great struggle, and it was to be shown whether
the king was to have his right, or the usurper triumph. The real leaders
of the war were the Duke of Bedford, regent of England, and the captains
of the French army. Bedford gathered a vast force, chiefly from
Burgundy, and gave its command to the Earl of Salisbury. The army went
on; they gained, without a struggle, the towns of Rambouillet, Pithwier,
Jargean, and others. Then they encamped before the city of Orleans. To
this point they drew their whole strength. Orleans taken, the whole
country beyond was theirs, as it commanded the entrance to the River
Loire and the southern provinces; and the only stronghold left to King
Charles was the mountain country of Auvergne and Dauphine.

The men of Orleans well knew how much depended upon their city. All that
could be done they did to prepare for a resolute defense. The siege of
Orleans was one of the first in which cannon were used. Salisbury
visiting the works, a cannon broke a splinter from a casement, which
struck him and gave him his death wound. The Earl of Suffolk, who was
appointed to succeed him, never had his full power.

Suffolk could not tame the spirit of the men of Orleans by regular
attack, so he tried other means. He resolved to block it up by
surrounding it with forts, and starve the people out. But for some time,
before the works were finished, food was brought into the city; while
the French troops, scouring the plains, as often stopped the supplies
coming to the English. Faster, however, than they were brought in, the
provisions in Orleans wasted away. And through the dreary Winter the
citizens watched one fort after another rise around them. The enemy was
growing stronger, they were growing weaker; they had no prospect before
them but defeat; when the Spring came would come the famine; their city
would be lost, and then their country.

The eyes of all France were upon Orleans. News of the siege and of the
distress came to Domremy, and Joan of Arc rose to action. Her mind was
fixed to go and raise the siege of Orleans and crown Charles king. Not
for one moment did she think it impossible or even unlikely. What God
had called her to do, that she would carry out. She made no secret of
her call, but went to Vaucouleurs and told De Briancourt that she meant
to save France. At first the governor treated her lightly, and told her
to go home and dream about a sweetheart; but such was her earnestness
that at last