Chapter XVIII of The Black Star: A Detective Story, “Mysteries,” is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XVIII of The Black Star: A Detective Story, “Mysteries,” is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone. “That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered. “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!” Riley declared. “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
Chapter XVIII of The Black Star: A Detective Story, “Mysteries,” is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/42 · 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.
maintain with or as if with a bet
From this reading ““You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!””
arousing or provoking laughter
From this reading ““He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.””
plural of “policeman” — a member of a police force
From this reading “Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.”
United States poet (1849-1916)
From this reading “Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.”
any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal
From this reading ““That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered.”
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading “Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.”
plural of “think” — an instance of deliberate thinking
From this reading ““He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.””
an individual instance of a type of symbol
From this reading ““You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!””
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 “Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.”
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 “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
maintain with or as if with a bet
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
showing who or what does the action
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
made known or openly avowed
From this reading Riley declared.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
arousing or provoking laughter
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
a contest with rules to determine a winner
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
characteristic of humanity
From this reading “That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading “That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
inflected form of “occur” — come to pass
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
past form of “offer” — make available or accessible, provide or furnish
From this reading “That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered.
above and across; more than
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
plural of “policeman” — a member of a police force
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
United States poet (1849-1916)
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal
From this reading “That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered.
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading “That man ain’t human,” the sergeant offered.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
plural of “think” — an instance of deliberate thinking
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “He thinks he’s playin’ a funny game, and he is, but there’s an end to every game.”
an individual instance of a type of symbol
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
(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 Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading Verbeck turned and told Riley and Muggs, as well as the policemen, what had occurred over the telephone.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “You bet he is human, and by that token we’ll get him!”
Chapter 18 of The Black Star: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley holds 214 sentences, grouped into 43 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 18 holds 214 sentences of The Black Star: A Detective Story, unabridged, divided into 43 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 18 of The Black Star: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 214 sentences, grouped into 43 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 43 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 43 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 18 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 Black Star: A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4892 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #35833 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #35833, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 407 minutes of reading across 979 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Black Star: A Detective Story section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 36 chapters of The Black Star: A Detective Story 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 Black Star: A Detective Story, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
