across
it, and after they had anchored in the evening, the air became full of
strange noises; great beasts rose and snorted near the banks; sounds of
roaring and growling were heard in the wood; and the lads, who had been
so eager before to take part in a hunt on shore, listened with something
like awe to the various strange and often mysterious noises.

"What in the world does it all mean, Doctor?" Dick Balderson asked, as
the surgeon came up to the spot where the four midshipmen were leaning
on the rail.

"It means that there is a good deal of life in the woods. That splashing
sound you hear with deep grunts and snorts, is probably made by a
hippopotamus wallowing in shallow water; but it may be a rhinoceros,
or even a buffalo. That roar is either a tiger or a panther, and that
snarling sound on the other bank is, no doubt, made by smaller animals
of the same family, indulging in a domestic quarrel. Some of the other
sounds are made by night birds of some kind or other and perhaps by
monkeys, and I fancy that distant vibrating sound that goes on without
intermission is a concert of a party of frogs."

"What is that?" as a shrill cry, as from a child, followed by a confused
outburst of cries, chattering, and, as it seemed to them, a barking
sound, followed.

"I fancy that is the death cry of a monkey. Probably some python or
other snake has seized it in its sleep; and the other noise is the
outcry of its companions heaping abuse upon the snake, but unable to do
anything to rescue their friend."

"I don't think, Doctor," Harry Parkhurst said, in a tone that was half
in earnest, "that I feel so anxious as I did for sport in the forest;
and certainly I should decline to take part in it after nightfall."

"I can quite understand that, lad. At night all the sounds of a tropical
forest seem mysterious and weird, but in the broad daylight the bush
will be comparatively still. The nocturnal animals will slink away to
their lairs, and there will seem nothing strange to you in the songs and
calls of the birds. I should recommend you all to take a sound dose of
quinine tonight; I have a two and a half gallon keg of the stuff mixed,
and any officer or man can go and take a glass whenever he feels he
wants it. It would be good for your nerves, as well as neutralize the
effect of the damp rising from the river. I should advise you who
are not on the watch to turn in early; it is of no use your exposing
yourselves more than i