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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the story the narrator tells, how is Hank Monk taken to his destination?
(a) At high speed on horseback.
(b) Slowly in a stagecoach.
(c) Slowly on horseback.
(d) At high speed in a stagecoach.

2. Who warns the narrator's crew about the rising rivers?
(a) Town drunks.
(b) Indians.
(c) The innkeeper.
(d) The town sheriff.

3. What eventually happens to Jules?
(a) He is run over by a stagecoach.
(b) He is killed by Slade.
(c) He is killed by Indians.
(d) He disappears and is never heard from again.

4. Where is the author traveling to?
(a) Kansas City.
(b) San Diego.
(c) San Francisco.
(d) St. Louis.

5. How does the narrator's party determine that they are lost in the beginning of Chapter XXXII?
(a) The roads start looking too familiar, leading them in a circle.
(b) They cannot see the road.
(c) They have been on the same road for too long.
(d) They keep switching to different roads and nothing looks familiar.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Capt. John Nye help the narrator's party find?

2. How many people live in Carson City?

3. How many friends does the narrator take along with him to mine for silver?

4. How long do the travelers stay at Salt Lake City before packing food and leaving?

5. What is it that the narrator envies the most about his brother's new job?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the experience the narrator has in buying a horse in Carson City?

2. What is the myth of the Pony Express Riders?

3. Why is Slade feared and what happens between him and the narrator?

4. Who accompanies the narrator on his trip to Humboldt County, and how does the first two hundred miles of their expedition go?

5. What leads the narrator and his party to Esmeralda?

6. What is the reality of the alkali desert as the narrator experiences it after leaving Salt Lake City?

7. How is the breakfast that the narrator is served in Nebraska described, and what future traveling accommodations does he compare his situation to?

8. How does the author build up the anticipation for the book in the Prefatory?

9. How does the narrator live past the cold night, and what is ironic about the crew's actions afterward?

10. What is the writing style of Mark Twain that is established in the Prefatory?

(see the answer keys)

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