'I must be feverish,' he said to himself; 'after all, it is
rather dangerous to take a cold bath when one is feeling so hot.'
Yet he knew, while he said it, that he was counting the hours for
night to come, that he might return to the forest.

In the evening he went as usual to the creeper-covered house.
But he had better have stayed away, as his face was so pale and
his manner so strange, that the poor girl saw that something
terrible had occurred. Alonzo, however, refused to answer any of
her questions, and all she could get was a promise to hear
everything the next day.

On pretence of a violent headache, he left Julia much earlier
than usual and hurried quickly home. Taking down a pistol, he
loaded it and put it in his belt, and a little before midnight he
stole out on the tips of his toes, so as to disturb nobody. Once
outside he hastened down the road which led to the forest.

He did not stop till he had reached the river pool, when holding
the pistol in his hand, he looked about him. At every little
noise-- the falling of a leaf, the rustle of an animal in the
bushes, the cry of a night-bird--he sprang up and cocked his
pistol in the direction of the sound. But though the moon still
shone he saw nothing, and by and by a kind of dreamy state seemed
to steal over him as he leant against a tree.

How long he remained in this condition he could not have told,
but suddenly he awoke with a start, on hearing his name uttered
softly.