"Well,
well, lad, you could scarce expect to hold your saddle against
Manny, and you have carried yourself well. We are proud of you,
Nigel, for you are our own man, reared in the heather country.
But indeed I take shame that you are not more skilled in the
mystery of the woods, seeing that I have had the teaching of you,
and that no one in broad England is my master at the craft. I
pray you to fill your cup again whilst I make use of the little
time that is left to us."
And straightway the old Knight began a long and weary lecture upon
the times of grace and when each beast and bird was seasonable,
with many anecdotes, illustrations, warnings and exceptions, drawn
from his own great experience. He spoke also of the several ranks
and grades of the chase: how the hare, hart and boar must ever
take precedence over the buck, the doe, the fox, the marten and
the roe, even as a knight banneret does over a knight, while these
in turn are of a higher class to the badger, the wildcat or the
otter, who are but the common populace of the world of beasts. Of
blood-stains also he spoke--how the skilled hunter may see at a
glance if blood be dark and frothy, which means a mortal hurt, or
thin and clear, which means that the arrow has struck a bone.
"By such signs," said he, "you will surely know whether to lay on
the hounds and cast down the blinks which hinder the stricken deer
in its flight.
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