Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/46

36 They all pressed to hear more in spite of occasional glances towards the door. The fishermen went on telling them many other things about the Russians. There minds lapped it all up as if they were blotting paper.

“Hey, there, that’s about enough!” The head sailor, seeing how impressed they all were by these tales, tapped the shoulder of one young fisherman, who was talking for all he was worth.

The wireless operator listened-in to messages between other ships and told every piece of information he got to the boss. Their ship was clearly behind the others. The boss was beside himself with impatience, which he vented on the fishermen and sailors. He held them responsible for everything. The boss and the foreman began to plan so that they could make the work a kind of competition between the seamen and the fishermen.

They were all set to the same work of breaking open the crabs; then, if the fishermen were beaten by the seamen (though they got none of the profits whichever way it went), they were heartily cursed. An unbroken succession of gruelling, killing days. At first the output increased from 50 to 60 per cent., but after five or six days both sides became stale and their work much less productive. Their heads would fall forward on their chests as they worked, and then the boss, without wasting any words, would strike them. Taken unawares, they would