"Now, I have caught you! You will have to pay for this! This is a pretty scrape!"
He called for lanterns and shovels, and, seizing a lantern, held it down under the bunk, saw the hole, stuck the point of his sword down and it happened to hit some of the abandoned tools. He then rose to his feet, turned to Major Pasco, who was on a bunk just to his right, and ordered him to "get up and dig out that hole." The major flatly refused. This raised the ire of Captain Tabb, and he said:
"You refuse to obey my orders, do you?"
"I do," was the calm answer.
Captain Tabb then yelled:
"If you don't get up and dig out that hole you will be shot in less than one minute."
By this time there were not less than eight hundred or a thousand men crowding around so close that the guard could hardly stand. I raised myself so as not to be trampled under foot in case of a rush.
Major Pasco replied:
"I am a soldier of the United States army and a prisoner of war. You have no right to demand any manual labor from me."
Captain Tabb turned to a guard and gave the order: