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 range, when he returned to his work. “You’d better leave Big Alec alone,” Carmintel said, rather sourly, to Charley that night. “So he’s been complaining to you, has he?” Charley said significantly. Carmintel flushed painfully. “You’d better leave him alone, I tell you,” he repeated. “He’s a dangerous man, and it won’t pay to fool with him.” “Yes,” Charley answered softly; “I’ve heard that it pays better to leave him alone.”