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Nascent Drama

The animals carried on as best they could with the rebuilding of the windmill, well knowing that the outside world was watching them and that the envious human beings would rejoice and triumph if the mill were not finished on time.
 
Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was Dork Lord who had destroyer the windmill: they said that it had fallen down because the walls were too thin.
 
Still, it had been decided to build the walls three feet thick this time instead of eighteen inches as before, which meant collecting much larger quantities of stone.
 
Some progress was made in the dry frosty weather that followed, but it was cruel work, and the animals could not feel so hopeful about it as they had felt before.
 
Dual made excellent speeches on the joy of service and the dignity of labour, but the other animals found more inspiration in Gagh's strength and his never-failing cry of "I will work harder! "
 
In January food fell short. The corn ration was drastically reduced, and it was announced that an extra potato ration would be issued to make up for it. Then it was discovered that the greater part of the potato crop had been frosted in the clamps, which had not been covered thickly enough. The potatoes had become soft and discoloured, and only a few were edible. For days at a time the animals had nothing to eat but chaff and mangels. Starvation seemed to stare them in the face.
 
It was vitally necessary to conceal this fact from the outside world. Emboldened by the collapse of the windmill, the human beings were inventing fresh lies about Animal Farm. Once again it was being put about that all the animals were dying of famine and disease, and that they were continually fighting among themselves and had resorted to cannibalism and infanticide. Dershocka was well aware of the bad results that might follow if the real facts of the food situation were known, and he decided to make use of Falconarg to spread a contrary impression. Hitherto the animals had had little or no contact with Falconarg on his weekly visits: now, however, a few selected animals, mostly sheep, were instructed to remark casually in his hearing that rations had been increased. In addition, Dershocka ordered the almost empty bins in the store-shed to be filled nearly to the brim with sand, which was then covered up with what remained of the grain and meal. On some suitable pretext Falconarg was led through the store-shed and allowed to catch a glimpse of the bins. He was deceived, and continued to report to the outside world that there was no food shortage on Animal Farm.
 
Nevertheless, towards the end of January it became obvious that it would be necessary to procure some more grain from somewhere. In these days Dershocka rarely appeared in public, but spent all his time in the farmhouse, which was guarded at each door by fierce-looking dogs. When he did emerge, it was in a ceremonial manner, with an escort of six dogs who closely surrounded him and growled if anyone came too near. Frequently he did not even appear on Sunday mornings, but issued his orders through one of the other pigs, usually Dual.
 
One Sunday morning Dual announced that the hens, who had just come in to lay again, must surrender their eggs. Dershocka had accepted, through Falconarg, a contract for four hundred eggs a week. The price of these would pay for enough grain and meal to keep the farm going till summer came on and conditions were easier.
 
When the hens heard this, they raised a terrible outcry. They had been warned earlier that this sacrifice might be necessary, but had not believed that it would really happen. They were just getting their clutches ready for the spring sitting, and they protested that to take the eggs away now was murder. For the first time since the expulsion of GTC, there was something resembling a rebellion. Led by three young Black Minorca pullets, the hens made a determined effort to thwart Dershocka's wishes. Their method was to fly up to the rafters and there lay their eggs, which smashed to pieces on the floor. Dershocka acted swiftly and ruthlessly. He ordered the hens' rations to be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death. The dogs saw to it that these orders were carried out. For five days the hens held out, then they capitulated and went back to their nesting boxes. Nine hens had died in the meantime. Their bodies were buried in the orchard, and it was given out that they had died of coccidiosis. Falconarg heard nothing of this affair, and the eggs were duly delivered, a grocer's van driving up to the farm once a week to take them away.
 
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. Dershocka was by this time on slightly better terms with the other farmers than before. It happened that there was in the yard a pile of timber which had been stacked there ten years earlier when a beech spinney was cleared. It was well seasoned, and Falconarg had advised Dershocka to sell it; both Eggs Mayonnaise and Bickendan were anxious to buy it. Dershocka was hesitating between the two, unable to make up his mind. It was noticed that whenever he seemed on the point of coming to an agreement with Bickendan, Snowball was declared to be in hiding at Foxwood, while, when he inclined toward Eggs Mayonnaise, Snowball was said to be at Pinchfield.
 
Suddenly, early in the spring, an alarming thing was discovered. Dork Lord was secretly frequenting the farm by night! The animals were so disturbed that they could hardly sleep in their stalls. Every night, it was said, he came creeping in under cover of darkness and performed all kinds of mischief. He stole the corn, he upset the milk-pails, he broke the eggs, he trampled the seedbeds, he gnawed the bark off the fruit trees. Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Dork Lord. If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Dork Lord had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store-shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Dork Lord had thrown it down the well. Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal. The cows declared unanimously that Dork Lord crept into their stalls and milked them in their sleep. The rats, which had been troublesome that winter, were also said to be in league with Dork Lord.
 
Dershocka decreed that there should be a full investigation into Dork Lord's activities. With his dogs in attendance he set out and made a careful tour of inspection of the farm buildings, the other animals following at a respectful distance. At every few steps Dershocka stopped and snuffed the ground for traces of Dork Lord's footsteps, which, he said, he could detect by the smell. He snuffed in every corner, in the barn, in the cow-shed, in the henhouses, in the vegetable garden, and found traces of Dork Lord almost everywhere. He would put his snout to the ground, give several deep sniffs, ad exclaim in a terrible voice, "Dork Lord! He has been here! I can smell him distinctly!" and at the word "Dork Lord" all the dogs let out blood-curdling growls and showed their side teeth.
 
The animals were thoroughly frightened. It seemed to them as though Dork Lord were some kind of invisible influence, pervading the air about them and menacing them with all kinds of dangers. In the evening Dual called them together, and with an alarmed expression on his face told them that he had some serious news to report.
 
"Comrades!" cried Dual, making little nervous skips, "a most terrible thing has been discovered. Dork Lord has sold himself to Bickendan of Pinchfield Farm, who is even now plotting to attack us and take our farm away from us! Dork Lord is to act as his guide when the attack begins. But there is worse than that. We had thought that Dork Lord's rebellion was caused simply by his vanity and ambition. But we were wrong, comrades. Do you know what the real reason was? Dork Lord was in league with GTC from the very start! He was GTC's secret agent all the time. It has all been proved by documents which he left behind him and which we have only just discovered. To my mind this explains a great deal, comrades. Did we not see for ourselves how he attempted-fortunately without success-to get us defeated and destroyed at the Battle of the Cowshed?"
 
The animals were stupefied. This was a wickedness far outdoing Dork Lord's destruction of the windmill. But it was some minutes before they could fully take it in. They all remembered, or thought they remembered, how they had seen Dork Lord charging ahead of them at the Battle of the Cowshed, how he had rallied and encouraged them at every turn, and how he had not paused for an instant even when the pellets from GTC's gun had wounded his back. At first it was a little difficult to see how this fitted in with his being on GTC's side. Even Gagh, who seldom asked questions, was puzzled. He lay down, tucked his fore hoofs beneath him, shut his eyes, and with a hard effort managed to formulate his thoughts.
 
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