Chapter 26 of The Drums of Jeopardy is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXVI
Chapter 26 of The Drums of Jeopardy is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see. So is water, the morning after. That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound. The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance. A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
Chapter 26 of The Drums of Jeopardy is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/65 · 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.
expected hopefully
From this reading “A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.”
gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement
From this reading “That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.”
something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness
From this reading “A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.”
not challenging; dull and lacking excitement
From this reading “The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.”
impossible to avoid or evade
From this reading “That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.”
a person who expects the worst
From this reading “A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.”
spring back; spring away from an impact
From this reading “That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.”
the power or capacity of an organism to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions
From this reading “The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.”
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 Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
later than; following
From this reading So is water, the morning after.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
expected hopefully
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
a white sparkling wine either produced in Champagne or resembling that produced there
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
(Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions) chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
plural of “drop” — a shape that is spherical and small
From this reading The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
a brittle transparent solid with irregular atomic structure
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
not challenging; dull and lacking excitement
From this reading The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
impossible to avoid or evade
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
incapable of being avoided or prevented
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
a strong positive emotion of regard and affection
From this reading The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading So is water, the morning after.
used to form the superlative
From this reading The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.
and nothing more
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
a person who expects the worst
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
spring back; spring away from an impact
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading So is water, the morning after.
take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
in or at that place or location
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
a special situation
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Champagne in the glass is a beautiful thing to see.
the power or capacity of an organism to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions
From this reading The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.
acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or energy or emotional intensity
From this reading The most violent love drops into humdrum tolerance.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading So is water, the morning after.
which person or people
From this reading A pessimist is only a poor devil who has anticipated the inevitable; he has his headache at the start.
in the company of; together with
From this reading That is the fault with frolic; there is always an inescapable rebound.
Chapter 26 of The Drums of Jeopardy by Harold MacGrath holds 329 sentences, grouped into 66 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 26 holds 329 sentences of The Drums of Jeopardy, unabridged, divided into 66 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 26 of The Drums of Jeopardy by Harold MacGrath exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 329 sentences, grouped into 66 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 66 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 66 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 26 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 Drums of Jeopardy by Harold MacGrath on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8133 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1913 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1913, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1627 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Drums of Jeopardy section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 32 chapters of The Drums of Jeopardy 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 Drums of Jeopardy, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
