Little tugs bustled up to the side of the Black Arrow and guided her between Brooklyn and Staten Island into New York Harbour. The colossal Statue of Liberty regarded them austerely as they gazed in awe at the emerging skyline of Manhattan, great long arms stretching high into the autumn sky.
Finally they moored near the turreted and spired red brick buildings of Ellis Island. The passengers who had private cabins left the ship first.
Wladek hadn't noticed them until that day. They must have been on a separate deck with their own dining hall. Their bags were carried for them by porters, and they were greeted by smiling faces at the quayside. Wladek.
knew that wasn't going to happen to him.
After the favoured few had disembarked, the captain announced over the loudspeaker to the rest of the passengers that they would not be leaving the ship for several hours. A groan of disappointment went up, and Zaphia sat on the deck and bur, - ,t into tears. Wladek tried to comfort her. Even - tually an official came around with coffee, a second with numbered labels which were hung around their necks. Wladek's was B.127; it reminded him of the last time he was a number. What had he let himself in for? Was America like the Russian camps? In the middle of the aftemoon, having been given no food or further information, they were ferried by slow moving barges from the dockside to Ellis Island. There the men were separated from the women and sent off to different sheds. Wladek kissed Zaphia and wouldn't let her go, which held up the line. A nearby official parted them.
'All right., let's get moving,' he said. 'Keep that up and we'll have you two married in no time.'
Wladek lost sight of Zaphia as he was pushed forwards with George. They spent the night in an old, damp shed, unable to sleep as interpreters moved among the crowded rows of bunks, offering curt, but not unkind, assistance to the bewildered immigrants.
In the morning they were sent for medical examinations. The first hurdle was the hardest: Wladek was told to climb a steep flight of stairs. The blue - uniformed doctor made him do it twice, watching his gait carefully.
Wladek tried very hard to minimise his limp, and finally the doctor was satisfied. Wladek was made to remove his hat and stiff collar so that Ids face, eyes, hair, hands and neck could be examined carefully. The man directly behind Wladek had a hare lip; the doctor stopped him immediately, put a chalk cross on his shoulder and sent him to the other end of the shed. After the physical was over, Wladek joined up with George again in another long line outside the Public Examination room where each person seemed to be taking about five minutes. Three hours later when George was ushered into the room Wladek began to wonder what they would ask him.
When George came out, he grinned at Wladek and said, 'Easy, you'll walk right through it.' Wladek could feel the palms of his hands sweating as he stepped forward.
He followed the. official into a small, undecorated room. There were two examiners seated and writing furiously on what looked like official papers.
'Do you speak English?' asked the first.
'Yes, sir, I do quite good,' replied Abel, wishing he had spoken more English on the voyage.
'What is vour name?'
`Wladek Koskiewicz, sir.'
The men pas~ed him a big black book. 'Do you know what that is?'
'Yes, sir, the Bible.'
'Do you believe in God?'
'Yes, sir, I do.'
'Put your hand on the Bible, and swear that you will answer our questions truthfully!
Wladek took the Biblo in his left hand, placed his right hand on it and said, 'I promise I tell the truth.'
'What is your nationality?'
Tolish.'
'Who paid f or your passage here?'
'I paid from my money that I earn in Polish Consulate in Constantinople.'
One of the officials studied Wladek's papers, nodded and then asked, 'Do you. have a home to go to?'
'Yes, sir. I go stay at Mister Peter Novak. He my frien&s uncle. He Eve in Ne%~ York.'
'Good. Do you have work to go to?'
'Yes, sir. I go work in bakery of Mister Novak!
'Have you ever been arrested?'
Russia flashed through Wladek's mind. It couldn't count. Turkey - he wasn't going to mention that.
'No, sir, never.'
'Are you an anarchist?'
'No, sir. I hate Communists, they kill my sister!
'Are you willing to abide by the laws of the United States of America?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Have you any money?'
'Yes, sir.'
'May we see it?'
Yes, sir.' Wladek placed on the table a bundle of notes and a few coins.