Chapter 2 of The Sky Trail is here in full — 459 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of The Sky Trail is here in full — 459 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier. The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind. He glanced at his watch. He was making good time. With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
Chapter 2 of The Sky Trail is here in full — 459 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/91 · 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 structure or object that impedes free movement
From this reading “The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.”
causing fear or dread or terror
From this reading “The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.”
plural of “emergency” — a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action
From this reading “With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.”
a hard kind of stone; a form of silica more opaque than chalcedony
From this reading “The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.”
a city in central Georgia to the southeast of Atlanta
From this reading “The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.”
line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight
From this reading “The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.”
used of milk and milk products from which the cream has been removed
From this reading “The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.”
not anticipated
From this reading “With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.”
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 “He glanced at his watch.”
In this reading “The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.”
In this reading “The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.”
a highly pleasurable or exciting experience
In this reading “He was making good time.”
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 The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading He glanced at his watch.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
a structure or object that impedes free movement
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
the property created by the space between two objects or points
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
causing fear or dread or terror
From this reading The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.
the cardinal compass point that is at 90 degrees
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
being one more than ten
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
plural of “emergency” — a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
a hard kind of stone; a form of silica more opaque than chalcedony
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
past form of “glance” — throw a glance at; take a brief look at
From this reading He glanced at his watch.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading He was making good time.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
plural of “hill” — a local and well-defined elevation of the land
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
inflected form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.
plural of “light” — (physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
a city in central Georgia to the southeast of Atlanta
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
the act that results in something coming to be
From this reading He was making good time.
not any; not one
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
past form of “show” — give an exhibition of to an interested audience
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
used of milk and milk products from which the cream has been removed
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading He was making good time.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The dreaded hills now lay to his left and behind.
not anticipated
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
look attentively
From this reading He glanced at his watch.
at the time that
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
in the company of; together with
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
the least favorable outcome
From this reading The railroad skimmed the east end of the Flint hills and when the lights of Macon showed in the distance Tim knew he was around the worst barrier.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading With no unforeseen emergencies he would be in Atkinson by eleven.
Chapter 2 of The Sky Trail by Graham M. Dean holds 459 sentences, grouped into 92 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 2 holds 459 sentences of The Sky Trail, unabridged, divided into 92 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The Sky Trail by Graham M. Dean exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 459 sentences, grouped into 92 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 92 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 92 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 2 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 Sky Trail by Graham M. Dean on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2755 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #45485 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #45485, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 229 minutes of reading across 551 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Sky Trail section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of The Sky Trail 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 Sky Trail, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
