Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/180

170 “Long live the Communist Party of Workers and Peasants!”

At these cries tears came to the eyes of the women. They remembered the murdered Hamamato, their husbands, their brothers and their sons in prison.

The monument became all white under the blanket of snow. Throughout the next few days peasants from Simati and Yotani armed with spades and picks and sticks streamed to the house of Ozawa and guarded their snow-covered monument.

Winter came to an end. The snow melted. Spring approached. The sun melted the snow. The words, “In Honour of the Father of the Peasant Union in Osawa,” gleamed in the sunshine from the top of the monument.

The guard increased to a hundred. Under their straw winter cloaks they hid weapons.