Chapter 25 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 86 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXV
Chapter 25 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 86 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque. No one would even admit that they had seen him. The boy refused to give up. Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him. It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
Chapter 25 of Smoke of the .45 is here in full — 86 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/17 · 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.
declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of
From this reading “No one would even admit that they had seen him.”
third-person singular of “assert” — state categorically
From this reading “MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.”
a member of a people of unknown origin living in the western Pyrenees in France and Spain
From this reading “MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.”
(of hair) made tidy with a comb
From this reading “MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.”
past form of “crouch” — bend one's back forward from the waist on down
From this reading “It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.”
goods carried by a large vehicle
From this reading “It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.”
“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 “MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.”
serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being
From this reading “It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.”
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.
a railway car that carries freight
In this reading “It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.”
In this reading “MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.”
lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime
In this reading “The boy refused to give up.”
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.
declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
third-person singular of “assert” — state categorically
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
a member of a people of unknown origin living in the western Pyrenees in France and Spain
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
a youthful male person
From this reading The boy refused to give up.
a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
(of hair) made tidy with a comb
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
past form of “crouch” — bend one's back forward from the waist on down
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
divisible by two
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him.
the act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
goods carried by a large vehicle
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading The boy refused to give up.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
the -ing form of “have”
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
resulting from one's intentions
From this reading Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
“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 MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
a group of volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Morocco; the group forms an autonomous region of Portugal
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
not any; not one
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
past form of “refuse” — show unwillingness towards
From this reading The boy refused to give up.
a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
in or at or to some place
From this reading Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
in or at that place or location
From this reading Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The boy refused to give up.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading The boy refused to give up.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Madeiras was there, somewhere, and he intended to find him.
serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being
From this reading It was wasted effort, Tony having left the Rock as Johnny crouched upon the freight car.
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading MADEIRAS ASSERTS HIMSELF Johnny combed the town without finding the Basque.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading No one would even admit that they had seen him.
Chapter 25 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago holds 86 sentences, grouped into 18 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 25 holds 86 sentences of Smoke of the .45, unabridged, divided into 18 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 25 of Smoke of the .45 by Harry Sinclair Drago exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 86 sentences, grouped into 18 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 18 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 18 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 25 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.
