Chapter 23 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 152 sentences across 31 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 152 sentences across 31 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup. Kent was a nervous wreck. Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went. “You been seein’ ghosts, too?” Aaron asked.
Chapter 23 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 152 sentences across 31 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.
United States professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934)
From this reading “Aaron asked.”
remote in manner
From this reading “Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.”
past form of “closet” — confine to a small space, as for intensive work
From this reading “THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.”
a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
From this reading “Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.”
a town in northwestern New Mexico near the Arizona border
From this reading “THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.”
plural of “ghost” — a mental representation of some haunting experience
From this reading ““You been seein’ ghosts, too?””
a county in southeastern England on the English Channel; formerly an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was the first to be colonized by the Romans
From this reading “THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.”
a mental representation of some haunting experience
From this reading “Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.”
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 “THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.”
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 Kent was a nervous wreck.
United States professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934)
From this reading Aaron asked.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
remote in manner
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading Aaron asked.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
next to; at the side of
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
past form of “closet” — confine to a small space, as for intensive work
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
about to be mentioned or specified
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
set up or found
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
a town in northwestern New Mexico near the Arizona border
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
plural of “ghost” — a mental representation of some haunting experience
From this reading “You been seein’ ghosts, too?”
a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
“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 Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
a county in southeastern England on the English Channel; formerly an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was the first to be colonized by the Romans
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
the force of workers available
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
popular aquarium fish
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
easily agitated
From this reading Kent was a nervous wreck.
plural of “note” — a brief written record
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
past form of “refuse” — show unwillingness towards
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “You been seein’ ghosts, too?”
express in speech
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
third-person singular of “speak” — express in speech
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
a mental representation of some haunting experience
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
having a supporting base
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
showing a brooding ill humor
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading “You been seein’ ghosts, too?”
the upper part of anything
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
past form of “walk” — use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Kent was a nervous wreck.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
in or to any place at all
From this reading Molly had refused to speak to him; his men were sullen, aloof; Tobias had been back about the notes, and to top it all the specter of Johnny Dice walked beside him wherever he went.
in the company of; together with
From this reading THE GUN SPEAKS The following morning found Kent in Standing Rock closeted with Gallup.
something or someone that has suffered ruin or dilapidation
From this reading Kent was a nervous wreck.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “You been seein’ ghosts, too?”
Chapter 23 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago holds 152 sentences, grouped into 31 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 23 holds 152 sentences of Smoke of the .45, unabridged, divided into 31 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 152 sentences, grouped into 31 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 31 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 31 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 23 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.
