Ready About by Oliver Optic

Dory Dornwood had made no promises in order to procure his release from the bonds with which he had been secured, and he felt free to fight his way out of the scrape into which he had fallen, if he could. Mr. Michael Angelo Spickles had looked, talked, and acted as though he regarded his prisoner with the utmost contempt.

They did not live in the same moral atmosphere, in the first place; and the leader of the robbers had heard something of the prowess of Dory from Matt Randolph. By taking him in the rear, he had twice overcome him, and tied his arms behind him. Perhaps the fact that he had been able to do so was the most direct source of his contempt. He went to Sunday school, as Angy described his general character; and he did not believe that a lamb of this sort could be a lion when the occasion required.