Chapter 28 of Crooked Trails and Straight is here in full — 150 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter 28 of Crooked Trails and Straight is here in full — 150 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned. As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater. "Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested. Her father scouted this as absurd. "Lost nothing.
Chapter 28 of Crooked Trails and Straight is here in full — 150 sentences across 30 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.
inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense
From this reading “Her father scouted this as absurd.”
(psychiatry) a relatively permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by compulsive behavior or attacks of panic
From this reading “As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.”
ellipse in which the two axes are of equal length; a plane curve generated by one point moving at a constant distance from a fixed point
From this reading “As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.”
the activity of selecting the scenes to be shown and putting them together to create a film
From this reading “CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.”
the time of day immediately following sunset
From this reading “CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.”
the sport of sitting on the back of a horse while controlling its movements
From this reading “CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.”
past form of “scout” — explore, often with the goal of finding something or somebody
From this reading “Her father scouted this as absurd.”
a track or mark left by something that has passed
From this reading “CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.”
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 “CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.”
In this reading “"Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested.”
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.
inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense
From this reading Her father scouted this as absurd.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
(psychiatry) a relatively permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by compulsive behavior or attacks of panic
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
inflected form of “become” — enter or assume a certain state or condition
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
move up and down repeatedly
From this reading "Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested.
a degree on the centigrade scale of temperature
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
ellipse in which the two axes are of equal length; a plane curve generated by one point moving at a constant distance from a fixed point
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
the activity of selecting the scenes to be shown and putting them together to create a film
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
past form of “disappear” — get lost, as without warning or explanation
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading Her father scouted this as absurd.
destroyed or killed
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading "Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested.
greater in size or importance or degree
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Her father scouted this as absurd.
a period of time assigned for work
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
no longer in your possession or control; unable to be found or recovered
From this reading "Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
the time of day immediately following sunset
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading "Lost nothing.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
past form of “pass” — go across or through
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
past form of “return” — go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
the sport of sitting on the back of a horse while controlling its movements
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
past form of “scout” — explore, often with the goal of finding something or somebody
From this reading Her father scouted this as absurd.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested.
past form of “suggest” — make a proposal, declare a plan for something
From this reading "Mebbe she got lost," Bob suggested.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading As the hours passed, anxiety at the Circle C became greater.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Her father scouted this as absurd.
a track or mark left by something that has passed
From this reading CUTTING TRAIL Kate Cullison had disappeared, had gone out riding one morning and at nightfall had not returned.
Chapter 28 of Crooked Trails and Straight by William MacLeod Raine holds 150 sentences, grouped into 30 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 28 holds 150 sentences of Crooked Trails and Straight, unabridged, divided into 30 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 28 of Crooked Trails and Straight by William MacLeod Raine exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 150 sentences, grouped into 30 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 30 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 30 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 28 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 Crooked Trails and Straight by William MacLeod Raine on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6287 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #26911 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #26911, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 523 minutes of reading across 1258 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Crooked Trails and Straight section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 30 chapters of Crooked Trails and Straight 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 Crooked Trails and Straight, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
