Many must be slain ere we can call it ours, but will you follow and
take it?"
The shout which arose from a thousand throats rang to the welkin,
and methinks must have smote with dread import upon the English
ears. The Maid's voice seemed to float through the air, and
penetrate to the extreme limits of the crowd, or else her words
were taken up and repeated by a score of eager tongues, and so ran
through the mighty muster with thrilling import. The eyes were
dazzled by the flashing blades as men swung them above their heads.
"Lead us, O Maid, lead us! We follow to death or victory! We fear
nothing so that you are our leader and our guide!"
There was no withstanding a spirit like that! La Hire's voice was
one of the foremost in the cry; his great blade the first to leap
from its scabbard. Sage counsels of war, prompted by experience,
had to give way before a power different from anything which the
veterans had known before. With a dash, the elan of which was a
marvellous sight to see, the soldiers poured themselves like a
living stream against the walls of St.
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