Such a fish is the sturgeon, which goes rooting along like a pig,
and indeed is often called "pig-fish." Pricked by the first hook
it touches, the sturgeon gives a startled leap and comes into
contact with half a dozen more hooks. Then it threshes about
wildly, until it receives hook after hook in its soft flesh; and
the hooks, straining from many different angles, hold the luckless
fish fast until it is drowned. Because no sturgeon can pass
through a Chinese line, the device is called a trap in the fish
laws; and because it bids fair to exterminate the sturgeon, it is
branded by the fish laws as illegal. And such a line, we were
confident, Big Alec intended setting, in open and flagrant
violation of the law.
Several days passed after the visit of Big Alec, during which
Charley and I kept a sharp watch on him. He towed his ark around
the Solano Wharf and into the big bight at Turner's Shipyard. The
bight we knew to be good ground for sturgeon, and there we felt
sure the King of the Greeks intended to begin operations.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38