hogan The Navajo family lives in a hogan on the reservation. “We will build new homes,” he said. “When the Long Knives leave we will go into the forest and cut timber. We will build hogans that are better than those the soldiers burned.”

a traditional Navaho house noun: hogan (p. 447)

abandon When the gold mines dried up, many people abandoned the towns that no longer had a reason to exist in that location. I would have gone with them if I had thought that in a few days the Long Knives would leave and we would come back to our village. I would never have abandoned them.

to leave something behind forever (p. 449) abandon verb

deserted The tall weeds in the yard, the broken windows, and the hole in the roof was a sign to us that the building was deserted. Once they got off their horses and two of them climbed up to Rainbow Cave where cliff dwellers had lived long ago. But they found the houses deserted.

not lived in, abandoned (p. 450) deserted adjective

secure Our liberty is secure because many brave people have fought to defend our civil rights. The white soldiers had searched the canyon and found no trace of us. We felt secure.

secure safe from harm or danger (p. 452) adjective

captivity Douglas Wood, an engineer who lives in California with his American wife, is being held in captivity by terrorists in Iraq where he has been working. With the Long Knives at their backs…all the Navahos were marching into captivity.

noun captivity the state of being held as a prisoner ( p. 449) Fort Sumner