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In addition, four pigeons were sent to Foxwood 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.

For the moment even Napoleon seemed at a loss.

He paced up and down without a word, his tail rigid and twitching.

Wistful glances were sent in the direction of Foxwood.

If Pilkington and his men would help them, the day might yet be won.

But at this moment the four pigeons, who had been sent out on the day before, returned, one of them bearing a scrap of paper from Pilkington.

On it was pencilled the words: "Serves you right."

Meanwhile Frederick and his men had halted about the windmill. The animals watched them, and a murmur of dismay went round. Two of the men had produced a crowbar and a sledge hammer. They were going to knock the windmill down.

"Impossible!" cried Napoleon. "We have built the walls far too thick for that. They could not knock it down in a week. Courage, comrades!"

But Benjamin was watching the movements of the men intently. The two with the hammer and the crowbar were drilling a hole near the base of the windmill. Slowly, and with an air almost of amusement, Benjamin nodded his long muzzle.

"I thought so," he said. "Do you not see what they are doing? In another moment they are going to pack blasting powder into that hole."

Terrified, the animals waited.

It was impossible now to venture out of the shelter of the buildings.

After a few minutes the men were seen to be running in all directions.

Then there was a deafening roar.

The pigeons swirled into the air, and all the animals, except Napoleon, flung themselves flat on their bellies and hid their faces.

When they got up again, a huge cloud of black smoke was hanging where the windmill had been.

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