The life's blood of the colony was stopped from flowing. Harper and Sawyer met with other planters in the county and sent a delegation to Governor Berkeley pleading for some action. Sir William Berkeley needed no prodding from these minor planters though, for his plantation at Green Springs was among the largest in Virginia. Governor Berkeley's solution was to organize a fleet of eighteen ships already in the colony that would sail to England united in a convoy for mutual protection from the Dutch. If this were successful, other convoys would follow. But, with such a small fleet sailing, poundage from each planter would be limited, and there was no assurance that the fleet could evade the massive Dutch men-of-war or their privateers. Even solid men considered risky ventures to save their fortunes.
As the difficulties mounted, Francis Harper became frantic with worry about his obligations of debt. Edward Williams would be happy to extend more credit—that was his business, but—unknown to Drusilla Harper—a clause in his mortgage to Sawyer called for payment by Harper of certain of Sawyer's obligations to Sawyer's own Bristol factor; obligations that must be satisfied no later than this year.
"Why's the wood-cutter speaking so cocky and so unconcerned about the fleet, that's what I want to know," Drusilla said to Richard one morning as she handed him his beer and bacon. "He's made some deal with the Devil, he has. That Dutchman friend of his is smuggling, he is. That friend of yours!" She slammed Richard's filled tankard onto the table.
"Captain Ingolbreitsen has become a subject of the English crown, I'm told," Richard said. "The Lower Norfolk Court were pleased with his services to them. There were petitions on his behalf…."
"He's still a Dutchman to me, and all they think about is making another pound. They're next to the Jews in avarice, the Dutch are," she said.
Then I'm next to a Dutchman, Richard thought. And if Sawyer and Ingolbreitsen knew of secret advantages to be made of this war with Holland, Richard wanted in on it. With some more money, he could have his freedom and could have Anne Biggs.
Drusilla looked out to the moonlit bay. Ingolbreitsen's largest ship was anchored offshore from Sawyer's pier that night.
"That Dutchman's dealing with the Devil," she said to no one.
The tide was out, and Richard ran along the beach to where he saw two shallops of Sawyer's ferrying hogsheads to the ship. An English flag flew from Ingolbreitsen's mast.
"Another load of Quakers and corn bound for Nansemond County," Sawyer said as Richard approached.
"A large load, this time," Richard said. "The sect is growing fast."
"Aye, it is," Sawyer said. "But the Captain's touchy now he's an Englishman, so you best get away before he sees you."
"I bet that ship could make it to England in six weeks. Eight, at the most," Richard said, staring at the ship and remembering his voyage over.
"Not with all those Dutch cannon at sea…" Sawyer began.
"I'm no fool," Richard said. "It's the Captain's friends who man those Dutch cannon. Your tobacco will be the first to reach England. Should fetch a fancy price, I'd think. I wish to speak with the Captain for my master."
"For Harper? Your master wouldn't dirty his hands in smuggling out tobacco without paying His Gracious Majesty's tax. Or, is he suddenly desperate enough, I wonder?"
"I'll speak to Ingolbreitsen," Richard insisted.
"Your balls are bigger than your head, Williams," Sawyer said. He hesitated. "But, sometimes that's what it takes." He waved one of his workmen over.
"Take Williams out to the ship," he told the man.
Richard climbed the rope ladder to the deck of the ship. Onboard, his footing was sure. The bay was calm, and this ship was bigger than the one he'd arrived on.
He knocked on the cabin door and went in when answered.
"Welcome, Richard, welcome. Are you free now, and come for your payment?" the Captain asked.
"No, Captain, I'm not yet free, but you could hasten that day, whilst I bring you a few pounds extra."
"Tit for tat. Always the best business arrangement."
Richard rushed out with the proposal as fast as it came to him.
"My master is desperate to get his crop to England. If you deliver some of his crop with this early sailing, he'll pay dearly. And, for making the arrangement, I earn my early freedom!"
It was an audacious proposal that he made. How would he ever approach Harper with such an idea? Harper was a strict follower of all rules.
"Harper? I'm surprised that he would consider so risky an operation. But desperate times call for desperate measures. For us all. Right, Richard?"
"Yes, Sir, Captain."
"Send him to me within the hour. If he agrees to my terms—to our terms— we must reach Pine Haven and load his hogsheads in time to sail with the next tide. There's not much time."
Not much time, indeed, Richard said to himself as he ran back down the narrowing shore. He ran to the Harper's house and banged on the door.
Drusilla Harper opened the door in surprise.
"What is it, Richard? Where did you go? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing. I need to speak with the master. Alone."
Drusilla and Harper looked at each other, then she stepped outside to let them talk.
"Master, I know this is a surprise, and I know you can whip me for the impertinence, but I've conceived a plan that will free you of your pressing debts. But, a plan that must be acted on tonight!"
Richard stopped to catch his breath.
Francis Harper slammed closed the Bible he was reading.
"Who dared speak to you of my debts!"
Richard remained silent as Harper searched his face and calmed.
"I warned my son about relationships with servants," he muttered.
Harper's mind came back to the pressing subject.
"Smuggling, is he? I saw Ingolbreitsen's vessel in the bay this afternoon," he said softly. "My wife's said she's suspected something all along. There's always been talk," Harper said, while staring at the wick lamp.
"He'll slip past the Dutch without a shot," Harper said to no one. "Even if my small shipment in the Governor's official convoy does get through…." He turned to Richard.
Richard looked to the floor.
"This will cost me dearly, will it not?" he asked Richard, then looked away. "My honor, above all."
He looked sad and weak to Richard.
"Not so much as losing your plantation to your neighbor, and leaving your wife and son penniless in this harsh land!"
Richard was so surprised at his own daring words that he was slow to notice the blow to his head that Harper delivered. He lowered his voice.
"Please forgive me, Master, but the time for decision is now. There is no time to waste. His ship sails with the tide."
Harper hesitated for a moment as he looked out the open window to the strip of sandy beach.
"Saddle my horse, then get to the warehouse and roll out the hogsheads. I'll ride to Sawyer's."
***
By the end of August, war with the Dutch was bringing results to the colonists. The English had taken New Amsterdam, and captured prisoners of war were sent to Virginia to help fill the growing need for servants. The Governor paced each day, awaiting news of his convoy, but at Pine Haven and at the Sawyer plantation, relief came early.
Ingolbreitsen's ship was fully rigged on the nearly windless day in early September when its sails drifted above the tops of the spit of pine trees and past Pine Haven. Edward was the first to notice it, and ran to fetch his father who was harvesting the year's crop.
"Father, Ingolbreitsen's ship is back," he said in a voice of hushed anticipation.
Harper stood up and held the knife that he'd been cutting plants with by his side. Richard stood erect in the next row and waited to be spoken to. Eno continued cutting stalks of tobacco and placing them on the ox-drawn sled.
"Edward take my knife and continue the work. Richard, I will most likely want a word with you later." Richard watched this master
walk down the row of tobacco towards the house. He heard what he knew were prayers being uttered by Harper, and he briefly said one for himself.
Edward knew of Richard's deal with Ingolbreitsen and looked at his friend with mixed emotions. Today could be the end of their long relationship. Edward was proud that Richard had been stowing away his private earnings in planning for his freedom, yet he would miss the ready presence of this servant who was also his closest friend. He was secretly jealous of Richard's adventures in Lower Norfolk and with the Birkenhead uprising, and he longed for a day when he'd be free to leave his father in pursuit of his own adventures. But he knew that that could never be. Pine Haven was his future.
"Remember when we met in Bristol?" Edward said, and bent to cut a stalk.
"The High Street was full of Cromwell's troops, so Uncle Edward and I had to come 'round by the Dry Street with all that crowd of merchants and beggars…. So many people in such a narrow street."
"We didn't know how much our world would change," said Edward, as he nudged Eno to move on down the row.
Richard hesitated.
"And we don't know, now," he said finally.
That night, one of the Dutch sailors came to the old hut Richard shared with Billy. Richard was wanted on Ingolbreitsen's ship.
Captain Ingolbreitsen sat at his desk smoking his pipe in friendly conversation with Francis Harper when Richard was let into the cabin. Harper's face was flush with rum and tobacco and success.
"He's been my right hand, Captain," Harper said.
Richard waited at the door.
"Come in Williams, and have a seat," Ingolbreitsen said. Richard did as he was told, waiting for his curiosity to be satisfied.
"It was a successful voyage, Richard. One in which we have all been rewarded," the Captain began.
"And you, no less than we," Harper interrupted. "Be assured of that," he said and lifted a paper from the Captain's desk that Richard recognized as his Contract of Indenture.
"I have signed this willingly and joyfully," he continued. "And with the signature I give, I ask a favor of you as my former servant and the loyal friend of my son."
"Times are difficult, you know," the Captain interrupted," and a planter is reliant on the goodwill of his neighbors."
Richard waited, mystified.
"No one can know of my participation in this voyage," Harper pleaded. "I ask for your co-operation in this matter and have arranged with the Captain to make it easier on us all."
Ingolbreitsen held the Contract.
"Your Contract has been assigned to me," he said. "This paper binds you to me for your remaining year."
He placed the paper on his desk and scribbled two lines and made a flourish of his signature.
"I have now signed the Contract back to you, Richard," the Captain said, and handed it to Richard.
Richard looked in wonder at the markings on the paper that gave him freedom.
Captain Ingolbreitsen continued.
"Gloucester County need know, only, that Harper assigned me your Indenture in exchange for credits that he greatly needed. He asks you to record the Contract, and my release of it, in another county—away from prying eyes and eager tongues. You have no problem with that, do you?"
Richard looked from the paper to each of the men.
The Captain went on.
"Tomorrow I sail for Lower Norfolk. You might wish to display your freedom there, and record it in the courthouse that you helped build."
Richard's eyes grew wider as the possibilities crowded into his mind.
He could approach John Biggs to ask for Anne's hand. He could search for land to purchase with the money he'd saved. He must let his Uncle John know! Credit was due him from the Captain. How many headrights could he purchase?
The remainder of that night was blurred from his memory, except for running back to Pine Haven to tell Edward of the news. The drinking started and he didn't remember when it stopped.
He stood by the railing of Ingolbreitsen's ship the next morning and waved to Edward and Harper and Drusilla. Billy, and Sawyer's servants and slaves stood by the pier, some of them knowing that one day it would be their turn; others, knowing that it never could be theirs. Eno stood with Philly. Delilah held her newest child—an infant son much lighter than her others—and watched his young father sail away.
***
September's sultry breeze slowly moved the ship into and down the bay. When it passed from view of Pine Haven, the ship veered toward the Eastern Shore, and then turned back northward, finally dropping anchor some miles above Pine Haven.
Sweat dripped into Richard's eyes, and he squinted to see a ship that drifted towards their own. A dozen men with short-cut hair moved about its deck. Captain Ingolbreitsen let slack his sails, and waited as the Dutch privateer came aside. Richard didn't question the Captain, but stood well astern to be innocent of participation in trade with the Dutch enemy.
Ingolbreitsen and the Dutch captain shouted greetings as the ships closed in on each other. The pirateer boarded with a crew that immediately began transferring the hogsheads of tobacco to the other vessel.
Richard could hear the men clearly, though he understood almost none of their language. He knew that the tone of their conversation had changed though, as the words were more and more strained until the words came as short bursts of anger from both men. The sailors stopped their loading, and one of them reported to their captain. The Dutchman followed his sailor to a hogshead that Richard knew contained a Quaker. Their captain rocked the hogshead and questioned Captain Ingolbreitsen. The answer amused the Dutchman, who stood over the hogshead and pounded on its head, beating it like a drum as he laughed.
The four hogsheads that held Dissenters were put aside as the sailors went on transferring tobacco. Richard saw Captain Ingolbreitsen's angry face and sensed a business deal gone awry. He turned away and looked across the bay, in the direction of Pine Haven. Most of the day had been spent in this futile business. They could have been on the Elizabeth River by now. They were further up the bay, now, than when they'd left.
He squinted into the west and saw a dot on the horizon that had been a mere speck some minutes earlier. Another ship was coming in their direction.
By the time the Dutchman saw the approaching ship, all booty had been transferred. After a brief, angry exchange between the two captains, the Englishmen were all bound and secured, then left adrift. The Dutchman's laugh and shout came across the water.
"Good-bye, new Englishman!"
Richard lay in the shade of two hogsheads and waited for the rescue. He asked the Quakers inside how they fared. They were uncomfortable and concerned for their safety. The hogsheads must be opened, and they released, or else they'd be found-out when the tied up crew was freed. There was no answer, and all waited in silence until the coming ship arrived. In these waters, at least, there was hope for rescue by neighbors. It mattered who would board the ship.
The first man to climb aboard was Old Ned, from Mister Ware's plantation. He hurried to the Captain, then to the others, untying men and listening to their stories of the pirateer. Old Ned was followed by an officer of the King's Navy who introduced himself as Colonel Neville, of the Virginia militia. Governor Berkeley had charged him with pressing into service those ships that he felt would be useful for the colony's defense against just such pirateering acts as this, or against a possible attack by the Dutch fleet.
As Colonel Neville's outrage at this piracy in local waters subsided, he saw the hogsheads that had been abandoned. With a silver-buckled shoe, he rocked a cask until it fell and rolled across the gently pitching deck. A Quaker's groan revealed the contents.
The casks were opened and the somber-clad dissenters lined against the rail. The ship was searched, and the questions came quickly.
"Where did you load your cargo?"
"Where are you bound?"
"Why were none of your personal valuables taken by the pirateers?"
"Have you sworn a
llegiance to His Majesty and to the Church of England?"
"The boy's a cooper what belongs to Francis Harper of Pine Haven plantation. The boy's uncle is Mister John Williams."
Old Ned volunteered the information as help, Richard supposed. He hoped it was the last time anyone called him "boy."
Everyone's papers were demanded and examined. More questions were raised when Richard's transferred and canceled Contract of Indenture was discovered. And then, Old Ned recognized Richard's stamp on all the hogsheads. The mark he proudly hammered into the setting-up hoop of all his work.
Becoming Americans Page 14
