Chapter 5 of Riders of the Silences is here in full — 100 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of Riders of the Silences is here in full — 100 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other. And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!" "Stand aside!" The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home." The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
Chapter 5 of Riders of the Silences is here in full — 100 sentences across 20 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.
on or to one side
From this reading “"Stand aside!"”
an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration
From this reading “And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"”
with self-possession (especially in times of stress)
From this reading “Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.”
expletives used informally as intensifiers
From this reading “And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"”
the rate of moving (especially walking or running)
From this reading “The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."”
capital of the state of South Dakota; located in central South Dakota on the Missouri river
From this reading “Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.”
inflected form of “rub” — move over something with pressure
From this reading “The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.”
Risen from sleep; conscious.
From this reading “The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.”
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 And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
on or to one side
From this reading "Stand aside!"
an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
with self-possession (especially in times of stress)
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
expletives used informally as intensifiers
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
opinion or judgment
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
the rate of moving (especially walking or running)
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
capital of the state of South Dakota; located in central South Dakota on the Missouri river
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
inflected form of “rub” — move over something with pressure
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
term of address for a man
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
be standing; be upright
From this reading "Stand aside!"
successive (without a break)
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
a set of data arranged in rows and columns
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
carry out
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
in spite of the fact that
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
moved around an axis or center
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading Pierre turned and looked calmly upon the other.
Risen from sleep; conscious.
From this reading The old man looked up and rubbed his eyes as though waking from a sleep.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
From this reading And the man whispered in a sort of awe: "Well, I'll be damned!"
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading The other fell back a pace, and Pierre went straight to the table and said to Cochrane: "Sir, I have come to take you home."
Chapter 5 of Riders of the Silences by Max Brand holds 100 sentences, grouped into 20 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 5 holds 100 sentences of Riders of the Silences, unabridged, divided into 20 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of Riders of the Silences by Max Brand exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 100 sentences, grouped into 20 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 20 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 20 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 5 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 Riders of the Silences by Max Brand on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4417 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #9867 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #9867, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 368 minutes of reading across 884 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Riders of the Silences section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 37 chapters of Riders of the Silences 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 Riders of the Silences, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
