Chapter 13 of The Ark of 1803 is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIII
Chapter 13 of The Ark of 1803 is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“VIVE NAPOLEON!” The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din. The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round. Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt. The boys held him with difficulty.
Chapter 13 of The Ark of 1803 is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/25 · 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.
commonly used or practiced; usual
From this reading “Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.”
tried unsuccessfully
From this reading “Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.”
a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder
From this reading “Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.”
a loud harsh or strident noise
From this reading “The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.”
provoking horror
From this reading “The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.”
French general who became emperor of the French (1769-1821)
From this reading ““VIVE NAPOLEON!””
uttered with a trill
From this reading “The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.”
to an extreme or greatly exaggerated degree
From this reading “The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.”
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 “Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.”
In this reading “The boys held him with difficulty.”
In this reading “Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.”
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 The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
commonly used or practiced; usual
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
filled with fear or apprehension
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
any person at all
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
any thing at all
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
tried unsuccessfully
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
plural of “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
an effort that is inconvenient
From this reading The boys held him with difficulty.
a loud harsh or strident noise
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
opinion or judgment
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
plural of “face” — the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
plural of “head” — the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading The boys held him with difficulty.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The boys held him with difficulty.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
provoking horror
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
French general who became emperor of the French (1769-1821)
From this reading “VIVE NAPOLEON!”
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
participate in games or sport
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
uttered with a trill
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
any of many shrubs of the genus Rosa that bear roses
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
a charge of ammunition for a single shot
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
of the kind already mentioned
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading The boys had never seen anything like this before—such horrible heads and faces—or heard such a din.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “VIVE NAPOLEON!”
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
to an extreme or greatly exaggerated degree
From this reading The tightly-muzzled “Napoleon” rose on his haunches, rolling his eyes wildly round.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Accustomed to play with the arksmen, he was not much afraid of anybody; but now he attempted to bolt.
Chapter 13 of The Ark of 1803 by C. A. (Charles Asbury) Stephens holds 125 sentences, grouped into 25 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 13 holds 125 sentences of The Ark of 1803, unabridged, divided into 25 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 13 of The Ark of 1803 by C. A. (Charles Asbury) Stephens exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 125 sentences, grouped into 25 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 25 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 25 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 13 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 The Ark of 1803 by C. A. (Charles Asbury) Stephens on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2937 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #61226 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #61226, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 244 minutes of reading across 588 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Ark of 1803 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 14 chapters of The Ark of 1803 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 The Ark of 1803, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
