o bring good luck, that if it
were borne in front, the fighting men, who loved it dearly, would
follow it and in order not to lose it would scale the bulwark. With
this idea he went to the Basque and said: "If I were to enter there
and go on foot up to the bulwark would you follow me?"

[Footnote 1083: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 216. The Count Couret, _Un
fragment inedit des anciens registres de la Prevote d'Orleans_,
Orleans, 1897, pp. 12, 20, 21, _passim_.]

The Basque promised that he would. Straightway Sire d'Aulon went down
into the ditch and protecting himself with his shield, which sheltered
him from the stones fired from the cannon, advanced towards the
rampart.[1084]

[Footnote 1084: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 216.]

After a quarter of an hour, the Maid, having offered a short prayer,
returned to the men-at-arms and said to them: "The English are
exhausted. Bring up the ladders."[1085]

[Footnote 1085: _Journal du siege_, p. 86.]

It was true. They had so little powder that their last volley fired in
an insufficient charge carried no further than a stone thrown by
hand.[1086] Nothing but fragments of weapons remained to them. She
went towards the fort. But when she reached the ditch she suddenly
beheld the standard so dear to her, a thousand times dearer than her
sword, in the hands of a stranger. Thinking it was in danger, she
hastened to rescue it and came up with the Basque just as he was going
down into the ditch. There she seized her standard by the part known
as its tail, that is the end of the flag, and pulled at it with all
her might, crying:

"Ha! my standard, my standard!"

[Footnote 1086: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 293.]

The Basque stood firm, not knowing who was pulling thus from above.
And the Maid would not let it go. The nobles and captains saw the
standard shake, took it for a sign and rallied. Meanwhile Sire d'Aulon
had reached the rampart. He imagined that the Basque was following
close behind. But, when he turned round he perceived that he had
stopped on the other side of the ditch, and he cried out to him: "Eh!
Basque, what did you promise me?"

At this cry the Basque pulled so hard that the Maid let go, and he
bore the standard to the rampart.[1087]

[Footnote 1087: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 216, 217.]

Jeanne understood and was satisfied. To those near her she said: "Look
and see when the flag of my standard touches the bulwark."

A knight replied: "Jeanne, the flag touches."

Th