Read Online The Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt - Free Book Online
Authors: Mary Sharratt
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men burning harvest stubble. Although it was halfway into October, they worked shirtless, their backs glistening in the fire's heat. Their voices rose on the wind with the smoke as they sang in an unfamiliar language, their music so haunting that it made her shiver.
Those men, she gathered, were not free like Lucy and Cassie. She turned as the two women walked toward her.
"Soon we anchor at the Mearley Plantation," Lucy said when they joined her at the rail. "The ship only comes once a year, and when it comes, it is like Christmas."
"Christmas?"
"You will see for yourself," said Lucy. Cassie said nothing, only cracked a smile.
The ship swung around a bend, revealing a plantation that reminded Hannah of a prosperous yeoman's farmstead at home. The two-story house had a steep-pitched roof and red shutters flanking gabled windows of real glass that glinted in the dazzling autumn light.
"Do they make glass here?" she asked.
Cassie snorted.
Lucy shook her head. "I heard that the Mearleys did order their glass from Holland."
Scattered around the house were outbuildings of more primitive construction. Lucy pointed out the livestock barns and tobacco sheds.
"That little cottage you see with the smoke coming out the chimney," said Lucy, "that is the kitchen. They cook in there so the big house doesn't get too hot in summer."
"Then it must be very cold in winter." Hannah could not imagine a house without a kitchen.
What Lucy did not point out were the hovels half hidden among the bushes and pines. Hannah reckoned those were the slaves' quarters.
"Look," said Lucy. "The children are blowing horns." She raised her hand to wave at the cluster of young ones jumping and whooping. One boy shouted to the sailors to throw him a mooring line so he could tie it to the dock. A woman in a russet-colored dress waved so wildly, Hannah thought her arm would loosen from its socket. Hannah waved back. She was beginning to understand why Lucy said the ship's arrival was like Christmas. The woman in the russet dress was obviously the planter's wife and the mother of those children, yet she was waving with the enthusiasm of a young girl. Did May also wave to the ship like that?
Everyone clapped and cheered. Black men began rolling huge hogsheads from the tobacco sheds down to the dock.
"That is their entire fortune," Cassie said.
"What happens if the harvest fails?" Hannah asked.
"They go into debt to the ship captain. They pay by creditâas long as he allows it. If the debt keeps rising, they lose their leasehold. Not a single planter here truly owns his lands. All is on lease from the Lord Baltimore."
"Further north I hear that storms have ruined the crops," Lucy ventured.
May lived north of here, Hannah thought. What if her harvest had been lost?
When the sailors lowered the gangplank, the first mate stepped ashore, saying he had letters for Mrs. Mearley. Hannah watched how eagerly she took them from his hands, how she hugged them to her breast as if they contained jewels. Hannah allowed herself to pretend she saw May clasp letters from home.
Meanwhile the men unloaded the goods that the Mearleys had ordered the previous year. She listened to the first mate read the inventory to Mr. Mearley. "An oaken table and eight chairs, two casks of Rhenish wine, a box of China tea, a bolt of India silk, six cones of sugar, one steel plow..."
"Do they not have ironmongers here?" Hannah asked Lucy.
"Who would be an ironmonger when he could be a planter?"
"Come." Cassie tugged Lucy's arm. "Let us go down and see if we are needed."
"Is Mrs. Mearley expecting a baby?" Hannah asked. The woman on shore did not appear to be pregnant, though the fabric of her dress was bulky enough to hide a growing belly.
"We tend to the others, too." Lucy nodded toward the shacks in the pines.
***
Hannah wandered down the gangplank, but soon lost sight of Cassie and Lucy. Mrs. Mearley beckoned people off the ship to a table of rough planks, where a cask of
Those men, she gathered, were not free like Lucy and Cassie. She turned as the two women walked toward her.
"Soon we anchor at the Mearley Plantation," Lucy said when they joined her at the rail. "The ship only comes once a year, and when it comes, it is like Christmas."
"Christmas?"
"You will see for yourself," said Lucy. Cassie said nothing, only cracked a smile.
The ship swung around a bend, revealing a plantation that reminded Hannah of a prosperous yeoman's farmstead at home. The two-story house had a steep-pitched roof and red shutters flanking gabled windows of real glass that glinted in the dazzling autumn light.
"Do they make glass here?" she asked.
Cassie snorted.
Lucy shook her head. "I heard that the Mearleys did order their glass from Holland."
Scattered around the house were outbuildings of more primitive construction. Lucy pointed out the livestock barns and tobacco sheds.
"That little cottage you see with the smoke coming out the chimney," said Lucy, "that is the kitchen. They cook in there so the big house doesn't get too hot in summer."
"Then it must be very cold in winter." Hannah could not imagine a house without a kitchen.
What Lucy did not point out were the hovels half hidden among the bushes and pines. Hannah reckoned those were the slaves' quarters.
"Look," said Lucy. "The children are blowing horns." She raised her hand to wave at the cluster of young ones jumping and whooping. One boy shouted to the sailors to throw him a mooring line so he could tie it to the dock. A woman in a russet-colored dress waved so wildly, Hannah thought her arm would loosen from its socket. Hannah waved back. She was beginning to understand why Lucy said the ship's arrival was like Christmas. The woman in the russet dress was obviously the planter's wife and the mother of those children, yet she was waving with the enthusiasm of a young girl. Did May also wave to the ship like that?
Everyone clapped and cheered. Black men began rolling huge hogsheads from the tobacco sheds down to the dock.
"That is their entire fortune," Cassie said.
"What happens if the harvest fails?" Hannah asked.
"They go into debt to the ship captain. They pay by creditâas long as he allows it. If the debt keeps rising, they lose their leasehold. Not a single planter here truly owns his lands. All is on lease from the Lord Baltimore."
"Further north I hear that storms have ruined the crops," Lucy ventured.
May lived north of here, Hannah thought. What if her harvest had been lost?
When the sailors lowered the gangplank, the first mate stepped ashore, saying he had letters for Mrs. Mearley. Hannah watched how eagerly she took them from his hands, how she hugged them to her breast as if they contained jewels. Hannah allowed herself to pretend she saw May clasp letters from home.
Meanwhile the men unloaded the goods that the Mearleys had ordered the previous year. She listened to the first mate read the inventory to Mr. Mearley. "An oaken table and eight chairs, two casks of Rhenish wine, a box of China tea, a bolt of India silk, six cones of sugar, one steel plow..."
"Do they not have ironmongers here?" Hannah asked Lucy.
"Who would be an ironmonger when he could be a planter?"
"Come." Cassie tugged Lucy's arm. "Let us go down and see if we are needed."
"Is Mrs. Mearley expecting a baby?" Hannah asked. The woman on shore did not appear to be pregnant, though the fabric of her dress was bulky enough to hide a growing belly.
"We tend to the others, too." Lucy nodded toward the shacks in the pines.
***
Hannah wandered down the gangplank, but soon lost sight of Cassie and Lucy. Mrs. Mearley beckoned people off the ship to a table of rough planks, where a cask of
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