By the time Montiano wrote his August 7th letter to Guemes, 22 English deserters had come into St. Augustine.* All of them confirmed Oglethorpe’s plans to return within four or five months, or next spring.* Some of them said he planned to build more schooners like St. Augustine had, except larger.* It seemed impossible to Montiano that Oglethorpe could rally the Carolinians to his cause again.* However, they definitely had their own beef with St. Augustine.* The Spaniards blocked the Carolinian’s apparent determination to exterminate the Indians of Apalache so they could occupy Florida.* Perhaps they would ask the king for someone besides Oglethorpe to command an expedition against the Spaniardssomeone more able to reconcile all parties involved.* If England somehow granted Oglethorpe the rumored two regiments or the two thousand troops in order to reap the benefits of holding Florida, they surely would double the manpower of the first attempt.* If that happened, Montiano would need enough men to match the increased size of the enemy.* Florida’s borders were far flung and wide open to the enemy. It was easy for enemy forces to traverse the frontier and close in on St. Augustine from all sides.* Montiano envisioned his people again squeezing into the fort, awaiting starvation.* Even before starvation set in, the men would lose their fighting spirit just from having the sad voices and tears of the women and children right under their nose.* At some point, Guemes told Montiano that he himself was preoccupied with the defense of the island of Cuba.* It was a treasure in the Caribbean that all the European powers wanted, and Guemes had to keep putting out fires to protect it.* That, along with the Junta’s opposition, helped explain why Montiano had so much trouble getting help from Guemes.* Nevertheless, Montiano had no choice but to keep begging to be among Guemes’s highest priorities.* He referred to his original orders for the position of governor, and to the circular of January 30th that reiterated his duty to protect Spain’s property and people, especially those in America.* He recalled the king’s order that troops be sent wherever they are needed to resist foreign invasion.* And if that failed, Montiano was to lay his needs at the feet of Guemes.* As of August 7th, Montiano needed more men.* First and foremost, he needed to replace the ones he lost to the English invasion.* Between the prisoners captured, people killed and wounded, and deserters, he was down 394 men from the 750 Guemes had allotted him.* As far as he was concerned, he needed at least that many to get back to par.* As of August 7th, 116 of his original 350-man garrison remained fit for duty.* Only 240 remained of the 400 men that Guemes sent in eight companies.* If Guemes would send 370 infantry and 24 artillerymen, St. Augustine would be back to par.* However, the next English attack promised to be twice as large and angry, due to their upset during the siege.* So Montiano wanted to raise the manpower by another 300 armed men if signs of war continued.* He asked Guemes for 300 mulattoes and free negroes from the militia of Cuba.* Was this because they were easier to get than enlisted soldiers? Or was this because those in St. Augustine had proved to be more loyal than the soldiers? Montiano asked that these militia be recruited as soon as possible, and sent to Florida as soon as recruited so they could start training.* He also asked that they be provided with arms upon signing up, and that they very clearly understand that they are being hired to do armed duty when necessary, and manual labor all the time.* If that workload seemed daunting or impossible to potential candidates, Montiano suggested they be offered part-time schedules, such as working a week or month at a time.* In their off time, they could pursue other opportunities, and Montiano could rotate them with other part-timers.* Either way, it was important that any new recruits come well-armed, because St. Augustine was now a “hospital,” according to Montiano.* Montiano was worried that all his fears of English takeover would come to pass, and he would somehow get blamed for not preventing it.* He pointed out to Guemes that there’s no way the king could blame Montiano without also blaming Guemes, since Montiano had put everything in Guemes’s hands.* He also pointed out that all his begging was simply following royal orders to apply to Guemes for all his needs.* When Montiano first got the governor position, he showered Guemes with praise and supplication. By the end of the siege, his praise had given way to disavowing blame and claiming his own job well done.*