The last exclamation was caused by a sudden tumult outside the house. Don Alejandro and his son heard a number of horsemen stop, heard their calls to one another, heard bridles jingling and blades rattling.
"There is no peace in all the world!" Don Diego said, with deepened gloom.
"It sounds like half a score of men," Don Alejandro said.
It was—exactly. A servant opened the door, and into the great room there strode ten caballeros, with blades at their sides and pistols in their belts.
"Ha, Don Alejandro! We crave hospitality!" the foremost cried.
"You have it without asking, caballeros. What manner of journey is this you take?"
"We pursue Señor Zorro, the highwayman."
"By the saints!" Don Diego cried. "One cannot escape it even here! Violence and bloodshed!"
"He invaded the plaza at Reina de Los Angeles," the spokesman went on. "He had the magistrado whipped because he sentenced Fray Felipe to receive the lash, and he whipped the fat landlord, and he fought half a score of men while he was about it. Then he rode away, and we made up a band to pursue him. He has not been in this neighborhood?"