Chapter 2 of Brand Blotters is here in full — 371 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Brand Blotters is here in full — 371 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited. The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him. Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now. He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight. No second shot broke the stillness.
Chapter 2 of Brand Blotters is here in full — 371 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/74 · 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.
inflected form of “blot” — dry (ink) with blotting paper
From this reading “BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.”
a name given to a product or service
From this reading “BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.”
past form of “drift” — be in motion due to some air or water current
From this reading “The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.”
low hardy much-branched spiny shrub common in alkaline soils of western America
From this reading “BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.”
the side or slope of a hill
From this reading “BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.”
a sedimentary rock formed by the deposition of successive layers of clay
From this reading “BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.”
moving as on a slippery surface
From this reading “BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.”
tie with a tether
From this reading “He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.”
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 BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
inflected form of “blot” — dry (ink) with blotting paper
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
a name given to a product or service
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
lacking funds
From this reading No second shot broke the stillness.
a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
inflected form of “catch” — discover or come upon accidentally, suddenly, or unexpectedly; catch somebody doing something or in a certain state
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
the quality of being unlike or dissimilar
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
past form of “drift” — be in motion due to some air or water current
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
low hardy much-branched spiny shrub common in alkaline soils of western America
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
the side or slope of a hill
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
not any; not one
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now.
past form of “reach” — reach a destination, either real or abstract
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
a long narrow natural elevation or striation
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
steal goods; take as spoils
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading No second shot broke the stillness.
a sedimentary rock formed by the deposition of successive layers of clay
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
the act of firing a projectile
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
moving as on a slippery surface
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
in the near future
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
(poetic) tranquil silence
From this reading No second shot broke the stillness.
an inexperienced person (especially someone inexperienced in outdoor living)
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
tie with a tether
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across the ridge to him.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
past form of “wait” — stay in one place and anticipate or expect something
From this reading BRAND BLOTTING The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a greasewood bush and waited.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading He had reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the fight.
Chapter 2 of Brand Blotters by William MacLeod Raine holds 371 sentences, grouped into 75 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 2 holds 371 sentences of Brand Blotters, unabridged, divided into 75 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Brand Blotters by William MacLeod Raine exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 371 sentences, grouped into 75 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 75 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 75 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 2 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 Brand Blotters by William MacLeod Raine on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6523 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #27436 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #27436, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 543 minutes of reading across 1305 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Brand Blotters section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 28 chapters of Brand Blotters 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 Brand Blotters, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
