here with me. She’s been taking down what I’ve said about the amnesty and a telegram will go out to you immediately and to the RCMP to confirm.”
Sam turned around in his chair to face Ray and said, “Bob, I’ve got Staff Sergeant Ray of the RCMP here with me. If you’ll tell him what you’ve just told me about the amnesty for everybody, then I think we can get this whole thing going pretty quickly.”
“O.K. Put him on.”
Sam handed the telephone to Ray, who identified himself and listened quietly to the Prime Minister as he repeated what he had said to Sam. Porter went on, “You people have a Twin Otter up there, haven’t you?”
“Yes, sir, we have.”
“Well, if Sam puts you in contact with people who know where the bombs are, I suggest you use that plane to get out to the pipe. From what I can gather from Sam, there are bombs there right now. You’ll have to act quickly, because the Here, that’s being sent up for Sam and the people from Whitehorse and Yellowknife will be into Inuvik by eleven o’clock tonight.”
“We’ll do our best, sir.”
“Good, now will you put me back to Sam, please?”
Sam took the telephone from the Staff Sergeant and said, “I’ll look after everything here, Bob. Now that we’ve got the amnesty thing going I guess I should tell you it’s Bessie and I who’ve been setting the bombs.”
“I had that figured out five minutes ago, Sam.”
Staff Sergeant Ray shook his head slowly from side to side, as much in gesture of disappointment as in disgust. In his book Sam and Bessie had committed a serious crime, and he really wouldn’t have expected it of them, though he had to admit that if they wanted to draw attention to the wrongs of their people they couldn’t have picked a more dramatic way to achieve it.
The telephone discussion with the Prime Minister over, Sam hung up. He turned to Ray and with a small-boy grin on his face said, “Did you have any idea it was us, Jim?”
The Staff Sergeant shifted slightly, pulled at his moustache, and looked uncomfortable. “As a matter of fact, no, Sam. I thought you’d be too smart to do it yourself. I suspected you knew who was doing it, and maybe even you were planning it, but I had nothing to go on. I certainly didn’t think it was you and Bessie. But the main thing now is, how the hell are we going to get those bombs defused? You’ve got to leave almost at once for Ottawa, so someone else is going to have to do the work.”
Sam bent down by the desk and picked up the green knapsack. Flipping it open, he took out the explosive charge and timing mechanism. That brought Ray to his feet quickly.
“Where on earth did you get that?” he asked.
Sam laughed and responded, “No names, Jim. Pretty good-looking stuff, isn’t it?” He laid the package on the desk.
Ray was astonished. “It sure is.”
Sam went on. “Bessie knows exactly where all the bombs are located. You should be able to land the Twin Otter close to all of them. They’re at river crossings. The charges are set to go off in a series over the next twelve days. The first one is set for 7:30 tomorrow morning, so you’re going to have to get going as soon as it’s light.”
“I’ve taken a fair amount of training in explosives,” Ray said, “but you’re going to have to go through it pretty carefully for me.”
Sam explained the working mechanism and timing device, and the sequence of steps to disable it. “If you turn that wheel the wrong way, Jim, you’ve got four seconds before it blows.”
“Four seconds,” thought the Staff Sergeant. “With snowshoes on, that won’t get you very far.”
Ottawa / 9:40 p.m., EDT
The Prime Minister was looking into the baleful, inanimate eye of the television camera focused on him. His half-hour address was almost finished, and had gone well. He had begun with a review of the terms of the ultimatum and described the meetings he had held during the day and the plans for the briefing in the House of Commons the next morning, followed by the full session of Parliament.
Then he had discussed in depth the American energy crisis, explaining why it was natural gas that was the precious commodity for the United States rather than oil. He had spoken with great sympathy and understanding for the American position, and he had renewed his plea for a calm and controlled response to the United States’ action rather than the stirring up of anti-American demonstrations. Finally, he spoke forcefully of the decision to resist the sanctions which had been imposed, and reported on the decision to threaten a counter-sanction and the gains which had thus been won. Then he continued:
“The President now knows, and I hope that the American people will shortly know, that Canadians will not meekly give in to threats and intimidation.
“As we move toward the moment of decision when the Commons and the Senate sit tomorrow afternoon, it becomes more and more important to me that some mechanism be established through which as many Canadians as possible can communicate their views on the ultimatum.
“With the co-operation of the Trans Canada Telephone System, the television networks, and all private TV and radio stations across the country, we have set up a system which will enable any of you who wish to let me know directly whether you think Canada should accept or reject the ultimatum. Simply telephone any of the stations broadcasting in your local area. Switchboards are open and staff are ready to receive calls. When you are connected, do not discuss the situation; merely say ‘accept’ or ‘reject’ and then hang up. Please get off the line as quickly as possible so that others can have their opinions recorded. And of course I ask you to make only one such call.
“I ask all of the radio, television and news people in the country not to attempt to influence the poll. It would be in the best interests of Canada if the news media devoted their full attention to reporting the facts. In this way, I hope that as many people as possible will have an opportunity to make their opinions known to Parliament.
“The radio and television stations will receive calls until twelve noon tomorrow, Ottawa time. The results will then be tabulated and passed to me in the House at about three o’clock, before the close of debate, and I will be able to advise the House of the result.
“And so I urge every Canadian citizen who can do so to telephone and pass on his opinion about the ultimatum, saying either ‘accept’ or ‘reject’.
“Thank you and good-night.”
Day Two
Ottawa / 7:00 a.m., EDT
The telephone was ringing. Porter struggled awake and reached out for it, almost rolling off the narrow couch in the process.
It was Tom Scott’s voice. “It’s seven o’clock, Prime Minister. You asked me to give you a call.”
“Thank you, Tom. I’ll get going right away.”
Still fogged with sleep, the Prime Minister sat up and tried to collect his wits. God, what a night! It was late when he’d got to bed. The television address had taken much longer than he’d expected — almost an hour — and after that there had been several important telephone calls. He had talked with the Canadian Ambassador in Washington,
