9 Plantation Life

CHAPTER 9 Plantation Life For the next two years, I built up my lands and my crops. They yielded little, mainly food for me and my staff to eat and stay healthy. The promise of success looked excellent, though, and I was pleased with my progress so far. A young man owned the plantation next to mine. He was Portuguese by birth, but his

parents were English. His name was Wells. We became good friends and even better neighbors. Over those two years, our farms developed at pretty much the same speed. We were both well on our way to having successful sugarcane plantations. Wells and I often took long walks together. We talked about all kinds of things: our farms, our plans for the future, and our pasts. I remember telling him one day that I felt like a man stuck on deserted island there in Brazil. I told him about my father, and about how much I missed him and my mother. He said that it was natural to miss my parents. He was right. My father would have been happy to see me. I had created a good life. I was happy and safe, and on my way to being wealthy. We had a good crop the next year as well. I had everything a man could want—a good,

working farm, money, friends—but I wasn't satisfied. Deep in my heart I knew these feelings would soon take over common sense. My foolish desire for excitement often got the better of me. In those days, I spoke about my adventures at sea to anyone who would listen. Each time I told the stories, the tales grew bigger. A group of fellow plantation owners were very interested in my travels. The opportunity for them to become even richer excited them. Soon, we had made plans to outfit a ship for a voyage to Africa. In my heart, I knew this was a foolish decision. But once it started rolling like a rock down a hill, I was powerless to stop it. I had no need to increase my wealth. I had no need to change my life. I had no need for an adventure. I was my own destroyer. I couldn't resist the offer, just as I refused to listen to my father all those years ago.

The voyage dates were set and the ship was soon ready for the trip. We drew up formal trading plans and I created a will. I left Wells in charge of everything, confident that he would take care of my farm while I was gone.