"They shall be retaken!"
"Time alone will tell that. And now I have another duty to perform here! Your excellency, you will take your chair to that far corner, and sit there, and your host will sit beside you. And there you shall remain until I have finished."
"What do you mean to do?"
"Obey me!" Señor Zorro cried. "I have scant time for argument, even with a governor."
He watched while the two chairs were placed and the governor and his host had seated themselves. And then he stepped nearer Captain Ramón.
"You insulted a pure and innocent girl, comandante!" he said. "For that, you shall fight! Your scratched shoulder is healed now, and you wear your blade by your side! Such a man as you is not fit to breathe God's pure air! The country is better for your absence! On your feet, señor, and on guard!"
Captain Ramón was white with rage. He knew that he was ruined. He had been forced to confess that he had lied. He had heard the governor remove his rank. And this man before him had been the cause of all of it!
Perhaps, in his anger, he could kill this Señor Zorro, stretch this Curse of Capistrano on the floor with his life blood flowing away. Perhaps, if he did that, his excellency would relent.
He sprang from his chair, and backward to the governor.
"Unfasten my wrists!" he cried. "Let me at this dog!"