CASTLE ST. LOUIS
As the shout of applause died away, the trembling New Englander asked Frontenac if he would put his answer in writing.
"No," thundered the old Governor, never happier than when fighting, "I will answer your General with my cannon! I shall teach him that a man of my rank"—with covert sneer at Phips' origin, "is not to be summoned in such rude fashion! Let him do his best! I shall do mine!"
It was now the turn of the English to be amazed. This was not the answer they had expected from a fort weakly garrisoned by a hundred men. If they had struck and struck quickly, they might yet have won the day; but all Monday passed in futile arguments and councils of war, and on Tuesday, the 17th, towards night, was heard wild shouting within Quebec walls.
ATTACK ON QUEBEC, 1690
"My faith, Messieurs!" exclaimed one of the French prisoners aboard Phips' ship; "now you have lost your chance! Those are the coureurs de bois from Montreal and the bushrovers of the Pays d'en Haut, eight hundred strong."