The Emerald Key - By Christopher Dinsdale Page 0,73
dramatic docking in St. Catharines. Shane was right. Only a small handful of people rescued from the quay decided to stay in Canada. Jamie, Beth, and Colin huddled low amongst the group of Irish that disembarked, hoping not to be noticed by the gathering crowd. The locals were wandering down to the water’s edge in order to gawk at the sleek new steamship. They were surprised when the gangplank retracted as soon as the passengers had disembarked. The crew then pushed her away from its moorings and Jamie dared to sneak a quick glance at the now familiar superstructure of the Flying Irishman turning her nose seaward. The steam thickened over the twin smokestacks, and she set a course due south for the American border.
Jamie, Beth, and Colin parted ways from those heading back north to Toronto and instead turned south for the town of St. Catharines. The trio soon found themselves strolling along St. Paul Street in the heart of St. Catharines. They admired the many shops that catered to the large work crews rebuilding the Welland Canal. Jamie finally spied the door for which he was searching. Avoiding a carriage and several piles of horse manure, the three made their way across the street and into the town post office.
“I think it’s high time we wrote a letter to your relatives, Colin. What do you think? Would you like to finally meet your aunt and uncle?”
The young boy nodded enthusiastically. Jamie sat on the steps of the post office and wrote a letter with a pen and paper he had removed from the captain’s quarters of the Carpathia II. Colin climbed up to the top step and looked over Jamie’s shoulder at the writing.
“What does it say?” he asked.
“It says there is a handsome young lad by the name of Colin O’Connor who would very much like to meet his aunt and uncle. I’m going to tell them that we should meet right here in front of the St. Catharine’s post office in one week’s time. Luckily, the town of Dundas is only a day’s ride away for the letter. Is there anything else you would like me to say to them?”
Colin looked up at Jamie with his big blue eyes. “Can you tell them that my mommy and daddy and my sister and brother are not here any more?”
Jamie gave Colin a hug. “Of course, I will. There. All done. Now, can you take this envelope and money up to the postman and say it is going to your aunt and uncle in Dundas, Canada West?”
The boy nodded enthusiastically and opened the door to the post office. Beth leaned into Jamie. “I’m going to miss that little guy when he leaves.”
“Me too. He reminds me so much of myself, right after I lost my parents.”
Beth eyed the distant construction snaking up the side of the escarpment. “So what are we going to do now?”
“It’s not that complicated a plan, really. We just start at one end of the canal and work our way to the other, asking every single person we meet if they have seen my brother.”
Hundreds of men could be seen milling about the long, narrow worksite, popping in and out of the scar like a colony of ants tending to a massive nest.
“This search is going to take a while,” whispered Beth.
As Colin skipped back to the steps empty-handed, Jamie stood up. “You’re right, Beth. So I guess we better get started.”
The first three days they spent searching for Ryan Galway ended with frustrating futility. Jamie meticulously interviewed every single worker that was on the lower end of the project; from the stonecutters and sappers working hard to turn the deep trench into a functional canal, to the engineers and supervisors who were poring over various drawings and calculations in the scattered foreman offices. Not surprisingly, many of the labourers were Irish. Most were sympathetic once Jamie explained his plight to them. It was all too common a story among those at the canal, as everyone had stories of family members who had been separated from each other either in Ireland, at the quarantine stations, or, more tragically, by the hand of death. Jamie could only hope that someone would either know Ryan’s name or perhaps recognize their facial similarities, for many who knew them in Ireland said that except for the difference in hair colour, it was easy to tell that they were brothers. Jamie prayed for that next clue that could help