Two Roads: Chapters 23–30

by Joseph Bruchac
While his father is on a campaign to pressure Congress and President Hoover to deliver bonus payments owed to veterans of the Great War, twelve-year-old Calvin Blackbird must fight his own battles at a federal agricultural Native American boarding school in Oklahoma.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–11, Chapters 12–17, Chapters 18–22, Chapters 23–30
40 words 17 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. noble
    having high or elevated character
    The “noble mission of this fine institution” is to help the Indian.
  2. reveille
    a signal, usually a bugle call, to get up in the morning
    The daily routine here starts at five a.m. with the first bugle.
    TA-TA TA-TA-TA TA-TA TA-TA-TA
    TA-TA TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA
    Reveille, assembly, close-order drill, even before morning mess.
  3. maintenance
    activity involved in keeping something in good working order
    Students handle all the maintenance work at the school. We grow all the food, work in the fields, clean the stables, feed the farm animals, fix everything that needs fixing.
  4. appeal
    be attractive to
    Although I no longer think about it all the time, the only running that appeals to me would be running away from here to wherever I can find my pop.
  5. regiment
    army unit smaller than a division
    England. That’s where Pop and his regiment of 3,800 men went first before being sent to France.
  6. finesse
    plan, manage, or direct with subtle and skillful maneuvering
    “Finesse it, Jay Bird,” Possum hollers, using the word I taught him today out of my Webster’s. That he pronounced it “fin-essey” doesn’t take away from the pleasure of knowing I’ve got at least one person rooting for me.
  7. diminish
    decrease in size, extent, or range
    The sudden thudding of Bear Meat’s left against my right shoulder diminishes any pleasure I’d been feeling.
  8. meander
    move or cause to move in a winding or curving course
    We can catch catfish from Challagi Creek, where it meanders through the trees.
  9. heathen
    not acknowledging the God of Christianity, Judaism and Islam
    The Indian service actually published a broadside forbidding all Indians to dance. Because dancing is a waste of time. It encourages heathen behaviors.
  10. goodwill
    a disposition to kindness and compassion
    Also, as I mentioned earlier, one of the things they encourage here at this school is the Indian Club doing western Indian dancing for visitors and performing around the area to create goodwill and raise money for the school.
  11. rank
    very offensive in smell or taste
    Actually coming in a crowded dormitory, sometimes sort of rank with the smell of unwashed boys passing gas after a meal heavy with beans, was something that did not appeal to him.
  12. salvage
    collect discarded or refused material
    The roof was salvaged from an old building being torn down that would have just been burned.
  13. curlicue
    a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles
    Other pieces I shaved with the blade so that there were curlicues of wood all along their length.
  14. flare
    burn brightly
    Then I knelt down low, struck the wooden match on a stone, sheltered that flaring match between my palms and gently thrust it in the center.
  15. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    Little Coon has sidled up to Tommy. “So,” he says, “you know any other songs, Muskogee Boy?"
  16. masonry
    the craft of building with stone or brick
    I’ve spent two weeks in the shoe and harness shop, two weeks in power plant maintenance and plumbing, a week in printing, a week in painting, two weeks in masonry, and a week in electric wiring.
  17. shrapnel
    shell containing lead pellets that explodes in flight
    “Shrapnel. Some of it too deep to cut out without cutting a nerve, they told me. So even though I used to be full-blood Creek now I have to add that I have got a bit of German in me—German steel.”
  18. negotiate
    discuss the terms of an arrangement
    He’s also been negotiating for us with the police chief here, a Mr. Pelham Glassford who is a vet himself, a good egg, and sympathetic to our cause.
  19. formerly
    at a previous time
    The Curtis Act abolished the tribal governments and tribal courts in what was formerly supposed to be Indian Territory forever.
  20. communal
    for or by a group rather than individuals
    It divided, like cutting up a cow, what used to be communal lands between individual tribal members.
  21. missive
    a written message addressed to a person or organization
    Here in our camp writing materials are hard to come by, as is the time to send such missives as this.
  22. warrant
    show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for
    I am sure he can be of use among the summer student helpers and might even warrant a garden plot of his own.
  23. quartermaster
    an officer who provides clothing and subsistence for troops
    My own role as an officer and quartermaster in our Bonus Expeditionary Force requires my continued presence.
  24. curry
    give a neat appearance to
    He also has detailed me to be the one most responsible for the feeding and currying of those retired cavalry mounts.
  25. balmy
    mild and pleasant
    It’s a much bigger fire than usual, far larger than to cook anything and certainly not needed for warmth on a balmy summer night such as this.
  26. heft
    lift or elevate
    "Okay?" Possum whispers, hefting the pick as I hold the shovel like a rifle at parade rest.
  27. livery
    the care of horses for pay
    I tie Dakota’s reins to the hitching post near the watering trough in front of the livery stable.
  28. lather
    exude foam resulting from excessive sweating
    He’s not lathered up from his run. Seven miles is nothing for a cavalry mount.
  29. trough
    a container from which cattle or horses feed
    Dakota is dipping his head to drink from the trough.
  30. chisel
    an edge tool with a flat steel blade with a cutting edge
    I almost trip over a pile of tools, left by some careless workmen—a five-foot-long claw bar, a track chisel, and a wrench.
  31. extricate
    release from entanglement or difficulty
    “Peel that off,” she says as she turns to push aside the bandages to root deeper into that bag.
    “Here, this’ll fit you.”
    She hands me a shirt she’s just extricated from its depths.
  32. crony
    a close friend or associate
    There’s close to two thousand in the old Armory building alone on Pennsylvania Avenue. Most of them are boys of the Sixth who served in France. Camp Glassford they call it, right within sight of the Capitol. Which makes Treasury Secretary Mellon and all his rich cronies right unhappy.
  33. tread
    the part that makes contact with the ground
    “Tanks! Tanks are coming.”
    I’m hearing the rumble of heavy metal treads, the thudding of boots, the cracking of rifles.
  34. casual
    appropriate for ordinary or routine occasions
    Every sort of person you could imagine seems to be here. People in suits and ties, women in nice dresses, others just in casual clothes or their shirtsleeves.
  35. elements
    violent or severe weather
    One big old structure stands several stories tall—its side wide open to the elements.
  36. kindle
    cause to start burning
    The crowd goes still as the saber flashes in the sunlight like a kindled torch.
  37. municipal
    of or relating to the government of a district
    “We do not blame the municipal police department,” he says. “Your men have given us a square deal. But we blame the army and the president. We have drawn a line at the bridge.”
  38. infantry
    an army unit consisting of soldiers who fight on foot
    Those troops coming are cavalrymen with swords and infantry with fixed bayonets.
  39. ensue
    take place or happen afterward or as a result
    Atwell looks behind him, taking in the camp, maybe imagining the chaos that might ensue.
  40. sentiment
    tender, romantic, or nostalgic feeling or emotion
    There was so much sentiment in the whole country in favor of the Bonus Army that my leaving to support Pop might even make me sort of a hero in Morrell’s eyes.
Created on Sat May 04 11:56:34 EDT 2024 (updated Mon May 06 11:03:18 EDT 2024)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.