Señor Zorro knew a touch of despair for a moment, but he fought it off quickly. If he were captured, the Señorita Lolita would have no protector, and would be at the mercy of these fiends and Captain Ramón. Were it not better to escape, to make an effort to return later, than to fight until death at the side of his friend?
“Audre!” he cried.
“Sí?”
“Can you win free?”
“The curs surround me!”
“One of us must win free!” Zorro cried. “There is the señorita to be considered!”
“Get away, Don Diego, my friend!” Audre Ruiz shouted. “Save yourself, and the saints bless you—”
“I will return!” Señor Zorro shouted the promise. “Let the beasts take you, Audre! Alive, you may be of some service! Dead—you are gone forever!”
Señor Zorro did not listen for an answer. Two determined pirates were before him. But they hesitated in their attack, because they were eager to take him alive and so gain the reward that Barbados had promised. And their hesitation gave Señor Zorro the opportunity he desired.
He hurled himself forward, stretched one man on the ground and put the other in momentary flight. Others rushed at him from the side, and for an instant, as he turned, he had a vision of Don Audre Ruiz being disarmed. And then he whirled again, darted swiftly away, fighting to clear a path.