noon
In the meantime Derek and Sheila were going their round on bicycles , to stiffen the backs of the laborers . They had hunted lately , always in a couple , desiring no complications , having decided that it was less likely to provoke definite assault and opposition from the farmers . To their mother was assigned all correspondence ; to themselves the verbal exhortations , the personal touch . It was past noon , and they were already returning , when they came on the char-a-bancs containing the head of the strike-breaking column . The two vehicles were drawn up opposite the gate leading to Marrow Farm , and the agent was detaching the four men destined to that locality , with their camping-gear . By the open gate the farmer stood eying his new material askance . Dejected enough creatures they looked -- poor devils picked up at ten pound the dozen , who , by the mingled apathy and sheepish amusement on their faces , might never have seen a pitchfork , or smelled a field of clover , in their lives .