With this he showed the boys his "lure," which was a rude figure of a bird, the body made of cloth, with the head, talons, and wings of a real bird, and to which had been attached a piece of some kind of meat of which the falcon is fond. By being thus accustomed to find something good to tear and eat when called to his master, the bird gradually learned to obey the call whenever he heard it. [Illustration: BERNARD, RAYMOND, AND LOUIS MEET THE MONK.] Raymond was quite willing to wait until the hawk was thoroughly trained, before testing him in actual sport; but Louis, very naturally, made great complaint. To-day was his last chance. Bernard, however, was firm, and so they walked towards the chateau, the hooded bird still perched upon the squire's wrist. Just as the three, now busily talking of Louis' future life at the castle of the Count de Barran, were about entering a little gate in the lower part of the grounds which surround the house, there came out of the gate a monk wearing a long, dark, and rather dirty gown, and walking with his eyes fixed upon the ground, as if deeply engaged in thought. He seemed scarcely to perceive the boys or the squire, as he passed them. "I shall be glad to be free from those long-gowned folk," said Louis, as they entered the grounds. "No more priests' lessons for me. I shall have knights and soldiers for my teachers." "All very fine," said Bernard, "but you will have other things to do besides learning how to be a knight and soldier. You will serve your masters and your mistresses at table, clean armor, hold stirrups, and do everything else they ask of you." "Oh yes," said Louis; "but that will be only while I am a page. In a year and a half all that will be over." "A year and a half seems to me like a long time," said Raymond; "but time always passes quickly with Louis." This remark was made to Bernard, but the squire did not appear to hear it. He was looking back through the gate at the departing monk. "If I only knew that _he_ was never coming back," he said to himself, "I would not much care what else happened." And then he followed the boys up to the chateau. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II.