"What's that?" cried Walter, excitedly.
CHAPTER XXVII.
A TERRIBLE NIGHT.
A shrill piercing scream, like the cry of a tortured soul, rang out of the forest, rising clear and trembling above the tolling of the bell and the noises of the night.
The boys looked at each other with white, frightened faces.
"A panther," Charley cried, "a panther, and we penned up here helpless as babes."
"Look," said Walter, eagerly, "look at the boars."
The great animals were stirring uneasily and their hoarse, threatening grunts had dropped to a kind of frightened whine. Again the scream rose shrill and clear, and, with a grunt of fear, the big leader charged into the forest followed by the rest.
"They are afraid of the panther, and I don't blame them," Charley exclaimed. "Come, we must get out of here in a hurry."