“I would rather die than have you touch me!” she cried. “You show your true colors again, commandante!”
“One embrace, and I make you forget this Señor Zorro!”
“If he were here, señor, you would not dare speak so!” she said. “You would cringe in terror, you who wear the mark of Zorro on your brow! It was for an insult to me that he put it there! It is like a coward to attack a helpless girl! If Señor Zorro were here—”
“But he is not here!” Ramón cried, laughing and leering at her. “And so—”
Again he started toward her, and her hand darted to her bosom to snatch out the dagger the woman Inez had given her earlier. But she did not draw out the dagger.
The window behind them suddenly was darkened, and the light shut off. Into the storeroom plunged a man who struggled to get free from the woman’s clothes he wore over his own. As Captain Ramón recoiled and the señorita gave a little cry of fright the intruder’s head flew up.
A blade flashed, the señorita found herself hurled to one side gently, and Captain Ramón found two eyes blazing into his—the eyes of Señor Zorro!
“Have you ever seen this one?” Señor Zorro demanded.
And, with his left hand, he slapped the commandante of the presidio of Reina de Los Angeles so that his head rocked!