Quotation from: Tales of the Fish Patrol

Written by: Jack London

I thought so, too, and said we didn't want the line anyway.
Whereupon we cast off and hoisted the spritsail. The bullets
ceased at once, and we sailed away, unpleasantly confident that Big
Alec was laughing at our discomfiture.

And more than that, the next day on the fishing wharf, where we
were inspecting nets, he saw fit to laugh and sneer at us, and this
before all the fishermen. Charley's face went black with anger;
but beyond promising Big Alec that in the end he would surely land
him behind the bars, he controlled himself and said nothing. The
King of the Greeks made his boast that no fish patrol had ever
taken him or ever could take him, and the fishermen cheered him and
said it was true. They grew excited, and it looked like trouble
for a while; but Big Alec asserted his kingship and quelled them.