Three of the Maid's comrades, who were very destitute and came to see her at Orleans, received food.[964] [Footnote 964: Accounts of the fortress in _Trial_, vol.v, pp.

259, 260.] On the next day, the 30th of April, the town bands of Orleans were early afoot.

From morn till eve everything in the town was topsy-turvy; the rebellion, which had been repressed so long, now broke forth.

As early as February the citizens had begun to mistrust and hate the knights;[965] now at last they shook off their yoke and broke it.[966] Henceforth they would recognise no King's lieutenant, no governor, no lords, no generals; there was but one power and one defence: the Maid.[967] The Maid was the people's captain.

This damsel, this shepherdess, this nun did the knights the greatest injury they ever experienced: she reduced them to nothing.