Señor Zorro whirled to confront them. He darted to a corner and threw up his blade. He sprang forward a few steps, wounded a man, retreated again.
But he knew that the weight of numbers was against him in such cramped fighting quarters, and he could not get to the window and make an escape. They hurled themselves upon him, buried him beneath their combined weight, disarmed him, and forced him to his feet again. They lashed his hands behind his back, and Barbados, now that it was a safe thing to do, stalked forward and spat at him.
“So, Señor Zorro, we have you in our hands again!” Barbados said. “This time it will be fire or steel instead of water, since you seem to swim so well! And this time, señor, we make a real ghost out of you!”
Captain Ramón lurched forward, his face purple with wrath. “Do with him as you will,” he said to Barbados. “But let me have a hand in it!”
“Ha! You had your chance, capitan, a moment ago, and did not make much of it!” Barbados replied, grinning. “I’ll have him put in the other adobe building with the caballeros. Fiends of hell, take him away!”
The señorita made an attempt to get forward, but the pirates thrust her back. They took Señor Zorro away, and the grinning Barbados followed them. The captain turned to face the señorita once more.
“Señorita, you must try to understand,” he said. “I could not act or speak in any other manner. The pirates must still think that I am one of them, else I cannot get to San Diego de Alcála and fetch the soldiers.”
“There is small need of further pretense, señor,” she replied with much scorn in her manner. “I know you for what you are!”
“You are inclined to show bravery, now that you know this Señor Zorro is alive, eh?” he said. “But will he live long, in the hands of these pirates, some of whose friends he has slain? This Barbados loves ransom money, but Don Diego Vega is one man who never will be ransomed. For Barbados loves vengeance, too!”
“I cannot endure your presence longer,” she said. “Leave me alone with my sorrows!”