A Heart's Challenge

By Robert Meeks

A Heart's Challenge is about a young boy who was brought up on a farm in England in severe poverty with dreams of being able to rub two coins together. Running away from home was his only option, and in doing so, he began his adventure of finding his fortune and the love of his life all before his twenty-first birthday. It was a hard road, but he never waivered in his beliefs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685171384

Robert Meeks

An ordained deacon, Rober has been studying the Bible since he was a child. While he is not a deacon in his current church, he continues to study God's word through various resources. Robert shares Christ with others and wants to use this book to inspire God's people to follow Him and use His words to live a spiritual life. Robert and his wife, Jane, live in Shreveport, Louisiana.

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A Heart's Challenge

Robert Meeks

Copyright © 2022 by Robert Meeks

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Running Away

First Job and Shanghaied

Lost in the Jungle

Leaving the Jungle

First Love

Leaving Africa and Hunting for Selianto

Landing in America

Trebor Met First Slave

Trebor Purchased the Plantation

Preparing for War

Plantation’s First Fight

Running Away

As the dew settled in the lowlands of England, creating a dense fog. A little before midnight, young master Trebor quietly as possible began raising his bedroom window. It crept up inch by inch, making sure not one squeak is heard throughout the house, which consisted of three rooms, not counting the kitchen.

In his mind, this was his only hope of escaping the drudgery, the poor, miserable life he saw his family having to bear with no way out. Not knowing anything other than the area he had grown up in, he was out to find his glory and his spot in the world.

Now, where’s a boy of fourteen going? How will he make a living? No skills, no friends, and to top it all off, not a coin to his name. That was nothing new; his parents had never had any type of coin in their pockets. They bartered for all they owned. He is a handsome lad and stood six feet, one inch. His weight was less than it should be for his age because of the lack of proper nutrition. His complexion was very smooth; he had not yet begun to shave, and maturity was still a few years away. His eyes were the brightest blue; they looked like the clearest, sharpest blue sky anyone had ever seen. His black hair the color of coal glistening in the bright sunlight.

After successfully exiting the house, Trebor began his new life. Making his way down the road very carefully, with the fog so thick it felt as though he was walking through water. His clothes were soaked, and he was only a mile from the shack. He had no change of clothes; he was wearing all he owned. Trebor literally did not have two coins to rub together but knew he was tired of the life that he had been living. He wanted more and was ready to get it at any cost. The 1840s was not the best of time for employment, so finding work was very difficult at best.

Pushing his way through the fog, Trebor was not making good time even though he knew the terrain. It was as if he were a blind man learning to walk for the first time. With no one to guide him, he would be lucky to get five miles from home by daylight. Trebor really did not think that anyone would come looking for him. His parents would think, just one less mouth to feed and one less body to cloth, so no great loss. It was now approaching 3:00 a.m., and Trebor was still pushing through the dense fog, hoping for a break. A small break would help him get his bearings. After traveling twenty miles from home, Trebor would be in virgin territory. Trebor was hoping to make it to the coast and be able to attain a job as a cabin boy on a sailing ship. He had heard his father talk of the big ships sailing into the harbor and how massive and majestic they were. A job on a fishing boat would suffice at the time. He had only seen the ocean in a picture book and fell in love with it. Still pushing his way through the dense fog, Trebor’s mind was years ahead of his present situation. In his mind, he already had a home in the Americas with acres of farmland as far as the eye could see. He saw no one else in the vision, and with that much land, he would need help because he saw rows and rows of corn and fields of wheat; it was paradise!

The vision quickly vanished when Trebor fell in a ditch. He was not able to see his own feet—much less what lay ahead of him. Struggling to regain his footing, Trebor kept sliding back into the ditch. As if he wasn’t wet enough from the fog, now he was saturated with no way to dry off. Everything was wet, and he could not build a fire. Regaining his footing, he decided to continue on his journey. The closest village was thirty-five miles from Trebor’s home. His father would make three-day trips to the village to barter vegetables and eggs for other staples they needed. At the pace he was making, it would take him about thirty-five hours to get there. He kept trudging along in the thick, dense fog, but every once in a while, the fog lightened, and he was able to quicken his pace almost to a jog. It had been five hours since Trebor left home, and he had only traveled six miles. He saw daylight breaking off in the distance and knew that the fog would burn off as soon as the sun broke through. He gave a sigh of relief, knowing he could really make good time then. Also he would be able to dry out his clothes and get warm.

When the sun was high in the morning sky, Trebor heard horses from the same direction he had just traveled. Thinking of home, he quickly hid in the woods. Maybe his father did come looking for him! But no, it was a stranger. As he passed, Trebor stepped back into the road. He seemed to walk with a horse-like canter, really moving faster. The horseman put a scare into him about his father coming. Trebor did not want to return home. With the pace that he set for himself Trebor was at the village by late afternoon and was very hungry. He had not eaten for over twenty-four hours. With no money, Trebor was perplexed about how to get food. He had never asked for a handout and was not real sure how to go about it. Trebor thought everyone was as poor as his family. He kept his eyes and ears open and was very observant as to how other people acted. After hours of listening, he finally put the words together without sounding like he was begging. He would say, Sir or madam, may I help with your bags, horse, or whatever it is that you might need help with?

Surprisingly, it worked; he acquired enough for a meal and a place to lodge that night, even though it was a stable stall. It was warm and dry.

First Job and Shanghaied

The next morning, the stable owner asked if he would like some work. Trebor readily accepted the offer! The old man, only known as Grampy, told Trebor that it wasn’t a pleasant job, but that it would keep his belly full. He could sleep in the tack room instead of the stall. Trebor readily agreed. What he had to do was scoop up the horse manure from the streets, bring it to the stables, and pile it into a wagon. Then Grampy would take the wagon out on the edge of town and spread it onto his five-acre garden. This would enrich the soil, which in turn, would yield him a bumper crop to sell in the village. This would also supplement his income.

Trebor did this through the summer months for two years. He helped Grampy in his garden since he knew how to do that. Grampy gave him food and free housing, so he saved the money he earned for his future plans. During the winter months, Trebor still scooped poop from the streets and stalls. He groomed horses and also learned how to do horse shoes. He was becoming multitalented.

Since Trebor had been working for Grampy, he had been keeping an eye on the sailors and the ships that came into the harbor. He was always dreaming of the day he would be able to ship out on one of those magnificent ships. His complexion was becoming a little ruttier since he had grown a small beard. With the fine meals he had been eating, his weight increased to two hundred and ten pounds, and most of that were muscles.

A few of the sailors did not look much older than Trebor, but they looked younger than their actual age, and Trebor looked older than his. Trebor actually had the opportunity to strike up a conversation with a few of them, and they made it sound so wonderful being on the high seas.

All in all, Trebor had it made. He was given three square meals a day, a warm, dry place to sleep, and clothes on his back. A boy approaching his seventeenth birthday who already knows everything that he needs to know in life. All that was left to learn about was the high seas, and that had been his dream ever since he saw that picture.

Still daydreaming about the sailing ships, Trebor continued scooping poop for the garden, paying little attention to the three sailors standing nearby, watching him and whispering among themselves.

Fall was steadily approaching, and he wanted to get in another good crop before the season ended. It would net him a little more income for his savings, even though he already had a sizable savings that Grampy was taking care of.

As Trebor neared the sailors, he noticed that one of them was the man he always chatted with about the sea. He decided to go by and say hello, but as he came closer, they started moving away rather slowly, looking back to see if Trebor was following with little gestures indicating they wanted him too. As they turned the corner at the end of the street, Trebor was still following and closing the gap between them. As he turned the corner, all three sailors jumped him, knocked him out, and dragged him down the alley to a small cart they had standing by. Checking to see if anyone saw, they swiftly scurried off toward the docks and secretly unloaded their cargo onto the ship without being noticed. Once the cargo was stored, the three sailors returned to the village tavern to decide which sailor was going to jump ship. The only way a sailor could safely jump ship was to have a replacement already on ship when he did, or the captain would send a team out to capture the escaped seaman, and the torture was intense. No sailor wanted to go through the torture, but most of them wanted to leave the ship, so on each port of call, they would capture another person to replace them. They would go drink until two of them passed out, and the last one standing was the one to jump ship.

The sea voyage was a whole different world for Trebor.

His dream of the ocean and ships totally changed once he was on the ship and the ocean at the same time. The poor lad stayed on the railing for the first week, heaving his innards out, but once that was over, he settled down to a sailor’s life. He had no idea where the ship was heading or what cargo they would be hauling once they arrived at the port of call.

Trebor learned quickly and was asked by the captain if he would like to be his cabin boy instead of the strict hard labor of the crew. Trebor was elated that the captain thought he was smart enough to assist him and accepted gladly, seeing as how he had already seen what the crew was like the first few weeks of the cruise. They were hard, crude, and vulgar men; and Trebor was not use to that kind of life. The cruise lasted only a month, and as they neared the port, Trebor asked where they were. The response was off the coast of Africa.

Departing from the ship for a few days of liberty, Trebor noticed large groups of black people in what looked like cattle pins. Looking over at one of the crew walking beside him, Trebor asked what the people were crowded into the cattle pins for. His mate said they were being loaded onto the ship for the colonies and were to be sold as slaves. That’s why we’re here. Hey, we’ll have enough of that bunch pretty soon. Let’s go get drunk.

No! Not now, I’ve got to think, not letting on that he had never tasted whiskey or any strong drink.

Trebor strolls toward the beach, walking along the shore, trying to clear the image of the cow pens.

Lost in the Jungle

Deep into his thoughts, Trebor spotted a bunch of monkeys playing in the trees, and he walked down this small trail leading into the jungle. Hours later, he found himself deep in the jungle, and the sun was setting. Not knowing in what direction to go, he spotted a large tree that he would be able to climb and possibly get some bearing as to where he was before the sun set. Reaching the top, Trebor saw nothing that would be of any help whatsoever. He decided to find the largest branch and settle in for the night.

After the sun totally set, the noises of the jungle started, and it actually scared Trebor. He had never heard such sounds in his life, and he was from the country. He was use to wild animal sounds, but none like these. These sounds were all distinct and totally different from what he was used to. Sleep? I don’t think so!

Trebor watched the sun