If ever you should return to the pool where you first heard the voice , promise me that you will at least take this with you . ' And opening a curiously carved box , she took out a sea-shell shot with many colours , and sang a song softly into it . ` The moment you hear the Yara 's voice , ' said she , ` put this to your ear , and you will hear my song instead . Perhaps -- I do not know for certain -- but perhaps , I may be stronger than the Yara . ' It was late that night when Alonzo returned home . The moon was shining on the distant river , which looked cool and inviting , and the trees of the forest seemed to stretch out their arms and beckon him near . But the young man steadily turned his face in the other direction , and went home to bed . The struggle had been hard , but Alonzo had his reward next day in the joy and relief with which Julia greeted him . He assured her that having overcome the temptation once the danger was now over ; but she , knowing better than he did the magic of the Yara 's face and voice , did not fail to make him repeat his promise when he went away . For three nights Alonzo kept his word , not because he believed in the Yara , for he thought that the tales about her were all nonsense , but because he could not bear the tears with which he knew that Julia would greet him , if he confessed that he had returned to the forest . But , in spite of this , the song rang in his ears , and daily grew louder . On the fourth night the attraction of the forest grew so strong that neither the thought of Julia nor the promises he had made her could hold him back . At eleven o'clock he plunged into the cool darkness of the trees , and took the path that led straight to the river . Yet , for the first time , he found that Julia 's warnings , though he had laughed at her at the moment , had remained in his memory , and he glanced at the bushes with a certain sense of fear which was quite new to him . When he reached the river he paused and looked round for a moment to make sure that the strange feeling of some one watching him was fancy , and he was really alone . But the moon shone brightly on every tree , and nothing was to be seen but his own shadow ; nothing was to be heard but the sound of the rippling stream . He threw off his clothes , and was just about to dive in headlong , when something -- he did not know what -- suddenly caused him to look round . At the same instant the moon passed from behind a cloud , and its rays fell on a beautiful golden-haired woman standing half hidden by the ferns . With one bound he caught up his mantle , and rushed headlong down the path he had come , fearing at each step to feel a hand laid on his shoulder . It was not till he had left the last trees behind him , and was standing in the open plain , that he dared to look round , and then he thought a figure in white was still standing there waving her arms to and fro .
This was enough ; he ran along the road harder than ever , and never paused till he was save XXXXX his own room .
at behind for in on than that till to with