Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/177

Rh after discussion that every homestead should contribute one or two stones and engrave their names upon them. When the stones were ready the foundations would be laid and the monument erected. The inscription on it was to be, “Monument in Honour of Hamamato Sendzo, organizer of the Peasant Union in Osawa.”

Nobody knew how it happened, but the police soon found out about it. One day a posse of police suddenly arrived in Simati, led by the head of the local police station, and disposed their forces in advance about the houses. They worked very hard, looking everywhere for the polished stones and taking them away in a lorry. They even took away the memorial stone from Todoroki’s yard.

But this did not cause any special perturbation. The plan was again discussed in the strictest secrecy by the committee. Again the members of the union began to collect stones secretly, hiding them in the most unlikely places, and taking them out at night to polish.

The autumn came, and with it arrests of the committee members. Tetsu and Siro were kept in police cells ten and twelve days, and the lorry came again and took away all the stones.

Siro and Tetsu waited for the wave of reaction to subside and worked out a third plan.

The committee sent its members secretly to visit all the houses. The store of stones in the neighbourhood had become appreciably less, so the work would be that much harder.

The committee thought of a place to hide the stone.