Felipe knew he needed to do something. He had not been raised and taught by Zorro just to remain safely hidden in the cave when he needed to take action, when an innocent woman's life was at stake, as was his own home.

The first thing he did, thus, was to smash some of Diego's glassware. He knew his father wouldn't be thrilled about it, but he had no choice and was sure he'd understand. Then, armed with the glue, a small bucket of soapy water, a small sack filled with glass and a large bottle of ether, he made his way into the library. Once there, he poured the ether on a cloth he had with him, hidden in his sash, then on some blankets he spread on the furniture near the corridor.

The next step was to pour the glue at the entrance linking the large rooms at the front of the hacienda with the wing of the house where the living quarters were situated. He quickly covered in glue enough of the pavement to make sure the bandits would step in it, then placed the broken glass just at the edge of the portion filled with glue. His Grandfather might hate him for doing it, since it could have cause scratches to the marble on the floor, but, again, he couldn't see any alternative.

Finally, the soapy water he poured from that point forward, making sure it would cover most of the surface of the hallway and was unavoidable. All that was left to be done now was for him to hide behind a wall and wait.

Just as he was preparing to do so, however, he also decided it was a good idea to arm himself and to make sure he had a backup plan, should things go wrong. He, thus, returned to the cave, placed a small blade at the back of his sash and another one in the front, filled a new bucket of water and suspended it above the doorway to the corridor, tying up the string to a nearby chair which, if moved, would cause the bucket to collapse. A big book in his hands, ready for anything, he then blew out the candles lighting the entrance to the corridor and purposefully threw down the book to make some noise, only to collect it back a few seconds later.

"What was that?" He heard one of the thieves ask from what he was certain to be his grandfather's room.

"How should I know?" Another wondered. "Probably just the storm."

Felipe then dropped the book a second time and again collected it.

This time the thieves started suspecting something was wrong so their leader ordered one of the others to investigate. The man came slowly and, as he was about to exit the narrow corridor, he felt his boots stuck in the glue. His movement impaired, he lowered himself to see what the substance was and his own hand almost got caught in it. He could still move but with great difficulty so, with a "Qué coño?*" he abandoned his right shoe and took a huge step barefoot straight into the smashed glass which cut straight through his flesh making the man scream in agony. As he tried to reclaim his foot, holding it with his hands around the knee, he ended up falling because the other foot was still glued to the floor and he easily lost his balance. The glass was now also cutting through his face and left shoulder as his screams became louder.

Hearing him, one of the other men came rushing in, stumbled on his injured cohort, pushing the man back into the glass, just as he was getting up, and slipped, face down, on the soapy floor, banging his head into a wall and falling into unconsciousness. As soon as the second bandit was effectively knocked out, Felipe got out from behind the wall and proceeded to bang the head of the first thug with his book, taking him out as well.

Unfortunately, considering all the commotion, the third thug had also left the room just in time to see him and, hurrying to take Maria as his hostage, he pointed the gun at her head and asked loudly for Felipe to come out if he wanted to keep the woman alive. The young don, however, was known to be deaf, and he decided to continue playing that part, as Maria also informed the man about his handicap.

"Deaf, is he?" The bandit leader wondered as he asked the cook to take a candle off the wall so that they could see where they were going. Reaching the point where the pavement was filled with glue, he ripped a nearby curtain, tossing it over the compromised area, including the part filled with glass. He then guided Maria towards the entry into the larger rooms in the front of the hacienda, just as Felipe came out from behind the wall, the large volume in his hands, held before his chest, preparing to strike and defend himself from a bullet at the same time.

"Oh! The hero!" The thug exclaimed, his gun pointing alternatively at Maria and at Felipe. "Let's see how heroic you are when…" that was as far as he was able to get before Felipe used his leg to kick the chair next to him and the bucket of cold water fell on both the bandit and Maria. At that moment, the cook seized her chance to escape and head towards her young don.

Felipe took her hand and pushed her towards the library, indicating that she should hide behind one of the armchairs, then returned his attention to the intruder, just as the man, having recovered from his shock, was about to pull the trigger. He did so, as Felipe raised his book before his chest but nothing happened. Thus, he repeated the action a few more times, until he threw off the gun with its water-soaked gunpowder and drew his sword.

The younger man easily crossed the room to his grandfather's ceremonial sword and took it off the wall, preparing to defend himself. The bandit advanced towards him but, before throwing his first thrust, he slipped, lost his balance and fell, face first, into one of the loveseats, being instantly knocked out by the ether Felipe had previously poured on the blankets spread on it.

Twenty minutes later, when the three men slowly regained their senses, they found themselves gagged and tied up, each to a different chair, as their former hostage and the man who had ruined their plans were carefully cleaning the floors.

As soon as Felipe noticed they were awake, he took out the ether-soaked cloth he had with him and made sure to put them back to sleep, an action he repeated a few more times during that night, as he and Maria spent the Christmas Eve together, eating some of the woman's delicious food, playing cards and waiting for the rain to stop so that they could take the thugs into town.

Eventually, the two of them fell asleep in their chairs, around four in the morning and only woke up when Diego and Don Alejandro returned home.

*The 'safe' translation to the mentioned expression would be something like "What the hell?" In reality it's a bit more vulgar than that, but it's to the same effect.