Tourelles were guarded by
another strong work, called Les Augustins. All round the outside of the
town, on the right bank, the English had built strong redoubts, which
they called _bastilles_. 'Paris' was the bastille which blocked the road
from Paris, 'London' and 'Rouen' were bastilles on the western side, but
on the east, above the town, and on the Orleans bank of the Loire, the
English had only one bastille, St. Loup. Now, as Joan's army mustered at
Blois, south of Orleans, further down the river, she might march on the
_left_ side of the river, cross it by boats above Orleans, and enter the
town where the English were weakest and had only one fort, St. Loup. Or
she might march up the _right_ bank, and attack the English where they
were strongest, and had many bastilles. The Voices bade the Maid act on
the boldest plan, and enter Orleans where the English were strongest, on
the right bank of the river. The English would not move, said the
Voices. She was certain that they would not even sally out against her.
But Dunois in Orleans, and the generals with the Maid, thought this plan
very perilous, as, indeed, it was. They therefore deceived her, caused
her to think that Orleans was on the _left_ bank of the Loire, and led
her thither. When she arrived, she saw that they had not played her
fair, that the river lay between her and the town, and the strongest
force of the enemy.

The most astonishing thing about Joan is that, though she had never yet
seen a sword-stroke dealt in anger, she understood the great operations
of war better than seasoned generals. It was not only that she, like old
Bluecher, always cried _Forwards!_ Audacity, to fight on every chance,
carries men far in battle. Prince Charlie, who was no great general, saw
that, and while his flag went forward he never lost a fight. But Joan
'was most expert in war,' said the Duc d'Alencon, 'both with the lance
and in massing an army, and arraying battle, and in the management of
artillery. For all men marvelled how far-sighted and prudent she was in
war, as if she had been a captain of thirty years' standing, and, above
all, in the service of the artillery, for in that she was right well
skilled.'[13]

This girl of seventeen saw that, if a large convoy of provisions was to
be thrown into a besieged town, the worst way was to try to ferry the
supplies across a river under the enemy's fire. But Dunois and the other
generals had brought her to this pass, and t