R SONG INTO THE SHELL]

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 w