Chapter 21 of Black Nick, the hermit of the hills is here in full — 101 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of Black Nick, the hermit of the hills is here in full — 101 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE PARTISAN’S REVELATION. The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word. De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said: “I knew you would come. After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
Chapter 21 of Black Nick, the hermit of the hills is here in full — 101 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/20 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
From this reading “The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.”
a person who shows fear or timidity
From this reading “After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.””
past form of “gleam” — be shiny, as if wet
From this reading “De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:”
past form of “ground” — fix firmly and stably
From this reading “The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.”
a fervent and even militant proponent of something
From this reading “THE PARTISAN’S REVELATION.”
cut or make a way through
From this reading “After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.””
the speech act of making something evident
From this reading “THE PARTISAN’S REVELATION.”
a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
From this reading “After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.””
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.”
In this reading “The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
later than; following
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading “I knew you would come.
determine the number or amount of
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
a person who shows fear or timidity
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
placed crosswise
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
the organ of sight
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
having a face or facing especially of a specified kind or number; often used in combination
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
past form of “gleam” — be shiny, as if wet
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
past form of “ground” — fix firmly and stably
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I knew you would come.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
inflected form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading “I knew you would come.
not any; not one
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
a fervent and even militant proponent of something
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE PARTISAN’S REVELATION.
cut or make a way through
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
the speech act of making something evident
From this reading THE PARTISAN’S REVELATION.
steal goods; take as spoils
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
any of many shrubs of the genus Rosa that bear roses
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE PARTISAN’S REVELATION.
the starting point for a new state or experience
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading De Cavannes rose to his feet, and his eye gleamed, as he said:
a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
From this reading After all you are no coward, if you are a villain, Pierce.”
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
a unit of language that native speakers can identify
From this reading The gloomy-looking partisan crossed the threshold, grounded the butt of his rifle, and faced the count without a word.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading “I knew you would come.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “I knew you would come.
Chapter 21 of Black Nick, the hermit of the hills by Frederick Whittaker holds 101 sentences, grouped into 21 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 21 holds 101 sentences of Black Nick, the hermit of the hills, unabridged, divided into 21 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of Black Nick, the hermit of the hills by Frederick Whittaker exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 101 sentences, grouped into 21 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 21 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 21 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 21 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading Black Nick, the hermit of the hills by Frederick Whittaker on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1671 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #69323 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #69323, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 139 minutes of reading across 335 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Black Nick, the hermit of the hills section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of Black Nick, the hermit of the hills to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Black Nick, the hermit of the hills, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
