened fire as soon as they got within fifty yards.
The animals could not face the terrible explosions and the stinging pellets, and in spite of the efforts of Napoleon and Boxer to rally them they were soon driven back.
A number of them were already wounded.
They took refuge in the farm buildings and peeped cautiously out from chinks and knot-holes.
The whole of the big pasture, including the windmill, was in the hands of the enemy.