Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/16

6 In the dim light fishermen were lying round like pigs. The stench was that of a pigsty and made the newcomers’ stomachs turn.

“What a stink.”

“What d’ye expect. It’s us. Of course we smell pretty high.”

A fisherman with a big red face poured sake from a gallon bottle into a cracked cup and gulped it down, chewing some dried cuttlefish at the same time. By his side was another lying on his back who was eating an apple and reading some old magazine.

“I’ve made up me mind to give up the sea, but you know how it is,” said one young fisherman loudly. His hair was in a tuft in front and his face was bloated and puffy from drink.

A pair of bow legs appeared in the hatchway and a man came down the stairs with a big old-fashioned bag strung over his shoulders. He glanced round and, discovering an empty place in a bunk, in he climbed. His complexion was dark and oily as if stained with something.

“I’ve come to join you, mates.”

Before coming to this ship he had worked in the Yubari coal mine for seven years. After being almost fatally injured in an explosion he left the mines. The explosion occurred as he was pushing a truck he had loaded along to the next man. It was if hundreds of sticks of magnesium had been suddenly thrust in his face. In less than 1/5000 of a second after he felt his body float up like a sheet of paper. Truck after truck flew around like empty match-boxes. That was all he knew. How long