CHAPTER XX.THE UNEXPECTED.
Captain Ramón bade the woman guard theseñoritawell, and then hurried from the adobe building. Just in front of it he stopped to look over the scene. Dead men were scattered on the ground at a distance. There were more dead men around the huts, where the crew of the trading schooner had made their last stand.
The wounded were shrieking and groaning, and some of the pirates were giving them a rough surgery. Others were hurrying thecaballeroprisoners toward another adobe building, where they were to be kept. Women and children ran beside them, shrieking insults, hurling small stones. But thecaballerosheld their heads proudly, and laughed and jested with one another.
Captain Ramón darted to the end of the building, so he would not be seen by the prisoners. It was not in his mind to be suspected at the outset. The game he was playing was one of hazard, and he knewthat the slightest mistake would be disastrous.
He had planned with Barbados to conduct the raid, and thereby had gained the pirate chief’s confidence. And now he had further plans. He would tell Barbados that he would draw to the camp the troopers at San Diego de Alcála. Barbados and his men could ambush them and wipe them out. Then the pirates could cross the hills and raid and loot rich San Diego de Alcála.
But the captain intended no such thing in reality. Knowing how Barbados would prepare the ambush, he would lead the troopers in such a manner that the pirates would be wiped out to a man. Then thecaballerosand theseñoritacould be rescued, and Captain Ramón would pose as their heroic rescuer. He hoped in this manner to regain the good will of thecaballerosand a better standing with them, and to earn the gratitude of theseñoritaalso.
Word of the exploit would run up and down El Camino Real. Men whose hands were now raised against the licentious and unscrupulous Governor would think better of him because the pirates had been wiped out. The Governor, in turn, would be grateful to Captain Ramón. And he would order Don Carlos Pulido, who was not dead of his wound, to give the hand of his daughter, Lolita, to Captain Ramón. Don Carlos scarce could refuse without endangering his fortunes further.
It was a pretty plot, the plot of a master rogue willing to sell friends and foes alike to advance his own interests. Captain Ramón grinned as he thought of it, and twirled his mustache, and marched around the corner of the building and across the open space toward where Barbados was standing and shouting orders concerning the disposition of the corpses.
And suddenly the captain found himself confronted by a man, and looked up quickly to see the burning eyes of old Fray Felipe fastened upon his face.
“What does an officer of the Governor in such a place, unless he be a prisoner of war?” Fray Felipe demanded.
Captain Ramón bowed before him. “Perhaps there are things that you do not understand,fray,” he replied.
“And perhaps,commandante, there are things that I do understand!” Fray Felipe said. “Perhaps years of service in behalf of humanity have taught me to read a man’s face and mind. Rogue, brute, traitor!”
“You are afray, and wear a gown that should be respected, but do not tempt me too far!” Captain Ramón said angrily. “Say your prayers, and leave men’s work to men!”
The captain bowed again, walked around thefray, and hurried to the side of Barbados.
“Ha!” the pirate cried. “You must have made haste to get here in such season.”
“I almost killed two horses,” the captain said.
“In such eager haste to see the wench, eh? And have you seen her?”
“She is safe and sound. She made an attempt to escape, but your woman stopped her.”
“I wish you joy of the wench. There is too much of the fire of anger in her makeup to suit me,” Barbados declared, laughing raucously. “She ripped my forearm with a dagger and killed one of my men aboard ship. The taming of her will take more than an hour’s time,commandante!”
“Leave that to me!” Ramón said. “There are other things to be discussed now.”
“And what?”
“Step aside!” Ramón commanded.
They walked some distance, to a spot where they would not be overheard.
“You know, certainly, the meaning of all this,” Ramón said. “The Governor, who hates this southland, is eager to have it troubled as much as possible, even if he is forced to sacrifice a few of his own men.”
“Sí!” Barbados said, both in question and in affirmation.
“See that theseñoritais guarded well, and, in the meantime, before I think of such things as love, let us attend to more serious business.”
“Is there a chance of profit?”
“How would you like to raid rich San Diego de Alcála when there would be small danger?”
The eyes of Barbados glistened. He knew a great deal about San Diego de Alcála.The town was rich, and the mission also. Wealth had been stored there since the earliest days of the missions.
“Attend me!” Ramón commanded. “You have here certaincaballerosheld as prisoners, and theseñoritaalso. I’ll go to San Diego de Alcála and spread the news at the presidio. I outrank thecommandantethere, and my words will be commands.”
“I understand,capitan!”
“There are only a few troopers there now, the remainder having been sent to San Juan Capistrano to put down mutinous natives. I’ll lead these troopers back to the pirate camp. Do you arrange an ambush at the head of the little cañon. I’ll lead the men into it. You and your crew can cut them down. And then the way to San Diego de Alcála will be open to you!”
“By my naked blade—” Barbados swore.
“You must understand this thing, of course—it must look like a mistake. No man ever must think that the Governor had a hand in it, or that I did myself.”
“I understand,capitan!”
“Then it is agreed?”
“Sí!”
“I’ll have speech with theseñoritaagain, and then ride like the wind. As soon as I have departed, arrange your men in the ambush. I’ll return with the troopers before nightfall. You can wipe them out, attack San Diego de Alcála to-night, return, abandon this camp, and sail away and establish another on the coast of Baja California. You’ll have wealth, women; your name will be spoken with respect!”
“Sí!” Barbados breathed. “It shall be as you say,capitan! And what share of the loot do you require?”
“Nothing whatever, if you keep theseñoritasafe for me.”
“She shall be kept safe, I promise you!”
Captain Ramón whirled around and hurried back toward the adobe building. Inez had theseñoritain the front room, guarding her well. She had just finished a tirade concerning the attempt of theseñoritato engineer an escape through cunning words and implications.
Captain Ramón ordered the woman outside, and urged theseñoritato go into the storeroom again.
“It is arranged,” he said. “I ride for San Diego immediately. Do you continue to remain a prisoner,señorita, and save yourself from harm. Before the fall of night I’ll be back with the troopers, this pirate brood will be wiped out, and you and thecaballeroswill be liberated. Then you can go up El Camino Real to your father.”
“If you accomplish this thing, you shall have my gratitude,” theseñoritasaid.
“Nothing more than gratitude?”
“I have spoken concerning that,señor. There can be nothing but gratitude.”
Captain Ramón suddenly whirled toward her. “It is something more than gratitude that I want!” he said. “Is your heart made of ice? Mine is flaming!”
“Señor!”
“What whim is it that makes you cling to the memory of a dead man?” he asked. “You are young, with a life before you.”
“Please leave me with my sorrow,señor!”
“Then I may expect better treatment when your sorrow is somewhat dulled by time?”
“I am afraid not,señor.”
“I risk my life in the service of you and your friends, and am to have no reward?”
“A man of gentle blood would not think of being rewarded for such a thing,” she replied.
The face of Captain Ramón flushed and he took another step toward her. “I am sick of hearing so much of gentle blood,” he said. “Mine is gentle enough, but it also can be hot at times. Am I a man to brook such nonsense? You owe me gratitude, and something more! One embrace, at least, here and now!”
“Señor!” she cried.
“Would you be so coy if the cursed Señor Zorro were here to beg a kiss?”
“More insults,señor?” she asked, her face flaming.
“Is it an insult for the daughter of an impoverisheddonto be kissed by one of his excellency’s officers?”
“And would my father be impoverished were not his excellency a man of little honor?” she cried. “Poverty does not change the blood,señor!”
“More about your gentle blood, eh? And an affront to the Governor in your words, also? That calls for punishment,señorita! One embrace and then I ride!”
“I would rather die than have you touch me!” she cried. “You show your true colors again,commandante!”
“One embrace, and I make you forget this Señor Zorro!”
“If he were here,señor, you would not dare speak so!” she said. “You would cringe in terror, you who wear the mark of Zorro on your brow! It was for an insult to me that he put it there! It is like a coward to attack a helpless girl! If Señor Zorro were here—”
“But he is not here!” Ramón cried, laughing and leering at her. “And so—”
Again he started toward her, and her hand darted to her bosom to snatch out the dagger the woman Inez had given her earlier. But she did not draw out the dagger.
The window behind them suddenly was darkened, and the light shut off. Into the storeroom plunged a man who struggled to get free from the woman’s clothes he wore over his own. As Captain Ramón recoiled and theseñoritagave a little cry of fright the intruder’s head flew up.
A blade flashed, theseñoritafound herself hurled to one side gently, and Captain Ramón found two eyes blazing into his—the eyes of Señor Zorro!
“Have you ever seen this one?” Señor Zorro demanded.
And, with his left hand, he slapped thecommandanteof thepresidioof Reina de Los Angeles so that his head rocked!