Meantime I had my luggage ready to throw aboard the 10.30 express, which
was my one chance in case the Imperial Limited could be halted. The three
men were persistent but finally, two or three minutes before the departure
of the express, they came to me hurriedly and said: "You had better go by
this train to North Bay, where you will arrive at 9.30 to-morrow morning.
There you will catch the train, or if not you can return here." There
appeared to me small prospect that the three men would succeed in
obtaining the desired permission, but I had no time for reflection. The
train was ready to start and my luggage was hastily thrown to the platform
of the car. I bade the gentlemen a hurried good-bye, thanking them for all
the trouble they had taken. "You are going to catch that train!" the
reporter exclaimed in a firm and encouraging tone. "But what do you expect
to find in New Guinea?" he suddenly inquired as I jumped on to the slowly
moving train.
Reflecting that in the worst case I would be back in Montreal in one and a
half days, I fell asleep. At 6.30 in the morning I was awakened by the
voice of the porter saying, "the train is waiting for you, sir," as he
rolled up the curtain. It really was the Imperial Express! The big red
cars stood there quietly in the sunshine of the early morning. In a few
minutes I was dressed, and never with greater satisfaction have I paid a
porter his fee.
The station was Chalk River, and the train had waited forty minutes. What
a comfortable feeling to know that all my belongings were safely on board!
I had not only saved time and money but an interesting trip across the
continent lay before me. Having washed and put on clean garments, I had my
breakfast while passing through an enchanting hilly country, amid smiling
white birches, and the maples in the autumn glory of their foliage, with
more intensely red colouring than can be seen outside North America. The
oatmeal porridge seemed unusually well prepared: the waiter intimated that
the cook was a Parisian. However that might have been, he was probably of
French descent.
Four days later we arrived at Vancouver, where I wrote to the three
gentlemen of Montreal, my appreciation of services rendered, addressing
them care of The Star. Their names I did not know, but it was not the
first time that I had been reminded of Darwin's assurance, in the account
of his travels round the world, as to "how many truly kind-hearted people
there are, with whom he (the traveller) never before had, nor ever again
will have any further communication, who yet are ready to offer him the
most disinterested assistance."
Early in the morning on October 19 we saw the first Japanese fishing-boats.
The sea was green and in the atmosphere a kind of haze, which almost seems
peculiar to Japan, imparted an artistic tone to everything.
