Chapter 24 of The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande is here in full — 51 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XXIV
Chapter 24 of The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande is here in full — 51 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot. “A dead man’s chest! A dead man’s chest! Yo, ho, and a bottle of rum! And a bottle of rum!”
Chapter 24 of The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande is here in full — 51 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/10 · 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 glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids; typically cylindrical without handles and with a narrow neck that can be plugged or capped
From this reading “Yo, ho, and a bottle of rum!”
the part of the human torso between the neck and the diaphragm or the corresponding part in other vertebrates
From this reading ““A dead man’s chest!”
rid of obstructions
From this reading “AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.”
possessive form of “man” — an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
possessive form of “moment” — a particular point in time
usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds
From this reading “AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.”
advancing or becoming higher or greater in degree or value or status
From this reading “AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.”
liquor distilled from fermented molasses
From this reading “Yo, ho, and a bottle of rum!”
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.
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 AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
a glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids; typically cylindrical without handles and with a narrow neck that can be plugged or capped
From this reading Yo, ho, and a bottle of rum!
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
the part of the human torso between the neck and the diaphragm or the corresponding part in other vertebrates
From this reading “A dead man’s chest!
rid of obstructions
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading “A dead man’s chest!
past form of “follow” — to travel behind, go after, come after
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
a trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group; occurs together with yttrium; forms highly magnetic compounds
From this reading Yo, ho, and a bottle of rum!
immediately past
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
possessive form of “man” — an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading “A dead man’s chest!
possessive form of “moment” — a particular point in time
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
advancing or becoming higher or greater in degree or value or status
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
liquor distilled from fermented molasses
From this reading Yo, ho, and a bottle of rum!
Complete absence of sound; a state of quietness and stillness.
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
in or at that place or location
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading AND THE LAST There followed a moment’s silence, and then, rising clear and high, came the voice of the parrot.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Yo, ho, and a bottle of rum!
Chapter 24 of The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande by Harry Gordon holds 51 sentences, grouped into 11 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 24 holds 51 sentences of The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande, unabridged, divided into 11 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 24 of The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande by Harry Gordon exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 51 sentences, grouped into 11 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 11 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 11 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 24 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 River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande by Harry Gordon on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3490 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #50799 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #50799, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 290 minutes of reading across 698 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 24 chapters of The River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande 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 River Motor Boat Boys on the Rio Grande, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
