Ignacio returned to report his inability to capture a live enemy due to the thousand difficulties he encountered right at the start of his mission.* They had gone to were the creek of Tocoy empties into the Saint Johns to embark in the small canoe Ignacio kept hidden there.* They paddled along the southern bank thereabouts so as better to carry out his ideas.* While carefully proceeding through a thick fog, they discovered a scow moored on the same bank they were skirting.* Afraid of being spotted, they turned around and landed a little farther back.* They divided into two squads and surrounded the intruders.* As they approached, they saw the English in an orange grove collecting oranges.* Ignacio’s group started shooting, and the English ran toward their scow.* Ignacio’s men stepped behind pine tree trunks and kept shooting as the English crowded around to board the scow.* The helmsman fell, then another one fell.* Many of them grabbed oars and rowed furiously, but without the helmsman guiding them, the vessel got nowhere.* Ignacio’s Indians kept shooting nonstop at the mayhem, moving closer and closer, until a blast from a cannon yanked their attention toward the south.* Approaching full sail was a schooner painted red, full of people on board, some of them were disembarking.* Ignacio and his Indians retreated into the woods for safety.* Ignacio wanted to retrieve his canoe, but there was no way to get to it while the English were still there.* Night was setting in, so they abandoned Ignacio’s canoe and made their way back to St. Augustine.* Hearing this story, it was clear to Montiano that the English had occupied with their boats the entire river at Picolata.* In their occupancy, they could cut off St. Augustine’s communication with Apalache and capture any courier who tried to get through.* They also had easier access to Uchees whom they could hire to do their dirty work.* Montiano was incensed by the audacity of the English.* Their virtual control of Spanish land was a mockery of the king’s honor and a stain on the catholic arms.* It was insult enough to trigger rage throughout the Spanish empire.* Once again, Montiano wished beyond measure that Guemes would just send the schooners and sailors that had been allocated to fight these encroachers.* Montiano grimly knew it wasn’t enough to get arms and men, because nothing got accomplished without an effective leader.* He wanted the schooners, the sailors, and a hero of a mariner to make successful use of it all.* Without that maritime force, Montiano was unable to secure the colony he was in charge of.* Instead of safety and prosperity, they were becoming trapped in a corner.* Soon, not a single man would dare leave the city walls anymore, even for food.* They would all just be waiting to perish.* If by some miracle Guemes would fill Montiano’s request for ships, he would need a whole lot more hawser to tie them up.* Meanwhile, Montiano’s strategic mind was clinging to an idea that might help.* People who knew the country well told Montiano about a valuable stretch along the St. Johns River called Mojoloa, not far from Picolata and Pupo.* While the St. Johns was usually too wide for gunfire, the Mojoloa stretch was narrow enough for musket shots to reach any ship from the shelter of trees on the bank.* All boats trying to go south on the river would be exposed at that point.* If the English happened to sail south to reinforce Pupo, or simply to dominate the full length of the river, Spaniards would have an easy shot at them.* Along the Mojoloa stretch, the river looks wide, but most of it is shallows that even the smallest canoe cannot pass through.* The main channel runs very close to the Mojoloa shore.* Now that the English had possession of Fort Pupo, Montiano envisioned building another fort at Mojoloa.* With six or seven eight-pound cannons and a garrison of fifty men under a captain, they would be able to block Pupo from any possible reinforcements.* It was a wonderful thought.* Montiano decided to propose it to Guemes.* He made a list of what he would need.* If the schooners were finally sent, they could transport the artillery and clear the river of enemy boats.* They could capture the intruders, and the enemy at Pupo would hand over the fort without even trying to fight.* After clearing the area of enemies, the schooners would sail back to St. Augustine and stand ready for defense.* Then Montiano would work hard to recruit Indians to settle around the new fort at Mojoloa.* Then the settlers who had started farming two years ago would feel safe to take their slaves out there and try again.* Oh, Mojoloa was surely going to be the salvation of La Florida.* If only those schooners would show up.* Montiano sat down and shared his vision with Guemes.* After he signed the letter with ample praise for Guemes’s wisdom and strength, Montiano received an update from the field.* English boats were spotted in the river as far as 45 miles south of St. Augustine.* They seemed to be seeking an exit to the Keys, as well out to the bays of Carlos and Tampa.* If such openings existed, it would open up three news angles for enemy encroachment in La Florida.* Montiano’s need for a naval force was escalated even higher.* He added this detail in a postscript on the letter, begging Guemes to free La Florida from the death grip they were in.*