Nat Turner drifted in and out of consciousness. The witnesses, dressed in white, floating, drifting in and out, visited him in the barn. “You shall not die, but live,” unseen by others, the martyrs whispered to him.
They compassed you about like bees
They thrust at you with swords
But the Lord is your strength and song
The Lord is your salvation.
They fed Nat Turner with hymns and spiritual songs.
The right hand of the Lord is exalted
You shall not die but live and declare
The works of the Lord!
His people came to him by night when no one could see them. They—his mother; Cherry; and Charlotte, the sad-eyed girl held captive by Nathaniel Francis—came with broth and bits of corn bread and mashed greens soaked in pot liquor. They kneeled beside him on a bed of hay in the Travis barn. “Don’t leave us. We need you, Prophet Nat. You must live!”
The men visited him—Hark, Sam, Yellow Nelson, and Dred. “We will pick a new date. You’ll see. Vengeance will come.”
Slowly, Nat Turner felt himself returning to life. He began to distinguish, again, night from day. The witnesses came back to him and told him he should await a sign in the heavens.
He spoke to the men who secretly visited him, “My body is mending.” Then he told them about the sign the witnesses said they should look for in the sky. He could not describe it, but they would recognize it when it appeared, he told them. It would not be an eclipse. It would not be an ordinary thing. “When it appears, we will gather at Cabin Pond.”