The Secret of the Silver Mines by Shane Peacock

Author:Shane Peacock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nimbus
Published: 2018-10-12T18:00:52+00:00

Sitting there in front of the fire a lifetime later, Larocque could see it all as if it happened yesterday. And so could we. We had been staring into the flames, fascinated. Wyn reached down and gripped her great-grandfather’s hand. A tear appeared in his eye and rolled down his wrinkled face. Wyn turned slightly and glared at me.

Oh great. Someone tells us the saddest thing in his entire life and now it’s my fault. It wasn’t me who forced him to sign that contract. And it wasn’t Dad either. But it was no use, I felt guilty, guilty as charged. Maybe I get that from my mom. I just wished there was some way to get the old man out of this mess, this ancient, contract-sealed mess. Maybe there was more to the story…?

“What happened next?” I asked hopefully. “That couldn’t have been the end of your involvement with Brown. And didn’t he force you to sign the contract anyway? Couldn’t we tell my father that?”

“There is more, much more,” said the old man.

“Tell us!” said Wyn.

“No. It gets very tricky from here. The problem becomes even more complicated.”

Wyn and I looked at each other.

“Remember,” said Wyn, “we have the lawyer’s son sitting right here beside us, and nothing you can say can hurt you, only help, because Dylan is sworn to secrecy unless you give the word.”

I am?

She turned to me. “Aren’t you?” She kicked me in the shins.

“Yes!” I barked.

The old man glanced over at me. That suspicious look was back in his eyes. He stared at me for a few seconds and then turned back to Wyn.

“I can’t decide now…. Come back tomorrow anyway. I’ll tell you about Cobalt in its heyday, and I’ll think about telling you more of my case some other time.”

I guess we must have looked disappointed.

“Did you know,” said the old man, with a smile on his face, “that the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators both played hockey right here in Cobalt?”

“They did?” I said, amazed. “They came up here for an exhibition game?”

“No exhibition game, my dear boy. They both played the Cobalt Silver Kings and the Haileybury Comets in league games. We were in the NHL back then.”

“You were?” I said, excitedly.

“Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you about it.”

We got up to go.

“I spoke to Grey Owl once, in a bar in Haileybury. He was one of the most famous men in the world at that time, a guide and an author who could speak to animals. I’ll tell you about that, too. There was a heavyweight world champion prizefighter here, and fortune-seekers and dance hall queens. And you know who else? Cyclone Taylor. The greatest hockey player in the world. I remember sitting in a front-row seat in the Cobalt Arena and feeling the breeze as he swept by. Cyclone! No man was ever more aptly named.”

He seemed lost in thought.

As we made our way home that night we again had a great deal to talk about.

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