Chapter 15 of Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story is here in full — 153 sentences across 31 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XV
Chapter 15 of Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story is here in full — 153 sentences across 31 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back. A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall. "Hello!" he said. "Number Eleven." "Countersign?"
Chapter 15 of Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story is here in full — 153 sentences across 31 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/30 · 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.
a push button at an outer door that gives a ringing or buzzing signal when pushed
From this reading “A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.”
plural of “fisherman” — someone whose occupation is catching fish
From this reading “SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.”
(usually plural) the office that serves as the administrative center of an enterprise
From this reading “SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.”
an expression of greeting
From this reading “"Hello!" he said.”
in an anxiously nervous manner
From this reading “SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.”
a position particularly well suited to the person who occupies it
From this reading “A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.”
(music) the speed at which a composition is to be played
From this reading “SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.”
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading “A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.”
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.
a place suitable for hiding something (such as yourself)
In this reading “A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.”
In this reading “SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.”
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 A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
a push button at an outer door that gives a ringing or buzzing signal when pushed
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
past form of “clasp” — hold firmly and tightly
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
a secret word or phrase known only to a restricted group
From this reading "Countersign?"
being one more than ten
From this reading "Number Eleven."
plural of “fisherman” — someone whose occupation is catching fish
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
the inside lower horizontal surface (as of a room, hallway, tent, or other structure)
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
(usually plural) the office that serves as the administrative center of an enterprise
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
an expression of greeting
From this reading "Hello!" he said.
the activity of keeping something secret
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
moving rapidly or performed quickly or in great haste
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
in an anxiously nervous manner
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
a position particularly well suited to the person who occupies it
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
the property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals
From this reading "Number Eleven."
(music) the speed at which a composition is to be played
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "Hello!" he said.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
past form of “sound” — appear in a certain way
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
the act of someone who picks up or takes something
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
From this reading A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading SOME FISHERMEN At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his hands clasped behind his back.
Chapter 15 of Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley holds 153 sentences, grouped into 31 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 15 holds 153 sentences of Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story, unabridged, divided into 31 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 15 of Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 153 sentences, grouped into 31 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 31 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 31 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 15 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 Star's Campaign: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5077 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #40484 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #40484, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 423 minutes of reading across 1016 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 32 chapters of Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story 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 Star's Campaign: A Detective Story, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
