A PRICE TO BE PAID.
The face of Captain Ramón turned livid as he struggled to get his sword
from its scabbard. There was a look of fear in his countenance, too.
“Zorro!” he cried. “Señor Zorro, eh?”
“_Sí!_ Zorro!” came the answer. “There is not water enough in all the
sea to drown me while there remains something to be avenged. We have
crossed blades before, _señor_, and I have marked you. But this time
shall be the last. A fatal wound this time, _capitan_! It is an honor
that I do not cut you down without giving you the chance to defend
yourself!”
Captain Ramón finally had his sword out, and now he was on guard. But
he could not forget that once before in his life he had crossed blades
with Señor Zorro, and Zorro had played with him as a cat plays with
a mouse, and finally had left him for dead after marking him on the
forehead.
And so the captain grew desperately afraid, feeling that he had small
chance against the better sword play of the other. He sprang back
toward the door to the front room, but found Señor Zorro before him
blocking the way.
“Are you a coward and would run?” Zorro taunted. “A pretty soldier, by
the saints!”
“Ha! Señor Zorro is here!” the _commandante_ shouted at the top of his
lung power. “Zorro is here! To me, pirates!”
He had no time to say more. Señor Zorro’s face assumed an expression
of grim determination, and he advanced swiftly. But Captain Ramón had
found another method of protection for the time being. He sprang back
beside the _señorita_, grasped her roughly and held her before him,
shielding his body with hers. And he continued his shouting, hoping to
attract the attention of Barbados and his men.
“Poltroon!” Zorro sneered. “Coward and dog!”
“Fly, Diego!” the _señorita_ begged. “The pirates will be here and take
you.”
“When I have slain this arrant coward and rescued you, and not before!”
Señor Zorro declared.
He danced toward Captain Ramón again, but the _commandante_ was back in
a corner now, holding the _señorita_ close before him, and Señor Zorro
was afraid to attempt a thrust. The _señorita_ made a struggle to get
free, but found that she could not.
In the other room the woman Inez had heard the tumult and the words.
She had dared to open the door a crack and peer inside, and then she
had closed the door again and barred it quickly, and hurried into the
open.
“Barbados!” she shrieked. “Sanchez! Fiends of hell! Señor Zorro is here
trying to kill the captain! Come and take him!”
Barbados heard and understood her shrieks, as did some of the others
near. They rushed across the open space and crowded into the front room
of the building. From the storeroom came the sound of Señor Zorro’s
voice.
“Hide behind a woman, eh, coward? Come out and fight, poltroon! Come
out, renegade! Is there no insult strong enough to bring you forth?”
Barbados motioned with one hand. Inez unbarred the door and threw it
open. Into the storeroom tumbled the pirates, their blades held ready.
“Take him alive!” Barbados thundered. “Catch me this land pirate
unhurt!”
Señor Zorro whirled to confront them. He darted to a corner and threw
up his blade. He sprang forward a few steps, wounded a man, retreated
again.
But he knew that the weight of numbers was against him in such cramped
fighting quarters, and he could not get to the window and make an
escape. They hurled themselves upon him, buried him beneath their
combined weight, disarmed him, and forced him to his feet again. They
lashed his hands behind his back, and Barbados, now that it was a safe
thing to do, stalked forward and spat at him.
“So, Señor Zorro, we have you in our hands again!” Barbados said. “This
time it will be fire or steel instead of water, since you seem to swim
so well! And this time, _señor_, we make a real ghost out of you!”
Captain Ramón lurched forward, his face purple with wrath. “Do with him
as you will,” he said to Barbados. “But let me have a hand in it!”
“Ha! You had your chance, _capitan_, a moment ago, and did not make
much of it!” Barbados replied, grinning. “I’ll have him put in the
other adobe building with the _caballeros_. Fiends of hell, take him
away!”
The _señorita_ made an attempt to get forward, but the pirates thrust
her back. They took Señor Zorro away, and the grinning Barbados
followed them. The captain turned to face the _señorita_ once more.
“_Señorita_, you must try to understand,” he said. “I could not act
or speak in any other manner. The pirates must still think that I am
one of them, else I cannot get to San Diego de Alcála and fetch the
soldiers.”
“There is small need of further pretense, _señor_,” she replied with
much scorn in her manner. “I know you for what you are!”
“You are inclined to show bravery, now that you know this Señor Zorro
is alive, eh?” he said. “But will he live long, in the hands of these
pirates, some of whose friends he has slain? This Barbados loves ransom
money, but Don Diego Vega is one man who never will be ransomed. For
Barbados loves vengeance, too!”
“I cannot endure your presence longer,” she said. “Leave me alone with
my sorrows!”
“Nor can I endure your scorn much longer,” Captain Ramón replied. “Has
it occurred to you that you are in my power completely, if I will it
so?”
“Now you show your true colors again, _señor_. And there is always
death!”
“And torture!” Captain Ramón added. “That will befall this Señor Zorro,
no doubt!”
“Torture?” she cried.
“Ha! Real torture, such as only these beasts of pirates know how to
inflict!” he declared. “No man can stand against such a thing for long.
He will beg and shriek for the release of death when the pain begins.”
“No――no!” she cried.
“And you will be forced to watch it, no doubt!” the _commandante_
continued. “Barbados, his men say, is a master hand at torture of all
kinds. They’ll chip at him with their knives, sear his flesh with
white-hot brands――”
“_Señor_, for the love of the saints――”
“You do not like the picture? Wait until you see the reality, which
will be much worse than words could paint!”
“If I could save him――give my life for his――”
The captain looked at her sharply. “Perhaps there may be a way,” he
said.
“What mean you?”
“I can have speech with this fiend of a Barbados and coax him to delay
the torture until he has accounted for the troopers from San Diego
de Alcála. The troopers will account for him and his men instead, of
course, and then Señor Zorro and the _caballeros_ will be released.”
“And you will do this?” she cried. “Ah, _señor_, if only you would!”
“I can do it, _señorita_――at a price!”
“And what――is the price?” she asked.
“You are the price yourself, _señorita_.”
“Beast!”
“Is that a way to save Señor Zorro by calling me a beast?” the captain
asked. “All that I ask is an immediate marriage. Would it be an ill
thing to wed with one of his excellency’s officers?”
“I cannot! My heart is not my own!”
“Can you hesitate?” the captain asked. “One way, you will be my wife,
and Señor Zorro will be saved from torture and will be set free. The
other way, _señorita_, he will be tortured until he dies――and you will
come to me unwed!”
“Oh!” she gasped. “That a man could be such a fiend――”
“Love drives men to do strange things, _señorita_.”
“Love!” she cried. “You know not the meaning of the word! To love is to
be gentle, to cherish and protect!”
“I know the meaning as it appeals to me,” the captain declared. “And I
have scant time, if you are to agree. Fray Felipe is in the camp, and
he can wed us. Barbados is afraid to affront a _fray_ and will not see
Felipe harmed. So he lets him roam around, though he is watched.”
“I cannot!”
“Very well, _señorita_. It is for you to make the decision. But I am
afraid that the pirates will have their way. And their way will not be
a gentle one!”
“Can you not be a proper man?” she cried. “Can you not save him without
exacting such a payment? For once in your life, _señor_, can you not
show yourself a _caballero_?”
“Save him and let him claim you?” Ramón asked. “You are asking far too
much!”
“Is there no other way?”
“None!” he replied. “There are certain things that you must do――be my
wife, and I will save Señor Zorro by fetching the troopers from San
Diego de Alcála. And afterward you must say that I did but trick the
pirates, and that you wed me in gratitude for saving you from them.”
“Such a falsehood would not come easily from my lips, _señor_,” she
said. “And how can I trust you? How do I know that you would fetch the
troopers?”
“I am not afraid to make the bargain,” he told her. “You need not
wed me until after the pirates are defeated and the _caballeros_ are
released. That is fair enough for both, is it not? But how, on the
other hand, may I be assured that you will not forget your part of the
bargain, once I have done my share?”
“_Señor!_” she cried, her face flaming. “Would a daughter of the
Pulidos break her given word?”
“Then you give it?” he asked.
“Not yet!” she replied firmly. “There are to be certain stipulations,
_señor_.”
“And they――” he questioned.
“I must see Señor Zorro alone and speak to him, and explain just what
I intend to do. I would tell him the truth――that you will save him and
the others if I wed you. I would not have him think that my heart is
one that can change so easily.”
“Ha! After that you would have to save him against his will. He would
not accept the sacrifice.”
“Then will I save him despite himself,” she declared. “And you need
not fear for the future in such case, _señor_. Once we were wed, Señor
Zorro would not raise his hand against you if I asked him not to do so.”
“Perhaps it may be arranged,” Captain Ramón said.
He was plotting more, even as he spoke. He did not see how he could
lose in this game. If he fetched the troopers, and the pirates were
wiped out and the _caballeros_ saved, the _señorita_ would keep her
word if she had given it. Men might despise him for taking advantage
of a situation, yet would he be safe. And perhaps, for a small sum, he
could have this Señor Zorro killed yet.
And if the pirates through some fortune of war managed to be victorious
over the troopers, then Captain Ramón could do the other thing――simply
seize the _señorita_, give Señor Zorro up to torture, and remain a
renegade, perhaps even become a pirate chief himself in the future.
“I will speak to no other man, _señor_――only Zorro,” she said, as he
seemed to hesitate. “I will not betray your double-dealing to the
pirate crew, for that would defeat all our ends and mean death for
Señor Zorro and the _caballeros_, and much worse for me. But I must
speak to Señor Zorro a moment before I give you my decision in the
matter.”
“I will try to arrange it with Barbados,” Captain Ramón replied. “Come
into the other room and let the woman guard you until I return. You
must play the game well if you would be successful. And there is scant
time. I should start my ride to San Diego de Alcála as quickly as
possible.”