The Emerald Key - By Christopher Dinsdale Page 0,86

torrent. He thrashed about, trying to find something to grab on to. Suddenly a hand grabbed him under his armpit, pulling him out of the raging torrent and onto the wet wooden floor. In the dim light, he could make out Beth’s drenched face looking down at him, alarmed.

“Jamie, are you all right?”

Jamie hacked up a lungful of water.

“Thanks to you.…” He coughed. “You saved me again.”

“Can you stand? Ryan’s badly hurt. He needs to see a doctor.”

Jamie looked over to the wall to where Ryan was slouched, unconscious. Colin sat next to him, stroking Ryan’s hair. Jamie somehow staggered to his feet and made his way over to his brother. He bent down, gathered Ryan in his arms, and found the strength to pick him up off the floor.

“I’ll take him down to base camp with Colin to find a doctor. Beth, I need you to run back up to the highest lock and grab my satchel. It has the book in it.”

“And what about him?” she asked, pointing to the jammed waterwheel. A pale arm hung over the side of the pipe below the tremendous spray of water.

Jamie staggered towards the door with his brother. “I don’t think we have to worry about him anymore.”

Chapter 21

Beth, Colin, Ryan, and Jamie enjoyed their cold lemonades as they watched the Saturday shoppers pass them by from the steps of the St. Catharines post office. It had been four days since the shootout at the locks. Jamie had reported the strange discovery of a body jamming the waterwheel in the brand new sawmill to Mr. Montgomery himself. Both Mr. Montgomery and Jamie agreed that the discovery of a dead body in their new mill would make for a lot of bad publicity and a possible delay to the final phase of construction for the canal. Mr. Montgomery hired several trusted men to quietly clean up the mess. Everyone agreed that it was best if the incident were simply forgotten.

Jamie kept glancing north along the long expanse of St. Paul Street.

“So do you think it will be today?” asked Colin.

“I really don’t know,” said Jamie. “But we’ll keep coming out here to the post office every day at this time to wait until they do show up.”

“I’m glad you could join us, Ryan,” said Beth.

“I am too,” said Ryan, hoisting up his lemonade in salute. “All those foul-tasting liquids the doctor kept pouring down my throat seem to have done the trick.”

“Well, take it easy, brother,” said Jamie, examining the cloth sling that helped to immobilize Ryan’s arm. “Even if the bullet didn’t hit anything major, you still lost a lot of blood. You don’t want those sutures to pull apart and start the bleeding all over again.”

“Hello, there,” called out a friendly voice. They looked to the street where a man and a woman waved to them from atop their rolling four-wheeled wagon. It was an older couple. The man sported a wide-brimmed straw hat on top of a head of tight grey curls, his pants held up with a pair of dark blue suspenders. The open face of the wife was lined from constant outdoor work, but her smile was warm and genuine. She shielded herself from the sun with a colourful bonnet and a long, checkered dress. The farmer pulled the old mare to a stop in front of them.

“Are you Aunt Sharon and Uncle Robson?” asked Jamie, standing up.

“Yes, we are,” the woman said, warmly. “And you must be Jamie Galway, the young man who wrote us that beautiful letter. Oh … and there is Colin!”

Jamie took Colin’s hand and led him to the cart. Beth and Ryan followed close behind. Colin’s aunt and uncle climbed down and met them at the sidewalk. She lowered herself onto one knee and wrapped her arms around the little boy as tears flowed down her cheeks.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Galway,” she sighed, cuddling the little boy in her arms.

Jamie, choked by the emotion of the moment, could only nod.

“To have Colin here with me means more than I can say. I couldn’t believe your letter when I first read it. Erin and her family … all gone.”

She gave Colin another kiss on the cheek, then turned to Beth.

“And this must be Beth, the young girl we’ve heard so much about.”

“I heard you’ve done a great job looking after Colin,” added Uncle Rob. “You’ve travelled all the way from Quebec City with him and kept him safe? That’s quite an accomplishment