After it had gone by they closed their rank, and trudged on toward the village.

They had been at work all day in the uplands among the corn, cutting away with their hooks low down the yellow straw.

They began in the early morning, and had first to walk two miles or more up to the harvest field.

Stooping, as they worked, to strike low enough, the hot sun poured his fierce rays upon their shoulders and the backs of their necks.

The sinews of the right arm had continually to drive the steel through straw and tough weeds entangled in the wheat.