by Every, Donna
He was a tall, well built, handsome man with ebony skin. He had lived on the plantation all his life and had been just a teenager when the master had come to Barbados. He was now forty and once the master had discovered that he was a gifted carpenter he had taken him from the fields.
He now pulled up a chair at the table and looked around furtively before announcing to the women that he had been to a secret Quaker meeting in town the night before.
"The Quakers used to live in Barbados years ago and they would speak out about how bad the masters treated their slaves. All of a sudden they stopped them from holding meetings and made their lives so miserable that most of them left the island and went to America. They only have a few left back but they don’t hold big meetings now. But every now and then they would have a small one at a house," Jethro explained.
"They said God loved the world so much that he sent Jesus to set us free," he told them. All the slaves sat up attentively at that.
"Who is this Jesus? He goin’ lead a revolt?" Cassie asked. The last one had been four years earlier but it had failed.
"No," Jethro explained patiently. "Jesus is God's son. They say that if we sin we are slaves to sin so Jesus come to set us free from sin. From doing wrong things."
"It's the masters that doing wrong things,” Cassie insisted. “Look what Master William do to Deborah last night."
"All of us is do wrong things.”
"So if we keep doing wrong things we will be slaves?" Hattie, one of the newer slaves, asked.
"Slaves to sin," repeated Jethro.
"So how is Jesus supposed to set us free from sin?" Asked Deborah joining in the conversation.
"By dying for our sins."
"So how that could help us?" Cassie asked.
"By coming back to life. That is how he able to save us." The slaves could not understand this and Jethro could not explain it so they were confused.
"All I know is that if you believe he died for your sins you will be free."
“But we won’t be free from slavery, so as Cassie said, how does that help us?” Deborah pointed out bitterly. Jethro had no answer.
Deborah had heard about God when the children's tutor had taught them but he never really talked about Jesus or him dying for their sins. Anyway how important was being free from sin when she was still a slave? If he could free her from slavery that was one thing but if he couldn’t or wouldn’t, why would she need him? She would just have to find a way to do it herself.
Chapter 3
October 1695
Charles Town, Carolina
Richard Fairfax was going over the manifest for their next shipment to England. He noted that an increasing percentage of the cargo was rice and his instincts told him that this was the way of the future for Carolina and they needed to be a part of it. Convincing his father of that was another matter.
"Father, although our business is doing fairly well, mainly through our exports, we can’t compete with the goods that the pirates sell at a fraction of the price here in Carolina. And we still have the French war ships to worry about in the Caribbean Sea, so I think it is important for us to diversify. We should invest in a plantation and start to cultivate rice. That way, rather than shipping other people’s rice we will be shipping our own as well. Some of the other planters are already way ahead and have been paying their taxes with rice for the last four years. It is clear that rice is the way of the future."
"What do we know about growing rice? We know how to fill ships with cargo and get the best price for it and we’ve done exceedingly well at that."
"I’m not disputing that but rice will be to Carolina what sugar is to Barbados. That’s why we should invest in it. We can get slaves from West Africa to work on the plantation. They are being brought from there particularly because they know how to grow rice."
"Then we'll be relying totally on them. How do we know they won’t try to deliberately ruin the crops?"
“Why would they?” Richard asked in exasperation as he ran a hand through his long, dark hair impatiently. At twenty-four years old he had been involved in his father’s business for eight years, except for the two that he had spent in England and even then he had been learning different aspects of business.
James Fairfax, at fifty-two was set in his ways and was resistant to change. He had said that he was ready to turn the business over to Richard but he still seemed very reluctant to do so. Their constant battles were a source of frustration to Richard and he wondered why he had been sent to England to study if every suggestion he made was met with resistance.
His younger brother Charles, Richard noted, was at least using his training, as he had been taught how to keep the books and deal with the paperwork. He preferred to spend his time sourcing profitable cargo for their ships and often worked alongside the crew helping to load the cargo, which was evidenced by his well muscled body and work roughened hands.
"Look, Benjamin Carlisle and I have been talking. Since his illness, he's not up to running his plantation anymore and since he has no sons, we agreed that it would make sense for you and Ann to marry. You could talk to him about converting his plantation into rice production rather than starting fresh.”
Richard thought about that for a moment. The Carlisles, who had come to Carolina from England a few years after his father, owned a plantation in the Low country as well as a house in town. Their only son had died in childhood and they had two daughters, of which Ann was the elder.
He had no objection to Ann as such. She was quite an attractive girl and he knew that she had been smitten with him for years. If he married her he could run the plantation without having to buy land and he could instead take the money and invest it in clearing the property to plant rice and buy slaves. He knew that he could make it successful and show his father that he was right about rice.
Richard smiled. "That would be good," he agreed. “I could invest the money into converting the plantation if he agrees. I’ll ask her father permission to court her right away and I'm sure that we will be able to announce our engagement by Christmas."
"Good man," his father praised, slapping him on the shoulder.
Richard was anxious to talk to Ben Carlisle as soon as possible. Since he was no longer able to run the plantation himself he would probably allow him to implement whatever changes he wanted, especially since he was willing to invest in it.
His juices began to flow in anticipation. He needed to learn about using Africans for labor, and although many planters used them in Carolina, including Ben, he preferred to go to where they had been using slaves for decades: Barbados.
Richard’s father, his father’s sister Elizabeth and her husband Thomas had travelled to Barbados together, where Thomas took over the running of his father’s large sugar plantation which had been mismanaged for years. However land was by then becoming very scarce and his father, James, had been unable to secure a sizeable portion and had decided to go on to Carolina with a group of Barbadian Adventurers to help with the colonization.
Land was plentiful in Carolina but was being distributed based on the number of family members and slaves or servants owned or brought into the colony. Having no slaves of his own, and seeing an opportunity to ship goods between England, Barbados and Carolina, James had bought two sloops with his money, hired some able sea men and began to trade. He sent for his fiancée, Mary, from England and they had married early in 1671 and had Richard later the same year.
The first Navigation Act which legislated that produce from the colonies could only be shipped to England in vessels owned by English or colonists boosted their revenue considerably in the early days and they were able to expand to their current fleet of five ships which traded not only with England but with several of the islands, primarily Barbados which was like Carolina’s mother land.
They had an agent in Barbados whose job was to ship sugar and rum to Carolina and handle the lumber, pipe staves, pitch, tar, beef and corn that they exported to Barbados. Howeve
r Richard had been somewhat dissatisfied with the agent’s performance for several months now and would use the opportunity to meet with him while he was in Barbados.
It would probably be more beneficial to go in the first months of the New Year. That would give him time to begin courting Ann and get his future father-in-law to agree to his suggestion before he left for Barbados. If he stayed there at least three months he should be able to see the canes harvested and processed into sugar as well.
For the first time in a long while he began to feel excited. He would talk to Ben Carlisle that very day. He would keep his plan to go to Barbados quiet until next year to avoid any opposition to the plan. His aunt told his mother, who she corresponded with, that they were welcome to visit any time and he would certainly take her up on the offer. It was shameful that they had boats which sailed to and from Barbados frequently and they had never taken the time to visit the island.
Richard replaced the quill in the inkwell on his desk, glad that the chore had been completed. Letter writing and record keeping were a bane to him so he preferred to leave them to his brother Charles; however this was one that he had to deal with himself. He waited a minute for the last of the ink to dry and then read back the letter.
February 7, 1696
Charles Town, Carolina
Dear Uncle Thomas
I hope that this letter finds you in good health. I was just remarking to myself that although our ships frequently sail to Barbados, I have never accompanied one to visit you, to my shame. However mother often speaks of you and my aunt, and shares news of your life in Barbados from the letters that my aunt sends. She longs to see you both and hopes to visit you someday soon. My sister Charlotte will be getting married soon so perhaps my parents will visit you after the wedding.
My father has said that he plans to hand the running of the business over to me. Currently I oversee the operations while Charles is responsible for the administration. However I have entered into an arrangement to marry a young lady whose father owns a plantation in the Low country. He is no longer able to run it and intends to turn it over to me after the marriage. I am keen to convert it to rice production and will need to import slaves, primarily from West Africa, for labor.
Since you have used Africans on your plantation for many years, I desire to seek your advice on their use and to learn all that I can from you. I have given it much thought and I believe that I would best be served by a visit to Barbados. I therefore seek to impose upon your hospitality for about three months to observe your use of Africans in the production of sugar, as well as your upkeep of them to maximize the return on your investment, so that I can successfully implement the same upon my return to Carolina.
Mother has said that you and my aunt have extended an open invitation to visit Barbados at any time, so I will put my affairs in order here and set sail by the end of the month and should reach Barbados by the middle of March, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
I am looking forward to meeting you and my aunt and of course my cousins, Mary and Rachel. Mother tells me that William is still in England so it will please me greatly to help you on the plantation in his absence. Mother will no doubt be sending several gifts for the family and I will bring you some of Carolina’s best tobacco.
Your faithful nephew
Richard Fairfax
Satisfied, he folded the letter, sealed it with some wax and called a servant to arrange to have it taken down to their next boat sailing for Barbados together with the one his mother had written.
“I saw Jackson heading down to the harbor with letters,” said Charles coming into the small office a short while later.
“Yes, I’ve finally written to our uncle to let him know that I’m coming to Barbados. I couldn’t put it off any longer.”
“So when are you planning to sail?”
“At the end of the month. Father will no doubt take over my job, so everything will be fine.”
“I’m not worried,” assured Charles. “How is Ann taking the news?”
“I haven’t had the opportunity to mention it to Ann as yet.”
Charles sputtered, “Not had the opportunity? Richard you’ve been thinking about this for over a month! Don’t you think you should have mentioned it to your fiancée by now?”
Richard shrugged. “I didn’t want to bring it up until I had actually sent the letter to our uncle.” Charles snorted at the poor excuse.
The truth was that Richard didn’t want to deal with his fiancée’s whining so he had delayed telling her as long as possible.
It hadn’t been that much of a difficulty to convince Ann to marry him, since she had made no secret of the fact that she had set her heart on him from the time she was a young girl of fourteen to his eighteen and she always got what she set her heart on. They had officially become engaged on Christmas Eve the year before, on her twentieth birthday.
“I don’t know why you treat Ann so abominably,” protested Charles, “She’s a beautiful girl, inside and out. She’s too good for the likes of you.”
“Then why don’t you marry her?” Richard challenged. He knew that Charles admired Ann and if it wasn’t for the plantation at stake, he would be the first to encourage a marriage between them, but fortunately Ann was besotted with him. To be honest he really didn’t know why; he offered her no encouragement.
Charles scowled at him in reply and took out a ledger and started to work.
Ann was a pleasant girl, if somewhat spoiled, but she certainly didn’t stir him to passion. Her glossy reddish brown hair and turquoise eyes were attractive, but her inane conversation was a source of aggravation for him. She seemed to have no interest in anything beyond the next new dress she would get from England or the next party she was going to.
After being with her for any length of time, Richard was sorely in need of the relief he got from visiting his mistress, Anise, a French woman whose family had moved to Charles Town in the late 80’s to escape the persecution of the Huguenots in France. She obviously no longer followed their faith and apart from her other talents, she could at least provide him with good conversation or quietude, depending on his mood.
It was a pity he couldn’t marry her, but since her father did not own a plantation, what would be the point. Just as well that he was ruled by his head and not his heart. That was not to say that his heart was involved where Anise was concerned; no it was definitely something else that made him seek her out regularly. Realizing that he’d been so busy he hadn’t seen her for more than a week, he picked up his hat and headed for the door, telling Charles that he was going out.
“Where are you off to?” Charles called after him.
“To see Anise. I haven’t seen her for nearly two weeks.”
“You’re incorrigible!”
“Women love incorrigible men,” said Richard with a smile.
“Richard, I have missed you, chéri,” declared Anise with a pout, her French accent distorting the English words in the way that Richard loved.
“Why have you not come to see me recently?” she demanded with her hands on her hips. Her black hair was piled in an elaborate style high on her head and her sparkling blue eyes challenged him. As beautiful as her face was, his eyes couldn’t help their downward trek to her magnificent bosom that threatened to spill over the low neckline of her satin gown.
“I was busy Anise.” He reluctantly pulled his gaze back to hers. “I’ve been putting things in place so that I can visit my uncle’s plantation in Barbados at the end of the month.”
“You’re going to Barbados? Take me with you. I will keep you company on that long journey.” She purred, drawing closer.
“Tempting, my love, but I don’t think my aunt would approve of me bringing my mistress to stay at her house, especially when she knows that I’m engaged.”
“I can’t believe you are going to marry that girl, Richard. I have seen her in town and I don’t know what you are thinking. She seems attractive enough but I can’t imagine
she will satisfy you.” She stepped back from him.
“Darling, that’s why I have you. I’m thinking how profitable her father’s plantation will be when I convert it to rice. She’s the older of two girls, you know, and her brother died in childhood, so her daddy wants to make sure there will be someone to run the plantation when he passes on.”
“That’s what I like about you, Richard. You don’t pretend to be anything other than what you are; an opportunist.”
“It takes one to know one, my love,” he returned, taking the pins from her hair so that it fell down her back. He ran his fingers through the thick tresses, drawing her closer. “As much as I love to converse with you, I didn’t come for conversation today. It’s been almost two weeks since I saw you.”
“And whose fault is that, chéri?”
“I confess that the fault is mine, but I intend to make up for my absence,” he promised nibbling her neck.
“I look forward to that,” she laughed throatily as she threw back her head to give him better access.
Pausing to unbutton her gown he encountered her tightly laced up stays. “Why do you women wear these contraptions?” he complained in frustration.
“If I had known you were coming today I wouldn’t have bothered to put it on.” He impatiently undid the laces and was rewarded by Anise taking a deep breath as she was freed from the instrument of torture.
“What a relief! That feels wonderful,” she sighed blissfully.
“That’s nothing compared to how wonderful you’ll feel in a few minutes,” he promised pushing the gown to the floor. Swinging her up into his arms he headed for her room in haste.
“How long will you be in Barbados?” asked Anise much later as she lay with her head on his chest.
“About three months.”
“Three months! What will I do without you?”
