chain gang

You expect soldiers of all ranks to understand the need to respect the chain of command, regardless of personal feelings.

She stood, in her young purity, at one end of the chain of years, and Mrs. Chepstow—did she really stand at the other?

Then he closed the spring with a snap, and she let him pass the chain over her hand once more.

When Michael needed fresh supplies, he was not long in gathering a gang of harpies about him.

I like sus-sus-pen-sheen bridges that fly from bank to bank, with one big step, like a gang-plank.

He captured two, whom he shot, and burned two or three houses whose owners had been harboring the gang.