Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/65

Rh movie show on the ship the night the cans were loaded on the transport.

Two or three young men, all very much alike in appearance, with flattened caps a little on one side and bow-ties and wide trousers, came aboard carrying a heavy-looking trunk.

“What a smell!” they said as they took off their coats, and then, whistling a tune, began putting up a screen, measuring off the distance and fixing up the stand. The fishermen got from these men the feeling that they were not of the sea, and therefore were different from themselves, and this attracted them very strongly. Both sailors and fishermen, in a light airy mood, helped the newcomers with their work.

The oldest and flashiest of them, who wore gold-rimmed glasses, stood a little apart and wiped the sweat from his neck.

“Look out; if you stand there you’ll have lice crawling up your legs.” He gave a shriek and jumped up as if he had trodden on a sheet of red-hot steel. The fishermen burst out laughing.

“But I say, this is a dreadful place to be in, isn’t it?” His voice was husky. Then he continued, “I don’t expect you know, but how much profit do you think this company makes by coming here and doing this. Something tremendous, I tell you! Five million yen in six months! Ten million a year. If you say it quickly it doesn’t sound much, but actually it’s tremendous. Not many companies in Japan can pay the huge dividend of 22$1⁄2$ per cent. to shareholders. The head director is going to become an M.P., they say, and