Chapter 9 of Cat o' mountain is here in full — 240 sentences across 48 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of Cat o' mountain is here in full — 240 sentences across 48 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves. Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs. At the top he halted and glared around the attic. Nothing was there. The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
Chapter 9 of Cat o' mountain is here in full — 240 sentences across 48 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/48 · 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.
floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof; often used for storage
From this reading “At the top he halted and glared around the attic.”
having a coating; covered with an outer layer or film; often used in combination
From this reading “The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.”
plural of “cricket” — leaping insect; male makes chirping noises by rubbing the forewings together
From this reading “DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.”
possessive form of “dalton” — English chemist and physicist who formulated atomic theory and the law of partial pressures; gave the first description of red-green color blindness (1766-1844)
stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
From this reading “DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.”
past form of “glare” — look at with a fixed gaze
From this reading “At the top he halted and glared around the attic.”
-ing form of “gnaw” — bite or chew on with the teeth
From this reading “DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.”
past form of “pounce” — move down on as if in an attack
From this reading “Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.”
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.
become ground down or deteriorate
In this reading “DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.”
In this reading “At the top he halted and glared around the attic.”
In this reading “DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.”
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 DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading At the top he halted and glared around the attic.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof; often used for storage
From this reading At the top he halted and glared around the attic.
having the limits or boundaries established
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
having a coating; covered with an outer layer or film; often used in combination
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
plural of “cricket” — leaping insect; male makes chirping noises by rubbing the forewings together
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
possessive form of “dalton” — English chemist and physicist who formulated atomic theory and the law of partial pressures; gave the first description of red-green color blindness (1766-1844)
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
United States politician who proposed that individual territories be allowed to decide whether they would have slavery; he engaged in a famous series of debates with Abraham Lincoln (1813-1861)
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
inflected form of “drag” — pull, as against a resistance
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
one or the other of two
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
past form of “glare” — look at with a fixed gaze
From this reading At the top he halted and glared around the attic.
-ing form of “gnaw” — bite or chew on with the teeth
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
past form of “halt” — cause to stop
From this reading At the top he halted and glared around the attic.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
to a considerable degree
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
an artificial source of visible illumination
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
an uneasy psychological state
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading Nothing was there.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
past form of “pounce” — move down on as if in an attack
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
a flight of stairs or a flight of steps
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
in or at that place or location
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
very small
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
the upper part of anything
From this reading At the top he halted and glared around the attic.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Then he pounced at the lamp and bounded up the stairs.
occurring or encountered or experienced or observed frequently or in accordance with regular practice or procedure
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Nothing was there.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
during the time that
From this reading DALTON’S DEATH A long minute dragged by while Douglas stood there, the drone of the crickets gnawing at his nerves.
(trademark) an operating system with a graphical user interface
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
in the company of; together with
From this reading The tiny windows at either end, heavily coated with spider-webs, were shut as usual.
Chapter 9 of Cat o' mountain by Arthur O. (Arthur Olney) Friel holds 240 sentences, grouped into 48 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 9 holds 240 sentences of Cat o' mountain, unabridged, divided into 48 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of Cat o' mountain by Arthur O. (Arthur Olney) Friel exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 240 sentences, grouped into 48 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 48 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 48 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 9 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 Cat o' mountain by Arthur O. (Arthur Olney) Friel on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6488 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #68896 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #68896, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 540 minutes of reading across 1298 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Cat o' mountain section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 30 chapters of Cat o' mountain 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 Cat o' mountain, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
