The ponies, too, had been startled. They were snorting and stamping. Tad's voice quieted them.
"If this thing keeps on I am sure to have an attack of nerves. I am ashamed of myself—Great Scott, what is that?"
"Oh, wow!" howled Chunky, leaping from his browse bed, standing wide-eyed at the opening of the lean-to. "What was that?"
"I—I don't know," stammered Tad. "I—I never heard so many crazy sounds in all my life. I have heard that a night in the jungle was terrifying, but I don't believe it can be any worse than this."
"There it goes again," cried Chunky.
"Ugh-ugh-ugh, oo-oo-oo—o-o-o-o!"
The forest seemed to be full of the "ugh-oos." The Pony Rider Boys gazed into each other's faces. Stacy Brown's teeth were chattering. Again that terrifying roar.
"Wha—what is it?" gasped Chunky.
"I—I don't know," whispered Tad. "I—I never heard the like of it. It is getting nearer, too."
Tad snatched up his rifle.