THE UNEXPECTED.
Captain Ramón bade the woman guard the _señorita_ well, 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 the _caballero_
prisoners toward another adobe building, where they were to be kept.
Women and children ran beside them, shrieking insults, hurling small
stones. But the _caballeros_ held 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 knew that
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 the _caballeros_ and
the _señorita_ could be rescued, and Captain Ramón would pose as their
heroic rescuer. He hoped in this manner to regain the good will of the
_caballeros_ and a better standing with them, and to earn the gratitude
of the _señorita_ also.
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 a _fray_, 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 the _fray_, 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 the _señorita_ is 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 certain _caballeros_ held
as prisoners, and the _señorita_ also. I’ll go to San Diego de Alcála
and spread the news at the presidio. I outrank the _commandante_ there,
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 the _señorita_ again, 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 the _señorita_ safe for me.”
“She shall be kept safe, I promise you!”
Captain Ramón whirled around and hurried back toward the adobe
building. Inez had the _señorita_ in the front room, guarding her well.
She had just finished a tirade concerning the attempt of the _señorita_
to engineer an escape through cunning words and implications.
Captain Ramón ordered the woman outside, and urged the _señorita_ to 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 the _caballeros_ will be
liberated. Then you can go up El Camino Real to your father.”
“If you accomplish this thing, you shall have my gratitude,” the
_señorita_ said.
“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 impoverished _don_ to 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 the
_señorita_ gave a little cry of fright the intruder’s head flew up.
A blade flashed, the _señorita_ found 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 the _commandante_ of the _presidio_
of Reina de Los Angeles so that his head rocked!