Riverbreeze: Part 1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

from the stables of
his father’s or that it had been constructed using second-hand
clapboards from the original house on the property that had been
torn down. To be honest it resembled a cow barn more than a proper
stables; there was just enough room for the two horses that had
arrived from England only a fortnight ago and maybe a few goats and
pigs, although, at this time most of the goats and all of the pigs
were left foraging in the woods. But Jamie knew this was only the
beginning and no one or no thing, such as a lingering disease, was
going to stop him from having the best horse farm in Virginia.
    It had rained overnight and up until a few
minutes ago. The sky was still gray with thick, stormy clouds, but
the air was clear and crisp and suffused with the scent of earth
and pines, and there was a chilly breeze that soughed through the
trees. It prompted him to breathe deeply of the fresh air,
expanding his lungs, feeling wonderfully alive and content. This
was his favorite time of year when the mornings were quite cool and
the afternoons temperate. It was so much nicer than the oppressive
heat of summer. He would never forget their first summer here; it
had been so hot and he had suffered miserably, not only from the
infernal heat but also from that damned intermittent fever.
    But he wouldn’t worry about that now. It was
refreshingly cool and he was feeling perfectly fine. He could hear
numerous birds busy in the dripping trees, red birds, chickadees,
finches and mocking birds. He whistled back to them and then
chuckled when two chickadees flew closer and chattered at him. He
heard scores of crows further away and then soaring high overhead
he watched, spellbound, a magnificent fish hawk, a bird as large as
an eagle, fly towards the river and circle around until it swooped
down to catch a fish in its large claws.
    And then the sun came out from behind a break
in the clouds and lit the whole place like a gift from God.
    He stood facing the sunshine for a minute
with closed eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on his face,
thanking God for that gift. It wouldn’t have been pleasant at all
to have to travel in the rain, either by boat or riding the horses.
Everything would get sopping wet, from the hats on their heads to
the tips of their boots. They’d have to try to keep their pistols
and powder dry under their heavy wool cloaks and hope to God they
didn’t come across any wild beast or savage and discover that the
powder had gotten damp, rendering the pistols useless, except maybe
as clubs. And he didn’t think the horses would have appreciated it
either, slogging through all that mud and marsh, rain driving into
their eyes and soaking their coats. It would have been just plain
miserable for everyone around.
    As it was, the day would be fresh and clear,
a fine day for a journey, their first journey on the horses. He
couldn’t wait to get on his way. He, Robert and Robin were all
going to the party together, actually leaving the plantation,
something the three of them hadn’t done together for over a month.
Jamie had gone to church each week with Mrs. Chilcott, allowing
himself one day off a week, but the rest of the week he and Rob had
been too busy taking down the dried tobacco plants from the rafters
in the shed, stripping the leaves from the stalks and pressing them
into hogsheads for shipment and just generally trying to get
through each day without dropping dead from exhaustion. These last
four weeks Robert had gladly paid the fines while he stayed home,
working harder than ever before to keep his plantation running as
smoothly as possible.
    Jamie was ever so glad the tobacco season was
over. Raising tobacco wasn’t his favorite thing to do, to put it
lightly, but it was the one and only way to make a good enough
profit to fund his true passion.
    Everyone knew the Dutch paid well for
Virginia-grown tobacco, better than England, offering sixteen to
eighteen pence a pound compared to two pence, and even