He had heard, on his way to the pirate camp, that Señor Zorro had walked the plank. He could take the helpless señorita now for his own, but if he did that he would have to become a renegade forever, live like an outcast. And Captain Ramón loved his uniform, and wealth and power.
So why not play the pirates and honest men against each other and make a double winning? He had had ample time to think it out. And so, as he faced the señorita’s scorn, he pretended surprise that she did not understand.
“Foul presence, señorita?” he said. “After I have risked so much to be of service to you?”
“Of service to me?” she cried. “When I was abducted by your orders, when my home was burned and my father cut down?”
“Have the beasts told you that?” Ramón asked. “That is because Barbados knew I was infatuated with you. He believed I would thank him for doing such a thing.”
“You are allied with pirates!” she accused.
“Listen, señorita, for the love of the saints!”
“The saints are better off your lips, señor!”
“Attend me!” he commanded again. “It is a game we have been playing.”
“A sorry game!”