The Cost of Sugar(27)

28 “Misi, o, mi Tata, misi Elza, san eh pesa?”



29 This was a bitter citrus fruit that was used for many purposes.



30 A younger boy who would attend constantly to every whim and fancy of his master or mistress. In this respect the term is untranslatable, for this degree of servitude is these days inconceivable. ‘Footboy’ or ‘footman’ simply does not do justice to the concept.

31 “Dan pe y’e go?”

32 “M’e go na winkri.”

33 “Na misi Elza seni yu?”

34 “Nono, na a tra misi.”

35 “Yu n’e go no wan pe. Dyaso na misi Elza hoso, yu na misi Elza futuboi, na en wawán kan seni yu go du boskopu. Tyari a mono go baka.”



36 “Mars go tyari a moni baka, noso m’é hipsi yu meki na sé wanti naki yu di fu tu.”

37 “Hartyi bun boi if wan tra leisi m’é si taki tra sma seni yu go du wan boskopu, m’e fon yu yere, m’e fon fy tak’ dri dei yu no man sidon.”





CHAPTER IV





RUTGER


When Rutger arrived at his office one morning in the last week of June, Mr van Omhoog was waiting for him impatiently. The administrator had been visited the previous evening by Daniel Jeremiah, owner of the Jericho Plantation on the Cottica River.

An uprising had broken out among the slaves on this plantation two weeks earlier. They had set the cane in the fields on fire, as well as the warehouse and the sugar mill. The damage had been limited to a section of the fields. The warehouse had been burnt down; the sugar mill had been saved. This had been due to the timely arrival of soldiers and to the fact that overseer Vredelings had immediately shot and killed the instigators. The main instigator’s head had been displayed on a stake in the middle of the slave village as a deterrent. The owner Daniel Jeremiah had now travelled to Paramaribo to ask administrator Van Omhoog for a bank loan.

Mr van Omhoog wanted Rutger’s advice. Daniel Jeremiah already had a considerable debt at the bank. The total debt was greater than the value of the plantation. The owner was known as someone who was more often drunk than sober and who spent most of his time playing dice.

What should be done now?

“Don’t give any further loan,” advised Rutger. “Take the plantation and either improve it or sell it.” That might well be the best thing to do, Mr van Omhoog also thought, but then the undertaking might not earn all its money back, and could one in fact do such a thing? It would mean that Mr Jeremiah would be made bankrupt in his old age, with no plantation and no income.

“That is his own fault,” said Rutger.

Mr van Omhoog hesitated. “He will say that I have refused him a loan because he is Jewish. You know how these things go here: people are always ready to find fault.”

For the rest, Mr van Omhoog had the feeling that there was something not quite right with Mr Jeremiah’s story. He had claimed that the uprising was due to the Boni-negroes having raided the Voorspoed en Uitzicht38 Plantation on the Cottica River about three weeks previously. They had killed the owner and overseer, but had left the wife and children unharmed. Most of the slaves had, however, joined the raiders and they had taken with them everything they could use from the plantation. The uprising on the Jericho Plantation was, according to the owner, inspired by this raid, but Mr van Omhoog had a strong impression that there was more behind it.

He had told Daniel Jeremiah that he would have to discuss the matter with his colleague. In fact, what he really wanted was for Rutger to travel to Jericho to see things for himself before they made a decision. How the plantation was looking, the state of the fields, what the white supervisor was like. Answers to these questions were necessary before the company could grant a loan.

A little later, Daniel Jeremiah came into the office. What a shabby type, thought Rutger, looking at the carelessly dressed individual, and how suitable his name is! For Mr van Omhoog began the conversation by saying that the company could really not grant the loan in view of the huge debts that were already on the books. Upon hearing this, Mr Jeremiah immediately started whining. Had he then worked so hard all his life for nothing? Would he have to end his days as a beggar?

He should have drunk and gambled less, thought Rutger, looking at the fat, sloppy individual and at Mr van Omhoog, who was not at all impressed with the man’s crocodile tears, but rather continued calmly to explain that Mr le Chasseur would travel back with him to Jericho to see whether the company might still be able to do something.

“Be on your guard there, Rutger, for the man is a sly type,” said Mr van Omhoog once Daniel Jeremiah had departed, relieved.