ly looking the Lieutenant in the face, he said:

"I demand, sir, to see your commanding officer. He cannot pretend that
these shackles are needed to hold a weak unarmed man in prison, guarded by
two hundred soldiers?"

"It is useless. I have his orders direct."

"But I must see him. No such outrage has ever been recorded in the history
of the American people. I appeal to the Magna Charta rights of every man
who speaks the English tongue--no man shall be arrested or imprisoned or
deprived of his own household, or of his liberties, unless by the legal
judgment of his peers or by the law of the land!"

"The bayonet is your only law. My orders admit of no delay. For your own
sake, I advise you to submit. As a soldier, Dr. Cameron, you know I must
execute orders."

"These are not the orders of a soldier!" shouted the prisoner, enraged
beyond all control. "They are orders for a jailer, a hangman, a
scullion--no soldier who wears the sword of a civilized nation can take
such orders. The war is over; the South is conquered; I have no country
save America. For the honour of the flag, for which I once poured out my
blood on the heights of Buena Vista, I protest against this shame!"

The Lieutenant fell back a moment before the burst of his anger.

"Kill me! Kill me!" he went on passionately, throwing his arms wide open
and exposing his breast. "Kill--I am in your power. I have no desire to
live under such conditions. Kill, but you must not inflict on me and on my
people this insult worse than death!"

"Do your duty, blacksmith," said the officer, turning his back and walking
toward the door.

The negro advanced with the chains cautiously, and attempted to snap one
of the shackles on the doctor's right arm.

With sudden maniac frenzy, Dr. Cameron seized the negro by the throat,
hurled him to the floor, and backed against the wall.

The Lieutenant approached and remonstrated:

"Why compel me to add the indignity of personal violence? You must
submit."

"I am your prisoner," fiercely retorted the doctor. "I have been a soldier
in the armies of America, and I know how to die. Kill me, and my last
breath will be a blessing. But while I have life to resist, for myself and
for my people, this thing shall not be done!"

The Lieutenant called a sergeant and a file of soldiers, and the sergeant
stepped forward to seize the prisoner.

Dr. Cameron sprang on him with the ferocity of a tiger, seized his musket,
and attempted