The various blasts
of the horn, indicating when the hounds were slipped, when the prey
was flying, and when it stood at bay, had to be acquired, as also
the various tracks of the wild animals--the fox, the wolf, the
bear, the wild boar. Nights and days were frequently spent in the
pathless woods, and the face of the country had to be carefully
studied, while pluck and address were acquired by the necessity of
promptitude when the wild beast stood at bay.
And when the deer or hart was slain they had to "brittle," or break
him up, with all precision, and during the banquet they had
frequently to carve the haunch or chine, and to do it with some
gracefulness.
All these arts were being acquired at the castle of Aescendune by
Etienne de Malville, Louis de Marmontier, Pierre de Morlaix, and
Wilfred of Aescendune, all of the age of fifteen or sixteen, but
more advanced physically than boys of such years would be now; and,
sooth to say, the boys had a stern preceptor in Hugo de Malville.
They slept in a common dormitory in one of the towers, on beds
resembling boxes, stuffed with straw, with the skins of the wolf or
bear for coverlets. They sprang out when the morning horn blew the
reveille. First they attended the early mass in St.
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