Wharton had offered to divide the duty with him in acting as sentinel, but our hero preferred to keep the matter in his own hands.

He was sure his friend did not realize the full peril of their situation.
The stillness was broken only by the peculiar cries in the jungle, which it may be said were never wholly silent.

First on the right, then on the left, then from the front, and again from different points on both sides of the stream he heard the sounds, some faint and far away, with others alarmingly close.

The hoarse snarl of the tiger, the finer cry of the leopard, the squawking of night birds, with other noises that he could not identify, were continually in the air.

Had they been heard for the first time he would have been in a tremor of fear and nervousness; but man soon becomes accustomed to danger, and the nearest must come still nearer to cause his pulse an additional throb.
Jack Everson was sensible that through this medley of strange noises there was one sound that was continuous and never changing.