Don Diego sipped his wine slowly and looked out across themesa, and Don Carlos looked at him in puzzled fashion, realizing that something was coming, and scarcely knowing what to expect.
"I did not ride through the damnable sun and dust to talk with you concerning this Señor Zorro, or any other bandit," Don Diego explained, after a time.
"Whatever your errand, I am glad to welcome one of your family,caballero," Don Carlos said.
"I had a long talk with my father yesterday morning," Don Diego went on. "He informed me that I am approaching the age of twenty-five, and he is of a mind that I am not accepting my duties and responsibilities in the proper fashion."
"But surely—"
"Oh, doubtless he knows! My father is a wise man."
"And no man can dispute that, Don Diego!"
"He urged upon me that I awaken and do as I should. I have been dreaming, it appears. A man of my wealth and station—you will pardon me if I speak of it—must do certain things."
"It is the curse of position,señor."
"When my father dies I come into his fortune,naturally, being the only child. That part of it is all right. But what will happen when I die? That is what my father asks."
"I understand."
"A young man of my age, he told me, should have a wife, a mistress of his household, and should—er—have offspring to inherit and preserve an illustrious name."
"Nothing could be truer than that," said Don Carlos.
"So I have decided to get me a wife."
"Ha! It is something every man should do, Don Diego. Well do I remember when I courted Doña Catalina. We were mad to get into each other's arms, but her father kept her from me for a time. I was only seventeen, though, so perhaps he did right. But you are nearly twenty-five. Get you a bride, by all means."
"And so I have come to see you about it," Don Diego said.
"To see me about it?" gasped Don Carlos, with something of fear and a great deal of hope in his breast.
"It will be rather a bore, I expect. Love and marriage, and all that sort of thing, is rather a necessary nuisance in its way. The idea of a man of sense running about a woman, playing a guitar for her, making up to her like a loon when every one knows his intention!
"And then the ceremony! Being a man of wealth and station, I suppose the wedding must be anelaborate one, and the natives will have to be feasted, and all that, simply because a man is taking a bride to be mistress of his household."
"Most young men," Don Carlos observed, "delight to win a woman, and are proud if they have a great and fashionable wedding."
"No doubt. But it is an awful nuisance. However, I will go through with it,señor. It is my father's wish, you see. You—if you will pardon me again—have fallen upon evil days. That is the result of politics, of course. But you are of excellent blood,señor, of the best blood in the land."
"I thank you for remembering that truth!" said Don Carlos, rising long enough to put one hand over his heart and bow.
"Everybody knows it,señor. And a Vega, naturally, when he takes a mate, must seek out a woman of excellent blood."
"To be sure!" Don Carlos exclaimed.
"You have an only daughter, the Señorita Lolita."
"Ah! Yes, indeed,señor. Lolita is eighteen now, and a beautiful and accomplished girl, if her father is the man to say it."
"I have observed her at the mission and at thepueblo," Don Diego said. "She is, indeed, beautiful, and I have heard that she is accomplished. Of her birth and breeding there can be no doubt. I think she would be a fit woman to preside over my household."
"Señor?"
"That is the object of my visit to-day,señor."
"You—you are asking my permission to pay addresses to my fair daughter?"
"I am,señor."
Don Carlos's face beamed, and again he sprang from his chair, this time to bend forward and grasp Don Diego by the hand.
"She is a fair flower," the father said. "I would see her wed, and I have been to some anxiety about it, for I did not wish her to marry into a family that did not rank with mine. But there can be no question where a Vega is concerned. You have my permission,señor."
Don Carlos was delighted. An alliance between his daughter and Don Diego Vega! His fortunes were retrieved the moment that was consummated. He would be important and powerful again!
He called a native and sent for his wife, and within a few minutes the Doña Catalina appeared on the veranda to greet the visitor, her face beaming, for she had been listening.
"Don Diego has done us the honor to request permission to pay his respects to our daughter," Don Carlos explained.
"You have given consent?" Doña Catalina asked: for it would not do, of course, to jump for the man.
"I have given my consent," Don Carlos replied.
Doña Catalina held out her hand, and Don Diego gave it a languid grasp and then released it.
"Such an alliance would be a proud one," DoñaCatalina said. "I hope that you may win her heart,señor."
"As to that," said Don Diego, "I trust there will be no undue nonsense. Either the lady wants me and will have me, or she will not. Will I change her mind if I play a guitar beneath her window, or hold her hand when I may, or put my hand over my heart and sigh? I want her for wife, else I would not have ridden here to ask her father for her."
"I—I—of course!" said Don Carlos.
"Ah,señor, but a maid delights to be won," said the Doña Catalina. "It is her privilege,señor. The hours of courtship are held in memory during her lifetime. She remembers the pretty things her lover said, and the first kiss, when they stood beside the stream and looked into each other's eyes, and when he showed sudden fear for her while they were riding and her horse bolted—those things,señor.
"It is like a little game, and it has been played since the beginning of time. Foolish,señor? Perhaps when a person looks at it with cold reason. But delightful, nevertheless."
"I don't know anything about it," Don Diego protested. "I never ran around making love to women."
"The woman you marry will not be sorry because of that,señor."
"You think it is necessary for me to do these things?"
"Oh," said Don Carlos, afraid of losing an influential son-in-law, "a little bit would not hurt. A maid likes to be wooed, of course, even though she has made up her mind."
"I have a servant who is a wonder at the guitar," Don Diego said. "To-night I shall order him to come out and play beneath theseñorita'swindow."
"And not come yourself?" Doña Catalina gasped.
"Ride out here again to-night, when the chill wind blows in from the sea?" gasped Don Diego. "It would kill me. And the native plays the guitar better than I."
"I never heard of such a thing!" Doña Catalina gasped, her sense of the fitness of things outraged.
"Let Don Diego do as he wills," Don Carlos urged.
"I had thought," said Don Diego, "that you would arrange everything and then let me know. I would have my house put in order, of course, and get me more servants. Perhaps I should purchase a coach and drive with my bride as far as Santa Barbara and visit a friend there. Is it not possible for you to attend to everything else? Just merely send me word when the wedding is to be."
Don Carlos Pulido was nettled a little himself now.
"Caballero," he said, "when I courted Doña Catalina she kept me on needles and pins. One day she would frown, and the next day smile. It added a spice to the affair. I would not have had it different. You will regret it,señor, if you do not doyour own courting. Would you like to see theseñoritanow?"
"I suppose I must," Don Diego said.
Doña Catalina threw up her head and went into the house to fetch the girl; and soon she came, a dainty little thing with black eyes that snapped, and black hair that was wound around her head in a great coil, and dainty little feet that peeped from beneath skirts of bright hue.
"I am happy to see you again, Don Diego," she said.
He bowed over her hand and assisted her to one of the chairs.
"You are as beautiful as you were when I saw you last," he said.
"Always tell aseñoritathat she ismorebeautiful than when you saw her last," groaned Don Carlos. "Ah, that I were young again and could make love anew!"
He excused himself and entered the house, and Doña Catalina moved to the other end of the veranda, so that the pair could talk without letting her hear the words, but from where she could watch, as a good dueña always must.
"Señorita," Don Diego said, "I have asked your father this morning for permission to seek you in marriage."
"Oh,señor!" the girl gasped.
"Do you think I would make a proper husband?"
"Why, I—that is—"
"Just say the word,señorita, and I shall tell myfather, and your family will make arrangements for the ceremony. They can send word in to me by some native. It fatigues me to ride abroad when it is not at all necessary."
Now the pretty eyes of the Señorita Lolita began flashing warning signals, but Don Diego, it was evident, did not see them, and so he rushed forward to his destruction.
"Shall you agree to becoming my wife,señorita?" he asked, bending slightly toward her.
Señorita Lolita's face burned red, and she sprang from her chair, her tiny fists clenched at her side.
"Don Diego Vega," she replied, "you are of a noble family, and have much wealth, and will inherit more. But you are lifeless,señor! Is this your idea of courtship and romance? Can you not take the trouble to ride four miles on a smooth road to see the maid you would wed? What sort of blood is in your veins,señor?"
Doña Catalina heard that, and now she rushed across the veranda toward them, making signals to her daughter, which Señorita Lolita refused to see.
"The man who weds me must woo me and win my love," the girl went on. "He must touch my heart. Think you that I am some bronze native wench to give myself to the first man who asks? The man who becomes my husband must be a man with life enough in him to want me. Send your servant to play a guitar beneath my window? Oh, I heard,señor! Send him,señor, and I'll throwboiling water upon him and bleach his red skin!Buenas dias, señor!"
She threw up her head proudly, lifted her silken skirts aside, and so passed him to enter the house, disregarding her mother also. Doña Catalina moaned once for her lost hopes. Don Diego Vega looked after the disappearingseñorita, and scratched at his head thoughtfully, and glanced toward his horse.
"I—I believe she is displeased with me," he said, in his timid voice.
Don Carlos lost no time in hurrying out to the veranda again—since he had been listening and so knew what had happened—and endeavoring to placate the embarrassed Don Diego Vega. Though there was consternation in his heart, he contrived to chuckle and make light of the occurrence.
"Women are fitful and filled with fancies,señor," he said. "At times they will rail at those whom they in reality adore. There is no telling the workings of a woman's mind—she cannot explain it with satisfaction herself."
"But I—I scarcely understand," Don Diego gasped. "I used my words with care. Surely I said nothing to insult or anger theseñorita!"
"She would be wooed, I take it, in the regular fashion. Do not despair,señor. Both her mother and myself have agreed that you are a proper man for her husband. It is customary that a maid fight off a man to a certain extent, and then surrender. It appears to make the surrender the sweeter. Perhaps the next time you visit us she will be more agreeable. I feel quite sure of it!"
So Don Diego shook hands with Don Carlos Pulido and mounted his horse and rode slowly down the trail; and Don Carlos turned about and enteredhis house again and faced his wife and daughter, standing before the latter with his hands on his hips and regarding her with something akin to sorrow.
"He is the greatest catch in all the country!" Doña Catalina was wailing; and she dabbed at her eyes with a delicate square of filmy lace.
"He has wealth and position and could mend my broken fortunes if he were but my son-in-law," Don Carlos declared, not taking his eyes from his daughter's face.
"He has a magnificent house, and ahaciendabesides, and the best horses near Reina de Los Angeles, and he is sole heir to his wealthy father," Doña Catalina said.
"One whisper from his lips into the ear of his excellency, the governor, and a man is made—or unmade," added Don Carlos.
"He is handsome—"
"I grant you that!" exclaimed the Señorita Lolita, lifting her pretty head and glaring at them bravely. "That is what angers me! What a lover the man could be, if he would! Is it anything to make a girl proud to have it said that the man she married never looked at another woman, and so did not select her after dancing and talking and playing at love with others?"
"He preferred you to all others, else he would not have ridden out to-day," Don Carlos said.
"Certainly it must have fatigued him!" the girl said. "Why does he let himself be made the laughing-stock of the country? He is handsome and richand talented. He has health, and could lead all the other young men. Yet he has scarcely enough energy to dress himself, I doubt not."
"This is all beyond me!" the Doña Catalina wailed. "When I was a girl, there was nothing like this! An honorable man comes seeking you as wife—"
"Were he less honorable and more of a man, I might look at him a second time," said theseñorita.
"You must look at him more than a second time," put in Don Carlos, with some authority in his manner. "You cannot throw away such a fine chance. Think on it, my daughter! Be in a more amiable mood when Don Diego calls again."
Then he hurried to thepatioon pretense that he wished to speak to a servant, but in reality to get away from the scene. Don Carlos had proved himself to be a courageous man in his youth, and now he was a wise man also, and hence he knew better than to participate in an argument between women.
Soon thesiestahour was at hand, and the Señorita Lolita went into thepatioand settled herself on a little bench near the fountain. Her father was dozing on the veranda, and her mother in her room, and the servants were scattered over the place, sleeping also. But Señorita Lolita could not sleep, for her mind was busy.
She knew her father's circumstances, of course, for it had been some time since he could hide them, and she wanted, naturally, to see him in excellentfortune again. She knew, too, that did she wed with Don Diego Vega, her father was made whole. For a Vega would not let the relatives of his wife be in any but the best of circumstances.
She called up before her a vision of Don Diego's handsome face, and wondered what it would be like if lighted with love and passion. 'Twere a pity the man was so lifeless, she told herself. But to wed a man who suggested sending a native servant to serenade her in his own place!
The splashing of the water in the fountain lulled her to sleep, and she curled up in one end of the bench, her cheek pillowed on one tiny hand, her black hair cascading to the ground.
And suddenly she was awakened by a touch on her arm, and sat up quickly, and then would have screamed except that a hand was crushed against her lips to prevent her.
Before her stood a man whose body was enveloped in a long cloak, and whose face was covered with a black mask so that she could see nothing of his features except his glittering eyes. She had heard Señor Zorro, the highwayman, described, and she guessed that this was he, and her heart almost ceased to beat, she was so afraid.
"Silence, and no harm comes to you,señorita," the man whispered hoarsely.
"You—you are—" she questioned on her breath.
He stepped back, removed his sombrero, and bowed low before her.
"You have guessed it, my charmingseñorita," hesaid. "I am known as Señor Zorro, the Curse of Capistrano."
"And—you are here—"
"I mean you no harm, no harm to any of thishacienda,señorita. I punish those who are unjust, and your father is not that. I admire him greatly. Rather would I punish those who do him evil than to touch him."
"I—I thank you,señor."
"I am weary, and thehaciendais an excellent place to rest," he said. "I knew it to be thesiestahour, also, and thought every one would be asleep. It were a shame to awaken you,señorita, but I felt that I must speak. Your beauty would hinge a man's tongue in its middle so that both ends might be free to sing your praises."
Señorita Lolita had the grace to blush.
"I would that my beauty affected other men so," she said.
"And does it not? Is it that the Señorita Lolita lacks suitors? But that cannot be possible!"
"It is, nevertheless,señor. There are few bold enough to seek to ally themselves with the family of Pulido, since it is out of favor with the powers. There is one—suitor," she went on. "But he does not seem to put much life into his wooing."
"Ha! A laggard at love—and in your presence? What ails the man? Is he ill?"
"He is so wealthy that I suppose he thinks he has but to request it and a maiden will agree to wed him."
"What an imbecile!'Tis the wooing gives the spice to romance!"
"But you,señor! Somebody may come and see you here! You may be captured!"
"And do you not wish to see a highwayman captured? Perhaps it would mend your father's fortune were he to capture me. The governor is much vexed, I understand, concerning my operations."
"You—you had best go," she said.
"There speaks mercy in your heart. You know that capture would mean my death. Yet must I risk it, and tarry a while."
He seated himself upon the bench, and Señorita Lolita moved away as far as she could, and then started to rise.
But Señor Zorro had been anticipating that. He grasped one of her hands, and before she guessed his intention had bent forward, raised the bottom of his mask, and pressed his lips to its pink, moist palm.
"Señor!" she cried, and jerked her hand away.
"It were bold, yet a man must express his feelings," he said. "I have not offended beyond forgiveness, I hope."
"Go,señor, else I make an outcry!"
"And get me executed?"
"You are but a thief of the highroad!"
"Yet I love life as any other man."
"I shall call out,señor! There is a reward offered for your capture."
"Such pretty hands would not handle blood money."
"Go!"
"Ah,señorita, you are cruel! A sight of you sends the blood pounding through a man's veins. A man would fight a horde at the bidding of your sweet lips."
"Señor!"
"A man would die in your defense,señorita. Such grace, such fresh beauty!"
"For the last time,señor! I shall make an outcry—and your fate be on your own head!"
"Your hand again—and I go!"
"It may not be!"
"Then here I sit until they come and take me. No doubt I shall not have to wait long. That big Sergeant Gonzales is on the trail, I understand, and may have discovered track of me. He will have soldiers with him—"
"Señor, for the love of the saints—"
"Your hand!"
She turned her back and gave it, and once more he pressed his lips to the palm. And then she felt herself being turned slowly, and her eyes looked deep into his. A thrill seemed to run through her. She realized that he retained her hand, and she pulled it away. And then she turned and ran quickly across thepatioand into the house.
With her heart pounding at her ribs, she stood behind the curtains at a window and watched. Señor Zorro walked slowly to the fountain, and stooped todrink. Then he put his sombrero on, looked once at the house, and stalked away. She heard the galloping hoofs of a horse die in the distance.
"A thief—yet a man!" she breathed. "If Don Diego had only half as much dash and courage!"
She turned away from the window, thankful that none of the household had seen Señor Zorro or knew of his visit. The remainder of the day she spent on the veranda, half the time working on some lace she was making, and the other half gazing down the dusty trail that ran toward the highway.
And then came evening, and down by the natives' adobe huts big fires were lighted, and the natives gathered around them to cook and eat and speak of the events of the day. Inside the house the evening meal had been prepared, and the family was about to sit at table when some one knocked upon the door.
An Indian ran to open it, and Señor Zorro strode into the room. His sombrero came off, he bowed, and then he raised his head and looked at the speechless Doña Catalina and the half-terrified Don Carlos.
"I trust you will pardon this intrusion," he said. "I am the man known as Señor Zorro. But do not be frightened, for I have not come to rob."
Don Carlos got slowly upon his feet, while Señorita Lolita gasped at this display of the man's courage, and feared he would mention the visit of theafternoon, of which she had refrained from telling her mother.
"Scoundrel!" Don Carlos roared. "You dare to enter an honest house?"
"I am no enemy of yours, Don Carlos!" Señor Zorro replied. "In fact, I have done some things that should appeal to a man who has been persecuted."
That was true, Don Carlos knew, but he was too wise to admit it and so speak treason. Heaven knew he was enough in the bad graces of the governor now without offending him more by treating with courtesy this man for whose carcass the governor had offered a reward.
"What do you wish here?" he asked.
"I crave your hospitality,señor. In other words, I would eat and drink. I am acaballero, hence make my claim in justice."
"Whatever good blood once flowed in your veins has been fouled by your actions!" Don Carlos said. "A thief and highwayman has no claim upon the hospitality of thishacienda."
"I take it that you fear to feed me, since the governor may hear of it," Señor Zorro answered. "You may say that you were forced to do it. And that will be the truth!"
Now one hand came from beneath the cloak, and it held a pistol. Doña Catalina shrieked and fainted, and Señorita Lolita cowered in her chair.
"Doubly a scoundrel, since you frighten women!" Don Carlos exclaimed angrily. "Since it is deathto refuse, you may have meat and drink. But I ask you to becaballeroenough to allow me to remove my wife to another room and call a native woman to care for her."
"By all means," Señor Zorro said. "But theseñoritaremains here as hostage for your good conduct and return."
Don Carlos glanced at the man, and then at the girl, and saw that the latter was not afraid. He picked his wife up in his arms, and bore her through the doorway, roaring for servants to come.
Señor Zorro walked around the end of the table, bowed to Lolita again, and sat down in a chair beside her.
"This is foolhardiness, no doubt, but I had to see your beaming face again," he said.
"Señor!"
"The sight of you this afternoon started a conflagration in my heart,señorita. The touch of your hand was new life to me!"
Lolita turned away, her face flaming, and Señor Zorro moved his chair nearer and reached for her hand, but she eluded him.
"The longing to hear the music of your voice,señorita, may lure me here often," he said.
"Señor!You must never come again! I was lenient with you this afternoon, but I can not be again. The next time I shall shriek, and you will be taken."
"You could not be so cruel," he said.
"Your fate would be upon your own head,señor."
Then Don Carlos came back into the room, and Señor Zorro arose and bowed once more.
"I trust your wife has recovered from her swoon," he said. "I regret that the sight of my poor pistol frightened her."
"She has recovered," Don Carlos said. "I believe you said that you wished meat and drink? Now that I come to think of it,señor, you have indeed done some things that I have admired, and I am happy to grant you hospitality for a time. A servant shall furnish you food immediately."
Don Carlos walked to the door, called a native, and gave his orders. Don Carlos was well pleased with himself. Carrying his wife into the next room had given him his chance. For servants had answered his call, and among them had been one he trusted. And he had ordered the man to take the swiftest horse and ride like the wind the four miles to thepueblo, and there to spread the alarm that Señor Zorro was at the Pulidohacienda.
His object now was to delay this Señor Zorro as much as possible. For he knew the soldiers would come, and the highwayman be killed or captured, and surely the governor would admit that Don Carlos was entitled to some consideration for what he had done.
"You must have had some stirring adventures,señor," Don Carlos said, as he returned to the table.
"A few," the highwayman admitted.
"There was that affair at Santa Barbara, for instance. I never did hear the straight of that."
"I dislike to speak of my own work,señor."
"Please," the Señorita Lolita begged; and so Señor Zorro overcame his scruples for the time being.
"It really was nothing," he said. "I arrived in the vicinity of Santa Barbara at sunset. There is a fellow there who runs a store, and he had been beating natives and stealing from thefrailes. He would demand that thefrailessell him goods from the mission, and then complain that the weight was short, and the governor's men would make thefrailesdeliver more. So I resolved to punish the man."
"Pray continue,señor," said Don Carlos, bending forward as if deeply interested.
"I dismounted at the door of his building and walked inside. He had candles burning, and there were half a dozen fellows trading with him. I covered them with my pistol and drove them into a corner, and ordered this storekeeper before me. I frightened him thoroughly, and forced him to disgorge the money he had in a secret hiding place. And then I lashed him with a whip taken from his own wall, and told him why I had done it."
"Excellent!" Don Carlos cried.
"Then I sprang on my horse and dashed away. At a native's hut I made a placard, saying that I was a friend of the oppressed. Feeling particularly bold that evening, I galloped up to the door of thepresidio, brushed aside the sentry—who took me for a courier—and pinned the placard to the door ofthepresidiowith my knife. Just then the soldiers came rushing out. I fired over their heads, and while they were bewildered I rode away toward the hills."
"And escaped!" Don Carlos exclaimed.
"I am here—that is your answer."
"And why is the governor so particularly bitter against you,señor?" Don Carlos asked. "There are other highwaymen to whom he gives not a thought."
"Ha! I had a personal clash with his excellency. He was driving from San Francisco de Asis to Santa Barbara on official business, with an escort of soldiers about him. They stopped at a brook to refresh themselves, and the soldiers scattered while the governor spoke with his friends. I was hiding in the forest, and suddenly dashed out and at them.
"Instantly I was at the open door of the coach. I presented my pistol at his head and ordered him to hand over his fat purse—which he did. Then I spurred through his soldiers, upsetting several as I did so—"
"And escaped!" Don Carlos cried.
"I am here!" assented Señor Zorro.
The servant brought a tray of food and placed it before the highwayman, retreating as soon as possible, his eyes big with fear and his hands trembling, for many weird tales had been told of this same Señor Zorro and his brutality, none of which was true.
"I am sure that you will pardon me," SeñorZorro said, "when I ask you to sit at the far end of the room. As I take each bite, I must raise the bottom of my mask, for I have no wish to become known. I put the pistol before me on the table, so, to discourage treachery. And now, Don Carlos Pulido, I shall do justice to the meal you have furnished."
Don Carlos and his daughter sat where they had been directed, and the bandit ate with evident relish. Now and then he stopped to talk to them, and once he had Don Carlos send out for more wine, declaring it to be the best he had tasted for a year.
Don Carlos was only too glad to oblige him. He was playing to gain time. He knew the horse the native rode, and judged that he had reached thepresidioat Reina de Los Angeles before this, and that the soldiers were on their way. If he could hold this Señor Zorro until they arrived!
"I am having some food prepared for you to carry with you,señor," he said. "You will pardon me while I get it? My daughter will entertain you."
Señor Zorro bowed, and Don Carlos hurried from the room. But Don Carlos had made a mistake in his eagerness. It was an unusual thing for a girl to be left alone in the company of a man in such fashion, especially with a man known to be an outlaw. Señor Zorro guessed at once that he was being delayed purposely. For, again, it was an unusual thing for a man like Don Carlos to go for the package of food himself when there wereservants that could be called by a mere clapping of the hands. Don Carlos, in fact, had gone into the other room to listen at a window for sounds of galloping horses.
"Señor!" Lolita whispered across the room.
"What is it,señorita?"
"You must go—at once. I am afraid that my father has sent for the soldiers."
"And you are kind enough to warn me?"
"Do I wish to see you taken here? Do I wish to see fighting and bloodshed?" she asked.
"That is the only reason,señorita?"
"Will you not go,señor?"
"I am loath to rush away from such a charming presence,señorita. May I come again at the nextsiestahour?"
"By the saints—no! This must end, Señor Zorro! Go your way—and take care! You have done some things that I admire, hence I would not see you captured. Go north, as far as San Francisco de Asis, and turn honest,señor. It is the better way."
"Little priest!" he said.
"Shall you go,señor?"
"But your father has gone to fetch food for me. And could I depart without thanking him for this meal?"
Don Carlos came back into the room then, and Señor Zorro knew by the expression on his face that the soldiers were coming up the trail. The don put a package on the table.
"Some food to carry with you,señor," he said. "And we would relish more of your reminiscences before you start on your perilous journey."
"I have spoken too much of myself already,señor, and it ill becomes acaballeroto do that. It were better that I thank you and leave you now."
"At least,señor, drink another mug of wine."
"I fear," said Señor Zorro, "that the soldiers are much too close, Don Carlos."
The face of the don went white at that, for the highwayman was picking up his pistol, and Don Carlos feared he was about to pay the price for his treacherous hospitality. But Señor Zorro made no move to fire.
"I forgive you this breach of hospitality, Don Carlos, because I am an outlaw and there has been a price put upon my head," he said. "And, also, I hold you no ill will because of it.Buenas noches, señorita! Señor, á Dios!"
Then a terrified servant who knew little concerning the events of the evening rushed in at the door.
"Master! The soldiers are here!" he cried. "They are surrounding the house!"
On the table, near its middle, was an imposingcandeleroin which half a score of candles burned brightly. Señor Zorro sprang toward it now, and with one sweep of his hand dashed it to the floor, extinguishing all the candles in an instant and plunging the room in darkness.
He evaded the wild rush of Don Carlos, springing across the room so lightly that his soft boots made not the slightest noise to give news of his whereabouts. For an instant the Señorita Lolita felt a man's arm around her waist, gently squeezing it, felt a man's breath on her cheek, and heard a man's whisper in her ear:
"Until later,señorita!"
Don Carlos was bellowing like a bull to direct the soldiers to the scene; and already some of them were pounding at the front door. Señor Zorro rushed from the room and into the one adjoining, which happened to be the kitchen. The native servants fled before him as if he had been a ghost, and he quickly extinguished all the candles that burned there.
Then he ran to the door that opened into thepatio, and raised his voice, and gave a call that washalf moan and half shriek, a peculiar call, the like of which none at the Pulidohaciendahad heard before.
As the soldiers rushed in at the front door, and as Don Carlos called for a brand with which to light the candles again, the sound of galloping hoofs was heard from the rear of thepatio. Some powerful horse was getting under way there, the soldiers guessed immediately.
The sound of hoofs died away in the distance, but the soldiers had noted the direction in which the horse was traveling.
"The fiend escapes!" Sergeant Gonzales shrieked, he being in charge of the squad. "To horse, and after him! I give the man who overtakes him one-third of all the reward!"
The big sergeant rushed from the house, the men at his heels, and they tumbled into their saddles and rode furiously through the darkness, following the sound of the beating hoofs.
"Lights! Lights!" Don Carlos was shrieking inside the house.
A servant came with a brand, and the candles were lighted again. Don Carlos stood in the middle of the room, shaking his fists in impotent rage. Señorita Lolita crouched in a corner, her eyes wide with fear. Doña Catalina, fully recovered now from her fainting spell, came from her own room to ascertain the cause of the commotion.
"The rascal got away!" Don Carlos said. "It is to be hoped that the soldiers capture him."
"At least, he is clever and brave," Señorita Lolita said.
"I grant him that, but he is a highwayman and a thief!" Don Carlos roared. "Why should he torment me by visiting my house?"
Señorita Lolita thought she knew, but she would be the last one to explain to her parents. There was a faint blush on her face yet because of the arm that had squeezed her and the words that had been whispered in her ear.
Don Carlos threw the front door open wide and stood in it, listening. To his ears came the sound of galloping hoofs once more.
"My sword!" he cried to a servant. "Some one comes—it may be the rascal returning! It is but one rider, by the saints!"
The galloping stopped; a man made his way across the veranda and hurried through the door into the room.
"Thank the good saints!" Don Carlos gasped.
It was not the highwayman returned; it was Captain Ramón,comandanteof thepresidioat Reina de Los Angeles.
"Where are my men?" the captain cried.
"Gone,señor! Gone after that pig of a highwayman!" Don Carlos informed him.
"He escaped?"
"He did, with your men surrounding the house. He dashed the candles to the floor, ran through the kitchen—"
"The men took after him?"
"They are upon his heels,señor."
"Ha! It is to be hoped that they catch this pretty bird. He is a thorn in the side of the soldiery. We do not catch him, and because we do not the governor sends sarcastic letters by his courier. This Señor Zorro is a clever gentleman, but he will be captured yet!"
And then Captain Ramón walked further into the room, and perceived the ladies, and swept off his cap and bowed before them.
"You must pardon my bold entrance," he said. "When an officer is on duty—"
"The pardon is granted freely," said Doña Catalina. "You have met my daughter?"
"I have not had the honor."
Thedoñapresented them, and Lolita retreated to her corner again and observed the soldier. He was not ill to look at—tall and straight and in a brilliant uniform, and with sword dangling at his side. As for the captain, he never had set eyes upon Señorita Lolita before, for he had been at the post at Reina de Los Angeles but a month, having been transferred there from Santa Barbara.
But now that he had looked at her once he looked a second time, and a third. There was a sudden light in his eyes that pleased Doña Catalina. If Lolita could not look with favor upon Don Diego Vega, perhaps she would look with favor upon this Captain Ramón, and to have her wedded to an officer would mean that the Pulido family would have some protection.
"I could not find my men now in the darkness," the captain said, "and so, if it is not presuming too much, I shall remain here and await their return."
"By all means," Don Carlos said. "Be seated,señor, and I'll have a servant fetch wine."
"This Señor Zorro has about had his run," the captain said, after the wine had been tasted and found excellent. "Now and then a man of his sort pops up and endures for a little day, but he never lasts long. In the end he meets the fate."
"That is true," said Don Carlos. "The fellow was boasting to us to-night of his accomplishments."
"I wascomandanteat Santa Barbara when he made his famous visit there," the captain explained. "I was visiting at one of the houses at the time else there might have been a different story. And to-night, when the alarm came, I was not at thepresidio, but at the residence of a friend. That is why I did not ride out with the soldiers. As soon as I was notified I came. It appears that this Señor Zorro has some knowledge of my whereabouts and is careful that I am not in a position to clash with him. I hope one day to do so."
"You think you could conquer him,señor?" Doña Catalina asked.
"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 thepationow. 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, andCaptain 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 hispresidiowithin 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. His eyes, 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 thepatio, and found the horse awaiting him there, as he had said it would be, and was quick to mount and ride away.
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 thehaciendaa 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 hoofs, 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 thepuebloa 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 thepueblo, and it was noised abroad that this Señor Zorro, the highwayman, had paid a visit to thehacienda. 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 acaballero."
"May not a soldier be acaballero?" Ramón asked, nettled somewhat at the other's words.
"It has happened before now, but we come acrossit 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 thepresidioinstructing your soldiers?"
"I await their return here," the captain replied. "Also, it is a fatiguing journey from here to thepresidio, 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 hishacienda, for fear he would get into greater difficulties.
"More wine,señores!" he exclaimed in a loud voice, and stepping between their chairs in utterdisregard 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 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 thehacienda?"
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 thepresidio," 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 theseñorita."