Henceforth the Bad Angel

Book excerpt: This is the iliad of Gabriel Craddock, a slave boy held in bondage to the Osage Indians, and his battles to save Kansas from the Missouri slavers, General Sterling Price and Roman Nose the Dog Soldier. I am Michael Craddock, white man and brother to Gabriel. As boys we fought together at the Swans' Marsh and we were at Lawrence with Momma, when Quantrill came through with the Bad Angel in his heart. But we hid that day rather than be killed. At Westport and Mine Creek we saw ten-thousand cavalry swinging sabers and carbines stirrup-to-stirrup out there on the prairie. Gabriel was with the 2nd Kansas Colored Volunteers when General Sterling Price gave no quarter to the Negro, and the black soldiers took the vengeance in the mud at Jenkins Ferry. And when Roman Nose trapped the Solomon Avengers in the dry fork of the Arikaree, Gabriel and the Buffalo Soldiers came for us. This odyssey will be not be complete until I come to Nicodemus, Kansas, to atone for a terrible sin and face a mystery I was too coward to solve for much of my life. The Bad Angel came into my heart on cat's feet and I fear for my immortal soul.