“The goblet!” Diego gasped.
“Don Diego, my friend, you will help me in this?” Fray Felipe asked. “I have known you since you were a babe in arms. I have loved you—”
“To-morrow I wed,” Don Diego said. “But I shall do everything in my power. We’ll get horses as soon as possible and pursue. I’ll open my purse, and up and down El Camino Real men will go, seeking where these pirates touch shore again. We’ll get the goblet!”
“I have more faith in your sword arm than in your purse, my friend,” Fray Felipe said. “But do what you can.”
The caballeros had gathered now. Men and women were pouring from the houses, telling of what had befallen them. Barbados and his men had been merciful, for pirates. They had taken wealth, but they had taken few lives.
Don Diego Vega started back across the plaza toward his house, his friends around him.
“For a moment I was Señor Zorro again,” he said. “Those drops of blood you mentioned grew hot for a time, Audre, my friend.”
“Glorious!” Audre Ruiz breathed. “I would we had horses and could follow them—even a ship to follow them out to sea. Don Diego, my friend, your bachelor supper is a great success.”
“Then let us return and conclude it,” Don Diego said. “We have a couple of wounded friends in the house. Let us attend them.”