"And you, Chris?" inquired Charley of the little darky, whose face wore a puzzled expression.
"Golly, dis nigger hear something powerful plain but he can't just make it out. Don't sound like anything he ever heard, afore. Now hit sounds like a big dog growling an' then again hit sounds like one whinin'."
"Your ears are pretty good, Chris," Charley commented. "I guess we'll follow up that sound for a little while."
CHAPTER X.
SHOOTING A THIEF.
"Are you working one of your little surprises on us?" Walter inquired eagerly of his chum as the little party again advanced in the direction Chris indicated. "Come, confess now that you know what is ahead of us."
"I am all at sea this time," admitted Charley. "I heard just what Chris described, but I can't fit the sounds to any animal I know. It's getting plainer now, surely you can hear it."
"Yes," said Walter, with a puzzled frown, "but what under the sun, moon, and stars can it be?"
"A few minutes will settle the question. It's only a little ways off now. My! it's getting to be a terrible din, we must be close at hand." Charley's prophecy soon proved true for they suddenly came out of the forest into a space which had evidently been fire-swept years before, for it was bare of undergrowth and of the former mighty pines nothing remained but the white, lifeless trunks.