erious supernatural something that was able to do a mighty
thing which they were powerless to do--blow the breath of life and valor
into the dead corpses of cowed armies and turn them into heroes.

To their minds they were everything with her, but nothing without her.
She could inspire the soldiers and fit them for battle--but fight the
battle herself? Oh, nonsense--that was their function. They, the
generals, would fight the battles, Joan would give the victory. That was
their idea--an unconscious paraphrase of Joan's reply to the Dominican.

So they began by playing a deception upon her. She had a clear idea of
how she meant to proceed. It was her purpose to march boldly upon Orleans
by the north bank of the Loire. She gave that order to her generals. They
said to themselves, "The idea is insane--it is blunder No. 1; it is what
might have been expected of this child who is ignorant of war." They
privately sent the word to the Bastard of Orleans. He also recognized the
insanity of it--at least he though he did--and privately advised the
generals to get around the order in some way.

They did it by deceiving Joan. She trusted those people, she was not
expecting this sort of treatment, and was not on the lookout for it. It
was a lesson to her; she saw to it that the game was not played a second
time.

Why was Joan's idea insane, from the generals' point of view, but not
from hers? Because her plan was to raise the siege immediately, by
fighting, while theirs was to besiege the besiegers and starve them out
by closing their communications--a plan which would require months in the
consummation.

The English had built a fence of strong fortresses called bastilles
around Orleans--fortresses which closed all the gates of the city but
one. To the French generals the idea of trying to fight their way past
those fortresses and lead the army into Orleans was preposterous; they
believed that the result would be the army's destruction. One may not
doubt that their opinion was militarily sound--no, would have been, but
for one circumstance which they overlooked. That was this: the English
soldiers were in a demoralized condition of superstitious terror; they
had become satisfied that the Maid was in league with Satan. By reason of
this a good deal of their courage had oozed out and vanished. On the
other hand, the Maid'' soldiers were full of courage, enthusiasm, and
zeal.

Joan could have marched by the English forts. However