When the damsels had informed him , he thanked them for all their kindness , -- for the bread and grapes with which they had fed him , the lovely flowers with which they had crowned him , and the songs and dances wherewith they had done him honor , -- and he thanked them , most of all , for telling him the right way , -- and immediately set forth upon his Journey . But , before he was out of hearing , one of the maidens called after him . `` Keep fast hold of the Old-One , when you catch him ! '' cried she , smiling , and lifting her finger to make the caution more impressive . `` Do not be astonished at anything that may happen . Only hold him fast , and he will tell you what you wish to know . '' Hercules again thanked her , and pursued his way , while the maidens resumed their pleasant labor of making flower-wreaths . They talked about the hero , long after he was gone . `` We will crown him with the loveliest of our garlands , '' said they , `` when he returns hither with the three golden apples , after slaying the dragon with a hundred heads . '' Meanwhile , Hercules travelled constantly onward , over hill and dale , and through the solitary woods . Sometimes he swung his club aloft , and splintered a mighty oak with a downright blow . His mind was so full of the giants and monsters with whom it was the business of his life to fight , that perhaps he mistook the great tree for a giant or a monster . And so eager was Hercules to achieve what he had undertaken , that he almost regretted to have spent so much time with the damsels , wasting idle breath upon the story of his adventures . But thus it always is with persons who are destined to perform great things . What they have already done seems less than nothing . What they have taken in hand to do seems worth toil , danger , and life itself . 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 XXXXX the beach , however , there was a pleasant spot , where some green shrubbery clambered up a cliff , making its rocky face look soft and beautiful .
At With about after before for of that to while