I imagine that he belonged to some society whose members could not eat bread and jam, because he refused it quite angrily. Then he said that it was his duty to send us away.
Harris said that if it was a duty it should be done. Then he asked the man how he planned to do his duty. Harris is a very big and muscular man. The man looked him up and down, and said he would go and consult his master, and then come back and throw us into the river.
Of course, the man never returned. He was one of those toughs who tried to blackmail timid and stupid people by saying that they represent the owners of the land and along the river. Sometimes the owners of the land by the river are really to blame.
