ht out the likeliest place
where an assault might be successfully carried; but she lacked troops
for storming such strong outworks as Paris then had. The capital was
not only defended by walls and towers, but the English held both the
upper and lower banks of the Seine.

From Saint Denis no assistance came from the King, and it was only on
the 8th of September that, having received reinforcements, Joan of Arc
was at length enabled to make a determined attack. It was a very high
and holy day in the Church Calendar--the Feast of the Virgin's
Nativity--and, not unmindful of the sacredness of that feast-day, Joan
of Arc had determined to make a general attack; for 'the better the
day the better the deed!' was her feeling on that anniversary. In
those times the western limit of Paris was where now the wide
thoroughfare of the Avenue de l'Opera runs from north to south. The
walls of the city erected under Charles V., flanked by huge moats and
protected by double fortress towers, each tower having a double
drawbridge, made any attack almost a forlorn hope. The Regent's
departure from Paris points to the little fear he felt that Paris
could be taken by assault; and in this matter Bedford judged rightly.

Whether or not Joan felt that some Divine assistance would enable her
to surmount the barriers that lay between her and the town she was so
determined to win back for her King, we cannot say. She fought below
the walls with a courage which, if the others had equalled, might have
made Paris their own. The attacking force was divided into two
parts--one, commanded by Joan, Rais, and De Gaucourt, was to attack
the city at the Gate of Saint Honore; the other, led by Alencon and
Clermont, was to cover the assailants, and prevent any sorties being
made by the garrison.

Joan's impetuous onslaught successfully carried the first barriers and
the boulevard in front of the gate; but here she met with a check--the
heavy gates were barred, nor could she prevail on the enemy to make a
sortie.

Joan of Arc, carrying her flag, dashed, under a heavy fire, into the
ditch, followed by a few of the most courageous of the soldiers. The
ditch was a deep but a dry one; and rising on the further side, close
beneath the town walls, was a second and a wider moat, full of water.
Here, unable to advance, but unwilling to retire, Joan of Arc and her
followers were exposed to a murderous hail of shot, arrows, and other
missiles. Sending for fagots and