Possible Clues:

• Slowly go back
• For him, the biggest portion
• Go out and do the sowing again, perhaps, by the sound of it
• Withdraw in accordance with new decree
• Retreat (like hair?)
• Slope backward
• Many men's hairlines do this
• Draw back, as one's hairline
• Move back and surrender again
• Grow less edelweiss, initially, after Charlie cuts grass