What occurred had to do with Will-Sam's fellow slave at Nathaniel Francis's. While submitting to one of his owner's periodical beatings, Will had finally snapped, perpetrating what for a Negro was the gravest of deeds: he had struck Francis back. Not only that, he had struck Francis savagely enough {with a lightwood fagot wrenched from a barnyard stack} as to have broken Francis's left arm and shoulder. Then Will lit out for the woods, and had yet to be found.
( William Styron )
[ The Confessions of Nat Turner ]
www.QuoteSweet.com