“But you are in grave danger, from the men above and the sea beneath!”
“Danger is the spice of life, señorita! After we are wedded it will be time enough for me to be tame.”
“But that may never be, Diego.”
“Zorro, señorita, if it is all the same to you. I must remember continually now that I am Zorro.”
“You must get back to the deck and go into hiding,” she said. “I fear for you. And should anything happen to you what would become of me?”
“It is some small risk,” Señor Zorro admitted, “but I felt that I should make this call.”
One of her hands was at the porthole’s edge. Señor Zorro, clinging to the rope, grasped it in his right hand and carried it to his lips.
“The most beautiful señorita in all the world!” he said.
“Zorro!”
“And for once I have you, señorita, when your duenna is not present to pester us. We are betrothed. We were to have been wed to-day. I will have more courage, señorita, if I have felt your lips against mine. The memory of our betrothal kiss still tingles in my veins, but it is a memory that should be refreshed.”