ream of lead and stones beginning to be
discharged from the artillery on the ramparts. There they ranged their
mortars, their culverins and their cannon, ready to fire on the city
walls. In this position, which commanded the widest stretch of the
fortifications, was the main body of the army. Led by Messire de
Saint-Vallier a knight of Dauphine, several captains and men-at-arms
approached the Saint Honore Gate and set fire to the barriers. As the
garrison of the gate had withdrawn within the fortification, and as
the enemy was not seen to be coming out by any other exit, the
Marechal de Rais' company advanced with fagots, bundles and ladders
right up to the ramparts. The Maid rode at the head of her company.
They halted between the Saint-Denys and the Saint-Honore Gates, but
nearer the latter, and went down into the first trench, which was not
difficult to cross. But on the mound they found themselves exposed to
bolts and arrows which rained straight down from the walls.[1776] As at
Orleans, and at Les Tourelles, Jeanne had given her banner to a man of
valour to hold.

[Footnote 1776: Perceval de Cagny, p. 167.]

When she reached the top of the mound, she cried out to the folk in
Paris: "Surrender the town to the King of France."[1777]

[Footnote 1777: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 148.]

The Burgundians heard her saying also: "In Jesus' name surrender to us
speedily. For if ye yield not before nightfall, we shall enter by
force, whether ye will or no, and ye shall all be put to death without
mercy."[1778]

[Footnote 1778: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 245.]

On the mound she remained, sounding the great dyke with her lance and
marvelling to find it so full and so deep. And yet for eleven days she
and her men-at-arms had been reconnoitring round the walls and seeking
the most favourable point of attack. That she should not have known
how to plan an attack was quite natural. But what is to be thought of
the men-at-arms, who were there on the mound, taken by surprise, as
baffled as she, and all aghast at finding so much water close to the
Seine when the River was in flood? To be able to reconnoitre the
defences of a fortress was surely the _a b c_ of the trade of war.
Captains and soldiers of fortune never risked advancing against a
fortification without knowing first whether there were water, morass
or briars, and arming themselves accordingly with siege train suitable
to the occasion. When the water of the moat was