equipped her as a soldier. She got no chance to try the horse and see if
she could ride it, for her great first duty was to abide at her post and
lift up the hopes and spirits of all who would come to talk with her, and
prepare them to help in the rescue and regeneration of the kingdom. This
occupied every waking moment she had. But it was no matter. There was
nothing she could not learn--and in the briefest time, too. Her horse
would find this out in the first hour. Meantime the brothers and I took
the horse in turn and began to learn to ride. And we had teaching in the
use of the sword and other arms also.

On the 20th Joan called her small army together--the two knights and her
two brothers and me--for a private council of war. No, it was not a
council, that is not the right name, for she did not consult with us, she
merely gave us orders. She mapped out the course she would travel toward
the King, and did it like a person perfectly versed in geography; and
this itinerary of daily marches was so arranged as to avoid here and
there peculiarly dangerous regions by flank movements--which showed that
she knew her political geography as intimately as she knew her physical
geography; yet she had never had a day's schooling, of course, and was
without education. I was astonished, but thought her Voices must have
taught her. But upon reflection I saw that this was not so. By her
references to what this and that and the other person had told her, I
perceived that she had been diligently questioning those crowds of
visiting strangers, and that out of them she had patiently dug all this
mass of invaluable knowledge. The two knights were filled with wonder at
her good sense and sagacity.

She commanded us to make preparations to travel by night and sleep by day
in concealment, as almost the whole of our long journey would be through
the enemy's country.