ow here, now there, what sounded like the notes of a bell,
followed perhaps by a weird unearthly scream, which would be taken up
and repeated on all hands until it needed but a small effort of the
imagination to convince the listener that some ghastly tragedy was being
enacted in his immediate vicinity. And the effect was further
heightened by strange moanings and groanings, as of people in mortal
agony, queer sobbing sounds, cries as of children in distress, and,
intermingled with these, savage grunts and snarlings, barking, as of
angry dogs, loud whistling, coughing, roaring, sudden and violent
rustlings among the underbush, an occasional loud crash proclaiming the
fall of some forest giant, and, nearer at hand, sudden rushes and
swirling sounds in the water about the raft.

Immediately after coming to an anchor for the night Earle had drawn
forth from among the many bales and packages that were stowed on the
deck of the raft a long bundle, which, upon being cast loose, resolved
itself into the constituents of a double-skinned tent, the inner skin
being made of loosely woven cotton canvas, while the outer skin--with
six inches of air space between it and the inner--was made of light but
thoroughly waterproof material, warranted by its maker to withstand even
the assault of a tropical deluge. This tent the two white men quickly
set up on the deck of the raft, between the two masts, when it was seen
to be roomy enough to accommodate two camp beds with a table of
convenient size between them, high enough for even Dick to stand upright
in it, and with sufficient space between the table and the entrance to
accommodate two deck chairs. When the beds were made up on the folding
pallets, a lighted hurricane lamp suspended from the ridge pole of the
tent, and the table laid for dinner, the interior presented an eminently
cosy and comfortable appearance, and its two occupants sat down to the
meal provided for them by the inestimable Peter with excellent
appetites.

But they did not linger long over the pleasures of the table, for there
was still work to be done before they could conscientiously seek the
beds that wooed them, that work consisting in the unpacking of their
weapons and ammunition, and making the former ready for instant service.
This task they undertook immediately after dinner, sitting side by side
just within the entrance of the tent.

Earle had been, according to Dick's notion, lavishly extravagant in the