The Curse of Capistrano | Page 8

be more devilish?" Gonzales asked. "I was to fight,
and yet I would get a devil's chunk of lead in my carcass if I pressed the
attack. Was there ever such a farce? It shows the stuff of which this
pretty highwayman is made. Some day I shall meet him when he holds
no pistol-- and then--"
"But how did he get away?" someone in the crowd asked.
"He heard those at the door. He threatened me with the devil's pistol
and forced me to-toss my blade in yonder far corner. He threatened us
all, ran to the window, and sprang through. And how could we find him
in the darkness or track him through the sheets of rain? But I am
determined now! In the morning I go to my Captain Ramon and ask
permission to be absolved from all other duty, that I may take some
comrades and run down this pretty Senor Zorro. Ha! We shall go fox
hunting!"
The excited crowd about the door suddenly parted, and Don Diego
Vega hurried into the tavern.
"What is this I hear?" he asked. "They are saving that Senor Zorro has
paid a visit here."
"'Tis a true word, caballero!" Gonzales answered. "And we were
speaking of the cutthroat here this evening. Had you remained instead
of going home to work with your secretary, you should have seen the
entire affair."
"Were you not here? Can you not tell me?" Don Diego asked. "But I
pray you make not the tale too bloody. I cannot see why men must be
violent. Where is the highwayman's dead body?"
Gonzales choked; the fat landlord turned away to hide his smile; the
corporal and soldiers began picking up wine mugs to keep busy at this
dangerous moment.

"He--that is, there is no body," Gonzales managed to say.
"Have done with your modesty, sergeant!" Don Diego cried. "Am I not
your friend? Did you not promise to tell me the story if you met this
cutthroat? I know you would spare my feelings, knowing that I do not
love violence, yet I am eager for the facts because you, my friend, have
been engaged with this fellow. How much was the reward?"
"By the saints!" Gonzales swore.
"Come, sergeant! Out with the tale! Landlord, give all of us wine, that
we may celebrate this affair! Your tale, sergeant! Shall you leave the
army, now that you have earned the reward, and purchase a hacienda
and take a wife?"
Sergeant Gonzales choked again and reached gropingly for a wine mug.
"You promised me," Don Diego continued, "that you would tell me the
whole thing, word by word. Did he not say as much, landlord? You
declared that you would relate how you played with him; how you
laughed at him while you fought; how you pressed him back after a
time and then ran him through--"
"By the saints!" Sergeant Gonzales roared, the words coming from
between his lips like peals of thunder. "It is beyond the endurance of
any man! You--Don Diego--my friend--"
"Your modesty ill becomes you at such a time," Don Diego said. "You
promised the tale, and I would have it. What does this Senor Zorro look
like? Have you peered at the dead face beneath the mask? It is, perhaps,
some man that we all know? Cannot some one of you tell me the facts?
You stand here like so many speechless images of men--"
"Wine--or I choke!" Gonzales howled. "Don Diego, you are my good
friend, and I will cross swords with any man who belittles you! But do
not try me too far this night--"
"I fail to understand," Don Diego said. "I have but asked you to tell me

the story of the fight--how you mocked him as you battled; how you
pressed him back at will, and presently ended it by running him
through--"
"Enough! Am I to be taunted?" the big sergeant cried. He gulped down
the wine and hurled the mug far from him.
"Is it possible that you did not win the battle?" Don Diego asked. "But
surely this pretty highwayman could not stand up before you, my
sergeant. How was the outcome?"
"He had a pistol--"
"Why did you not take it away from him, then, and crowd it down his
throat? But perhaps that is what you did. Here is more wine, my
sergeant. Drink!"
But Sergeant Gonzales was thrusting his way through the throng at the
door.
"I must not forget my duty!" he said. "I must hurry to the presidio and
report this occurrence to the comandante!"
"But, sergeant--"
"And as to this Senor Zorro, he will be meat for my blade before I am
done!" Gonzales promised.
And then, cursing horribly, he rushed away through the rain, the first