The moans died away into choking sobs, and Bonner's ears could hear nothing else.

A sudden thought striking him, he rolled out of his bed and made his way to Bud's pile of blankets.

But the solution was not there.

The lad was sound asleep and no sound issued from his lips.

The moans came from another source, human or otherwise, out there in the crinkling night.
Carefully making his way from the tent, his courage once more restored but his flesh still quivering, Bonner looked intently for manifestations in the black home of Johanna Rank.