About midnight
The panels were put up , leaving only the openings for ventilation , and the Wolf was brought close alongside . Frank got the first watch in the drawing of sticks , and stationed himself at the prow , where he could look out on the river . Jack and Harry were soon asleep . About midnight a great clamor arose on the west bank . In a moment it was echoed from the opposite shore . There was a beating of drums -- the foolish drums which the natives made so crudely -- and long chants , rising in the darkness like the monotonous melodies the boys had heard in the cotton fields of the South . Frank shook Jack and Harry out of their bunks , much to the disgust of the two sleepy-heads .