“It is love, señor, whether anything comes of it or not. And a Pulido does not love twice.”
“What possibly could come of it but distress?”
“We shall see. God is good!”
“It is madness—”
“Sweet madness, señor!”
He clasped her to him and bent his head again, and again she closed her eyes and took his kiss, only this time the kiss was longer. She made no effort to see his face.
“I may be ugly,” he said.
“But I love you.”
“Disfigured, señorita—”
“Still, I love you!”
“What hope can we have?”
“Go, señor, before my parents return. I shall say nothing except that you saved me from insult and then went your way again. They will think that you came to rob Don Diego. And turn honest, señor, for my sake! Turn honest, I say, and claim me.
“No man knows your face, and if you take off your mask forever, none ever will know your guilt. It is not as if you were an ordinary thief. I know why you have stolen—to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians, to aid the oppressed! I know that you have given what you have stolen to the poor. Oh, señor!”
“But my task is not yet done, señorita, and I feel called upon to finish it.”
“Then finish it, and may the saints guard you, as I feel sure they will. And when it is finished, come back to me! I shall know you in whatever garb you come!”
“Nor shall I wait that long, señorita. I shall see you often. I could not exist else!”
“Guard yourself!”
“I shall in truth, now, since I have double reason. Life never was so sweet as now!”
He backed away from her slowly. He turned and glanced toward a window near at hand.
“I must go,” he said. “I cannot wait for the wine.”
“That was but a subterfuge so that we could be alone,” she confessed.
“Until the next time, señorita, and may it not be long!”
“On guard, señor!”
“Always, loved one! Señorita, á Dios!”
Again their eyes met, and then he waved his hand at her, gathered his cloak close about his body, darted to the window and went through it. The darkness outside swallowed him.
XIV
Captain Ramón Writes a Letter
Picking himself up out of the dust before Don Diego Vega’s door, Captain Ramón darted through the darkness to the footpath that ran up the slope toward the presidio.
His blood was aflame with rage, his face was purple with wrath. There remained at the presidio no more than half a dozen soldiers, for the greater part of the garrison had gone with Sergeant Gonzales, and of these half dozen four were on the sick list and two were necessary as guards.
So Captain Ramón could not send men down to the Vega house in an effort to effect a capture of the highwayman; moreover, he decided that Señor Zorro would not remain there more than a few minutes, but would mount his horse and ride away, for the highwayman had a name for not resting long in one place.
Besides, Captain Ramón had no wish to let it become known that this Señor Zorro had met him a second time, and had treated him much like a peon. Could he give out the information that he had insulted a señorita, and that Señor Zorro had punished him because of it; that Señor Zorro had caused him to get down upon his knees and apologize, and then had kicked him through the front door like a dog?
The captain decided it were better to say nothing of the occurrence. He supposed that Señorita Lolita would tell her parents, and that the despensero would give testimony, but he doubted whether Don Carlos would do anything about it. Don Carlos would think twice before affronting an officer of the army, being the recipient already of the governor’s frowns. Ramón only hoped that Don Diego would not learn much of the happening, for if a Vega raised hand against him, the captain would have difficulty maintaining his position.
Pacing the floor of his office, Captain Ramón allowed his wrath to grow, and thought on these things and many others. He had kept abreast of the times, and he knew that the governor and the men about him were sorely in need of more funds to waste in riotous living. They had plucked those men of wealth against whom there was the faintest breath of suspicion, and they would welcome a new victim.
Might not the captain suggest one, and at the same time strengthen his own position with the governor? Would the captain dare hint that perhaps the Vega family was wavering in its loyalty to the governor?
At least he could do one thing, he decided. He could have his revenge for the flouting the daughter of Don Carlos Pulido had given him.
Captain Ramón grinned despite his wrath as the thought came to him. He called for writing materials, and informed one of his well men that he should prepare for a journey, being about to be named for a courier’s job.
Ramón paced the floor for some minutes more, thinking on the matter and trying to decide just how to word the epistle he intended writing. And finally he sat down before the long table, and addressed his message to his excellency the governor, at his mansion in San Francisco de Asis.
This is what he wrote:
Your intelligences regarding this highwayman, Señor Zorro, as he is known, have come to hand. I regret that I am unable at this writing to report the rogue’s capture, but I trust that you will be lenient with me in the matter, since circumstances are somewhat unusual.
I have the greater part of my force in pursuit of the fellow, with orders to get him in person or to fetch me his corpse. But this Señor Zorro does not fight alone. He is being given succor at certain places in the neighborhood, allowed to remain in hiding when necessary, given
