“But it appears to me, capitan, that in this affair you are acting the part of an ass,” Barbados dared to say. “Why work so hard to get the wench to agree to wed you when you can take her at your pleasure?”
“Because it will hurt this Señor Zorro a great deal more to know that she gives her consent,” the captain replied. “We’ll taunt him about it, and then I’ll ride for the soldiers. And your men will sweep them off the earth and then ride to San Diego de Alcála and loot the place. As for this Señor Zorro—having tortured him mentally, you will proceed to torture him physically when you celebrate your victory.”
“It appeals to me!” Barbados declared suddenly. “He slew some of my closest friends. Yet I would not wait too long! Some of these fine enemies must be tortured soon, while I am in the proper mood for it!”
“And there can be more mental torture,” the captain said. “Do not touch him until the very last. Make him watch as some of his friends are being tortured. Let him hear their shrieks of pain. Let him see Don Audre Ruiz, his boon companion, suffer. That will hurt him as much as being tortured himself.”
“Ha! By my naked blade, capitan, you should have been born a pirate!” Barbados shrieked.
“Then it is agreed?”
“Sí! It is agreed!”
“I will get the señorita and let her tell Señor Zorro what she intends to do.”
“There are two rooms in that adobe building,” Barbados explained. “This Señor Zorro is alone in the front one, for I thought it best not to put him with the others. The door between has a heavy lock, and I have the key. You can let the señorita go in there, and we’ll listen at the window and enjoy his pain when she tells him. Ha! I say it again, capitan—you should be a pirate! You are wasted in the army!”
Captain Ramón hastened back to the señorita, whispered that he had been able to arrange things as she wished, grinned at old Inez, and then conducted the daughter of the Pulidos across the open space and toward the adobe building where Señor Zorro and the caballeros were being held prisoners.