Suddenly Clayton heard the faint report of a firearm--a
single shot, and then silence.
In the cabin by the beach two thoroughly terrified women
clung to each other as they crouched upon the low bench in
the gathering darkness.
The Negress sobbed hysterically, bemoaning the evil day
that had witnessed her departure from her dear Maryland,
while the white girl, dry eyed and outwardly calm, was torn
by inward fears and forebodings. She feared not more for
herself than for the three men whom she knew to be wandering
in the abysmal depths of the savage jungle, from which
she now heard issuing the almost incessant shrieks and roars,
barkings and growlings of its terrifying and fearsome denizens
as they sought their prey.
And now there came the sound of a heavy body brushing
against the side of the cabin. She could hear the great padded
paws upon the ground outside. For an instant, all was silence;
even the bedlam of the forest died to a faint murmur. Then
she distinctly heard the beast outside sniffing at the door, not
two feet from where she crouched. Instinctively the girl
shuddered, and shrank closer to the black woman.
"Hush!" she whispered. "Hush, Esmeralda," for the
woman's sobs and groans seemed to have attracted the thing
that stalked there just beyond the thin wall.
A gentle scratching sound was heard on the door. The
brute tried to force an entrance; but presently this ceased,
and again she heard the great pads creeping stealthily around
the cabin.
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