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of it afterward?” Don Diego asked, rubbing his hands together. “You will relate how you mocked him as he fought, how you played with him, pressed him back, and ran him through—”

“By the saints! You make mock of me, caballero?”

“‘Tis but a jest, my sergeant. Now that we understand each other, perhaps Fray Felipe will give wine to you and your men. After such a chase, you must be fatigued.”

“Wine would taste good,” the sergeant said.

His corporal came in then to report that the huts and barns had been searched, and the corral also, and that no trace had been found of Senor Zorro or his horse.

Fray Felipe served the wine, though he appeared to do it with some reluctance, and it was plain that he was but answering Don Diego’s request.

“And what shall you do now, my sergeant?” Don Diego asked, after the wine had been brought to the table. “Are you always to go chasing around the country and creating a tumult?”

“The rogue evidently has turned back toward Reina de Los Angeles, caballero,” the sergeant replied. “He thinks he is clever, no doubt, but I can understand his plan.”

“Ha! And what is it?”

“He will ride around Reina de Los Angeles and take the trail to San Luis Rey. He will rest for a time, no doubt, to throw off all pursuit, and then will continue to the vicinity of San Juan Capistrano. That is where he began this wild Me of his, and for that reason the Curse of Capistrano he is called. Yes, he will go to Capistrano.”

“And the soldiers?” Don Diego asked.

“We shall follow him leisurely. We shall work toward the place, and when the news of his next outrage is made known, we shall be within a short distance of him instead of in the presidio at the pueblo. We can find the fresh trail, and so take up the chase. There shall be no rest for us until the rogue is either slain or taken prisoner.”

“And you have the reward,” Don Diego added.

“You speak true words, caballero. The reward will come in handy. But I seek revenge, also. The rogue disarmed me once.”

“Ah! That was the time he held a pistol in your face and forced you to fight not too well?”

“That was the time, my good friend. Oh, I have a score to settle with him.”

“These turbulent times.” Don Diego sighed. “I would they were at an end. A man has no chance for meditation. There are moments when I think I shall ride far out in the hills, where there can be found no life except rattlesnakes and coyotes, and there spend a number of days. Only in that manner may a man meditate.”

“Why meditate?” Gonzales cried. “Why not cease thought and take to action? What a man you would make, caballero, if you let your eye flash now and then, and quarreled a bit, and showed your teeth once in a while. What you need is a few bitter enemies.”

“May the saints preserve us!” Don Diego cried.

“It is the truth, caballero! Fight a bit—make love to some Senorita—get drunk! Wake up and be a man!”

“Upon my soul! You almost persuade me, my sergeant. But —no. I never could endure the exertion.”

Gonzales growled something into his great mustache, and got up from the table.

“I have no special liking for you, fray, but I thank you for the wine, which was excellent,” he said. “We must continue our journey. A soldier’s duty never is at an end while he lives.”

“Do not speak of journeys!” Don Diego cried. “I must take one myself on the morrow. My business at the hacienda is done, and I go back to the pueblo.”

“Let me express the hope, my good friend, that you survive the hardship,” Sergeant Gonzales said.

Chapter 18 Don Diego Returns

SENORITA LOLITA HAD TO TELL HER PARENTS, of course, what had happened during their absence, for the despensero knew and would tell Don Diego when he returned, and. the Senorita was wise enough to realize that it would be better to make the first explanation.

The despensero, having been sent for wine, knew nothing of the love scene that had been enacted, and had been told merely that Senor Zorro had hurried away. That seemed reasonable, since the Senor was pursued by the soldiers.

So the girl told her father and mother that Captain Ramon had called while they were absent, and that he had forced his way into the big living-room to speak to her, despite the entreaties of the servant. Perhaps he had been drinking too much wine, else was not himself because of his wound, the girl explained, but he grew too bold, and pressed his suit with ardor that was repugnant, and finally insisted that he should have a kiss.

Whereupon, said the Senorita, this Senor Zorro had stepped from the corner of the room—and how he came to be there, she did not know—and had forced Captain Ramon to apologize, and then had thrown him out of the house. After which —and here she neglected to tell the entire truth—Senor Zorro made a courteous bow and hurried away.

Don Carlos was for getting a blade and going at once to the presidio and challenging Captain Ramon to mortal combat; but Dona Catalina was more calm, and showed him that to do that would be to let the world know that their daughter had been affronted, and also it would not aid their fortunes any if Don Carlos quarreled with an officer of the army; and yet again the don was of an age, and the captain probably would run him through in two passes and leave Dona Catalina a weeping widow, which she did not wish to be.

So the don paced the floor of the great living-room and fumed and fussed and wished he were ten years the younger, or that he had political power again, and he promised that when his daughter should have wedded Don Diego, and he was once more in good standing, he would see that Captain Ramon was disgraced and his uniform torn from his shoulders.

Sitting in the chamber that had been assigned to her, Senorita Lolita listened to her father’s ravings, and found herself confronted with a situation. Of course, she could not wed Don Diego now. She had given her lips and her love to another, a man whose face she never had seen, a rogue pursued by soldiery—and she had spoken truly when she had said that a Pulido loved but once.

She tried to explain it all to herself, saying that it was a generous impulse that had forced her to give her lips to the man; and she told herself that it was not the truth, that her heart had been stirred when first he spoke to her at her father’s hacienda during the siesta hour.

She was not prepared yet to tell her parents of the love that had come into her life, for it was sweet to keep it a secret; and, moreover, she dreaded the shock to them, and half feared that her father might cause her to be sent away to some place where she never would see Senor Zorro again.

She crossed to a window and gazed out at the plaza—and she saw Don Diego approaching in the distance. He rode slowly, as if greatly fatigued, and his two native servants rode a short distance behind him.

Men called to him as he neared the house, and he waved his hand at them languidly in response to their greeting. He dismounted slowly, one of the natives holding the stirrup and assisting him, brushed the dust from his clothes, and started toward the door.

Don Carlos and his wife were upon their feet to greet him, their faces beaming, for they had been accepted anew into society the evening before, and knew it was because they were Don Diego’s house guests.

“I regret that I was not here when you arrived,” Don Diego said, “but I trust that you have been made comfortable in my poor house.”

“More than comfortable in this gorgeous palace!” Don Carlos exclaimed.

“Then you have been fortunate, for the saints know I have been uncomfortable enough.”

“How is that, Don Diego?” Dona Catalina asked.

“My work at the hacienda done, I rode as far as the place of Fray Felipe, there to spend the night in quiet. But as we were about to retire, there came a thundering noise at the door, and this Sergeant Gonzales and a troop of soldiers entered. It appears that they had been chasing the highwayman called Senor Zorro, and had lost him in the darkness!”

In the other room, a dainty senorita gave thanks for that.

“These are turbulent times,” Don Diego continued, sighing and mopping the perspiration from his forehead. “The noisy fellows were with us an hour or more, and then continued the chase. And because of what they had said of violence, I endured a horrible nightmare, so got very little rest. And this morning I was forced to continue to Reina de Los Angeles.”

“You have a difficult time,” Don Carlos said. “Senor Zorro was here, caballero, in your house, before the soldiers chased him.”

“What is this intelligence?” Don Diego cried, sitting up straight in his chair and betraying sudden interest.

“Undoubtedly he came to steal, else to abduct you and hold you for ransom,” Dona Catalina observed. “But I scarcely think that he stole. Don Carlos and myself were visiting friends, and Senorita Lolita remained here alone. There—there is a distressing affair to report to you—”

“I beg of you to proceed,” Don Diego said.

“While we were gone, Captain Ramon, of the presidio, called. He was informed we were absent, but he forced his way into the house and made himself obnoxious to the senorita. This Senor Zorro came in and forced the captain to apologize and then drove him away.”

“Well, that is what I call a pretty bandit!” Don Diego exclaimed. “The senorita suffers from the experience?”

“Indeed, no,” said Dona Catalina. “She was of the opinion that Captain Ramon had taken too much wine. I shall call her.”

Dona Catalina went to the door of the chamber and called her daughter, and Lolita came into the room and greeted Don Diego as became a proper maiden.

“It makes me desolate to know that you received an insult in my house,” Don Diego said. “I shall consider the affair.”

Dona Catalina made a motion to her husband, and they went to a far corner to sit, that the young folk might be somewhat alone, which seemed to please Don Diego, but not the senorita.

Chapter 19 Captain Ramone Apologizes

“CAPTAIN RAMON IS A BEAST!” the girl said in a voice not too loud.

“He is a worthless fellow,” Don Diego agreed.

“He—that is—he wished to kiss me,” she said.

“And you did not let him, of course.”

“Senor!”

“I—confound it, I did not mean that. Certainly you did not let him. I trust that you slapped his face.”

“I did,” said the senorita. “And then he struggled with me, and he told me that I should not be so particular, since I was daughter of a man who stood in the bad graces of the governor.”

“Why, the infernal brute!” Don Diego exclaimed.

“Is that all you have to say about it, caballero?”

“I cannot use oaths in your presence, of course.”

“You do not understand, senor? This man came into your house, and insulted the girl you have asked to be your wife!”

“Confound the rascal! When next I see his excellency, I shall ask him to remove the officer to some

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