SWIFT PUNISHMENT
The _frailes_ drove the cart onward, Fray Felipe raised his hand in
blessing, and Don Diego Vega turned aside into the other trail, the
deaf-and-dumb Bernardo following at his heels on the mule.
Back in the _pueblo_, the dealer in hides and tallow was the center
of attraction at the tavern. The fat landlord was kept busy supplying
his guests with wine, for the dealer in hides and tallow was spending
a part of the money of which he had swindled Fray Felipe. The
_magistrado_ was spending the rest.
There was boisterous laughter as one recounted how Fray Felipe lay
about him with the whip, and how the blood spurted from his old back
when the lash was applied.
"Not a whimper from him!" cried the dealer in hides and tallow. "He
is a courageous old coyote! Now, last month we whipped one at San
Fernando, and he howled for mercy, but some men said he had been ill
and was weak, and possibly that was so. A tough lot, these _frailes_!
But it is great sport when we can make one howl! More wine, landlord!
Fray Felipe is paying for it!"
There was a deal of raucous laughter at that, and the dealer's
assistant, who had given perjured testimony, was tossed a coin and
told to play a man and do his own buying. Whereupon the apprentice
purchased wine for all in the inn, and howled merrily when the fat
landlord gave him no change from his piece of money.
"Are you a _fray_, that you pinch coins?" the landlord asked.
Those in the tavern howled with merriment again, and the landlord, who
had cheated the assistant to the limit, grinned as he went about his
business. It was a great day for the fat landlord.
"Who was the _caballero_ who showed some mercy toward the _fray_?" the
dealer asked.
"That was Don Diego Vega," the landlord replied.
"He will be getting himself into trouble--"
"Not Don Diego," said the landlord. "You know the great Vega family, do
you not, _señor_? His excellency himself curries their favor. Did the
Vegas hold up as much as a little finger, there would be a political
upheaval in these parts."
"Then he is a dangerous man?" the dealer asked.
A torrent of laughter answered him.
"Dangerous? Don Diego Vega?" the landlord cried, while tears ran down
his fat cheeks. "You will be the death of me! Don Diego does naught but
sit in the sun and dream. He scarcely ever wears a blade, except as a
matter of show. He groans if he has to ride a few miles on a horse. Don
Diego is about as dangerous as a lizard basking in the sun.
"But he is an excellent gentleman, for all that!" the landlord added
hastily, afraid that his words would reach Don Diego's ears, and Don
Diego would take his custom elsewhere.
It was almost dusk when the dealer in hides and tallow left the tavern
with his assistant, and both reeled as they walked, for they had
partaken of too much wine.
They made their way to the _carreta_ in which they traveled, waved
their farewells to the group about the door of the tavern, and started
slowly up the trail toward San Gabriel.
They made their journey in a leisurely manner, continuing to drink
from a jug of wine they had purchased. They went over the crest of the
first hill, and the _pueblo_ of Reina de Los Angeles was lost to view,
and all they could see was the highway twisting before them like a
great dusty serpent, and the brown hills, and a few buildings in the
distance, where some man had his _hacienda_.
They made a turning, and found a horseman confronting them, sitting
easily in the saddle, with his horse standing across the road in such
manner that they could not pass.
"Turn your horse--turn your beast!" the dealer in hides and tallow
cried. "Would you have me drive over you?"
The assistant gave an exclamation that was part of fear, and the dealer
looked more closely at the horseman. His jaw dropped, his eyes bulged.
"'Tis Señor Zorro!" he exclaimed. "By the saints! 'tis the Curse of
Capistrano, away down here near San Gabriel. You would not bother
me, Señor Zorro? I am a poor man, and have no money. Only yesterday a
_fray_ swindled me, and I have been to Reina de Los Angeles seeking
justice."
"Did you get it?" Señor Zorro asked.
"The _magistrado_ was kind, _señor_. He ordered the _fray_ to repay me,
but I do not know when I shall get the money."
"Get out of the _carreta_, and your assistant also!" Señor Zorro
commanded.
"But I have no money--" the dealer protested.
"Out of the _carreta_ with you! Do I have to request it twice? Move, or
lead finds a lodging place in your carcass!"
Now the dealer saw that the highwayman held a pistol in his hand, and
he squealed with sudden fright and got out of the cart as speedily
as possible, his assistant tumbling out at his heels. They stood in
the dusty highway before Señor Zorro, trembling with fear, the dealer
begging for mercy.
"I have no money with me, kind highwayman, but I shall get it for you!"
the dealer cried. "I shall carry it to where you say, whenever you
wish--"
"Silence, beast!" Señor Zorro cried. "I do not want your money,
perjurer! I know all about the farce of a trial at Reina de Los
Angeles; I have ways of finding out about such things speedily.
"So the aged _fray_ swindled you, eh? Liar and thief! 'Tis you who
are the swindler! And they gave that old and godly man fifteen lashes
across his bare back, because of the lies you told! And you and the
_magistrado_ will divide the money of which you swindled him!"
"I swear by the saints--"
"Do not! You have done enough false swearing already. Step forward!"
The dealer complied, trembling as if with a disease; and Señor Zorro
dismounted swiftly and walked around in front of his horse. The
dealer's assistant was standing beside the _carreta_, and his face was
white.
"Forward!" Señor Zorro commanded again.
Again the dealer complied; but suddenly he began to beg for mercy, for
Señor Zorro had taken a mule whip from beneath his long cloak, and held
it ready in his right hand, while he held the pistol in his left.
"Turn your back!" he commanded now.
"Mercy, good highwayman! Am I to be beaten as well as robbed? You would
whip an honest merchant because of a thieving _fray_?"
The first blow fell, and the dealer shrieked with pain. His last remark
appeared to have given strength to the highwayman's arm. The second
blow fell, and the dealer in hides and tallow went to his knees in the
dusty highroad.
Then Señor Zorro returned his pistol to his belt, and stepped forward
and grasped the dealer's mop of hair with his left hand, so as to
hold him up, and with the right he rained heavy blows with the mule
whip upon the man's back, until his tough coat and shirt were cut to
ribbons, and the blood soaked through.
"That for a man who perjures himself and has an honest _fray_
punished!" Señor Zorro cried.
And then he gave his attention to the assistant.
"No doubt, young man, you but carried out your master's orders when you
lied before the _magistrado_," he said, "but you must be taught to be
honest and fair, no matter what the circumstances."
"Mercy, _señor_!" the assistant howled.
"Did you not laugh when the _fray_ was being whipped? Are you not
filled with wine now because you have been celebrating the punishment
that godly man received for something he did not do?"
Señor Zorro grasped the youth by the nape of his neck, whirled him
around, and sent a stiff blow at his shoulders. The boy shrieked, and
then began whimpering. Five lashes in all he received, for Señor Zorro
apparently did not wish to render him unconscious. And finally he
hurled the boy from him, and looped his whip.
"Let us hope both of you have learned your lesson," he said. "Get into
the _carreta_, and drive on. And when you speak of this occurrence,
tell the truth, else I hear of it and punish you again! Let me not
learn that you have said some fifteen or twenty men surrounded and held
you while I worked with the whip!"
The apprentice sprang into the cart, and his master followed, and they
whipped up and disappeared in a cloud of dust toward San Gabriel.
Señor Zorro looked after them for a time, then lifted his mask and
wiped the perspiration from his face, and then mounted his horse again,
fastening the mule whip to the pommel of his saddle.