Chapter Six
The next day, about mid-morning, Rudolfo came into the house, to the room Señora Helena charitably called her parlor, and said that a peon had been running around the plaza shouting that the soldiers had captured Zorro.
Señora Helena’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be true? Quickly, she went up to her second story window so that she could look out over the plaza because she remembered the commandanté’s words about seeing something interesting there. To her dismay, she saw a large cage on a cart being pulled out into the plaza with a man dressed all in black inside. From where she was, she could see that it was Zorro.
A crowd quickly gathered around and the soldiers had to push them back. Sergeant Garcia seemed to be reading a proclamation of some sort. Completely disappointed, Señora Helena grabbed the curtains and jerked them across the window to block the plaza from her sight. She sat down in her chair and sulked. Ortega had pulled it off! He had beaten her to the capture of Zorro. She ran the servants out of the room. She wanted to be alone.
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Unknown to Señora Helena, Diego and Bernardo had pulled up in their carriage just as the peon had been shouting about the capture of Zorro. They were astonished to say the least. They watched as the false Zorro was pulled out into the plaza in his cage. Señora Helena had not seen the two of them because they came in on the road that passed between the Magistrado’s office and the tavern, the only part of the plaza she could not see. Because of the threat posed by Señora Del Fuego, Bernardo was forced to stay by the carriage to watch for her. He would try to warn Diego if he saw her. Diego walked over toward the water well to take a better look. He arrived in time to hear Sergeant Garcia read the proclamation stating that Zorro would be unmasked and hanged at noon.
Had Señora Helena remained at her window only a few seconds more, she would have seen Diego talking to the sergeant.
Diego did not know what game was being played here, nor did he know by whom. He suspected it was some ploy by the Magistrado since the military was involved. He tried to pump Sergeant Garcia for information, but it was clear that he was as much in the dark as Diego was. The sergeant left saying that he had to go and supervise the building of the scaffold. There was only one thing left to do. Diego walked over to where Bernardo was waiting by the carriage.
Pretending to adjust the mule’s bridle he said in low tones, “It would be unfortunate if some innocent man were hanged for impersonating Zorro. On the other hand, it may be just a trick to capture the real Zorro. The situation will bear watching. I will take a room here at the tavern for the night. Bring me a change of clothes.”
Here Bernardo looked to make sure no one was watching and made the sign of a “Z”.
“Yes, hurry.” said Diego. Bernardo quickly got in the carriage as Diego went into the tavern. He remained there for a time drinking some wine and listening to the talk of Zorro’s capture. He did not learn anything new, however.
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Back at Señora Helena’s house, things were quiet. No one dared to disturb her when she was in such a dark mood. She had come all the way to this dirt town only to see someone else capture Zorro. Now she would have to go back to Mexico City and bear with Don Luís’ needling comments. She stewed for an hour or so. Finally she took a deep breath. She might as well go down and take a close look at El Zorro since he was near by. She went downstairs and told her servants what she was going to do. They asked to come also. They too wanted to see this infamous bandido. So the four of them headed out across the plaza towards the cart. She could see the bandido leaning on the bars of his cage speaking to a soldier who had just walked over from the cuartel. Their backs were to her. As they drew near, she heard Zorro speaking.
“Hey, Pablo, give me some water, eh? Hurry up. I do not want anyone to see. I will be glad to get back into my uniform. These black clothes are very hot in the sun.”
“Si, Roberto,” said the guard. “Just a minute. I have to draw a bucket of water before I can give you some.”
Señora Helena held up her hand to stop her servants and then motioned them to follow her as she turned and walked quickly away from the cage. She did not want the soldier and the captive to know she had overheard.
Her spirit had been restored. The man in the cage was a false Zorro! He was a soldier from the cuartel, dressed as the bandido. She still had a chance to win the wager after all. She did not have a clue as to what was going on; Ortega’s little hint was still too vague to be of any help. As they walked back over to her house, she heard the sound of hammering coming from inside the cuartel. Glancing over that way, she was able to look inside the gate and see that a scaffold was being constructed.
She shook her head. None of this made any sense. Señora Helena clinched her teeth. She did not like being in the dark.
As soon as she got in the house, she sent Rudolfo back out to find out what he could by talking to the peons and shop keepers. Specifically, she wanted to know what was in the proclamation that Sergeant Garcia had read and anything else he could discover. She went back up stairs and opened the curtains again and raised the window to let in some air. She made herself comfortable in her chair by the window, determined to watch the plaza to see what developed.
Noon was approaching. By ones and twos peons and vaqueros were gathering in the plaza bringing carts and crates with them. At first Señora Helena did not think much of it, but then the number of peons began to make an impression on her mind. These people were up to something, but as yet she could not tell just what. Her attention was distracted as Rudolfo came in to make his report. She turned to face him with her back to the window as he filled her in on what he had learned.
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Diego walked out of the tavern and immediately noticed the large number of peons and vaqueros gathering in the plaza. They were pulling carts of all sizes and hauling crates and bags with them. They were all heading in the general direction of the cuartel gates. Sizing up the situation, he thought he knew why they were here. He was secretly flattered, but he had to stop them. They did not know that they were trying to save a false Zorro.
In the back of his mind he was worried about the whereabouts of Señora Helena and her prying eyes, but he could not just stand aside and do nothing. So he went over to try and reason with some of the peons closest to the cuartel.
“Excuse me, amigos. Is this some kind of holiday? So many of you here and the harvest going unattended?” he asked them.
“It is not a holiday, Patron,” said on of the peons. “We are here on a different matter.”
“Perhaps to free the outlaw, Zorro, eh?”
“He is our friend,” was the heartfelt reply.
“Nevertheless, he is an outlaw,” said Diego. “Take the advice of one who has your best interest at heart and leave this place. Your foolish action will earn for you only a lashing at the whipping post.”
“With all due respect to you, Don Diego, we cannot stand idly by and see Zorro hung. He is our only protection against the likes of the commandanté and the magistrado.” With that the peons turned away from Diego. It was clear that nothing he could say would change their minds.
He turned and saw some of his father’s vaqueros who were close by. He went over to them. “Juan, what are you doing here?” he said.
“Like the rest, Patron. I come when I heard Zorro had been captured.”
“I’m not sure that my father would approve of a de la Vega vaquero attempting to aid this bandit. I must ask you to go home.” He looked at the other vaqueros. “ I advise you men to do the same.”
“I am sorry, Patron,” said Juan. Then with a voice full of emotion he said, “But this man, Zorro, he may be an outlaw and a bandit in the eyes of the law, but he is the only one to stand between us and the whipping post.” Then he and his men also turned away from Don Diego. Everyone was being polite to the son of Don Alejandro, but it was clear that they had their minds made up. Diego was deeply touched that these people, as unarmed and unprepared as they were, cared enough to risk their lives for Zorro and by extension, him. He was at a loss as to what to do when he saw Bernardo pulling up at the tavern in the carriage. Maybe he could not do anything, but Zorro could! He met Bernardo and together they walked quietly behind the tavern with Bernardo carrying a satchel.
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Señora Helena turned back to the window just in time to see the peons signaling to each other. They all ran to pull their carts in front of the cuartel gate in order to block it, piling on anything that they could get their hands on. She could not tell what, if anything was going on in the cuartel. But she saw several peons run over to the cage where the false Zorro was and start to free him. The caged Zorro began to call out to the lancers within the cuartel. “Lancers!” he cried again and again. She could tell that the peons were so focused on releasing the prisoner that they did not heed his cries.
Suddenly, a man on a great black horse came tearing into her sight from the direction of the tavern. He was dressed all in black, cape flying in the wind. He was crying a warning to the peons in front of the cuartel. “Run for your lives, it is a trap! Run for your lives!” He spun the horse around and galloped over to pull up in front of the caged Zorro. “It is a trick! I am Zorro!” he cried.
“If you are Zorro, then who is he?” the peons asked.
“One of the commandanté’s men. He is an imposter. Tear off his mask and see for yourselves!” There was a great struggle between the peons and the false Zorro, but soon the mask was off. One of them cried, “It is Roberto! It is a trick men, we have been tricked!” The peons scattered. Señora Helena only had eyes for the real Zorro. She watched him closely. She had to admit her heart was beating a bit faster than she was accustomed to.
The lancers on horseback, led by the commandanté, finally broke free of the barricade and began pursuit of the real Zorro. He rode straight for Señora Helena’s house. She ran to another window to see him disappear around a corner just past a small well on the other side of the house. The commandanté was close on his heels. She was about to return to her bedroom window, when to her astonishment, she saw Ortega come around the same corner again, headed back to the plaza with the real Zorro, unhorsed, on the end of his rope. She did not know what fortune had smiled upon the commandanté that he should have captured Zorro. Her heart sank.
She found herself laughing mere moments later as she watched Zorro, who was being towed roughly by Ortega’s rope, suddenly snug the rope up against the small well using his leg to brace himself. Ortega was pulled off his horse, saddle and all, to land on his face. Zorro threw off the rope and leaped on the commandanté’s horse barebacked and flew down the street, right under Señora Helena’s window again. She leaned out trying to get a good look at him. Then realizing what she must look like, tried to regain her composure.
She saw Sergeant Garcia ride up and announce that they had captured Zorro’s horse. The look that Ortega gave the sergeant made Señora Helena laugh again. She had not been this well entertained in years. Ortega limped slowly back to the cuartel behind the lancers who were leading Zorro’s horse. She went back to her bedroom window to watch. Soon there was no one in the plaza, with only the empty cage, some carts, and a few broken crates to show that anything had happened.
She spoke to Rudolfo who had witnessed all this with her. “We certainly have had an interesting morning, Rudolfo. It looks like the excitement is over for now.”
“Yes, Señora, I believe it is,” said Rudolfo. Ever the practical one, Rudolfo asked, “Would the Señora like to have lunch now? It is after noon and Contessa has it ready.”
“Yes, I am hungry. I will be down in a few minutes. Go and tell her for me.” Rudolfo bowed and left. Señora Helena stood by her window thinking. She found herself wondering just where the real Zorro had heard about the trap for the peons and how he knew just when to come. For that matter just where did he come from? Did he live in the pueblo or out in the countryside at one of the haciendas? She thought about how he must be able to move freely around the pueblo. Since he wore a mask, none would know his face. What would it be like to be this Zorro and be able to walk anonymously through the town? He was truly like a fox if he could do this and it would explain how he might find out useful information.
She was also beginning to think that this bandit really did have an altruistic streak. So far, everything she had seen of him would lead her in that direction. She was not willing to believe that he was totally selfless, but he was predictable enough in his altruism that she could use that against him. A plan was beginning to form in her mind. After lunch, she would iron out the details and fill her servants in on the parts she wanted them to help her with.
Chapter Seven
Chapter Five
Chapter Four
Chapter Three
Chapter Two
Chapter One
Table of Contents
