“I am growing tired of waiting!” Captain Ramón said. “I should be on my way already. Why not decide now?”
“You will have ample time to return with the troopers long before nightfall,” she whispered quickly, as Barbados turned away to howl an order to some of his men. “Give me only an hour—perhaps less!”
“Very well—an hour!” said the captain. “But no longer! I’ll find the fray for you, and put you both in one of the huts under guard until you can make up your mind.”
CHAPTER XXIV.
INTO THE OPEN.
Señor Zorro fought the battle of his life, after the little señorita had gone and the door had been closed and barred, to keep from showing his elation in his face.
His hands now would be free at any time he wished to drop the ends of the cords that bound his wrists. He had a weapon hidden in the sash about his waist. Given those minor advantages, Señor Zorro felt that he could disconcert his enemies again, else fail to be Zorro.
But the expression in his face did not change as he walked slowly around the room and finally came to a stop before the window and glanced across the clearing and the beach toward the glistening water of the bay. He looked like a man devoid of all hope, expecting the worst.
Not so very far away was a small hut, before the one door of which two of the pirates sat on guard. Señor Zorro was well aware of the fact that the weapons of the captured caballeros, and those of their comrades who had been slain, were in there, and that his own beloved sword was there also, waiting to be claimed by him.
And, as he watched, Sanchez rode wildly into the clearing on a magnificent horse, undoubtedly stolen from some great hacienda. Barbados’s lieutenant dismounted and allowed the animal to wander near the hut while he hurried in search of the pirate chief with some report.
These things Señor Zorro saw quickly, and then he hurried back to the door that opened into the other room. It was barred, and locked with a strong lock, and Zorro had no tools with which to open it. He could not unfasten it and release his friends, but he could hold speech with them.