Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/122

112 Tokujiro was always at pains to prove that the company had been forced into the dispute. Yamaguchi soon tumbled to the fact that he was acting on orders from Uematsu.

“… But having once accepted the challenge, as men, we’ll keep on to the end.—To win or to lose, to live or to die”

Tokujiro meant this as a hint of Uematsu’s resolve never to rest until the union was completely crushed. His tone was that of a thief priding himself on his thefts.

“Keep on, keep on as much as you like, but you don’t suppose Yamaki’s are going to miss this chance, do you?” said Yamaguchi, smiling.

Yamaki’s was a rival company. Everyone imagined that they would use the strike to oust Uematsu from the market.

To quarrel and curse one another in this fashion had become habitual with Yamaguchi and Tokujiro. There are some people who, when you meet them, are so irritating that you can’t help picking a quarrel with them. These two felt like that towards each other.

“Your crowd at first put forward thirteen demands and now, in less than two months, aren’t you talking of reducing them to seven? In another couple of months I reckon you’ll be ready to cut them down another five or six, eh?”

Yamaguchi jumped with surprise, but did not let himself be baited.

“Who told you that we were going to reduce the”