“Let us bathe their wounds in wine,” Audre suggested.
They hurried into the house. The frightened servants came forward again and began putting things to rights. The two wounded caballeros were in chairs already, and men working to bandage them. Once more Don Diego sat at the head of the table, and the caballeros dropped into their chairs, and the servants made haste to fill the goblets. Don Diego put the sword of Zorro on the table before him and proposed that they toast it again.
There came a sudden commotion at the door, and a man stumbled in. Don Diego was on his feet instantly, for he knew the man. He was a leading workman at the hacienda of Don Carlos Pulido. A horrible fear gripped Don Diego’s heart.
The man was exhausted. He staggered forward, and would have fallen had not Diego grasped him and braced him against a corner of the table.
“Señor!” he gasped. “Don Diego—young master!”
“Speak!” Diego commanded.
“Pirates attacked the hacienda more than an hour ago, while others were attacking here—”
“Tell it quickly!”
“Don Carlos is sorely wounded, señor! Many of the buildings are burned. The house was looted!”
“The señorita?” Don Diego questioned.