Captain Ramón was an excellent horseman, and he rode an excellent mount. Moreover, he had been through every mile of that country with his troopers some time before. He knew the shortest route to the presidio at San Diego de Alcála, and he felt quite sure that Señor Zorro did not.
Reaching the crest of the slope, Captain Ramón stopped his horse beneath the trees and watched and listened for a time. From the distance there came to his ears the drumming of a horse’s hoofs. As he had expected, Señor Zorro had ridden along the bottom of the cañon, and Captain Ramón knew that such a course would take him at least two miles out of his way. Once in that cañon, a horseman was forced to follow it until he came to the other end.
Captain Ramón turned his horse’s head in another direction and drove home the spurs. He rode around a hill and emerged upon a flat space, across which he raced toward a row of foothills in the distance. Señor Zorro had the start, but he was taking the long way. Aside from an accident, Captain Ramón could reach San Diego de Alcála and have his story told before Señor Zorro arrived.
The thing had to be done, he told himself. He would use his authority and have Zorro thrown into the guardroom at the presidio. He would go back to the pirate camp at the head of the troopers, see that the pirates were wiped out to a man, release the caballeros and the señorita.
And then there would be other things to do. He would convince the authorities that Señor Zorro had been allied with the pirates and that the caballeros had not known of it, and have Zorro hanged. He would ask his friend, the Governor, to order the señorita to wed with him because he had saved her and wiped out the pirate brood, and the señorita would be forced to obey his excellency’s command. And he would see to it that all men believed he had been true and loyal continually.
If the señorita spoke out the truth Captain Ramón could smile and say she uttered a falsehood because she did not wish to wed with him. He was guarded against every emergency, he felt.
There was a mere possibility, of course, that the pirates might be victorious, and in such case Captain Ramón would pretend that he had been with the rogues always, turn pirate himself, and have the señorita. But he preferred the other way.
He thought of these things as he rode. Around another hill and down a slope he rushed, and when he came to a wide trail that ran toward the distant El Camino Real he knew that he had distanced Señor Zorro. Yet he rode furiously, for he wanted all the time he could have at the presidio before Zorro arrived.
And finally he reached the highway, and tore along it like a mad horseman riding on the wind. The mount beneath him was showing signs of wearying, but the captain urged him on. Now he was flying past natives’ huts scattered along the broad highway. Children and chickens and swine hurried from his path. Women came to the doors of the huts to look after him through clouds of dust.
Then he could see, in the distance, the presidio on its little hill, and the group of buildings around it. Captain Ramón urged his horse cruelly. As he approached men turned to watch him. Before the presidio itself troopers sprang to their feet, as men will when there is a feeling of excitement in the air.