used to arms and therefore
of little prospective value against the formidable fighting men whom
Drake was reported to have in his train. As for La Fuerza, sickness and
desertion had so depleted its garrison that not a score of able-bodied
men were left. Quinones gathered in reinforcements of 60 or 70, chiefly
young and inexperienced men and thus raised the apparently effective
strength to something less than 100, when more than 200 were considered
necessary. Two small brass cannon and a supply of powder and small arms
came from Spain, and Luzan either purchased or requisitioned from a
visiting ship four more small cannon. The Governor also destroyed, by
burning, all the houses which had been built close to La Fuerza so as to
leave an open zone of considerable strength around that fortress.

Despite the conflict between Luzan and Quinones already recorded, some
substantial progress was made, especially by the latter, in
strengthening the defenses of Havana to meet the coming storm. La Fuerza
was improved in various respects, though it was impossible to get rid of
the dampness which pervaded the place. On the Punta at the entrance to
the harbor trenches were dug and a gun platform was built. The
efficiency of these was unsparingly ridiculed by the Royal Treasurer,
Rojas, and indeed Quinones himself soon realized their unsatisfactory
character. He therefore undertook the construction of the real fort, and
by the end of 1583 had it sufficiently completed to permit the mounting
of eight pieces of artillery. He then declared that if he were properly
supplied with powder and shot he could defend Havana against all comers.
He did not wish more soldiers, and indeed he strongly protested against
the levies from Mexico for which Luzan had sent. During the spring of
1583 about 100 men did arrive from Mexico under a Captain who looked to
Luzan and not to Quinones for orders; a circumstance which naturally
added to the confusion and conflict of authority. But after a few months
Luzan himself agreed with Quinones in regarding the men as practically
worthless, and assented to their shipment back to Mexico.

CHAPTER XXI

Such, then, was the state of affairs when in 1585 war began between
Spain and England. English adventurers infested Spanish territory on the
main land in the northern part of the vast region which the Spanish
still called Florida. They planned an English colony at the Bay of Santa
Maria and renamed that place