“Undoubtedly! I understand he really is an ordinary hand with a blade. He made a fool of my sergeant, but that is a different proposition—and I believe he held a pistol in one hand while he fenced, too. I should make short work of the fellow.”
There was a closet in one corner of the room, and now its door was opened a crack.
“The fellow should die the death!” Captain Ramón went on to say. “He is brutal in his dealings with men. He kills wantonly, I have heard. They say he caused a reign of terror in the north, in the vicinity of San Francisco de Asis. He slew men regardless, insulted women—”
The closet door was hurled open—and Señor Zorro stepped into the room.
“I shall take you to task for that statement, señor, since it is a falsehood!” the highwayman cried.
Don Carlos whirled around and gasped his surprise. Doña Catalina felt suddenly weak in the knees and collapsed on a chair. Señorita Lolita felt some pride in the man’s statement, and a great deal of fear for him.
“I—I thought you had escaped,” Don Carlos gasped.
“Ha! It was but a trick! My horse escaped—but I did not!”
“Then there shall be no escape for you now!” Captain Ramón cried, drawing his blade.
“Back, señor!” Zorro cried, exhibiting a pistol suddenly. “I shall fight you gladly, but the fight must be fair. Don Carlos, gather your wife and daughter beneath your arms and retire to the corner while I cross blades with this teller of falsehoods. I do not intend to have a warning given out that I still am here!”
“I thought—you escaped!” Don Carlos gasped again, seemingly unable to think of anything else, and doing as Señor Zorro commanded.
“A trick!” the highwayman repeated, laughing. “It is a noble horse I have. Perhaps you heard a peculiar cry from my lips? My beast is trained to act at that cry. He gallops away wildly, making considerable noise, and the soldiers follow him. And when he has gone some distance he turns aside and stops, and after the pursuit has passed he returns to await my bidding. No doubt he is behind the patio now. I shall punish this captain, and then mount and ride away!”
“With a pistol in your hand!” Ramón cried.
“I put the pistol upon the table—so! There it remains if Don Carlos stays in the corner with the ladies. Now, captain!”
Señor Zorro extended his blade, and with a glad cry Captain Ramón crossed it with his own. Captain Ramón had some reputation as a master of fence, and Señor Zorro evidently knew it, for he was cautious at first, leaving no opening, on defense rather than attack.
The captain pressed him back, his blade flashing like streaks of lightning in a troubled sky. Now Señor Zorro was almost against the wall near the kitchen door, and in the captain’s eyes the light of triumph already was beginning to burn. He fenced rapidly, giving the highwayman no rest, standing his ground and keeping his antagonist against the wall.
And then Señor Zorro chuckled! For now he had solved the other’s manner of combat, and knew that all would be well. The captain gave ground a little as the defense turned into an attack that puzzled him. Señor Zorro began laughing lightly.
“’Twere a shame to kill you,” he said. “You are an excellent officer, I have heard, and the army needs a few such. But you have spoken falsehood regarding me, and so must pay a price. Presently I shall run you through, but in such manner that your life will not emerge when I withdraw my blade.”
“Boaster!” the captain snarled.
“As to that, we shall see presently. Ha! I almost had you there, my captain. You are more clever than your big sergeant, but not half clever enough. Where do you prefer to be touched—the left side or the right?”
“If you are so certain, run me through the right shoulder,” the captain said.
“Guard it well, my captain, for I shall do as you say! Ha!”
The captain circled, trying to get the light of the candles in the highwayman’s eyes, but Señor Zorro was too clever for that. He caused the captain to circle back, forced him to retreat, fought him to a corner.
“Now, my captain!” he cried.
And so he ran him through the right shoulder, as the captain had said, and twisted the blade a bit as he brought it out. He had struck a little low, and Captain Ramón dropped to the floor, a sudden weakness upon him.
Señor Zorro stepped back and sheathed his blade.
“I ask the pardon of the ladies for this scene,” he said. “And I assure you that this time I am, indeed, going away. You will find that the captain is not badly injured, Don Carlos. He may return to his presidio within the day.”
He removed his sombrero and bowed low before them, while Don Carlos sputtered and failed to think of anything to say that would be mean and cutting enough. The eyes of the highwayman, for a moment, met those of the Señorita Lolita, and he was glad to find that in hers there was no repugnance.
“Buenas noches!” he said and laughed again.
And then he dashed through the kitchen and into the patio, and found the horse awaiting him there, as he had said it would be, and was quick to mount and ride away.
CHAPTER 10
A HINT AT JEALOUSY
Within the space of half an hour Captain Ramón’s wounded shoulder had been cleansed of blood and bandaged, and the captain was sitting at one end of the table, sipping wine and looking very white in the face and tired.
Doña Catalina and Señorita Lolita had shown much sympathy, though the latter could scarcely refrain from smiling when she remembered the captain’s boast regarding what he purposed doing to the highwayman, and compared it to what had happened. Don Carlos was outdoing himself to make the captain feel at home since it was well to seek influence with the army, and already had urged upon the officer that he remain at the hacienda a few days until his wound had healed.
Having looked into the eyes of the Señorita Lolita, the captain had answered that he would be glad to remain at least for a day, and despite his wound, was attempting polite and witty conversation, yet failing miserably.
Once more there could be heard the drumming of a horse’s hooves, and Don Carlos sent a servant to the door to open it so that the light would shine out, for they supposed that it was one of the soldiers returning.
The horseman came nearer, and presently stopped before the house, and the servant hurried out to care for the beast.
There passed a moment during which those inside the house heard nothing at all, and then there were steps on the veranda, and Don Diego Vega hurried through the door.
“Ha!” he cried, as if in relief. “I am rejoiced that you all are alive and well!”
“Don Diego!” the master of the house exclaimed. “You have ridden out from the pueblo a second time in one day?”
“No doubt I shall be ill because of it,” Don Diego said.
“Already I am feeling stiff and my back aches. Yet I felt that I must come. There was an alarm in the pueblo, and it was noised abroad that this Señor Zorro, the highwayman, had paid a visit to the hacienda. I saw the soldiers ride furiously in this direction, and fear came into my heart. You understand, Don Carlos, I feel sure.”
“I understand, caballero,” Don Carlos replied, beaming upon him and glancing once at Señorita Lolita.
“I—er—felt it my duty to make the journey. And now I find that it has been made for naught—you all are alive and well. How does it happen?”
Lolita sniffed, but Don Carlos was quick to make reply.
“The fellow was here, but he made his escape after running Captain Ramón through the shoulder.”
“Ha!” Don Diego said, collapsing into a chair. “So you have felt his steel, eh, Captain? That should feed your desire for vengeance. Your soldiers are after the rogue?”
“They are,” the captain replied shortly, for he did not like to have it said that he had been defeated in combat. “And they will continue to be after him until he is captured. I have a big sergeant, Gonzales—I think he is a friend of yours, Don Diego—who is eager
to make the arrest and earn the governor’s reward. I shall instruct him, when he returns, to take his squad and pursue this highwayman until he has been dealt with properly.”
“Let me express the hope that the soldiers will be successful, señor. The rogue has annoyed Don Carlos and the ladies—and Don Carlos is my friend. I would have all men know it!”
Don Carlos beamed, and Doña Catalina smiled bewitchingly, but the Señorita Lolita fought to keep her pretty upper lip from curling with scorn.
“A mug of your refreshing wine, Don Carlos,” Don Diego Vega continued. “I am fatigued. Twice to-day have I ridden here from Reina de Los Angeles, and it is about all a man can endure.”
“’Tis not much of a journey—four miles,” said the captain.
“Possibly not for a rough soldier,” Don Diego replied, “but it is for a caballero.”
“May not a soldier be a caballero?” Ramón asked, nettled somewhat at the other’s words.
“It has happened before now, but we come across it rarely,” Don Diego said. He glanced at Lolita as he spoke, intending that she should take notice of his words, for he had seen the manner in which the captain glanced at her, and jealousy was beginning to burn in his heart.
“Do you mean to insinuate, señor, that I am not of good blood?” Captain Ramón asked.
“I cannot reply as to that, señor, having seen none of it. No doubt this Señor Zorro could tell me. He saw the color of it, I understand.”
“By the saints!” Captain Ramón cried. “You would taunt me?”
“Never be taunted by the truth,” Don Diego observed. “He ran you through the shoulder, eh? ’Tis a mere scratch, I doubt not. Should you not be at the presidio instructing your soldiers?”
“I await their return here,” the captain replied. “Also, it is a fatiguing journey from here to the presidio, according to your own ideas, señor.”
“But a soldier is inured to hardship, señor.”
“True, there are many pests he must encounter,” the captain said, glancing at Don Diego with meaning.
“You term me a pest, señor?”
“Did I say as much?”
This was perilous ground, and Don Carlos had no mind to let an officer of the army and Don Diego Vega have trouble in his hacienda, for fear he would get into greater difficulties.
“More wine, señores!” he exclaimed in a loud voice, and stepping between their chairs in utter disregard of proper breeding. “Drink, my captain, for your wound has made you weak. And you, Don Diego, after your wild ride—”
“I doubt its wildness,” Captain Ramón observed.
Don Diego accepted the proffered wine mug and turned his back upon the captain. He glanced across at Señorita Lolita and smiled. He got up deliberately and picked up his chair, and carried it across the room to set it down beside her.
“And did the rogue frighten you, señorita?” he asked.
“Suppose he did, señor? Would you avenge the matter? Would you put a blade at your side and ride abroad until you found him, and then punish him as he deserves?”
“By the saints, were it necessary, I might do as much. But I am able to employ a raft of strong fellows who would like nothing better than to run down the rogue. Why should I risk my own neck?”
“Oh!” she exclaimed, exasperated.
“Let us not talk further of this bloodthirsty Señor Zorro,” he begged. “There are other things fit for conversation. Have you been thinking, señorita, on the object of my visit earlier in the day?”
Señorita Lolita thought of it now. She remembered again what the marriage would mean to her parents and their fortunes, and she recalled the highwayman, too, and remembered his dash and spirit, and wished that Don Diego could be such a man. And she could not say the word that would make her the betrothed of Don Diego Vega.
“I—I have scarcely had time to think of it, caballero,” she replied.
“I trust you will make up your mind soon,” he said.
“You are so eager?”
“My father was at me again this afternoon. He insists that I should take a wife as soon as possible. It is rather a nuisance, of course, but a man must please his father.”
Lolita bit her lips because of her quick anger. Was ever girl so courted before? she wondered.
“I shall make up my mind as soon as possible, señor,” she said finally.
“Does this Captain Ramón remain long at the hacienda?” A little hope came into Lolita’s breast. Could it be possible that Don Diego Vega was jealous? If that were true, possibly there might be stuff in the man, after all. Perhaps he would awaken, and love and passion come to him, and he would be as other young men.
“My father has asked him to remain until he is able to travel to the presidio,” she replied.
“He is able to travel now. A mere scratch!”
“You will not return to-night?” she asked.
“It probably will make me ill, but I must return. There are certain things that must engage my interest early in the morning. Business is such a nuisance!”
“Perhaps my father will offer to send you in the carriage.”
“Ha! It were kindness if he does. A man may doze a bit in a carriage.”
“But, if this highwayman should stop you?”
“I need not fear, señorita. Have I not wealth? Could I not purchase my release?”
“You would pay ransom rather than fight him, señor?”
“I have lots of money, but only one life, señorita. Would I be a wise man to risk having my blood let out?”
“It would be the manly part, would it not?” she asked.
“Any male can be manly at times, but it takes a clever man to be sagacious,” he said.
Don Diego laughed lightly, as if it cost him an effort, and bent forward to speak in lower tones.
On the other side of the room, Don Carlos was doing his best to make Captain Ramón comfortable, and was glad that he and Don Diego remained apart for the time being.
“Don Carlos,” the captain said, “I come from a good family, and the governor is friendly toward me, as no doubt you have heard. I am but twenty-three years of age, else I would hold a higher office. But my future is assured.”
“I am rejoiced to learn it, señor.”
“I never set eyes upon your daughter until this evening, but she has captivated me, señor. Never have I seen such grace and beauty, such flashing eyes! I ask your permission, señor, to pay my addresses to the señorita.”
CHAPTER 11
THREE SUITORS
Here was a fix! Don Carlos had no wish to anger Don Diego Vega or a man who stood high in the governor’s regard. And how was he to evade it? If Lolita could not force her heart to accept Don Diego, perhaps she could learn to love Captain Ramón. After Don Diego, he was the best potential son-in-law in the vicinity.
“Your answer, señor?” the captain was asking.
“I trust you will not misunderstand me, señor,” Don Carlos said, in lower tones. “I must make a simple explanation.”
“Proceed, señor.” “But this morning Don Diego Vega asked me the same question.”
“Ha!”
“You know his blood and his family, señor. Could I refuse him? Of rights, I could not. But I may tell you this—the señorita weds no man unless it is her wish. So Don Diego has my permission to pay his addresses, but if he fails to touch her heart—”
“Then I may try?” the captain asked.
“You have my permission, señor. Of course, Don Diego has great wealth, but you have a dashing way with you, and Don Diego—that is—he is rather—”
“I understand perfectly, señor,” the captain said, laughing. “He is not exactly a brave and dashing caballero. Unless your daughter prefers wealth to a genuine man—”
“My daughter will follow the dictates of her heart, señor!” Don Carlos said proudly.
“Then the affair is between Don Diego Vega and myself?”
“So long as you use discretion,
señor. I would have nothing happen that would cause enmity between the Vega family and mine.”
“Your interests shall be protected, Don Carlos,” Captain Ramón declared.
As Don Diego talked, the Señorita Lolita observed her father and Captain Ramón, and guessed what was being said. It pleased her, of course, that a dashing officer should enter the lists for her hand, and yet she had felt no thrill when first she looked into his eyes.
Señor Zorro, now, had thrilled her to the tips of her tiny toes, and merely because he had talked to her, and touched the palm of her hand with his lips. If Don Diego Vega were only more like the highwayman! If some man appeared who combined Vega’s wealth with the rogue’s spirit and dash and courage!
There was a sudden tumult outside, and into the room strode the soldiers, Sergeant Gonzales at their head. They saluted their captain, and the big sergeant looked with wonder at his wounded shoulder.
“The rogue escaped us,” Gonzales reported. “We followed him for a distance of three miles or so, as he made his way into the hills, where we came upon him.”
“Well?” Ramón questioned.
“He has allies.”
“What is this?”
“Fully ten men were waiting for him there, my captain. They set upon us before we were aware of their presence. We fought them well, and three of them we wounded, but they made their escape and took their comrades with them. We had not been expecting a band, of course, and so rode into their ambush.”
“Then we have to contend with a band of them!” Captain Ramón said. “Sergeant, you will select a score of men in the morning, and have command over them. You will take the trail of this Señor Zorro, and you will not stop until he is either captured or slain. I will add a quarter’s wages to the reward of his excellency, the governor, if you are successful.”
“Ha! It is what I have wished!” Sergeant Gonzales cried. “Now we shall run this coyote to earth in short order! I shall show you the color of his blood—”
“‘Twould be no more than right, since he has seen the color of the captain’s,” Don Diego put in.
“What is this, Don Diego, my friend? Captain, you have crossed blades with the rogue?”
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