The mark of Zorro

He vaulted into the saddle and turned his horse up the steep slope of the hill behind the hut. The animal made little noise as it climbed to the summit. Señor Zorro descended in...

Shortly after daybreak the following morning there was considerable tumult in the plaza at Reina de Los Angeles. Sergeant Pedro Gonzales was there with a score of troopers, almo...

Behind him he left a tumult in the town. The shrieks of the fat landlord had aroused the _pueblo_. Men came running, servants hurrying at their sides and carrying torches. Women...

Señor Zorro would have had the sky heavy with clouds this night and the moon obscured, could he have had things his own way, for now he was riding along the upper trail, and his...

"Who are you, to speak to me of the proprieties?" Captain Ramón demanded. "Out of my way, scum! Cross me, and you shall be punished. I know things concerning you!"

Señor Zorro had gone a short distance through the darkness to where he had left his horse in the rear of a native's hut, and there he had stood, thinking of the love that had co...

Gonzales whirled at the word, and his blade came up. He saw that Señor Zorro had drawn his sword, and that he was holding the pistol in his left hand high above his head. Moreov...

The remainder of the night was spent by the _caballeros_ in loud boasts of what they intended doing, and in making plans to be submitted to Señor Zorro for his approval; and, th...

She turned away from the window, thankful that none of the household had seen Señor Zorro or knew of his visit. The remainder of the day she spent on the veranda, half the time...

On the table, near its middle, was an imposing _candelero_ in which half a score of candles burned brightly. Señor Zorro sprang toward it now, and with one sweep of his hand das...

Don Diego's carriage had just pulled up before his house when a squad of troopers went by it in a cloud of dust. He did not recognize any of them for men he had seen about the t...

Don Diego sipped his wine slowly and looked out across the _mesa_, and Don Carlos looked at him in puzzled fashion, realizing that something was coming, and scarcely knowing wha...

In came a gust of wind and rain and a man with it, and the candles flickered and one was extinguished. This sudden entrance in the midst of the sergeant's boast startled them al...

"I did," said the _señorita_. "And then he struggled with me, and he told me that I should not be so particular, since I was daughter of a man who stood in the bad graces of the...

Here was a fix! Don Carlos had no wish to anger Don Diego Vega or a man who stood high in the governor's regard. And how was he to evade it? If Lolita could not force her heart...

Sergeant Gonzales had heard the shots, and had rushed from the tavern with the other troopers at his heels, glad of an excuse to escape without paying for the wine he had ordere...

Again the sheet of rain beat against the roof of red Spanish tile, and the wind shrieked like a soul in torment, and smoke puffed from the big fireplace as the sparks were showe...

Don Carlos lost no time in hurrying out to the veranda again--since he had been listening and so knew what had happened--and endeavoring to placate the embarrassed Don Diego Veg...

One hour after Don Carlos Pulido and his ladies had been incarcerated in the _carcel_, Don Diego Vega, dressed most fastidiously, made his way slowly on foot up the slope to the...

Captain Ramón's courier, sent north with the letter for the governor, had dreams of gay times in San Francisco de Asis before returning to his _presidio_ at Reina de Los Angeles...

Within the space of half an hour Captain Ramón's wounded shoulder had been cleansed of blood and bandaged, and the captain was sitting at one end of the table, sipping wine and...

Señor Zorro knocked upon it with the hilt of his sword. They heard a man gasp inside, presently heard his steps on the stone flooring, and after a little time light showed throu...

The natives jeered and applauded. Don Diego's face went white, and for an instant his eyes met those of Fray Felipe, and in the face of the latter he saw resignation.

The dawn had come; the first pink streaks had appeared in the eastern sky, and then the sun had risen quickly above the heights to the east, and now the plaza was bathed in bril...

The following morning found the storm at an end, and there was not a single cloud to mar the perfect blue of the sky, and the sun was bright, and palm fronds glistened in it, an...

The _frailes_ drove the cart onward, Fray Felipe raised his hand in blessing, and Don Diego Vega turned aside into the other trail, the deaf-and-dumb Bernardo following at his h...

It was almost dark, but he could see quite well enough for his purpose. Candles had been lighted in the tavern; and from the building came the sounds of raucous song and loud je...

Twenty-three horsemen were galloping into the plaza. The beasts they rode were magnificent, their saddles and bridles were heavily chased with silver, their cloaks were of the f...

Señor Zorro urged his horse down the treacherous slope of the hill, where there was loose gravel and a misstep would spell disaster, and where the troopers were slow to follow....

Presently light showed through the windows, and after a time the door was thrown open. Fray Felipe stood framed in it, shading a candle with his hand--a giant of a man now past...

He darted to the window and glanced out. The troopers were surrounding the building. He could see the governor stalking across the plaza, crying his orders. Down the San Gabriel...

His blood was aflame with rage, his face was purple with wrath. There remained at the _presidio_ no more than half a dozen soldiers, for the greater part of the garrison had gon...

The two troopers came back into the room. They had searched the house well, they reported, invading every corner of it, and no trace had been found of any person other than Fray...

An hour after dusk that night a native sought out one of the _caballeros_ with the intelligence that a gentleman wished to speak to him immediately, and that this gentleman was...

The song ceased; the laughter was stilled. They blinked their eyes and looked across the room. Señor Zorro stood just inside the door, having entered from the veranda without th...

Señorita Lolita had to tell her parents, of course, what had happened during their absence, for the _despensero_ knew, and would tell Don Diego when he returned, and the _señori...

The threatened rain did not come that day, nor that night, and the following morning found the sun shining brightly, and the sky blue, and the scent of blossoms in the air.

The native hurried forward to fasten the door against the force of the wind, and then retreated to his corner again. The newcomer had his back toward those in the long room. The...

"It began ten years ago, when I was but a lad of fifteen," he said. "I heard tales of persecution. I saw my friends, the _frailes_, annoyed and robbed. I saw soldiers beat an ol...