“It is agreed!” the lieutenant said, his face beaming.
“Be quick about it. I’ll disappear while Zorro tells his tale. Seize him, throw him into the guardroom, put him into the maniac’s shirt, leave two men to guard him. When we return we’ll see that he is punished for his perfidy. Caballero or not, he’ll be hanged for this.”
The lieutenant sprang from his chair to issue the necessary orders. But the door was hurled open—and Señor Zorro rushed into the officer’s room!
CHAPTER XXVI.
HELPLESSNESS.
On the occasion of this meeting it was Señor Zorro who was properly astonished instead of his foe. Captain Ramón had been the last person he had seen at the pirates’ camp; he had ridden at great speed, and yet here was the commandante ahead of him at the presidio in San Diego de Alcála.
But it did not take Señor Zorro long to guess that the captain had taken advantage of some short cut across the country and so had arrived at the presidio first. And, since he was here, Señor Zorro found himself in something of a predicament.
For weapons he had only the short dagger and his courage. The element of surprise upon which he generally depended so much was acting against him instead of for him in this present encounter; but he did not despair.
He took two quick steps forward, and the dagger suddenly was in his right hand. He glanced quickly at the lieutenant, who had picked up his sword from the long table and was drawing it from the scabbard, and then whirled toward Captain Ramón, who already had his sword ready for use.
“So!” Señor Zorro cried. “You got here ahead of me, did you? Renegade and traitor!”
“’Tis you who are the renegade and traitor!” Captain Ramón declared. “Friend of pirates!”