Chapter 13
The pirates were busy breaking camp when Big Jim returned. A few hours later, a breathless Pepe rode into camp with news.
"Felipe is in jail!" he gasped out to his father. "The alcalde has arrested him!"
"Arrested Felipe? But why?"
"They say the alcalde thinks Felipe is Zorro!" The boy sank down onto a log near the extinguished firepit and someone handed him a canteen. He drank thirstily and went on, "The people that I talked to, they think the alcalde has lost his mind. Felipe can't be Zorro. Everybody knows that! He's too young, too little. Zorro is a big man."
"Surely the alcalde has to have some reason to arrest him."
"They said he was riding Tornado! So he must be Zorro if he was riding Zorro's horse!"
"Tornado!" Big Jim looked over at the brown stallion Franco had purchased in Santa Paulo. He had failed to find a black one. "Did they capture Tornado?"
"No, he ran off. Felipe must have been thrown. I'm not sure. I didn't get to talk to him, just the men milling about outside the jail."
Big Jim heaved a sigh of relief. So they didn't have Tornado.
"We have to find Zorro! He will save Felipe!" Pepe's voice was loud with excitement. "But where can we find him?" The boy's shoulders fell.
"Son, don't worry. We'll get him out of there. Trust me." He stooped down to pat the boy on the back, then rose quickly and called, "Franco!" When the man came close, he led him a little way away from the camp to speak to him. They walked downstream until they were out of sight of the camp.
"I want the men out of the area by tonight." As he continued giving his instructions to the man he trusted most among all his men, they both looked toward a soft whickering sound that came to them from even further downstream.
Tornado stood there, saddled, with head down, drinking from the clear water.
The two men looked at one another. "Looks like this is going to be a bit easier to pull off now," Big Jim said as Franco slowly approached the horse.
But it was not so easy. It took the two of them and several lumps of sugar before they could entice the horse to cooperate. Franco could do nothing with Tornado, despite his past experience with horses. But with some coaxing and a lot of patience, Tornado finally allowed Big Jim near him. As the pirate grabbed the loose rains firmly with his left hand, the horse calmed down nicely and nosed the man's right hand.
Big Jim whispered in the stallion's ear, "Yes, that's right, Tornado. You caught scent of your long lost master, didn't you, boy? Now you need to help me to help him. Understand? Good, good."
Big Jim's idea had been to make a few appearances, from a distance, as Zorro. Hopefully he could time them so that Diego de la Vega would be in attendance to throw off any suspicions that may have arisen in Diego's prolonged absence from the pueblo. Fearful that Diego's condition would preclude him from returning to his nightly masquerade with the vigor it would require, the pirate had planned to do this since before the Tesero landed in San Pedro. With Zorro's reputation behind him, he would need to do little to give the pueblo a sense of their protector's presence.
Little did he realize then just how valuable his impersonation was now destined to become.
"You mean the tunnel Grandfather insisted they build for escaping Indian attacks? Why, I haven't thought of that in years! I thought it was sealed off when I was a child." Alejandro had to remind himself constantly as he talked with his son to keep his voice down. It wouldn't do to be overheard discussing such things.
"No, Father, it is still there. Well, actually they just carved out a connecting entrance to a natural cave under the rock formations at the back of the hacienda. Felipe and I worked very hard to convert it to a workable laboratory. There is a stall for Tornado. We built a doorway in the cave entrance that can be raised and lowered, planted vines above so they'd grow over it to conceal —"
"Oh my! And all that time, I was marveling at how lazy you could be!"
The door opened and Victoria came in with a tray laden with Diego's lunch. "Are you two still talking? I thought I told you, Don Alejandro, Diego needs to be resting." She looked at both of them sternly. "Doctor Hernadez said —"
"Doctor Hernadez is being overly cautious." Diego smiled up at her as she placed the tray on his lap and then helped plump up the pillow behind him. "I really feel much better. I don't see why I can't get up and —"
"I am so glad to hear it!" The booming voice came from the doorway and all three heads turned to see Alcalde De Soto standing there smiling. They froze in place as the man strutted to the foot of the bed and announced, "For as soon as you are on your feet, you'll be able to walk up the steps of my gallows!"
"Alcalde, what are you talking about!" Don Alejandro had risen from his chair.
"You should know, Don Alejandro. It's your own words that condemned him." He laughed wickedly. "I must confess. I didn't believe it at first. But with the arrest of the boy, I have now finally worked it all out!"
"Felipe?" Victoria shrieked the name.
"Worked what out, Alcalde?" Diego asked calmly, his body tensing beneath the sheets.
"That you are truly what your letter and your father claimed — Zorro!"
"Zorro!" Diego laughed. "I'm surprised at you! But if you have arrested Felipe for some wild —"
"Oh, this is no 'wild' anything. I have you now." De Soto leaned down to rest his hands on the bed stead and said through clenched teeth, "No matter what tricks you try, no matter what lies you tell, I will see you hang!" The alcalde straightened and laughed loudly, triumph shining in his face.
Then he walked toward the door with all eyes following him and yelled down the hallway, "Men! I want two lancers at this door and at the window to this room twenty-four hours a day. If Diego de la Vega so much as steps a foot from that bed, I want him brought to the quartel!" Then he lowered his voice and addressed Diego once more. "Get well soon, Diego. I look forward to it."
As the alcalde vanished from the doorway, they could hear his hearty laughter resonating down the hallway.
Don Alejandro lowered his head and groaned. "Oh, Diego, what have I done?"
The three of them watched as the lancers took up their posts. The men faced outward from the room but were within easy hearing of any conversation that could take place inside the bedroom.
Don Alejandro held his head in both hands as he felt the full force of his betrayal of his own son.
"Father, what did you tell him?" Diego's voice was a whisper.
"Oh, Diego, I showed him your letter. Even in my grief, I was so proud and I wanted him to know what the letter told me. I boasted," he said miserably.
"The letters. I should have known. Why on earth did I write them!" Diego shook his head sadly.
"You wrote them because you wanted us to know." Victoria matched her own volume to the men's. "If you had died, I know I would have wanted to know."
"Yes, well, that may be, but since I am very much alive, they've proven to be very much of a problem. I should have foreseen such a situation."
"But what shall we do now?" She looked at him with utter confidence in her gaze. Diego would figure out a solution. He must! He was Zorro!
"I will make a deal with the alcalde," he said simply. "It is the only way. He will have to agree to let Felipe go and not to bring any actions against the two of you."
"In exchange for what?" his father said as he looked up quickly, alarm stealing across his face.
"In exchange for my cooperation, of course. Surely the alcalde will know he will need it." Diego said wryly, "I am Zorro, after all."
"That's right! And Zorro would not let himself be hanged! You must flee," Victoria whispered urgently. "Go tonight! Are you up to it? Can you —"
"Flee?" Diego repeated, surprised at her sudden turn from despair to desperation.
"Querida, yes, I am Zorro and that is precisely why I cannot flee. Zorro stands for more than cowardice, I hope." Diego looked down at his own hands. "I am prepared to face what I must. But I cannot allow my family or the woman I love to be in danger because of what I chose to do with my life." He lifted his eyes to Victoria's. "Victoria, please, you must go. I need to get dressed." Without waiting for her to comply, he looked up at his father. "Father, my brown suit, I think. It is rather somber for a hanging." Diego gestured toward the wardrobe.
Victoria and Don Alejandro exchanged looks of disbelief.
"Son, you can't mean to just —"
"Yes, I do. Father, this time, there's no other way. In order for you both to live through this, it seems I must not. Now, I will need your help. Please, Father." He lifted the covers and swung his legs off the bed. "Victoria, I want you to go to Padre Benitez. Ask him to come to see me in the jail. I would like to make you a de la Vega in name and fortune beforehand. And afterwards, he will need —"
"Oh, Diego!" Victoria released her tears. "I can't believe you — "
"Please!" He took her hand and kissed it, but he would not allow himself to look into her eyes. "Victoria, just do as I ask."
"Very well," she began. "But I can't believe you're giving up so easily. The Zorro I knew would not have. The Zorro I knew would have —"
"The Zorro you knew was really only I, Diego de la Vega, in disguise, Victoria. No extraordinary man, just plain Diego, a man you ignored on a daily basis." Diego pursed his lips. "I've often thought that you, of all people, put Zorro on too high a pedestal."
"Diego, that's not fair," his father spoke up as Victoria fought to control her sobs. "Zorro has been —"
"I'm sorry, Father. Victoria, forgive me, but if I'm going to do this with any grace, I need to do it quickly." He forced himself to look up and into her eyes. "Please. Do this for me, for Zorro." He licked his lips nervously and then said, "Go!"
Victoria wrestled her eyes from his and turned to open the door. She pushed her way past the two lancers and ran down the hallway toward the door. Her eyes were dry and the look on her face was sheer determination. She would do his bidding, but she would also pray for some miracle to save her one true love from the gallows.
