the side! And when the Reindeer was high and proud on the water
once more, we dashed away with the breeze on our quarter, and at
the last possible moment crossed the mud flats and entered the
slough.

The spirit of the Chinese was broken, and so docile did they become
that ere we made San Rafael they were out with the tow-rope, Yellow
Handkerchief at the head of the line. As for George, it was his
last trip with the fish patrol. He did not care for that sort of
thing, he explained, and he thought a clerkship ashore was good
enough for him. And we thought so too.



THE KING OF THE GREEKS



Big Alec had never been captured by the fish patrol. It was his
boast that no man could take him alive, and it was his history that
of the many men who had tried to take him dead none had succeeded.
It was also history that at least two patrolmen who had tried to
take him dead had died themselves. Further, no man violated the
fish laws more systematically and deliberately than Big Alec.

He was called "Big Alec" because of his gigantic stature. His
height was six feet three inches, and he was correspondingly broad-
shouldered and deep-chested. He was splendidly muscled and hard as
steel, and there were innumerable stories in circulation among the
fisher-folk concerning his prodigious strength. He was as bold and