Chapter 15 of The Wailing Octopus is here in full — 149 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XV
Chapter 15 of The Wailing Octopus is here in full — 149 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
How Sings the Gay Sardine? Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear. "We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently. He held up his spear gun. "I've only got one shot in this."
Chapter 15 of The Wailing Octopus is here in full — 149 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/29 · 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 conference (usually with someone important)
From this reading “Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.”
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading “How Sings the Gay Sardine?”
a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading “He held up his spear gun.”
a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (“rick” and “wrick” are British)
From this reading “Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.”
small fatty fish usually canned
From this reading “How Sings the Gay Sardine?”
third-person singular of “sing” — deliver by singing
From this reading “How Sings the Gay Sardine?”
a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon
From this reading “He held up his spear gun.”
with great urgency
From this reading “"We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently.”
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 Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
a conference (usually with someone important)
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading How Sings the Gay Sardine?
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading "We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading "I've only got one shot in this."
a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading He held up his spear gun.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading "We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He held up his spear gun.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He held up his spear gun.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading How Sings the Gay Sardine?
moving rapidly or performed quickly or in great haste
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "I've only got one shot in this."
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading "I've only got one shot in this."
the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading "I've only got one shot in this."
and nothing more
From this reading "I've only got one shot in this."
a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (“rick” and “wrick” are British)
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
small fatty fish usually canned
From this reading How Sings the Gay Sardine?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
the act of firing a projectile
From this reading "I've only got one shot in this."
third-person singular of “sing” — deliver by singing
From this reading How Sings the Gay Sardine?
a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon
From this reading He held up his spear gun.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading How Sings the Gay Sardine?
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading "I've only got one shot in this."
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Rick and Scotty held a hurried consultation, mouth to ear.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading He held up his spear gun.
with great urgency
From this reading "We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently.
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
From this reading "We'll have to get him," Scotty whispered urgently.
Chapter 15 of The Wailing Octopus by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin holds 149 sentences, grouped into 30 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 15 holds 149 sentences of The Wailing Octopus, unabridged, divided into 30 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 15 of The Wailing Octopus by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 149 sentences, grouped into 30 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 30 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 30 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 15 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 Wailing Octopus by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4131 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #31495 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #31495, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 344 minutes of reading across 827 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Wailing Octopus section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of The Wailing Octopus 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 Wailing Octopus, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
