Chapter 21 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment. He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body. He was not alone. Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him. Stealthily, too, Johnny felt.
Chapter 21 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/32 · 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.
tending to become more severe or wider in scope
From this reading “TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.”
at or in the front
From this reading “Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.”
a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
From this reading “TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.”
low hardy much-branched spiny shrub common in alkaline soils of western America
From this reading “Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.”
“Johnny” was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; “greyback” derived from their grey Confederate uniforms
From this reading “TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.”
a mentor in spiritual and philosophical topics who is renowned for profound wisdom
From this reading “Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.”
past form of “search” — try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of
From this reading “He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.”
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading “He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.”
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 “He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.”
In this reading “TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.”
In this reading “TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.”
In this reading “He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.”
In this reading “TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.”
In this reading “He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.”
In this reading “TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.”
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 TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
tending to become more severe or wider in scope
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
at or in the front
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
Having no one else present.
From this reading He was not alone.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading Stealthily, too, Johnny felt.
the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
low hardy much-branched spiny shrub common in alkaline soils of western America
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
“Johnny” was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; “greyback” derived from their grey Confederate uniforms
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
the force of workers available
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
plural of “mile” — a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
a particular point in time
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
used to form the superlative
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading He was not alone.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
a mentor in spiritual and philosophical topics who is renowned for profound wisdom
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
past form of “search” — try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
in a stealthy manner
From this reading Stealthily, too, Johnny felt.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading Some one else moved through the greasewood and sage ahead of him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading Stealthily, too, Johnny felt.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
precisely as stated
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading TWO DEAD MEN For a dead man Johnny Dice was most active at that very moment.
in or at the place that
From this reading He was some five miles from the spot where Tony searched for his body.
Chapter 21 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago holds 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 21 holds 160 sentences of Smoke of the .45, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 21 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 Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5164 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #63072 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #63072, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 430 minutes of reading across 1033 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Smoke of the .45 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 33 chapters of Smoke of the .45 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 Smoke of the .45, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
