R. A. Lafferty Quote

Roadstrum had a way of putting it on a little thick himself.
"Be there a man among you who doubts my demesne or destiny, then I have fared in vain," he said. "I bare my throat to the treacherous steel —"
"All right, all right," the three tough crewmen capitulated. We're with you all the way and in everything. Only spare us the 'act.'"

Roadstrum confronting a potential mutiny, in Ch. 5 - Space Chantey (1968)