Cresencia played with Pilar and gave her hard cookies. She helped the baby drink from a tiny silver cup. Pilar loved to bite the cup and seemed to enjoy the feel of the cool metal against her little pink gums with its budding tooth. Pilar was taking fewer and fewer naps and she made sure that Cresencia was kept very busy. But later in the afternoon the baby grew drowsy.
Cresencia rocked little Pilar and put the sleeping child in the cradle. She could not be left alone in this cradle anymore because now she would be able to move about and fall out. Don Diego had ordered a bigger cot made for her. They only used the old one downstairs now. She watched the baby sleeping and leaned forward to adjust the knitted blanket.
Cresencia heard a small rustling sound behind her and began to sit up. Suddenly a sharp pain sent sparks of light to her eyes. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came. Suddenly everything went black.
Taking their time, Diego and Anna Maria put their blanket and the basket back into the little carriage. Snapping the reins, Diego directed the chestnut horses homeward but in the slanting light of late afternoon they were in no hurry.
At first as they approached the hacienda they thought they heard an eagle. Anna Maria and Diego looked up at the sky and did not see anything. The piercing cry stopped and then began again. Diego stopped the carriage to listen. And suddenly they knew what it was. It was a shrill, high pitched scream of a woman and it was coming from the de la Vega hacienda.
Diego jumped from the carriage almost before it came to a stop. Anna Maria followed not far behind as they raced to the patio gate. Bernardo was gripping Cresencia by the wrists. She was screaming. She would not, could not stop her hysterical crying.
Diego rushed to her and Bernardo quickly stepped aside. Taking Cresencia by her shoulders, he tried to get through to her.
“Cresencia, CRESENCIA!!” Diego shouted, trying to break through, trying to understand what she was screaming. Then something caught his eye. There on the hard tile floor lay little Pilar’s knitted blanket and next to it, her empty cradle.
A cold deadly calm overtook him. He felt pain as he had never felt in his life. He felt his strength leave him as the strength and will leave a wounded, dying man. And then he felt rage seething in his chest.
In the face of his cold, hard grip Cresencia finally managed to take a breath.
“Tell me what happened.” His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke between clenched teeth.
She could not take her eyes off his face. The irresistible force of his grip and cold calm overtook her. Her knees buckled but Diego held her up.
“Tell me, Cresencia,” he said more gently.
But there was nothing she could tell him. Everything went black and the baby was gone. How long she had been unconscious she did not know. Waves of despair and hysteria took her again. Diego had no time for this.
Diego turned away from her to see Bernardo holding Anna Maria. She looked as though she would faint. Diego took her in his arms and whispered as he held her tight. “We will find her, Anna Maria. Have faith in us. Be strong. Be strong.”
Diego called to the servant Pepito. “Send someone for Sergeant Garcia. And, Pepito, get some strong brandy for them.” Diego spun around to go upstairs and kicked something white with his boot - a note on the tile floor where Cresencia had dropped it.
“For 20,000 pesos you will get her back. Or else she will die. We will contact you.”
Bernardo did not wait for Diego. He had already started up the stairs. He knew that Diego would not sit and wait to be contacted. He knew that his master would need a fast horse. Zorro would ride by day.
Table of Contents
Part One
Part Two
Part Four
