'I owe it to humanity,' so writes M.de Montcalm, 'to summon you to surrender.

At present I can restrain the savages, and make them observe the terms of a capitulation, as I might not have power to do under other circumstances; and the most obstinate defence on your part can only retard the capture of the place a few days, and endanger an unfortunate garrison which cannot be relieved, in consequence of the dispositions I have made.

I demand a decisive answer within an hour.' That, gentlemen, is the message brought to us.

What answer shall we return to our high-minded adversary ?" There was only one word in the mouths of all.
"No surrender! no surrender!" they called aloud, waving their swords in the air; and the cry was taken up by those without, and reached the soldiers upon the ramparts, and the welkin rang with the enthusiastic shout: "No surrender! no surrender!" By this time the Indians were swarming about close outside the ramparts, and hearing this cry and knowing its meaning, they looked up and gesticulated fiercely.
"You won't surrender, eh ?" bawled in broken French an old Indian chief.

"Fire away then and fight your best; for if we catch you after this, you shall get no quarter!" The response to this threat was the heavy boom of the cannon as Fort William Henry discharged its first round of artillery.
For a moment it produced immense effect amongst the swarms of painted savages, who scuttled away yelling with fear; for though well used to the sound of musketry, and having considerable skill with firearms themselves, they had never heard the roar of big guns before, and the screaming of the shells as they whistled overhead filled them with terror and amaze.
They were intensely eager for the French guns to be got into position, and were a perfect nuisance to the regular soldiers, as they worked with intrepid industry at their trenches and mounds.
But before long even the Indians were satisfied with the prolonged roar of artillery, which lasted day after day, day after day; whilst within their walls the brave but diminished garrison looked vainly for succour, and examined with a sinking heart their diminished store of ammunition and their cracked and overheated guns.
"It cannot go on long like this," the officers said one to the other.