The Maid's voice seemed to float through the air, and penetrate to the extreme limits of the crowd, or else her words were taken up and repeated by a score of eager tongues, and so ran through the mighty muster with thrilling import.

The eyes were dazzled by the flashing blades as men swung them above their heads.
"Lead us, O Maid, lead us! We follow to death or victory! We fear nothing so that you are our leader and our guide!" There was no withstanding a spirit like that! La Hire's voice was one of the foremost in the cry; his great blade the first to leap from its scabbard.

Sage counsels of war, prompted by experience, had to give way before a power different from anything which the veterans had known before.

With a dash, the elan of which was a marvellous sight to see, the soldiers poured themselves like a living stream against the walls of St.Loup.The English behind the fortifications rained upon them missiles of every description.

The air was darkened by a cloud of arrows.