pause.

"Of course we can," I supplemented enthusiastically.

And then he said, "Of course we can," and we shook hands on it and went
to bed.

But it was no easy task we had set ourselves. In order to convict a man
of illegal fishing, it was necessary to catch him in the act with all
the evidence of the crime about him--the hooks, the lines, the fish,
and the man himself. This meant that we must take Big Alec on the open
water, where he could see us coming and prepare for us one of the warm
receptions for which he was noted.

"There's no getting around it," Charley said one morning. "If we can
only get alongside it's an even toss, and there's nothing left for us
but to try and get alongside. Come on, lad."

We were in the Columbia River salmon boat, the one we had used against
the Chinese shrimp-catchers. Slack water had come, and as we dropped
around the end of the Solano Wharf we saw Big Alec at work, running his
line and removing the fish.

"Change places," Charley commanded, "and steer just astern of him as
though you're going into the shipyard."

I took the tiller, and Charley sat down on a thwart amidships, placing
his revolver handily beside him.

"If he begins to shoot," he cautioned, "get down in the bottom and steer
from there, so that nothing more than your hand will be exposed."

I nodded, and we kept silent after that, the boat slipping gently
through the water and Big Alec growing nearer and nearer. We could see
him quite plainly, gaffing the sturgeon and throwing them into the boat
while his companion ran the line and cleared the hooks as he dropped
them back into the water. Nevertheless, we were five hundred yards away
when the big fisherman hailed us.

"Here! You! What do you want?" he shouted.

"Keep going," Charley whispered, "just as though you didn't hear him."

The next few moments were very anxious ones. The fisherman was studying
us sharply, while we were gliding up on him every second.

"You keep off if you know what's good for you!" he called out suddenly,
as though he had made up his mind as to who and what we were. "If you
don't, I'll fix you!"

He brought a rifle to his shoulder and trained it on me.

"Now will you keep off?" he demanded.

I could hear Charley groan with disappointment. "Keep off," he
whispered; "it's all up for this time."

I put up the tiller and eased the sheet, and the salmon boat ran off
five or six points. Big Alec watched us till we were out of ra