Quotes from Paulette Jiles

CROSSROADS OF CIVILIZATION Refuge of all the arts against the ravages of time ARMOURY OF FEARLESS TRUTH AGAINST WHISPERING RUMOR INCESSANT TRUMPET OF TRADE From this place words may fly abroad NOT TO PERISH ON WAVES OF SOUND NOT TO VARY WITH THE WRITER'S HAND BUT FIXED IN TIME HAVING BEEN VERIFIED IN PROOF Friend you stand on sacred ground THIS IS A PRINTING OFFICE

Nadia listened in perfect, ratlike silence.

The bones of the Kiowa warriors did not lie in the earth but in the stories of their lives, told and retold—their bravery and daring, the death of Britt Johnson and his men, and Cicada, the little girl taken from them by the Indian Agent, Three Spotted's little blue-eyed girl. In his will the Captain asked to be buried with his runner's badge. He had kept it since 1814. He said he had a message to deliver, contents unknown

then laughed and splashed water