The prisoner backed away with his hand on a chair and stood waiting.
The Captain turned to his blacksmiths:
"Do your duty—put them on him!"
"'Do your duty—put them on him'"
As the workman bent with his chain Davis hurled him to the other side of the cell and lifted his chair.
The sentinel cocked and lowered his musket advancing on the prisoner who met him defiantly with bared breast.
The Captain sprang between them:
"Put down your gun. I'll give you orders to fire when necessary."
He turned to the officer at the door: