I asked, beginning to feel my heart thumping softly under my ribs.

She went up, and out, head down, a little bent, the staff softly thumping as she moved slowly, like any other passerby.

A water pump is softly thumping in the turtle's tank.

A bare instant later, one of the spiders thumped softly against it.

The hay-bags thumped softly down in the blackness.

Drifting, they thumped softly to the deck.

The screen door thumped softly behind him, as he shambled away.

On the third floor, the Chinese waiter was thumping softly at a closed door.

The youths were nowhere in sight, but the sound of hasty footsteps thumped softly, running away down the dark alley.

She tiptoed past the body, then darted for the door, callused bare feet thumping softly on the boards.