Pine Billy **brought his chair down on four legs** and spit in the fire and studied the logs a minute.

Bold part, what does this mean??

(in The Education of Little Tree, novel)

more context added below<br>
"Smokehouse studied the feller and says, 'Ye could be right, Pine Billy. We'll jest have a look.' and he ambles
acrost the road to the feller's car."
Pine Billy brought his chair down on four legs and spit in the fire and studied the logs a minute.
I couldn't hardly wait to hear what happened to the criminal.