An hour later, after a hasty meal provided by De Baudricourt, we
were all in the saddle, equipped and eager for the start. The Maid
sat her chestnut charger as to the manner born. The pawings of the
impatient animal caused her no anxiety. She was looking with a keen
eye over her little band of followers, taking in, as a practised
leader of men might do, their equipment and general readiness for
the road. She pointed out to me several small defects which
required adjusting and rectifying.
Already she seemed to have assumed without effort, and as a matter
of course, the position of leader and general. There was no
abatement of her gentle sweetness of voice or aspect, but the air
of command combined with it as though it came direct and without
effort as a gift from heaven. None resented it; all submitted to
it, and submitted with a sense of lofty joy and satisfaction which
I have never experienced since, and which is beyond my power to
describe.
There was one change in the outward aspect of the Maid, for her
beautiful hair had been cut off, and now her head was crowned only
by its cluster of short curling locks, upon which today she wore a
cloth cap, though soon she was to adopt the headpiece which
belonged to the light armour provided.
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