While Quash was washing breakfast dishes one morning, Perkins stepped inside the kitchen door just in time to overhear a remark she made about how she and other slaves were being shorted on the allocation of food. Their conversation was in Gullah, but, having been raised on the coast, he knew the dialect as well as Quash knew the language of the young master at the dining table. She was not surprised when, late that same afternoon, he sent for her to come to his cottage.

She was relieved to see that Big William was also in the room. Perkins said, “You bitch, you been accusing me of stealing food, and in the big house where anyone can hear you.”

“No, sir, I ain’t done that,” which, to an uneducated ear, would sound like “Nosah ain dunat.”

“You’re lying now, and I’ve noticed how biggety you’ve been getting with the other niggers. I can’t abide anything like this, and you need a lesson you won’t forget.”

He turned to William and said, “Put ten stripes on her back that she’ll remember.”

Quash had been whipped only once before, as a child by her father when she had stolen some paper and writing materials from Mr. Swanson’s library. This was done after a severe lecture, and with a loving investment in her own maturation. Big William never carried a whip like the drivers who served under him, who draped one over their shoulder as a symbol of authority. They were permitted to inflict a lash on occasion, to drive home a point to a reluctant or inattentive worker, but more formal floggings had to be authorized by the overseer. Quash knew that Perkins ordered several slaves flogged each month, with ten or more lashes, and was always there personally to observe the punishment. Other penalties ranged from deprivation of privileges after tasks were completed, the wearing of chains, incarceration under harsh conditions, and even hanging. In the latter case, almost always for serious crimes against white people, colonial funds were used to compensate the owner for the loss of his property.

Quash had never known Big William to whip anyone, but now he told her to turn around, drop the calico shift down to expose her back, and put her hands against the tabby wall. She flinched as the leather whiplashes came, but moaned aloud only once when the thong tip wrapped around her side and popped on the nipple of her right breast. Even though Perkins was watching close enough for her to hear his deep breathing, she had a feeling that Big William held back on the strength of his blows. When the punishment was over, she untied the clothing from around her waist and pulled up her dress before she turned around.

Perkins said, “Don’t forget to keep your mouth shut, or you’ll get worse.”