Chapter 21 of The Drums of War is here in full — 81 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of The Drums of War is here in full — 81 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!" In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home. The horses had done over forty miles. I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage. It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
Chapter 21 of The Drums of War is here in full — 81 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/16 · 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.
a railcar where passengers ride
From this reading “In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.”
being ten more than thirty
From this reading “The horses had done over forty miles.”
engage or hire for work
From this reading “I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.”
according to the clock
From this reading “It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.”
a barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports
From this reading “I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.”
European strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy
From this reading “In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.”
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading “"O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"”
the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
From this reading “It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.”
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 horses had done over forty miles.”
In this reading “I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.”
In this reading “It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.”
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 "O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
an old form of “are”, used with “thou”
From this reading "O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"
earlier than; in front of
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
a railcar where passengers ride
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading The horses had done over forty miles.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
being ten more than thirty
From this reading The horses had done over forty miles.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The horses had done over forty miles.
engage or hire for work
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
plural of “horse” — solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading The horses had done over forty miles.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
the superlative of “little” that can be used with mass nouns and is usually preceded by “the”; a quantifier meaning smallest in amount or extent or degree
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
a vaguely specified concern
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
plural of “mile” — a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters
From this reading The horses had done over forty miles.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
From this reading "O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"
according to the clock
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
and nothing more
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
above and across; more than
From this reading The horses had done over forty miles.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
a barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
European strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
100 senti equal 1 kroon in Estonia
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading "O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"
carry out
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
an old word for “you”, as the subject, speaking to one person
From this reading "O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In the Rue du Petit Thouars I sent the carriage home.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading "O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"
including all components without exception; being one unit or constituting the full amount or extent or duration; complete
From this reading It did not matter in the least; it was only twelve o'clock, and we had the whole day before us.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading I would take Eloise down to Etiolles by rail, or we would hire a carriage.
a young person (especially a young man or boy)
From this reading "O YOUTH, WHAT A STAR THOU ART!"
Chapter 21 of The Drums of War by H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole holds 81 sentences, grouped into 17 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 21 holds 81 sentences of The Drums of War, unabridged, divided into 17 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of The Drums of War by H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 81 sentences, grouped into 17 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 17 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 17 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 21 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 War by H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4188 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #55148 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #55148, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 349 minutes of reading across 838 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Drums of War section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Drums of War 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 War, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
