Bertrand was furiously angry. He led me up into a lofty turret
which commanded a bird's-eye view of the whole city and its
environs, and he pointed out that which the Maid had declared she
would straightway do, so soon as the Feast of the Ascension was
over, and how the Generals were about to follow a quite different
course.
Orleans, as all men know, lies upon the right--the north--bank of
the Loire, and the country to the north was then altogether in the
power of the English; wherefore they had built their great
bastilles around the city upon that side without molestation, and
were able to receive supplies from their countrymen without let or
hindrance.
But these bastilles were not the chiefest danger to the city, or
rather I should say, it was not these which were the chiefest cause
of peril, since no help could reach the garrison from that side.
They looked to the country to the south to help them, and it was to
stop supplies from reaching them by water or from the south that
the English had long since crossed the river and had established
themselves in certain forts along the south bank.
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