oil, passed their horses in a ferry-boat on to the
further bank. At this moment the English sallied forth, with loud cries,
from Les Augustins, and were falling on our men, who, fearing to be cut
off, began to flee disorderly, while the English called out ill words, as
"cowards" and "ribaulds," and were blaspheming God that He should damn
all Frenchmen.

Hereon the Maid, with her banner, and La Hire, with lance in rest, they
two alone, spurred into the press, and now her banner was tossing like
the flag of a ship in the breakers, and methought there was great
jeopardy lest they should be taken. But the other French and Scots,
perceiving the banner in such a peril, turned again from their flight,
and men who once turn back to blows again are ill to deal with. Striking,
then, and crying, Montjoie! St. Denis! and St. Andrew for Scotland! they
made the English give ground, till they were within the palisade of Les
Augustins, where they deemed them safe enough. Now I had struggled
through the throng on the island, some flying, some advancing, as each
man's heart bade him, till I leaped into the water up to my waist and won
the land. There I was running to the front of the fight when D'Aulon
would have stopped me, for he had a command to hold a certain narrow way,
lest the English should drive us to the water again.

All this was rightly done, but I, hearing the cry of St. Andrew, was as
one possessed, and paying no heed to D'Aulon, was for thrusting me
forward, when a certain Spaniard, Alphonse de Partada, caught me by the
arm, and told me, with an oath, that I might well bide where better men
than I were content to be. At this I made answer that my place was with
the Maid, and, as for better men, bigger he might well be, but I, for
one, was not content to look on idly where blows were being dealt. He
answered in such terms that I bade him follow me, and see which of us
would fare furthest into the press.

"And for that you may be swifter of foot than I, as you have longer
legs," I cried, "clasp hands on this bargain, and let us reach the
palisades with the same step."

To this he agreed, and D'Aulon not refusing permission (for he loved to
look on a vaillance), we, clasping hands, ran together swiftly, and
struck our swords in the same moment against the wooden fence. A little
opening there was, not yet closed, or he that kept it deemed he might win
more honour by holding it with his body. He was a great knight