They had found them capable of defeat and overthrow; the spell was broken.
And it was the Maid who had done it! Oh, how we fought around her that day! She was on foot now, for the banks of the moat were slippery, and the press around the walls was too great to admit easily of the tactics of horsemen.

I never saw her strike at any foe.

It was her pennon rather than her sword in which she trusted.

Here was the rallying point for the bravest and most desperate of the assailants, ever in the thickest of the strife, ever pointing the way to victory.
It was the tower of the Boulevard against which we were directing our attack.

If that fell, Les Tourelles itself must needs follow, isolated as it would then be in the midst of the river.