then all the French host swarmed madly up the ladders that now were
raised in all directions against the English fort. At this crisis the
efforts of the English garrison were distracted by an attack from
another quarter. The French troops who had been left in Orleans had
placed some planks over the broken arch of the bridge, and advanced
across them to the assault of the Tourelles on the northern side.

Gladsdale resolved to withdraw his men from the landward bulwark, and
concentrate his whole force in the Tourelles themselves. He was passing
for this purpose across the drawbridge that connected the Tourelles and
the tete-du-pont, when Jeanne, who by this time had scaled the wall of
the bulwark, called out to him, "Surrender! surrender to the King of
Heaven! Ah, Glacidas, you have foully wronged me with your words, but I
have great pity on your soul and the souls of your men." The Englishman,
disdainful of her summons, was striding on across the drawbridge, when a
cannon-shot from the town carried it away, and Gladsdale perished in the
water that ran beneath. After his fall, the remnant of the English
abandoned all further resistance. Three hundred of them had been killed
in the battle and two hundred were made prisoners.

The broken arch was speedily repaired by the exulting Orleannais, and
Jeanne made her triumphal reentry into the city by the bridge that had
so long been closed. Every church in Orleans rang out its gratulating
peal; and throughout the night the sounds of rejoicing echoed, and the
bonfires blazed up from the city. But in the lines and forts which the
besiegers yet retained on the northern shore, there was anxious watching
of the generals, and there was desponding gloom among the soldiery. Even
Talbot now counselled retreat. On the following morning the Orleannais,
from their walls, saw the great forts called "London" and "St. Lawrence"
in flames, and witnessed their invaders busy in destroying the stores
and munitions which had been relied on for the destruction of Orleans.

Slowly and sullenly the English army retired; and not before it had
drawn up in battle array opposite to the city, as if to challenge the
garrison to an encounter. The French troops were eager to go out and
attack, but Jeanne forbade it. The day was Sunday.

"In the name of God," she said, "let them depart, and let us return
thanks to God."

She led the soldiers and citizens forth from Orleans, but not for the
shedding of blo