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. But above all I pray you, Nigel, to have a care in the use of
the terms of the craft, lest you should make some blunder at table, so
that those who are wiser may have the laugh of you, and we who love you
may be shamed."

"Nay, Sir John," said Nigel. "I think that after your teaching I can
hold my place with the others."

The old Knight shook his white head doubtfully. "There is so much to be
learned that there is no one who can be said to know all," said he. "For
example, Nigel, it is sooth that for every collection of beasts of the
forest, and for every gathering of birds of the air, there is their own
private name so that none may be confused with another."

"I know it, fair sir."

"You know it, Nigel, but you do not know each separate name, else are
you a wiser man than I had thought you. In truth--none can say that they
know all, though I have myself picked off eighty, and six for a wager
at court, and it is said that the chief huntsman of the Duke of Burgundy
has counted over a hundred--but it is in my mind that he may have found
them as he went, for there was none to say him nay. Answer me now, lad,
how would you say if you saw ten badgers together in the forest?"

"A cete of badgers, fair sir."

"Good, Nigel--good, by my faith! And if you walk in Woolmer Forest and
see a swarm of foxes, how would you call it?"

"A skulk of foxes."

"And if they be lions?"

"Nay, fair sir, I am not like to meet several lions in Woolmer Forest."

"Aye, lad, but there are other forests besides Woolmer, and other lands
besides England, and who can tell how far afield such a knight errant
as Nigel of Tilford may go, when he sees worship to be won? We will say
that you were in the deserts of Nubia, and that afterward at the court
of the great Sultan you wished to say that you had seen several lions,
which is the first beast of th