Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/32

22 the ship each one found himself seven or eight yen in debt! When they first realized this they became very dispirited. At the start they huddled together in one group, surrounded by the fishermen, like lost souls.

About the fourth day after leaving Hakodate they began to feel ill from the effects of eating the hard rice and the same soup every day. When they got into bed they would draw up their knees and prod their fingers into one another’s calves. Their spirits alternately clouded or brightened as they fancied the finger left a dent or did not leave a dent. To make matters worse their bowels did not work for several days. One of them went to the doctor to get some medicine. When he came back his face was pale with excitement.

“He said he didn’t have any luxuries like that.”

“What did you expect? All ship’s doctors are the same,” said one young fisherman who had overheard.

“All doctors anywhere are like it, I tell you. The one at the company I was working at was just the same,” said the fisherman who had been a miner.

When they had all lain down that night the boss came along.

“Are you all asleep? Listen a minute. There’s been a wireless to say that the Chichibu Maru has sunk. It said that the fate of the crew was not known for certain.” With a twist of his lips he spat on the floor. Such was his habit.

What they had heard from the cabin boy flashed into the students’ minds. Drowning would be