Chapter 13 of The Valley of Silent Men is here in full — 195 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIII
Chapter 13 of The Valley of Silent Men is here in full — 195 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
In that moment Kent did not speak. He made no sound. He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring. If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face. The girl must have seen it.
Chapter 13 of The Valley of Silent Men is here in full — 195 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/39 · 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 small stone room in a prison where an inmate is locked behind iron bars.
From this reading “He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.”
inflected form of “hang” — be suspended or hanging
From this reading “If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.”
a county in southeastern England on the English Channel; formerly an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was the first to be colonized by the Romans
From this reading “In that moment Kent did not speak.”
an area that is approximately central within some larger region
From this reading “He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.”
plural of “second” — 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading “If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.”
a perceptible indication of something not immediately apparent (as a visible clue that something has happened)
From this reading “He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.”
(used of eyes) open and fixed as if in fear or wonder
From this reading “He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.”
accept gladly
From this reading “He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.”
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 If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
A small stone room in a prison where an inmate is locked behind iron bars.
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading In that moment Kent did not speak.
past form of “die” — pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
all things; all of a situation
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
a young female
From this reading The girl must have seen it.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He made no sound.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
inflected form of “hang” — be suspended or hanging
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In that moment Kent did not speak.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading The girl must have seen it.
a county in southeastern England on the English Channel; formerly an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was the first to be colonized by the Romans
From this reading In that moment Kent did not speak.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading He made no sound.
an area that is approximately central within some larger region
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
a particular point in time
From this reading In that moment Kent did not speak.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading The girl must have seen it.
not any; not one
From this reading He made no sound.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading In that moment Kent did not speak.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
plural of “second” — 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading The girl must have seen it.
a perceptible indication of something not immediately apparent (as a visible clue that something has happened)
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause
From this reading He made no sound.
express in speech
From this reading In that moment Kent did not speak.
the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
(used of eyes) open and fixed as if in fear or wonder
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading In that moment Kent did not speak.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
the plural of “that”: the people or things further away, or already known
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
accept gladly
From this reading He gave no sign of welcome, but stood in the middle of his cell, staring.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading If life had hung upon speech in those few seconds, he would have died, but everything he would have said, and more, was in his face.
Chapter 13 of The Valley of Silent Men by James Oliver Curwood holds 195 sentences, grouped into 39 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 13 holds 195 sentences of The Valley of Silent Men, unabridged, divided into 39 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 13 of The Valley of Silent Men by James Oliver Curwood exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 195 sentences, grouped into 39 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 39 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 39 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 13 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 Valley of Silent Men by James Oliver Curwood on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5023 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #4707 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #4707, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 418 minutes of reading across 1005 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Valley of Silent Men section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of The Valley of Silent Men 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 Valley of Silent Men, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
