The Price of Freedom (7 page)

Richard was up early, as was his
custom, but he felt well rested after the night in William's comfortable bed.
He knocked on the door of his uncle's office and was invited to come in.

"Good morning, uncle.”

His uncle was seated behind a huge
oak desk which was covered with various papers. To one side was another desk
which his aunt had told him was a typical planters’ desk and had numerous small
drawers with brass knobs. There was also a bookshelf lined with leather bound
volumes which he assumed his uncle had brought with him from England.

"Richard, you're up early. I
expected you to sleep late today."

"Habit.
I’m accustomed to getting up early so I find it hard to sleep past the cocks'
crowing."

"Same here," agreed his
uncle. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No. But one of the girls
offered to bring it in here for me if that's okay."

"By all
means.
I’ll tell you a little about the plantation while you wait. I
have 500 acres of which about 300 are planted with cane. The rest has crops for
our own use and we grow a little cotton as well. I have about 150 slaves in the
fields and seven in the house and yard."

"How long have you been using
slaves?"

"Over forty years from when
my father first bought the plantation. I had to sell a lot when I took over, to
settle debts but I was able to keep a handful and a few indentured servants and
as soon as the plantation began to prosper again, I started to replenish my
stock of slaves."

"As I wrote in my letter when
my fiancée and I marry I will be running her father's plantation and I plan to
buy some when I introduce rice. I believe that rice will be to Carolina what
sugar has been to Barbados." His uncle nodded, pleased with Richard’s
vision and insight. "I've heard that slaves from the West Coast of Africa
know how to cultivate rice. That's mainly why I came to Barbados. To learn as
much as I can from you about what to look for when I'm buying slaves, what is a
good price to pay, how best to maintain them and that kind of thing."

"Well I can certainly help
you there. I'll take you with me to the slave market next time I go so that you
can see for yourself how to select and you can learn everything else here on
the plantation."

"Are you able to use them for
jobs other than field work and the house? Some people say that they are not
very intelligent."

"That has not been my
finding. Jethro is an excellent carpenter and I've got a boiler who works in my
boiler room that is so good I wouldn't even sell him for £300 and I've been
offered that much for him."

Richard was impressed and his
respect for his uncle went up another notch. His uncle was obviously wealthier
than he thought if he could refuse £300 for a slave.

"I've also got some
intelligent girls in the house. Deborah, for one, can read and write. Her
mother, Sarah, was the girls' nanny and they all came up together so when we
had tutors for them, I think Deborah learned at the same time. However we don't
encourage that as a rule."

"It's against the law to
teach slaves to read and write in Carolina and Virginia.”

“The more they’re able to
communicate with each other, the greater the threat of a revolt.  We live
in constant fear of that in Barbados. We’ve had several attempts over the years
but they were discovered before they could be carried out and the leaders were
executed.  The last one was just four years ago and it was very well
organized but two of the leaders were overheard talking about it and were
arrested and convinced to give the names of others who were involved. After
that we’ve had to severely restrict the movement of our slaves, for our own
safety.”

“I guess that is the risk of using
slaves; they will eventually outnumber us.  We’ve not got to that point
yet in Carolina but I can foresee that happening as more of us get into rice
and need their labor.”

"What's life like in
Carolina?" asked his uncle.

"It’s pretty good.
Probably not as grand as it is here though, at least not yet.
In terms of our business, we've had some challenges with pirates but we're
still doing well. A few planters have started cultivating rice and it’s doing
better than they expected, I believe, and we’ve just introduced the latest
slave code which has been adopted from the Barbados code since the number of
slaves being imported has grown tremendously."

"Yes I heard that,” his uncle
confirmed. “We’ve had our share of challenges here as well.  The price of
sugar has dropped significantly since the 50’s but fortunately as the retail
price has decreased in England, the demand has increased and people are using
five times as much sugar as they were using before.
 
The introduction of coffee and tea has helped
sales as well since they need sugar to make them palatable. So what we’ve lost
in price, we’ve been able to make up in volume.”

“I’ve told my father that we need
to diversify so that we’re not at the mercy of any one line of business.”

“Yes, which is why I’ve started
distilling rum, and I’ve got an interest in a ship. I definitely agree that
diversification is the key.” 

“That is why I want to get into
rice cultivation which will not only be another source of revenue but will also
be of benefit to our shipping business since we already have contacts in the
islands and in England.”

"In spite of all the negative
things that are said about us, you’ll find the planters here in Barbados very
hospitable and willing to share information. I’ll introduce you to some of them
while you’re here.  Perhaps you can arrange to supply them with rice when
you start production.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“You should read Richard
Ligon’s
book on Barbados which is somewhere in there,” he
gestured towards his library. “It will give you a lot of good information on
the island. In fact you may borrow any of the books in my modest library. 
We will certainly do everything possible to make sure you enjoy your stay. In
that regard I want you to know that while you're here you can make use of any
of the house slaves," his uncle invited.

Richard wanted to be very sure
that he understood what his uncle meant, so for clarity he repeated, "Make
use?"

"Yes.
For
your physical needs.
You're a young, virile man. I don't expect you to
suffer while you're here," laughed his uncle.

Richard's body immediately stirred
in anticipation as he remembered the olive skinned slave who served them the
night before. Deborah, his aunt had called her.

"Any that is, except Sarah
and Deborah," his uncle amended. "I don't share Sarah," he added
with a slight smile of satisfaction. He offered no explanation about why
Deborah was off limits as well and Richard did not feel it was his place to ask
for one.

What a shame, he thought to
himself. One of the others would have to do. Perhaps the young brown skinned
one that had cleared the table last night.

Richard and his uncle toured the
plantation on horseback after he had eaten the breakfast that was brought in by
the same slave, who his uncle called Hattie.

He was sure that it wasn't by
accident that she had brushed against his back as she leaned over to put his
plate on the desk in front of him. The slaves he was familiar with from Carolina
tended not to touch white people so he assumed that it must have been
deliberate. He also knew women well enough to discern that it was a subtle
invitation, one which he intended to take up soon. After all he had been on the
boat for three weeks.

"We’re about to start
harvesting some of our canes so you've come at a good time."

"How long does that
take?" Richard asked him.

"Oh, about
three to four months.
Harvesting canes is hard work and producing sugar
is not easy. We've learned the best time to cut the canes so that we can get
the most sugar from them but the earlier planters learned by trial and error.
Henry
Drax’s
instruction on how to run a sugar
plantation has been of great help to many of us."

"Do the slaves work well?
I’ve heard that they have more endurance than indentured servants."

"Generally, but from time to
time they need a bit of coercion. That's why the drivers carry whips."

"Do any try to escape?"

"One or two, but they don't
get far. There's nowhere to really hide on the island for any length of time.
We make an example of those as a deterrent for the others and I quickly sell
them off. I don't keep runners."

They rode in silence for a while
observing some slaves weeding in the cane fields nearest to them. Richard watched
dispassionately as one of the drivers snapped a whip on the back of a slave to
hasten his pace. As the slave arched his back in response to the leather whip
he idly observed that not even his horse was subjected to that kind of harsh
treatment.

“You'll find that compared to
other plantations, The Acreage is pretty fair. We don't overdo the whip and our
slaves know that they have it a lot better here than on other plantations. On
some plantations the mistress will order even the house slaves to be whipped
for seemingly insignificant things but your aunt is not of that nature. Anyway
she knows that I wouldn't want the house girls scarred, especially Sarah and
Deborah; it decreases their value."

"How much does a house slave
cost?"

"Around £25 to £30. However I
paid £50 for Sarah nearly twenty years ago."

Richard whistled at the sum his
uncle had parted with.

"Now you understand why I
don't want her damaged, for more than one reason," his uncle added with a
smile.

Richard couldn't help himself, he
asked, "How much would you sell Deborah for?"

His uncle looked at him sharply
and said, "She's not for sale. Or for bedding," he reminded him.
Richard nodded his assent.

He needed to put the girl from his
mind. The last thing he wanted was to incur his uncle's displeasure while he
was staying there.

Sarah bent over the wash tub and
rubbed the bar of soap against the collar of the white shirt. The pile of
clothes she had washed already was growing and her back was aching from bending
over the tub while her hands were raw from the soap.

It was a relief to dip the clothes
in tubs of cold, clean water before wringing them out and dropping them into
another tub to take them to the drying yard.

She knew that the mistress
assigned this task to her because it was one of the hardest jobs that a house
slave had to do but at least it allowed her to work outside and enjoy the
beautiful day. She would treat her hands afterwards with lanolin to soothe them
and soften the skin.

She called the stable boy to carry
the tub to the drying yard where some lines were strung up to dry the clothes.
Fortunately at that time of the year, the breeze was brisk and the clothes
would dry quickly.

After hanging up the wet clothes
she went to the bath house to collect the towels that needed to be washed for
that week. Emptying out the water from the last washing she poured fresh water
in the tub and submerged the towels. Looking up she was relieved to see Sally
coming out to help her after finishing her own chores in the house.

"I'm glad to see you Sally.
My back is hurting real bad." With that she straightened up and arched her
back to ease the pain.

"I know that this work does
break your back," she sympathized. "They don't care how hard it is
when they change their clothes every day and we have to wash them."

"Washing day is the hardest
day of the week!" agreed Sarah. "I can't wait to see my bed tonight.
I going to pick up the sheets I washed this morning to make room for these
towels."