Chapter II of Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross, “The Call of the Drum,” is here in full — 103 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter II of Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross, “The Call of the Drum,” is here in full — 103 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch. The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked. “I vum!” ejaculated the miller. “Who done that? What’s happened to Old Betsey?”
Chapter II of Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross, “The Call of the Drum,” is here in full — 103 sentences across 21 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.
fall or come down violently
From this reading “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close
From this reading “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
a violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction
From this reading “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
gleam or glow intermittently
From this reading “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
United States bandleader of a popular big band (1909-1944)
From this reading ““I vum!” ejaculated the miller.”
a structure attached to the exterior of a building often forming a covered entrance
From this reading “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
uttered in a shrill scream as of pain or terror
From this reading “The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked.”
past form of “stagger” — walk as if unable to control one's movements
From this reading “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
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 “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
In this reading “There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.”
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 There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
a human limb; technically the part of the superior limb between the shoulder and the elbow but commonly used to refer to the whole superior limb
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked.
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
From this reading The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading What’s happened to Old Betsey?”
fall or come down violently
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading “Who done that?
the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “I vum!” ejaculated the miller.
a violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
opinion or judgment
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
gleam or glow intermittently
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
about to be mentioned or specified
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked.
a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading What’s happened to Old Betsey?”
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I vum!” ejaculated the miller.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
United States bandleader of a popular big band (1909-1944)
From this reading “I vum!” ejaculated the miller.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading What’s happened to Old Betsey?”
a structure attached to the exterior of a building often forming a covered entrance
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
uttered in a shrill scream as of pain or terror
From this reading The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked.
past form of “stagger” — walk as if unable to control one's movements
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading “Who done that?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
the brother of your father or mother; the husband of your aunt
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “I vum!” ejaculated the miller.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
(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 The girls, as well as Aunt Alvirah, shrieked.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading What’s happened to Old Betsey?”
during the time that
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
which person or people
From this reading “Who done that?
in the company of; together with
From this reading There was a flash following the explosion, and Uncle Jabez staggered back from the doorway, his arm across his eyes, while the gun dropped with a crash to the porch.
Chapter 2 of Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross by Alice B. Emerson holds 103 sentences, grouped into 21 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 103 sentences of Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross, unabridged, divided into 21 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross by Alice B. Emerson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 103 sentences, grouped into 21 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 21 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 21 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 Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross by Alice B. Emerson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3073 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #36395 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #36395, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 256 minutes of reading across 615 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 25 chapters of Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross 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 Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
