A beast may scare one heron, coming upon it suddenly, but no beast will scare a whole flock of herons.

And still they flew and circled, and would not light.

So then I knew that what scared the herons must be men, and men who knew not our ways of going softly so as to take the birds and beasts unawares.

By this I knew they were not of our race or of our place.

So, leaving my raft, I crept along the river bank, and at last came upon the strangers.
They are many as the sands of the desert, and their spear-heads shine red like the sun.