“You fellows turn in if you want to,” suggested Jerry. “I’ll keep guard for a couple of hours.”
“No; I’ll stick it out with you,” replied Hamp.
“And so will I,” added Brick.
Half an hour slipped away in silence. The drowsiness of the boys increased. They felt strongly tempted to go to bed, and leave the catamount in possession of the camp.
Suddenly they were startled to hear the dull report of a gun far back in the woods. Another shot followed, and then another.
“Something wrong,” exclaimed Hamp. “Those men must be camping within a mile or two of us.”
“That’s where the racket comes from,” admitted Jerry. “I can’t account for it, though.”
His lips framed the word murder, but he did not utter it.
“I hear something else,” declared Brick; “a sort of a roaring noise. It sounds like the wind among the trees.”