Chapter 18 of The Night-Born is here in full — 217 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVIII
Chapter 18 of The Night-Born is here in full — 217 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Then happened the amazing thing. The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly. Rivera stood alone. Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back. His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
Chapter 18 of The Night-Born is here in full — 217 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/43 · 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.
surprising greatly
From this reading “Then happened the amazing thing.”
inflected form of “blur” — become glassy; lose clear vision
From this reading “The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.”
an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation
From this reading “His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.”
a mistake that results from taking one thing to be another
From this reading “The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.”
inspiring fear
From this reading “Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back.”
socialist Mexican painter of murals (1886-1957)
From this reading “Rivera stood alone.”
inflected form of “strive” — attempt by employing effort
From this reading “His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.”
the act of rotating in a circle or spiral
From this reading “The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.”
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.
Having no one else present.
From this reading Rivera stood alone.
surprising greatly
From this reading Then happened the amazing thing.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back.
inflected form of “blur” — become glassy; lose clear vision
From this reading The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.
the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
past form of “cease” — put an end to a state or an activity
From this reading The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.
an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back.
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading Then happened the amazing thing.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back.
a mistake that results from taking one thing to be another
From this reading The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
inspiring fear
From this reading Danny, the redoubtable Danny, lay on his back.
go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
socialist Mexican painter of murals (1886-1957)
From this reading Rivera stood alone.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading Rivera stood alone.
inflected form of “strive” — attempt by employing effort
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
happening unexpectedly
From this reading The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Then happened the amazing thing.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then happened the amazing thing.
a special situation
From this reading Then happened the amazing thing.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading His body quivered as consciousness strove to return to it.
the act of rotating in a circle or spiral
From this reading The whirling, blurring mix-up ceased suddenly.
Chapter 18 of The Night-Born by Jack London holds 217 sentences, grouped into 44 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 18 holds 217 sentences of The Night-Born, unabridged, divided into 44 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 18 of The Night-Born by Jack London exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 217 sentences, grouped into 44 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 44 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 44 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 Night-Born by Jack London on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4015 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1029 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1029, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 334 minutes of reading across 803 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Night-Born section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 18 chapters of The Night-Born 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 Night-Born, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
