As we turned the corner and came into view of them, I stopped. In front of a chain-store grocery a party of men were trundling out cases and loading them on to a lorry. Save for the difference in the vehicle, I might have been watching my own party at work. I halted my group of twenty or so, wondering what line we should take. My inclination was to withdraw and avoid possible trouble by finding a clear field elsewhere; there was no sense in coming into conflict when there was plenty scattered in various stores for those who were organized enough to take it. But it did not fall to me to make the decision. Even while I hesitated a red-headed young man strode confidently out of the shop door. There was no doubt that he was able to see—or, a moment later, that he had seen us.
He did not share
