Four days later,in the late afternoon,Napoleon ordered all the animals to assemble in the yard.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.They all cowered silently in their places,seeming to know in advance that some terrible thing was about to happen.
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.The pigs'ears were bleeding,the dogs had tasted blood,and for a few moments they appeared to go quite mad.To the amazement of everybody,three of them flung themselves upon Boxer.Boxer saw them coming and put out his great hoof,caught a dog in mid air,and pinned him to the ground.The dog shrieked for mercy and the other two fled with their tails between their legs.Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go.Napoleon appeared to change countenance,and sharply ordered Boxer to let the dog go,whereat Boxer lifted his hoof,and the dog slunk away,bruised and howling.
Presently the tumult died down.The four pigs waited,trembling,with guilt written on every line of their countenances.Napoleon now called upon them to confess their crimes.They were the same four pigs as had protested when Napoleon abolished the Sunday Meetings.Without any further prompting they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since his expulsion,that they had collaborated with him in destroying the windmill,and that they had entered into an agreement with him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr.Frederick.They added that Snowball had privately admitted to them that he had been Jones's secret agent for years past.When they had finished their confession,the dogs promptly tore their throats out,and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess.
The three hens who had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion over the eggs now came forward and stated that Snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon's orders.They,too,were slaughtered.Then a goose came forward and confessed to having secreted six ears of corn during the last year's harvest and eaten them in the night.Then a sheep confessed to having urinated in the drinking pool—urged to do this,so she said,by Snowball—and two other sheep confessed to having murdered an old ram,an especially devoted follower of Napoleon,by chasing him round and round a bonfire when he was suffering from a cough.They were all slain on the spot.And so the tale of confessions and executions went on,until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood,which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones.
When it was all over,the remaining animals,except for the pigs and dogs,crept away in a body.They were shaken and miserable.They did not know which was more shocking—the treachery of the animals who had leagued themselves with Snowball,or the cruel retribution they had just witnessed.In the old days there had often been scenes of bloodshed equally terrible,but it seemed to all of them that it was far worse now that it was happening among themselves.Since Jones had left the farm,until today,no animal had killed another animal.Not even a rat had been killed.They had made their way on to the little knoll where the half finished windmill stood,and with one accord they all lay down as though huddling together for warmth—Clover,Muriel,Benjamin,the cows,the sheep,and a whole flock of geese and hens—everyone,indeed,except the cat,who had suddenly disappeared just before Napoleon ordered the animals to assemble.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.Finally he said:
"I do not understand it.I would not have believed that such things could happen on our farm.It must be due to some fault in ourselves.The solution,as I see it,is to work harder.From now onwards I shall get up a full hour earlier in the mornings."
And he moved off at his lumbering trot and made for the quarry.Having got there,he collected two successive loads of stone and dragged them down to the windmill before retiring for the night.
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