Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/22

12 of the engines throughout the ship boomed as an accompaniment to the quick vibrating. Sometimes when riding on the crest of a wave, the screw would come out of the water and beat the surface with its blade.

The wind became stronger and stronger. It screeched in the masts, bending them like fishing-rods. The waves surged violently from one side of the ship to the other, and then ebbed away. At such times the sluices were like rushing cataracts. Up the fearful slopes of these mountains this little toy ship climbed alone. Then with a stagger, as if about to fall head first, she descended into the trough. Now they were sinking!—but soon another wave was smashing at the side of the ship.

When they entered Ohotsk Sea the colour of the water was a more distinct grey. The cold stabbed at the workers through their clothes. Their lips were blue. A fine snow, dry as salt, started to fail. Like specks of glass it stunned the hands and faces of the men as they crawled and crouched at their work on deck. After each wave washed over the ship the deck became a skating rink. A rope was fastened across the deck to which the crew hung. They looked like clothes on a line. The boss kept shouting at everybody.

A second crabcanning ship which had left Hakodate at the same time was now out of sight. From the summit of the waves, in the distance could be seen its two masts as they rocked up and down like a drowning man waving his arms. A trail of smoke, thin as if from a cigarette, was blown in puffs along the waves. At intervals,