She did so and was caught by the hand by one of the turbaned figures, who bowed low and waved her on toward the cave, while a voice sang to the accompaniment of the unseen musical instrument:
“Hush! the Peri’s cave is near.
No one enters scathless here;
Lightly tread and lowly bend,
Win the Peri for your friend.”
At the same time a muslin bandage was thrown over her eyes from behind, her other hand taken, she felt herself led onward toward the cave, and as she and her conductors paused at its entrance a whistle sounded long and loud at her back.
She turned hastily round, but it rang out again behind her, again and again, always behind her, turn which way she would; while the singer repeated;
“Bend, bend, lowly bend,
Win the Peri for your friend.”
She obeyed with ready grace. A voice said: