ff in their boats at night to buy. At Rio de la
Hacha, where the most imperative orders had been sent to forbid his
admittance, Hawkins landed a force as before and took possession of the
town, of course with the connivance of the settlers. At Carthagena he
was similarly ordered off, and as Carthagena was strongly fortified he
did not venture to meddle with it. But elsewhere he found ample markets
for his wares. He sold all his blacks. By this and by other dealings he
had collected what is described as a vast treasure of gold, silver, and
jewels. The hurricane season was approaching, and he made the best of
his way homewards with his spoils, in the fear of being overtaken by it.
Unluckily for him, he had lingered too long. He had passed the west
point of Cuba and was working up the back of the island when a hurricane
came down on him. The gale lasted four days. The ships' bottoms were
foul and they could make no way. Spars were lost and rigging carried
away. The _Jesus_, which had not been seaworthy all along, leaked worse
than ever and lost her rudder. Hawkins looked for some port in Florida,
but found the coast shallow and dangerous, and was at last obliged to
run for San Juan de Ulloa, at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

San Juan de Ulloa is a few miles only from Vera Cruz. It was at that
time the chief port of Mexico, through which all the traffic passed
between the colony and the mother-country, and was thus a place of some
consequence. It stands on a small bay facing towards the north. Across
the mouth of this bay lies a narrow ridge of sand and shingle, half a
mile long, which acts as a natural breakwater and forms the harbour.
This ridge, or island as it was called, was uninhabited, but it had been
faced on the inner front by a wall. The water was deep alongside, and
vessels could thus lie in perfect security, secured by their cables to
rings let into the masonry.

The prevailing wind was from the north, bringing in a heavy surf on the
back of the island. There was an opening at both ends, but only one
available for vessels of large draught. In this the channel was narrow,
and a battery at the end of the breakwater would completely command it.
The town stood on the opposite side of the bay.

Into a Spanish port thus constructed Hawkins entered with his battered
squadron on September 16, 1568. He could not have felt entirely easy.
But he probably thought that he had no ill-will to fear from the
inhabitants ge