"A Tale of Two Outlaws"
by Belle Book
Part Seven
Don Andres's hacienda, that night
Zorro sat on Tornado's back, with
Carmen seated behind him. He was trying
to think of a way to find out for certain
if Don Luis was staying at Don Andres's
hacienda.
Earlier in the day, Diego and Car-
men had gone down in the cave to deter-
mine if Carmen could ride Tornado. If
she could, she could go with Zorro that
night.
Fortunately, Tornado behaved him-
self when Carmen got on the saddle. So,
Carmen got to ride with Zorro that night
to help stop Don Luis, if he was there.
She brought along the papers she stole
from Don Luis, which were hidden inside
her coat pocket.
His arm was hurting much less to-
day than it was yesterday, or even last
night. The medicine Carmen gave him had
worked very well. Still, he didn't want
to test his arm just yet.
Suddenly, Zorro's thoughts were
interrupted by a neigh. Looking through
a telescope, he saw a horse leaving the
hacienda of Don Andres.
The rider was Don Luis.
"Who's leaving the hacienda?"
Zorro heard Carmen whisper behind him.
"Don Luis," said Zorro.
"So, Victoria was right in think-
ing he was staying with Don Andres," said
Carmen.
Zorro nodded, then signalled Tor-
nado to follow Don Luis. Carmen held on
with her knees as the horse galloped a-
way.
thought Zorro.
__________________________________________________________
The port of San Pedro, ten minutes later
Carmen was thinking the very same
thing now.
They had followed Don Luis to the
port of San Pedro. There was one ship in
the harbor, and it looked like a big one.
Don Luis had gotten off his horse
and approached a big, fierce-looking man.
The man looked like the captain of the
ship.
Carmen whispered to Zorro, "Do
you remember the papers I stole from Don
Luis last night?"
"Si," said Zorro. "Do you suppose
the munitions that were to be smuggled in
are on that ship?"
"Well, there's only one way to
find out," said Carmen.
She would've gotten off Tornado,
except that Zorro said, "No, I'll go. A
woman in red is more easily detected than
a man in black."
Carmen recognized the logic of
what Zorro said, so she said, "Okay. I'll
stay here."
Zorro got off Tornado, and snuck
toward the two men. Carmen watched them
walking away from the dock, hoping neither
one spotted Zorro -- or herself.
________________________________________________________
Outside the tavern in San Pedro
Zorro followed the men to the
tavern, where they hid in the shadows.
As Zorro crept up to them, he
overheard the following conversation.
"Where are those papers Senor
Martinez said you had? I was told that
if you were Don Luis Alvarez, you were
to give me the papers as proof that I
was to give the weapons to you."
"Lo siento, senor, pero I don't
have the papers with me. Last night, I
discovered that they were stolen from
me. I didn't want to spread the alarm,
not without revealing my true purpose
here," Don Luis said.
(Author's notes: "Lo siento" means, "I'm
sorry", and pero means "but" in Spanish.)
"You could've copied the papers
from memory," said the captain.
"But my memory's not that good,"
Don Luis explained. "I remember most
of what the papers said, but not all
of it. And I don't want to risk being
considered an impostor by forgetting
something very vital."
"Do you know who stole those
papers?"
"I think Zorro did," said Don
Luis. "Only problem is, there was no
'Z' left as proof that he stole them."
"I understand your predicament,
senor, but I was told to give the wea-
pons only to the man who has the papers
on his person. Since you don't have
the papers, I can't give you them. I
suggest you go back to where you came
from, find out who stole the papers,
and get them back," concluded the cap-
tain.
With that, he left Don Luis.
After a moment, Don Luis left the site
of the meeting.
Zorro knew he had to return to
Tornado. He found all that he could
here.
______________________________________________________
To Carmen's relief, Zorro re-
turned safely and got onto Tornado.
"What happened?" she whispered.
"Looks like your theft of those
papers was very good for us," he said.
"The captain can't turn over the weapons
to Don Luis if he doesn't have the pa-
pers that you stole with him."
"And since I have the papers,
Don Luis is stumped," Carmen whispered
back, smiling. "But the weapons will
still be here."
Zorro sat for a minute. He ap-
peared to be thinking.
"Zorro?" Carmen whispered.
Zorro looked at Carmen and ask-
ed, "You still have those papers?"
Carmen patted her pocket as an
answer.
"First, we'll follow Don Luis
back to Don Andres's hacienda. Then I
want you to take the papers to the cuar-
tel and somehow slip them to Sergeant
Mendoza. Tornado will take you. You
can do that, I believe," said Zorro.
"I can," said Carmen. "And I
will think of a way to do so while on
my way."
"Meanwhile, I'll convince Don
Andres to either allow Don Luis to be
captured or to throw him out," said
Zorro. "If he wants to throw out Don
Luis, that's fine. I can track him
down."
Carmen then heard the sounds
of hooves galloping their way. Don
Luis passed them, unaware that they
were there. He looked furious.
After a minute, Zorro and Car-
men took off after him.
Carmen only hoped they could
find a way to put Don Luis behind bars
before more people were killed.
__________________________________________________
Don Andres's hacienda, a few minutes later
Zorro watched Don Luis enter
the hacienda, an angry look clearly
on his face despite the darkness.
Don Andres's hacienda, like
most of the haciendas, had latch-hooks
on their windows, and Zorro unlatched
a lot of those. So he felt there'd
be no problem getting inside.
Zorro got off Tornado, then
whispered to his horse, "Take Senorita
Sandiego to the cuartel. She has
business to do there. Once she is
done with her business, take her back
here."
With that, he signalled Tor-
nado to leave, and Tornado left with
Carmen on his back.
Once Tornado was gone, Zorro
snuck to a window and listened in to
Don Luis and Don Andres. It wasn't
too hard to do -- Don Luis was shout-
ing very loudly.
"I couldn't bring the weapons
here," yelled Don Luis in fury. "I
don't have the papers necessary to
do so, thanks to Zorro."
"But you said Zorro didn't
leave his mark behind," said Don
Andres. "Maybe he's not the one
responsible for the theft."
"But if he didn't steal the
papers, who did?" cried Don Luis.
"Anyway, I'm going to bed now. I'm
going to find those papers tomorrow."
Zorro saw Don Luis going to
bed, then snuck to a window in the
kitchen area, which had a latch-hook.
He was going to get Don Luis
captured or separated from support
if it was the last thing he did.
____________________________________________________
The cuartel, about the same time that
Zorro is ready to sneak inside
Carmen had used the time rid-
ing to the pueblo and sneaking up to
the cuartel to think of a way to get
the papers to Sergeant Mendoza with-
out knowing who sent them.
By the time she arrived at
the cuartel, she had a plan in mind.
Carmen took a look around the
cuartel. The guard was on the other
side, and was heading her way. It
was time for her to get onto the roof.
With that, she got on Tornado's
back and climbed on the rooftop. Once
there, she moved to where the former
alcalde's office was.
Looking down into the window,
she saw Mendoza wasn't there. she
thought. The key was in the keyhole,
she also noted.
She remembered how Zorro open-
ed the door to the alcalde's office in
"A Conspiracy of Blood". Using a hair-
pin, she forced the key out of the key-
hole, then moved the mat so that she
had the key. Finally, she unlocked
the door and stepped inside.
Once inside, she moved to the
Alcalde's desk to do some writing. It
was messy, though the Alcalde had done
some tidying of it before he was kill-
ed by Don Luis, she noticed.
Having found paper and a pen,
she sat down to write a message to
Sergeant Mendoza. It would advise
him to investigate the port of San
Pedro, and a ship that was there.
Once she was done, she seal-
ed it, placed it and the papers she
stole on the desk, and went to the
window to see if the guard was still
around.
Seeing nobody outside the
door, she opened it, taking care to
leave the key in the lock, then she
avoided the guard, who was return-
ing to the front.
Finally, she reached Tornado,
and got on his back. She signalled
to him to leave (she'd seen Zorro's
signal).
He snuck into the night, and
once outside the pueblo, he galloped
toward Don Andres's hacienda.
___________________________________________________
Don Andres's hacienda
Don Andres was preparing to
retire. It was a long night, even
longer since Don Luis hadn't gotten
those weapons he'd promised he'd
obtain. A servant came in to ac-
company him to his room.
"Don't make a move, Don An-
dres," a voice warned.
Turning, Don Andres looked
toward the dining room area. His
eyes widened with fright.
There stood El Zorro, his
sword pointed at Don Andres's heart
and his eyes seemingly angry.
"El Zorro? What are you do-
ing here?" Don Andres whispered.
"Don Luis is why I'm here,"
said Zorro. "He's a murderer."
"The Alcalde was a wicked
man," Don Andres said. "Do you no
longer agree on that?"
"I agree that he's a bad
man," said Zorro. "But murder is
a coward's solution. Besides, if
he isn't stopped, more lives will
be lost."
"You mean the soldiers,"
said Don Andres. "Why would you
care about them?"
"They're just doing their
duty," said Zorro. "Besides, you
know I hate violent means of sol-
ving problems. I cannot approve
of Don Luis's methods of freeing
California either. So I'm here to
convince you to turn him over to
the soldiers."
"Never!" said Don Andres.
"If you don't turn him o-
ver to the soldiers, or at least
get rid of him, I will let the
soldiers know you are sheltering
him. They'll come here to arrest
him. You know the penalty for
sheltering a murderer," said Zorro.
Don Andres hesitated. He
was certain Zorro meant what he
said. While he was unwilling to
turn Don Luis in, he was equally
unwilling to be arrested for shel-
tering a fugitive.
"Very well," said Don And-
res, his eyes angry. "I'll get
rid of him immediately. I don't
want to be arrested for shelter-
ing him. It'll ruin my name."
"Good," said Zorro. "As
proof that I mean what I say --"
That's when Zorro cut a
"Z" on the wall, and blew out a
candelabra nearby.
By the time the servant re-
lit the candles, Zorro was gone.
Don Andres was extremely
angry, but he had to do what he
had to do.
He turned to the servant,
and said,
"Wake up Don Luis, and tell
him to pack his bags and leave. If
he doesn't, he'll be arrested --
and so will I."
_________________________________________________
The port of San Pedro, twenty minutes later
Don Luis had returned to the
port determined to urge the captain
to make preparations to leave with-
in a day's time.
He was furious. Zorro was
responsible for stealing his papers,
and now he was responsible for Don
Andres's throwing him out. Well,
he'd try somewhere else where Zor-
ro couldn't stop him, and then he
would come back for his revenge a-
gainst Zorro.
But then, he heard horses
galloping toward the port, and he
hid inside a barrel behind the ta-
vern.
Once he was safe, he peek-
ed out. He heard Sergeant Mendoza
saying, "You're all under arrest
on charges of attempting to smug-
gle weapons into Los Angeles!"
"Search our ship," the cap-
tain's voice said. "We have no-
thing to hide."
"I think you do," said Men-
doza. "I had to come back from the
tavern early to help clean the for-
mer Alcalde's desk, and found a let-
ter on my desk, along with these pa-
pers.
They indicate you are smug-
gling weapons into Los Angeles, and
that you're in league with Don Luis
Alvarez."
Don Luis was even more fur-
ious. Zorro had totally ruined his
plans. Obviously Zorro didn't know
that when he ruined the plans of a
man like Don Luis, he'd fight back.
As he hid, he allowed his
anger to grow -- until he thought
of a way to get rid of Zorro. If
the stories were true, he was in
love with Victoria Escalante.
Yes, that was it. He'd
capture Victoria and use her as
bait to trap Zorro. The plan
began to form in his mind as he
hid.
Some minutes later, he
heard the soldiers leave. Only
then did he come out, get his
horse (which hadn't been found
by the soldiers), and left.
________________________________________________
Inside the tavern, about ten minutes later
Victoria heard a knock on
the back door. She was tidying up
the tavern after closing its doors.
The last thing she heard
before that happened is that the
soldiers had captured some sail-
ors who were smuggling in weapons.
A soldier had come back and told
the crowd at the tavern. She was
certain Zorro had something to do
with it, and maybe Senorita Sandiego
played a role as well.
So now she opened the back
door, only to see -- nothing.
Stepping out further, she
felt a blow to the back of her
neck, and that was the last thing
she remembered.
_______________________________________________
The de la Vega hacienda, the next morning
Diego and Don Alejandro were
practicing fencing in the garden.
Carmen was watching them. Felipe
had gone into town to find out how
Mendoza had fared in his search for
the weapons -- and the smugglers --
had gone.
After Zorro had gotten out-
side Don Andres's hacienda, he
whistled for Tornado. A minute
later, he tried again, and this
time he heard an answering nicker.
Tornado and Carmen came up. He got
on and rode Tornado back to the
cave.
Diego noticed that his arm
was doing much better today. In
fact, he was beginning to think
that his arm would be good enough
to handle a sword in a swordfight
-- if he was careful. One reason
why was because he had managed to
defeat his father rather easily.
"How's your arm?" Carmen
asked.
"I think it's almost as
good as new. Gracias," said Diego.
"De nada," said Carmen.
"We'd better put away the
swords soon," said Don Alejandro.
"Don Esteban is coming over with
a horse that I'm thinking of buy-
ing. That was before Gilberto
Resendo came and caused such mis-
ery."
They then heard the sounds
of a horse coming. Immediately,
Don Alejandro grabbed the swords
and put them away while Diego and
Carmen went to see who the horse-
man was.
It was Felipe, looking ex-
tremely excited.
"What is it, Felipe?" ask-
ed Diego.
Felipe began signing as
slowly as he could, so Diego could
understand.
"Don Luis has kidnapped Vic-
toria?" Diego cried out. "And he
wants Zorro to come the bottom of
Canon Perdido this afternoon?"
Felipe nodded and gave Diego
a letter, which Diego read.
"I'm certain it's a trap,"
Carmen said.
"It is a trap," said Diego.
"I know that place. I fell off my
horse near there once. Everyone
thought I was dead."
Carmen smiled. "I think I
remember that story. There was a
coffin made for you, and you hid
in it. I laughed when I read how
you sat up in it -- and how the
sergeant fainted."
"I don't know if Don Luis
knows that there's more than one
way down that area," said Diego.
"It's possible he thinks there's
only one way down."
He fell silent, thinking
for a minute while a plan came
silently to mind. Finally, he
looked up and saw his father ap-
proaching them.
"Oh, it's Felipe," said
Don Alejandro.
"Yes, and he's brought
some bad news. Victoria's been
kidnapped and is most likely be-
ing held near Canon Perdido,"
said Diego. "This afternoon, Zor-
ro's going to ride."
"Can I come along?" said
Carmen. "He's expecting you, but
not me, and if you can distract
him, I can sneak up and rescue
Victoria."
"That's what I was think-
ing of, if Don Esteban sells us
his horse, and we don't brand him
right away," said Diego. "Then,
you can help me without others
recognizing Zorro as Diego."
"Except Don Luis," said
Carmen. "He'll recognize you
by means of your swordfighting
style."
"I'm certain he will,"
said Diego. "But I hope you can
rescue Victoria and get her a-
way before he discovers who I
am."
Diego was certain Don
Luis wanted revenge for Zorro's
frustrating of his plans. But
he chose the wrong person to
target. This time, Zorro had
to stop Don Luis for good.
_______________________________________________
Above Canon Perdido, that afternoon
Carmen watched Don Luis
looking down at a bound and gag-
ged Victoria. Then he looked up
at the bluffs, as if expecting
Zorro to come down that way.
Carmen hid, so he wouldn't
see her, and waited for Zorro to
appear.
Earlier, after Diego, Don
Alejandro, and Carmen had worked
out a plan to rescue Victoria, Don
Esteban had come with the horse.
It was perfect for Don Alejandro,
so he bought it.
After Don Esteban left,
they didn't brand the horse. If
Carmen was spotted with Zorro,
people would think Zorro was con-
nected to Don Esteban, hopefully.
Luckily, nobody saw Carmen with
Zorro between the time they left
the hacienda, and the time they
arrived at Canon Perdido.
Immediately, Zorro had
taken Tornado to the other en-
trance, while Carmen left her
horse, currently called Estrel-
la, above the bluffs.
Once Zorro surprised Don
Luis and began to duel with him,
Carmen would use her line and
hook to slide down without being
heard, since the clash of the
swords would drown out the sound
of her device. Or so she hoped.
Carmen looked down again.
That's when she saw Zorro quiet-
ly approaching Don Luis. She
tensed, and waited for the duel
to begin.
To be continued
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