"I thought I heard something," said Margy. "Hark!"
"Maybe it is a snake—rattling," Artie giggled, a remark which had the effect of making Margy hold her skirts higher and look around her with alarm.
"There aren't any snakes, Margy—don't listen to him," said Jess crossly. "If there were any they— What in the world is that?" she broke off in quick surprise.
"That's what I heard before," Margy insisted. "What do you suppose it is? A—a laughing hyena?"
Polly was listening intently.
"Sounded more like crying, than laughing," protested Ward.
"Well, when a hyena laughs, it cries," Margy told him. "As Artie says, I read it in a book. So there!"
"There it is again," said Fred. "Now hush, and listen."
They stood quiet. A low sobbing note that ended in what might have been a shriek, came to them.
"It's around that bend," Polly declared, pointing ahead.