Chapter 8 of The Flag of Distress is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Flag of Distress is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"No doubt they would. But it's too late now. They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves. Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara." "I have it that way.
Chapter 8 of The Flag of Distress is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/85 · 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.
on the far side of; further than
From this reading “They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.”
lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
From this reading “Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."”
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading “Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."”
a relatively long dagger with a straight blade
From this reading “Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."”
the property created by the space between two objects or points
From this reading “They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.”
-ing form of “hail” — praise vociferously
From this reading “They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.”
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading “But it's too late now.”
used when we are both doing the action and receiving it
From this reading “They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
on the far side of; further than
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But it's too late now.
lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
the work of providing treatment for or attending to someone or something
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
a relatively long dagger with a straight blade
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
the property created by the space between two objects or points
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
the state of being unsure of something
From this reading "No doubt they would.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
-ing form of “hail” — praise vociferously
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "I have it that way.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "I have it that way.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading But it's too late now.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading But it's too late now.
a form of address for a man
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
not any; not one
From this reading "No doubt they would.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading But it's too late now.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
used when we are both doing the action and receiving it
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
completely prepared or in condition for immediate action or use or progress
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
carry out
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "No doubt they would.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading But it's too late now.
inflected form of “take” — carry out
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading "I have it that way.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading They're beyond hailing distance, and we must take care of ourselves.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading "No doubt they would.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Get your dirk ready, Will, and have your hand close to the butt of that shooting-iron, you took from Mr De Lara."
Chapter 8 of The Flag of Distress by Mayne Reid holds 425 sentences, grouped into 85 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 8 holds 425 sentences of The Flag of Distress, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Flag of Distress by Mayne Reid exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 425 sentences, grouped into 85 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 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 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 8 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 Flag of Distress by Mayne Reid on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7928 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #25164 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #25164, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1586 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Flag of Distress section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of The Flag of Distress 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 Flag of Distress, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
