Almost the next minute she heard hear footsteps footstep in the compound , and then on the veranda .

Rustlings rustling and slow footsteps footstep , and then heavy thuds thud attested attest to the probability that Jim was knocking the end of a log upon the ground to split off a corner whereby a handful of dry splinters could be procured .

All doubts as to the intention of Webb now vanished vanish , and an hour or two of hurried footsteps footstep and anxious anxious faces succeeded .