Chapter 26 Chapter Twenty-Four An Insulting Letter

"Impossible," cried Napoleon, "our walls are so thick that they will smash them for a week without breaking them. Have no fear, comrades!" But Benjamin has been watching the enemy's actions intently.Two men with a chisel and a hammer were punching holes in the wall of the windmill.Benjamin nodded his long mouth calmly, as if he was interested in what happened before him. "I expected that," he said. "Didn't you see what they were doing? They were going to put a pack of dynamite in the hole in a few moments." The animal was scared out of its wits, but could do nothing but watch.It was no longer possible to risk rushing out of hiding places in the house.A few minutes later, they saw people outside scattered in all directions, followed by a deafening bang.The pigeon flew high into the air, and all the animals, except Napoleon, fell to the ground and hid their faces.When they stood up again, they saw that the place where the windmill had stood was covered by a large cloud of black smoke.The breeze gradually dispersed the cloud of smoke.The windmill is gone!

This tragic sight made the animals brave again.A few minutes ago they were buried in fear and despair, but now the viciousness and despicable behavior of the enemy so irritated them that they had nothing to fear.They shouted the slogan of vengeance, and rushed to the enemy without anyone's order.They did not flinch even though the bullets whizzed like hail above their heads.It was a savage, cruel fight.People kept firing at the animals, beating them with clubs and kicking them with heavy boots as they approached.A cow, three sheep, and two geese died instantly; hardly a single animal was left uninjured.Even the tip of Napoleon's tail, commanding the battle at the back of the line, was skinned off by a bullet.But people were not without casualties.Three had their heads smashed by a boxer's hoof, another had his stomach gored by a bull's horn, and a third had his trousers nearly ripped off by Benjamin and Bluebell.Napoleon ordered his nine dogs to weave around under the cover of hedges.When the nine dogs suddenly appeared on the people's flanks and howled ferociously, the group of people were frightened all of a sudden.They found that they were about to be surrounded by animals.Frederick yelled to his men to run away while there was still a way out.So in the blink of an eye, this group of cowardly fellows began to run for their lives.The animals chased them all the way to the end of the field, kicking them from behind as they slipped through gaps in the thorn hedge.

The animals were victorious, but they were exhausted and bloody.They limped slowly back to the farm.Seeing the dead comrades' bodies lying on the grass, many animals wept sadly.For a moment they stood mournfully where the windmill had once stood, and neither spoke.The windmill is really gone.Not a trace of the fruits of their years of labor is now left.Even the foundations were half blown away.If they build again, they can no longer use the fallen stones like last time, because this time the stones were blown away.The blast blast had thrown stones hundreds of yards away, making it look as though no windmill had ever been built here.

As the animals approached the farm, Squeal, who for some reason had not been seen during the battle, suddenly came hopping and hopping towards them.Squealer wagged his tail and looked triumphant.Then the animals heard the salute shot from beyond the farm buildings. "Why is that?" "Celebrate our victory!" cried Squealer. "What victory?" said Boxer.His knees were bleeding, he had lost an iron palm, his hoof was cracked, and he had taken at least a dozen buckshots in his hind leg. "What victory, comrade? Haven't we driven the enemy from our land, from our sacred territory at Animal Farm?"

"But they've blown up our windmill. It took us two years to build it." "What does it matter? We could build one more. We could build six if we wanted to. Comrade, you don't realize what a marvelous thing we've done. The ground we're treading on has just been destroyed. The enemy took it. Now, thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, we have taken it back without losing an inch!" "We've got back the land we've always had," said Boxer. "This is our victory," said Squealer. The animals limped back into the yard.The little pellets that penetrated the skin of the boxer's hind legs were painful.He saw before him the heavy labor of rebuilding the windmill from the ground up, and already in his mind he was beginning to work hard for it.But then it occurred to him for the first time that he was eleven years old and that his physical strength might not be what it used to be.