The Ghostway (1984)

Traces or evidence of movement left in the outdoors, typically on the ground, whether by animal, human, or machine. In the context of Hillerman's novels, a track can refer to temporary marks and clues, as well as to an existing path that runs through the natural environment. Such a path can be a narrow one that is used by animals, especially herds of deer, sheep, or cattle, or it can be a wider, unpaved road that has formed as a result of vehicles passing through the same route over the course of many years. In the rural parts of the U.S. Southwestern regions, such country tracks are fairly common.

Track can also mean to look for or follow the physical evidence of an occurrence, whether the movement of an animal or the clues left behind as a result of criminal activity.

The term hoodlum, often shortened to hood, refers to an individual assumed to be associated with crimes and violence. Especially when the term is shortened to "hood," there can also be an inference to organized crime and gangsterism.

To provide eye-witness accounts or other forms of evidence to a court of law while under oath.

When one testifies, the evidence he or she provides is called a testimony.

Slate occurs when tectonic plates collide, creating heat and pressure that metamorphize the elements of which the plates are composed. Slate is the metmorphic form of shale, and occurs rather early in the metamorphic process. Slate that continues to be subjected to tectonic pressure results in phyllite, a higher, or denser and finer, grade of rock. In the U.S. Southwest, the occurrence of slate is relatively rare, as many rock formations are the result of geologic processes further along the metamorphic scale from the slightly early production of slate, resulting in a range if schist, gneiss, and ultimately granite, the primary component of much the Southwest's mountainous terrain.

Slate's lower grade makes it easy to use, because it fractures, or cleaves, easily into long, flat plates. Slate is also an attractive stone that can be found in muted colors of blue, black, green, gray and purple.

In Tony Hillerman's 1984 Navajo detective novel THE GHOSTWAY, Jim Chee travels from east to west along Route 504, "through Teec Nos Pos, Red Mesa, Mexican Water, and Dennehotso." Currently, the route Chee followed aligns with U.S. Route 160, which extends between Tuba City, Arizona and Poplar Bluff, Missouri. In 1970, this route was bumped south from its original alignment in southern Colorado, absorbing numerous subsidiary Four Corners highways in the process. Today, Teec Nos Pos, Red Mesa, Mexican Water, and Dennehotso are all located along US Route 160, where it cuts across the Navajo Reservation as it travels through northeastern Arizona.

There is a an Indian Route 5043, which heads south from U.S. Route160 toward Pastora Peak, which lies several miles southwest of Teec Nos Pos.

Raised seating next to the judge in a court of law where a witness in a criminal or civil suit sits while providing testimony that is given under oath.

A person or persons who have knowledge of, or see, a crime being committed. If identified, they can be compelled to give a statement under oath in a court room or to provide a deposition. In trials where the life of a witness or a witness’s family could be jeopardized if the witness provides testimony, they can be placed in a special protective care before, during, and after the trial. This is known as the Witness Security Program, where, upon completion of testifying in court, the witness and their family have the option to be provided with new identities and relocated.

To witness something does not always entail observing criminal activity. To bear witness can also mean having experiential knowledge of something. One can witness an act of kindness, a natural phenomenon, an accident, or a miracle. Similar to the witnessing a criminal act, these other acts of witness often entail an associated testimonial, where the witness shares their observations as evidence or proof their experience.

A program run by the U.S. Marshals Service that was created by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 in order to protect witnesses or whistleblowers as a result of their testimonies in criminal court cases. This program is officially called the Witness Security Program, and it places witnesses under 24-hour protection during the court cases in which they are informants. Upon completion of testifying in court, the witness and their family have the option to be provided with new identities and relocated. After the relocation, the family is provided with monetary help for a period of time and assistance in finding jobs.

According to an interview with the creator of this program, Gerald Shur, 95% of people in witness protection are criminals of some kind, but only 17% of this protected population go on to commit another crime. This program has a good track record and no witness who followed the directions of the program has been murdered since the program’s inception.

Someone who is part of the Federal Witness Protection Program, a program run by the U.S. Marshals Service to protect witnesses or whistleblowers as a result of their testimonies in criminal court cases. A protected witness is placed under 24-hour protection during the court cases in which they are informants. Upon completion of testifying in court, the witness and their family have the option to be provided with new identities and relocated. After the relocation, the family is provided with monetary help for a period of time and assistance in finding jobs.

A journey or trek, sometimes physical, sometimes metaphorical, and sometimes spiritual, with the purpose of fulfilling some sense of material, moral, or belief-based importance. Pilgrimages are often long and arduous, often requiring commitment and sacrifice. Nonetheless, pilgrimages have varies in notoriety and popularity, attaining popular entertainment, recreationg, and cult status. Pilgrimages have been, and continue to be, made to historic and religious sites for centuries and by people of all different beliefs.