102 THE HERON OF CASTLE CREEK 



Excited beyond control, the boy fitted his 

 favourite arrow to the string, and, before the 

 forester could interfere, aimed and sped the 

 shaft. The heron struggled for a moment to 

 continue her course, then flapped slowly down- 

 wards and fell in the undergrowth by the 

 target. 



In the Middle Ages the heron was game, 

 preserved so carefully for hawking that on the 

 great feudal manors the destruction of the bird 

 by an underling was severely punished. If a 

 serf, the underling probably suffered physical 

 torture according to the barbarous customs then 

 in vogue ; if a freeman, he was banned, and to all 

 intents and purposes outlawed from the district 

 in which the offence occurred. Both foresters 

 knew this, and, dreading lest they might be held 

 responsible, as the attendants of the young 

 noble, for the boy's thoughtless act, were 

 instantly dumbfounded. Then Serewulf, ever 

 resourceful, stripped off his jerkin, wrapped 

 the wounded heron in its folds, and vanished 

 with his burden into the undergrowth. Renoult 

 and his companion hurriedly descended the 

 winding stairway of the keep, sought the 

 water-gate, pushed off in an empty boat till 

 they gained the ferry opposite, and soon joined 

 old Serewulf, who was leisurely examining 

 the' bird in a glade at the far end of the wooded 



