“But would serpents be out at night?” I said.
“That one was the other night, Joe, and we must not reckon upon the regular habits of animals if we light great fires in their lairs.”
We sat listening again, and the rustling sound began once more.
“It’s just as if the thing were climbing along trees that are not strong enough to bear it,” I said in an excited whisper, “and they keep flying up after it passes.”
“Hush!” said the doctor.
We listened, and from out of the darkest part before us there arose a loud tearing noise as if bark was being scratched from a tree trunk.
“Some kind of beast of the cat family, I should say,” whispered the doctor. “Pst! be ready; but don’t fire unless we are attacked.”
Just then there was a rush, a scramble, a dull thud, and some creature uttered a sound that seemed like the word Howl in a hollow echoing tone.
Again and again there was the low rustling, and then that word Howl that seemed to come from some great throat; and in imagination I saw in the darkness a pair of fiery eyes and a set of great sharp teeth.
“Yes; some kind of cat, leopard, or panther,” said the doctor; but, low as his utterance was, it seemed to irritate the creature in our neighbourhood, as it kept on the rustling, for there was a harsh exclamation and the earth seemed to be torn up.