Directly after Sir James and the doctor joined them, and a couple more shots came from a distance, in the direction where the thundering beat of hoofs was beginning to die away, and then shots again, followed by a hideous snarling and roaring, as if very near at hand several lions were quarrelling like angry cats over their prey.
“Ahoy, there!” shouted the doctor.
“Ahoy!” came from two places in the distance.
“Rally here,” cried the doctor, as loud as he could shout. “Up here by the waggon!”
This was followed by the beating of feet upon the thick grass, and all the time the trampling of oxen grew more distant, while the savage snarling went on and was punctuated in the darkness every now and then by a deep-toned bark.
“This way,” cried the doctor. “Come on!”
The boys’ hearts beat hard at this, for the doctor’s words were answered by a chorus of snarls from what Mark judged now to be a portion of the forest not many yards away; and involuntarily the boys raised their rifles to their shoulders as they glanced to right and left, trying to make out through the darkness whether the way was clear for a shot.
“Hadn’t we better fire again, father?”
“No,” said the doctor sharply, from close at hand. “The men are rallying, and we may hit somebody.”
“Yes,” said Sir James quickly.