I have now shown wherefore the fighting,in this spring,was to be up and down the water of Oise,whence the villagers had withdrawn themselves,of necessity,into the good towns.For the desire of the Duke of Burgundy was to hold the Oise,and so take Compiegne,the better to hold Paris.And on our side the skill was to cut his army in two,so that from east of the water of Oise neither men nor victual might come to him.
Having this subtle device of war in her mind,the Maid rode north from Melun,by the King's good towns,till she came to Compiegne,that was not yet beleaguered.There they did her all the honour that might be,and thither came to her standard Messire Jacques de Chabennes,Messire Rigault de Fontaines,Messire Poton de Xaintrailles,the best knight then on ground,and many other gentlemen,some four hundred lances in all.{33}With these lances the Maid consorted to attack Pont l'Eveque by a night onfall.This is a small but very strong hold,on the Oise,some six leagues from Compiegne,as you go up the river,and it lies near the town of Noyon,which was held by the English.In Pont l'Eveque there was a garrison of a hundred lances of the English,and our skill was to break on them in the grey of dawn,when men least fear a surprise,and are most easily taken.By this very device La Hire had seized Compiegne but six years agone,wherefore our hope was the higher.
About five of the clock on an April day we rode out of Compiegne,a great company,--too great,perchance,for that we had to do.For our army was nigh a league in length as it went on the way,nor could we move swiftly,for there were waggons with us and carts,drawing guns and couleuvrines and powder,fascines wherewith to fill the fosses,and ladders and double ladders for scaling the walls.
So the captains ordered it to be,for ever since that day by Melun fosse,when the Saints foretold her captivity,the Maid submitted herself in all things to the captains,which was never her manner before.
As we rode slowly,she was now at the head of the line,now in the midst,now at the rear,wherever was need;and as I rode at her rein,I took heart to say -"Madame,it is not thus that we have taken great keeps and holds,in my country,from our enemies of England.""Nay,"said she,checking her horse to a walk,and smiling on me in the dusk with her kind eyes."Then tell me how you order it in your country.""Madame,"I said,"it was with a little force,and lightly moving,that Messire Thomas Randolph scaled the Castle rock and took Edinburgh Castle out of the hands of the English,a keep so strong,and set on a cliff so perilous,that no man might deem to win it by sudden onfall.And in like manner the good Messire James Douglas took his own castle,more than once or twice,by crafty stratagem of war,so that the English named it Castle Perilous.But in every such onfall few men fought for us,of such as could move secretly and swiftly,not with long trains of waggons that cover a league of road,and by their noise and number give warning to an enemy.""My mind is yours,"she said,with a sigh,"and so I would have made this onslaught.But I submitted me to the will of the captains."Through the night we pushed our way slowly,for in such a march none may go swifter than the slowest,namely,the carts and the waggons.
Thus it befell that the Maid and the captains were in more thoughts than one to draw back to Compiegne,for the night was clear,and the dawn would be bright.And,indeed,after stumbling and wandering long,and doubting of the way,we did,at last,see the church towers and walls of Pont l'Eveque stand out against the clear sky of morning,a light mist girdling the basement of the walls.Had we been a smaller and swifter company,we should have arrived an hour before the first greyness shows the shapes of things.But now,alas!we no sooner saw the town than we heard the bells and trumpets calling the townsfolk and men-at-arms to be on their ward.The great guns of the keep roared at us so soon as we were in reach of shot;nevertheless,Pothon and the Maid set companies to carry the double ladders,for the walls were high,and others were told off to bring up the fascines,and so,leaving our main battle to wait out of shot,and come on as they were needed,the Maid and Pothon ran up the first rampart,she waving her standard and crying that all was ours.As we ran,for I must needs be by her side,the din of bells and guns was worse than I had heard at Orleans,and on the top of the church towers were men-at-arms waving flags,as if for a signal.
Howbeit,we sprang into the fosse,under shield,wary of stones cast from above,and presently three ladders were set against the wall,and we went up,the Maid leading the way.
