in several divisions:
the van-guard, the archers, the main body, the rear-guard and the
three wings.[1656] Further, and according to the same rule, there had
been formed a skirmishing company, destined if need were to succour
and reinforce the other divisions. It was commanded by Captain La
Hire, my Lord the Bastard, and the Sire d'Albret, La Tremouille's
half-brother. With this company was the Maid. At the Battle of Patay,
despite her entreaties, she had been forced to keep with the
rear-guard; now she rode with the bravest and ablest, with those
skirmishers or scouts, whose duty it was, says Jean de Bueil,[1657] to
repulse the scouts of the opposite party and to observe the number and
the ordering of the enemy.[1658] At length justice was done her; at
length she was assigned the place which her skill in horsemanship and
her courage in battle merited; and yet she hesitated to follow her
comrades. According to the report of a Burgundian knight chronicler,
there she was, "swayed to and fro, at one moment wishing to fight, at
another not."[1659]

[Footnote 1656: _Le Jouvencel_, _passim_.]

[Footnote 1657: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 329. _Journal du siege_,
p. 121.]

[Footnote 1658: _Le Jouvencel_, vol. ii, p. 35.]

[Footnote 1659: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 346.]

Her perplexity is easily comprehensible. The little Saint could not
bring herself to decide whether to ride forth to battle on the day of
our Lady's Feast or to fold her arms while fighting was going on
around her. Her Voices intensified her indecision. They never
instructed her what to do save when she knew herself. In the end she
went with the men-at-arms, not one of whom appears to have shared her
scruples. The two armies were but the space of a culverin shot
apart.[1660] She, with certain of her company, went right up to the
dykes and to the carts, behind which the English were entrenched.
Sundry _Godons_ and men of Picardy came forth from their camp and
fought, some on foot, others on horseback against an equal number of
French. On both sides there were wounded, and prisoners were taken.
This hand to hand fighting continued the whole day; at sunset the most
serious skirmish happened, and so much dust was raised that it was
impossible to see anything.[1661] On that day there befell what had
happened on the 17th of June, between Beaugency and Meung. With the
armaments and the customs of warfare of those days, it was very
difficult to force an army to c