第81章 HOW ELLIOT'S JACKANAPES CAME HOME(2)

Now concerning the times that came after this shameful treason at Paris,I have no joy to write.The King's counsellors,as their manner was,ever hankered after a peace with Burgundy,and they stretched the false truce that was to have ended at Christmas to Easter Day,"pacem clamantes quo non fuit pax."For there was no truce with the English,who took St.Denis again,and made booty of the arms which the Maid had dedicated to Our Lady.On our part La Hire and Xaintrailles plundered,for their own hand,the lands of the Duke of Burgundy,and indeed on every side there was no fair fighting,such as the Maid loved,but a war of wastry,the peasants pillaged,and the poor held to ransom.For her part,she spent her days in prayer for the poor and the oppressed,whom she had come to deliver,and who now were in worse case than before,the English harrying certain of the good towns that had yielded to King Charles.

Now her voices ever bade the Maid go back to the Isle of France,and assail Paris,where lay no English garrison,and the Armagnacs were stirring as much as they might.But Paris,being at this time under the government of the Duke of Burgundy,was forsooth within the truce.The King's counsellors,therefore,setting their wisdom against that of the Saints,bade the Maid go against the towns of St.Pierre le Moustier and La Charite,then held by the English on the Loire.This was in November,when days were short,and the weather bitter cold.The Council was held at Mehun sur Yevre,and forthwith the Maid,glad to be doing,rode to Bourges,where she mustered her men,and so marched to St.Pierre le Moustier,a small town,but a strong,with fosses,towers,and high walls.

There we lay some two days or three,plying the town with our artillery,and freezing in the winter nights.At length,having made somewhat of a breach,the Maid gave the word for the assault,and herself leading,with her banner in hand,we went at it with what force we might.But twice and thrice we were driven back from the fosse,and to be plain,our men were fled under cover,and only the Maid stood within arrow-shot of the wall,with a few of her household,of whom I was one,for I could not go back while she held her ground.The arrows and bolts from the town rained and whistled about us,and in faith I wished myself other where.Yet she stood,waving her banner,and crying,"Tirez en avant,ils sont e nous,"as was her way in every onfall.Seeing her thus in jeopardy,her maitre d'hotel,D'Aulon,though himself wounded in the heel so that he might not set foot to ground,mounted a horse,and riding up,asked her "why she abode there alone,and did not give ground like the others?"At this the Maid lifted her helmet from her head,and so,uncovered,her face like marble for whiteness,and her eyes shining like steel,made answer -"I am not alone;with me there are of mine fifty thousand!Hence Iwill not give back one step till I have taken the town."Then I wotted well that,sinful man as I am,I was in the company of the hosts of Heaven,though I saw them not.Great heart this knowledge gave me and others,and the Maid crying,in a loud voice,"Aux fagots,tout le monde!"the very runaways heard her and came back with planks and faggots,and so,filling up the fosse and passing over,we ran into the breach,smiting and slaying,and the town was taken.

For my own part,I was so favoured that two knights yielded them my prisoners (I being the only man of gentle birth among those who beset them in a narrow wynd),and with their ransoms I deemed myself wealthy enough,as well I might.So now I could look to win my heart's desire,if no ill fortune befell.But little good fortune came in our way.From La Charite,which was beset in the last days of November,we had perforce to give back,for the King sent us no munitions of war,and for lack of more powder and ball we might not make any breach in the walls of that town.And so,by reason of the hard winter,and the slackness of the King,and the false truce,we fought no more,at that season,but went,trailing after the Court,from castle to castle.

Many feasts were held,and much honour was done to the Maid,as by gifts of coat armour,and the ennobling of all her kith and kin,but these things she regarded not,nor did she ever bear on her shield the sword supporting the crown,between the lilies of France.

If these were ill days for the Maid,I shame to confess that they were merry days with me.There are worse places than a king's court,when a man is young,and light of heart,full of hope,and with money in his purse.I looked that we should take the field again in the spring;and having gained some gold,and even some good words,as one not backward where sword-strokes were going,I know not what dreams I had of high renown,ay,and the Constable's staff to end withal.For many a poor Scot has come to great place in France and Germany,who began with no better fortune than a mind to put his body in peril.Moreover,the winning of Elliot herself for my wife seemed now a thing almost within my reach.Therefore,as Isay,I kept a merry Yule at Jargeau,going bravely clad,and dancing all night long with the merriest.Only the wan face of the Maid (that in time of war had been so gallant and glad)came between me and my pleasures.Not that she was wilfully and wantonly sad,yet now and again we could mark in her face the great and loving pity that possessed her for France.Now I would be half angered with her,but again far more wroth with myself,who could thus lightly think of that passion of hers.But when she might she was ever at her prayers,or in company of children,or seeking out such as were poor and needy,to whom she was abundantly lavish of her gifts,so that,wheresoever the Court went,the people blessed her.