"Friends! Friends! be of good cheer. On! On!"
And so, wounded, weak, unable to stand she lay, urging the soldiers on,
and on. There never was anything like it. Whence came that indomitable
spirit and courage? "A Daughter of God" her voices called her, and truly
was she so named. For who that had not kinship with the Divine could
transcend the weakness of the flesh as did this girl of seventeen?
Fiercer grew the din, and fiercer. The heat became stifling. Hours
passed, and the day waxed old. The sun set; twilight fell, and the dusk
came. The shots were fewer and more scattering, and then they stopped.
The two French captains had had enough for one day, for the attack had
been confined to the forces under Jeanne, Rais and de Gaucourt, and the
trumpet sounded the recall. But Jeanne did not heed, but kept crying her
men on to the charge. She herself could not move to lead them, the
supporting army was out of range, and the men would not go further
without her. Gaucourt ordered his men to bring her out of the fire.
Jeanne protested, but weeping she was carried back, set in the saddle and
conveyed back to La Chapelle. Over and over she cried:
"It could have been taken! It could have been taken!"
Early the next morning in spite of her wound she went to Alençon, begging
him to sound the trumpets and mount for the return to Paris.
"Never will I leave," she declared, "until the city is taken."
Alençon was of like mind, but some of the captains thought otherwise.
Some of the troops were reluctant to assault again; for there were
whispers that the Maid had failed. That she had promised them to enter
the city, and Paris had not been taken. They recalled the omen of the
mystic sword, and shook their heads. They had forgotten that it took
nearly a week to free Orléans from the siege, and Paris was a larger
city. Jeanne had had but part of one day for the attack. While the
captains were debating the advisability of renewing the assault a
cavalcade of fifty or sixty gentlemen under the Baron de Montmorency, who
had been a Burgundian for many years, rode up, and offered his services
to the Maid. It was a joyful augury, and it was so encouraging that an
immediate assault was planned. Just as they were setting forth two
gentlemen arrived from St. Denys. They were René Duc de Bar, and Charles
de Bourbon, and they bore the King's orders that no further attack upon
Paris should be made, and that the Maid with the other leaders must
return at once to St. Denys.
There was a storm of remonstrance and appeal, but the gentlemen were
peremptory in their insistence. Such a command could not be disregarded,
so with heavy hearts the entire force obeyed the summons. As they had
expected that the attack would be renewed the following day the siege
material had been left on the field, and there was not time to return for
it. The King made no explanation when they reached St. Denys, and
disconsolately the captains discussed the matter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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