Riverbreeze: Part 1 by Ellen E. Johnson

garden. But of course he had never seen any of them
before from the back of a horse and this made them appear new all
over again.
    But towards the end of the journey, around
mid-afternoon, Robin became drowsy and his head started to nod
sleepily from the excitement of the ride and from being with his
father and uncle on this grand adventure. Jamie and Robert
exchanged contented grins, grins that grew wider when they finally
emerged from the last copse of woods to the sight of Tyler’s
fields, the brilliant sun shining full and warm on their upturned
faces.
    “We made it.” Jamie said, raising up in his
saddle in satisfaction and patting the neck of his fine stallion.
Yes, they had made it on these two fine animals without any mishaps
and Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know what he would
have done if something tragic had happened.
    “Yes, we did.” Robert responded. “I’m proud
of you, Jamie, for getting us here safe and sound. I admit I had a
few concerns.”
    Jamie threw his brother a surprised look.
“You never said a word, except about Robin falling off the
horse.”
    “I didn’t want to ruin your fun, but this was
a nice change of pace. I think I’m going to like having horses
again.”
    “I already do!” Jamie laughed.
    Robert laughed with him, then looking out
towards the fields, said unnecessarily, a tinge of melancholy in
his tone, “It looks the same.”
    “Well, I should think that it wouldn’t change
that much in a month.” Jamie said dryly.
    The land was flat enough here that they could
see nearly all the fields spread out on either side of them to the
north and south, some fields that had been harvested already of
corn and tobacco and other smaller fields of wheat and barley.
    When Tyler and his family had first been
granted this land, there had only been a few acres that had
previously been cleared and cultivated by the natives. Since then,
over the years, about three dozen more acres had been cleared with
the help of neighbors getting together for chopping bees. It was
laborious, grueling work, but the wood was not wasted and more
cleared fields meant more tobacco, and tobacco was the money crop.
Most of the land was dedicated to it, although some farmers were
now realizing that it was also smart to grow grains and other
crops.
    They guided the horses along the edge of one
tobacco field, their hooves clomping slowly and softly through the
red clay soil of Virginia. The stubs of the tobacco plants were
brown, dried out and withered, the stems having been cut in late
August and the plants hung to dry until the middle of October.
    Both Jamie and Robert knew firsthand the
grueling, demanding labor involved in the cultivating of tobacco;
the sowing of tiny seeds in late February in seedbeds, then the
transplanting of the seedlings in early April, then the continual
cleaning of worms and other pests, the weeding, the pruning all
throughout the hot summer months. And then the final cutting in
August, hanging the plants to dry until October and then the
stripping of the dried leaves to pack them in hogsheads. They had
both learned the process in this very field and Jamie remembered
what an excellent student Robert had been. Robert had loved the
experience, working right alongside the other servants for hours
and hours, sweating in the heat and humidity, even when he didn’t
have to.
    Jamie also remembered visiting Robert the
first year Robert was married and living on his new plantation. He
had been amazed when he had seen what Robert had accomplished,
planting and tending ten thousand plants on three acres of land all
by himself! (Well, he did have occasional help from two of Tyler’s
servants that were lent to him three days a week.) This had
produced approximately fifteen hundred pounds of tobacco. If he had
sold his tobacco to the English, he would have only been paid 3
pence a pound, but selling to the Dutch, he was paid eighteen pence
a pound. When Jamie had gone to live with