Persons who happened to be passing through the forest must have been affrighted to see him smite the trees with his great club . With but a single blow , the trunk was riven as by the stroke of lightning , and the broad boughs came rustling and crashing down . Hastening forward , without ever pausing or looking behind , he by and by heard the sea roaring at a distance . At this sound , he increased his speed , and soon came to a beach , where the great surf-waves tumbled themselves upon the hard sand , in a long line of snowy foam . At one end of the beach , however , there was a pleasant spot , where some green shrubbery clambered up a cliff , making its rocky face look soft and beautiful . A carpet of verdant grass , largely intermixed with sweet-smelling clover , covered the narrow space between the bottom of the cliff and the sea . And what should Hercules espy there , but an old man , fast asleep ! But was it really and truly an old man ? Certainly , at first sight , it looked very like one ; but , on closer inspection , it rather seemed to be some kind of a creature that lived in the sea . For , on his legs and arms there were scales , such as fishes have ; he was web-footed and web-fingered , after the fashion of a duck ; and his long beard , being of a greenish tinge , had more the appearance of a tuft of sea-weed than of an ordinary beard . Have you never seen a stick of timber , that has been long tossed about by the waves , and has got all overgrown with barnacles , and , at last drifting ashore , seems to have been thrown up from the very deepest bottom of the sea ? Well , the old man would have put you in mind of just such a wave-tost spar ! But Hercules , the instant he set eyes on this strange figure , was convinced that it could be no other than the Old One , who was to direct him on his way . Yes ; it was the selfsame Old Man of the Sea , whom the hospitable maidens had talked to him about . Thanking his stars for the lucky accident of finding the old fellow asleep , Hercules stole on tiptoe towards him , and caught him by the arm and leg . `` Tell me , '' cried he , before the Old One was well awake , `` which is the way to the garden of the Hesperides ? '' As you may easily imagine , the Old Man of the Sea awoke in a fright . But his astonishment could hardly have been greater than was that of Hercules , the next moment . For , all of a sudden , the Old One seemed to disappear out of his grasp , and he found himself holding a stag by the fore and hind leg ! But still he kept fast hold .
Then the stag disappeared , and XXXXX its stead there was a sea-bird , fluttering and screaming , while Hercules clutched it by the wing and claw !
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