YOUNG HERONS IN TRAINING 113 



Earl's household, tiptoed on silent sandals 

 through the doorway of the nave. 



Renoult enjoyed the friar's story ; and when 

 the good man related how lorwerth, determined 

 not to be outdone, used heron's oil to flavour the 

 moss wherein he kept his worms for bait, and, 

 till his secret was discovered, continued to be an 

 easy winner of the Thursday's prize, the boy led 

 on his friend to further anecdotes of birds and 

 fishing. The friar related that when a heron 

 stood still in the water she voluntarily caused 

 oil to ooze from her legs, and, tempting the fish 

 with its taste and odour, was soon able to obtain 

 a meal. lorwerth, having heard this from the 

 miller, had obtained the legs of a bird struck 

 down by the Earl's fleet-winged peregrine, and, 

 with the help of the Castle cooks, had carefully 

 extracted the oil in a stew-pan. 



Renoult fully believed, as many anglers since 

 his day have believed, in the efficiency of heron's 

 oil on baits for trout, and, therefore, that the 

 friar related but a simple fact when he spoke of 

 lorwerth the monk's success on Thursdays by 

 the fish-ponds. As luck would have it, when the 

 party of merry clerics gained the lower hedge of 

 the abbey garden the boy spied his wild pet, 

 the heron from the nest in the forest, standing 

 apparently asleep in the shallows at the margin 

 of the ponds. He begged the good monks to 



