h troops within the fortress of
Saint Loup were slain or taken. Joan herself rescued some of these,
and placed them under her protection; caring for them in the house she
was staying in.

At the close of the day, on returning into the town, Joan told the
people that they might count on being free from the enemy in five
days' time, and that by that time not a single Englishman would remain
before Orleans. No wonder that the joy-bells rang out in victorious
clamour during all that night in May, the eve of the Ascension.

On the following day no hostilities occurred. Joan again had a letter
sent to the English, summoning them as before to surrender and to quit
their forts; she said this was the third and the last time that she
could give them a chance of escaping with their lives. On this
occasion she made use of a new way of communicating with the foe; she
tied the letter to an arrow, which was discharged into the English
lines. No answer was received in return.

It was now determined that the next attack against the English should
be made from the left bank of the river, where they were strongly
fortified at the Bastille des Augustins, a little further down the
Loire than the Tournelles. On the opposite side this fortress
communicated with the Boulevard of Saint Prive, as well as with the
strong fortress of Saint Laurent, near which a small island, which
exists no longer, called the Isle of Charlemagne, kept open their
connections on both sides of the Loire. To the east, on the same side
of the river, a fortress, that of Saint Jean le Blanc, which had been
abandoned on the approach of Joan, had since been reoccupied by the
English. It was at this spot that the next and all-important attack
was directed to be made.

The French forces crossed the river over an island called Saint
Aignan. The distance was so narrow between the river bank on the town
side and this island, that a couple of boats moored together served as
a bridge. When Saint Jean le Blanc was reached, it was found deserted
by the English, Glansdale having left it in order to concentrate his
forces at the Tournelles. Joan led the attack. At first the French
fought badly; they had been seized by a panic, believing that a strong
force of the enemy were coming down on them from Saint Prive. Rallying
her men, Joan threw herself on the English, and drove them back into
the Augustins. She was now eagerly followed by the soldiers.

The first barricade was carri