My thanks to PamZ. Her transcripts contribute significantly to the creation of this story.

Every word you recognize from the series isn't mine.

Chapter 6.

Victoria let her eyes wander towards don Diego, who was walking beside her. She had seen him come riding into the pueblo, dismounted, and notice her. Almost immediately, the don walked in her direction. Victoria had felt honoured. He had greeted her and walked beside her as she strolled past the vegetable stands in the plaza. After he asked her how she was doing, Diego started talking about the gossip in the pueblo. "I heard that you were probably right after all when you claimed that we know too little about Zorro's intentions. It seems he has taken on a new job."

Victoria tries to keep her attention on the purchases she plans to make. It is hard not to get distracted by the handsome man walking beside her. "I don't know. I don't think it's something Zorro would do."

"Why not? People are capable of great change, you know."

"Maybe. But Zorro has no reason to. Why would he first call out wanting to fight for justice, only to attack the Indians afterwards? It seems contradictory to me." Victoria was not quite convinced of Zorro's good intentions. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "I am inclined to believe there is more to it than meets the eye," She said.

"Still, humans can be so interesting, especially strangers."

Victoria gazed at him. "Strangers?"

Diego nodded. "Yes. They fascinate me." He stops walking and turns to Victoria. "You haven't seen any unusual travellers at the inn lately, have you?"

Victoria thinks for a moment. "Our only new guest is a noviciate. He is on his way to the northern missions. Oh." She turns and points to the right, then turns back to look at Diego. "And that old tinker over there."

Diego nods. The old tinker does not look to be physically able to make his appearance as Zorro. He, therefore, decides to turn his attention to the noviciate, to begin with. From out of the corner of his eye, Diego notices the tumult developing at the plaza. At over six feet tall, he towers over everything and everyone and sees that the alcalde is in the process of making a speech. He taps Victoria and points to the group of people gathering.
"The alcalde is going to say something. Let's go listen."

Meanwhile, the alcalde had made sure all eyes were on him when he began his speech. "..., Today, what happened to those poor Indians camping outside pueblo should have caused nothing short of outrage at the cruel cruelty of the man responsible for it. None other than that diabolical bandit, Zorro. Eyewitnesses saw how he set fire to the houses these poor people built with their own hands. I want you to know that I swore to myself..."

Victoria stood listening in open-mouthed amazement. Ramon had never spoken kindly of the Indians living nearby before. And now that Zorro has attacked those people, he suddenly cares? She smiled smugly. "He's just blathering on. Ramon caring about the Indians? Don't make me laugh." She looks at Diego, who stands listening to the alcalde with eyes squeezed, as if he doesn't want to miss a word of the speech.

"That I will arrest and prosecute this masked horseman. The continued criminal activities of a man like Zorro will only cause greater problems for all of us. Trust me, my people. I want only the best for you."

Ramon is interrupted by shouts from Mendoza. "Alcalde, alcalde!" He comes riding under the gate, followed by five lancers. Their uniforms are full of mud, and their shirts hang out of their pants.

Ramon focuses his attention on his lancers. "What is it, sergeant? What took you guys so long? You should have returned hours ago."

Mendoza, as he tries to catch his breath, utters. "We ran into Zorro!"

"Did you kill him?" Ramon asked hopefully.

Mendoza realized he was speaking to his superior and began to report. "That's not such an easy task, mi Alcalde. We were on a routine patrol, bravely doing our duty, when Zorro attacked. He almost killed us all. And then he tied us up. It took us hours to work our way free."

Don Diego asks. "Are you sure it was Zorro, sergeant?"

Mendoza turns and looks at the don. "Who else is wearing a mask and a black cape?"

Murmurs rose from the spectators in the square. First, there had been the attack on the Indians and now on soldiers who were supposed to defend the pueblo. It raises the question, does Zorro have more evil than good in mind? Was Ramon correct in his assumptions?

Ramon gestures with his hands to silence the crowd. "My people, we must work together to bring this criminal to justice."

Victoria takes a few steps toward Mendoza. "But Zorro has never fought for no reason. The times he came to Los Angeles were always to help someone." She looks around. No one seems willing to join her. "Surely, there must be an explanation." She had hoped that Diego would help her defend the absent man. Diego did nothing but stand there and listen.

Mendoza goes on to tell the alcalde what happened. "My men fought bravely."

Ramon nods approvingly. "Obviously, under your astute leadership."

Mendoza's chest swells at hearing so much confidence in the alcalde's voice. "This is true, my alcalde."

Ramon, as he and Mendoza walk away from the crowd. "Don't worry, sergeant, things here are to change."

"They are? Will I get a promotion?" Mendoza follows Ramon into his office as he tries to think of what the alcalde could be referring to. To himself, he mutters. "Maybe the alcalde will get a new horse."

Ramon sits behind his desk while waiting for Mendoza to close the door.

.

Diego sits at a table in the tavern and stares at Victoria in a way he hopes she will not notice. Ever since he returned from Spain, he has known there is no escape. He is madly in love with her. He has an idea that she likes him. At least she doesn't dislike him. He knows that sometimes she is secretly observing him, too, and when he catches her gaze, she gets a charming blush on her cheeks. Diego plans that when he gets things around Zorro sorted out a bit more, he will devote his free time to courting. These days, he is still too grateful when he sees his bed for more than a few hours. Toronado's training is going above and beyond expectations. The animal seems to sense what got expected of him. It doesn't take away from the fact that Zorro is absorbing every spare minute of his time. His father also has expectations for his son. Especially, sleeping till after eight irritated his father. Felipe had heard don Alejandro ask Maria, the housekeeper, this morning whether Diego used to sleep out so often and for so long when he was younger.

Diego saw the man enter the tavern he was waiting for. Mendoza had seen Zorro and was surely willing to share his terrifying experiences in exchange for a free lunch. He waved to the sergeant and made an inviting gesture.
"Sergeant, join me. After that awful experience this morning, you must require a good lunch. Ehh, señorita," Diego beckoned to Alicia. "Be so good a glass of wine for my good friend, the sergeant. And perhaps I can also offer you something to eat."

Mendoza took off his helmet and had a wide grin on his face. "Muchas gracias, don Diego. Señorita Victoria's tamales are delicious."

Diego turns his attention back to Alicia and says. "And a serving of tamales."

Mendoza sits down at the table. Diego shoves his plate, which has another tamale on it, towards Mendoza.

Mendoza takes his first bite and mutters.
"You are too kind, don Diego,"

"It's the least I can do for a man in uniform. Tell me again about your encounter with Zorro."

With a full mouth, Mendoza says.
"Well, it wasn't like him..."

Victoria walks through the tavern with an order for one of the other tables. To avoid a customer who suddenly takes a step back. Victoria swings out to the right. There stands the old tinker. The old man falls at the bottom of the stairs. In terror, Victoria drops the bowl of custard from her hands.
Diego gets up, intending to help the old man back to his feet. He hears Victoria apologize to the man.
Before he can do anything, the tinker smoothly gets to his feet. The tinker ignores Victoria rudely, steps in the middle of the custard with his shoe and walks up the stairs.
Diego's eye catches something lying on the floor. He picks it up. It must have fallen out of the man's pocket during the fall.
"Ah, señor, you dropped something." He extends his arm to give the fallen thing to the man.

The tinker comes down the stairs and without saying a word he snatches it from Diego's hand. The tinker then hurries back up the stairs.

Victoria is crouching down to clean up the shards and custard.

Diego asks her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, don Diego. Thanks."
She continues cleaning while Diego goes back and sits at Mendoza's table.

In the meantime, Mendoza has eaten almost the entire tamale and notes.
"The Alcalde's piece was bigger."

"Is that true? That was copper ore, right?"

Mendoza takes a sip from his wine glass. "Ah... I don't know things like that, don Diego."

Diego looks away with a worried expression. Copper ore and the man did walk very smoothly up the stairs. This incident had caused more questions than he hoped to find answers to by speaking to the sergeant.

.

Later that afternoon, Diego saw his imposter at work for the first time. After Mendoza left the tavern, Diego decided to have another chat with Victoria to see if she had noticed anything else. There had been a lot of uproars. Victoria had muttered, "Now what?" and had walked outside. On the roof had been Zorro, or that was to say it was a man dressed just like Zorro. He used tactics that were impressive and close to what the real Zorro had shown. The man had overpowered the alcalde and lancers. He even carved a Z into the sergeant's uniform. Then he had disappeared like a phantom. After he left, it soon became apparent why Zorro had come to Los Angeles. He had robbed the church's poor box.
What shocked Diego was how negatively Victoria reacted.

"We have been far too good in trusting him. What do we know about Zorro at all."

"He's taking on the alcalde." Had Diego noted in response? "And claims to fight for justice."

Victoria had said briskly, "I remember the day Ramon arrived in Los Angeles. He was charming and smooth as an eel. Two months later, we had five new taxes and a prison filled with innocent people. Zorro promised us to fight for justice. He pretends to be the saviour of the people. Look what he has done. Thanks to Zorro, those poor Indians have lost everything they have. And he even dares show up in broad daylight to rob the poor box." Victoria had smirkingly remarked. "Don Diego, do you still believe Zorro is fighting for our rights? I think he has decided to go for his own gain. I'll tell you something. In the end, even the noblest of man prefers money over justice."

Also, the crowd present had begun to chant. "Down with Zorro. Down with Zorro."

Everything he has worked extremely hard for over the past few weeks may have been for nothing. The confidence in the masked man was still fragile. For too long, the people got promises that were not kept. The actions of the imitation Zorro confirmed suspicions among everyone that Zorro had different intentions than he claimed to have. All this superstition is very convenient for the alcalde. Especially now that the people seem to be turning against Zorro instead of the alcalde. It had to stop. It was time for the real Zorro to discover what was going on.

The first thing to do was to find out more about who this man was. Diego has a strong suspicion. The old tinker had got up rather smoothly after his fall, and he also moved on the stairs in a manner not befitting his age. The tricky part, of course, would be to get his suspicions confirmed.

One riddle had already been solved, though. That was why Ramon was suddenly so interested in the land of the Indians. Assuming the copper ore was indeed there for the taking, it had to be simple to mine it. Something like that could yield thousands of pesos. Diego would not be surprised if it turned out that the tinker had been hired by the alcalde to create doubt among the public about Zorro's intentions. And he seemed to be quite successful at it, too. Earning thousands of pesos, getting rid of the Indians and Zorro all in one go. To the alcalde it must sound like something almost to good to be true.

.

Diego and Felipe were in the cave together. "Whoever he is, he certainly has the gift of appearing and disappearing at will." Diego searched among an impressive pile of papers for something he was sure he had. At the moment, he only wished he could remember exactly what he had read. He needed to start thinking about a better way to file his books and publications. "Ah, here I have it." He held up a sheet of paper. "Émilie du Châtelet and her study the Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu. Let's see what she wrote."
Diego walks over to the laboratory table, puts down the sheet of paper, and grabs a spyglass. He wonders for a moment, puts the spyglass back on the table, walks over to the cabinet where he keeps his chemicals, and takes out three vials.
In a porcelain bowl, Diego mixes two ingredients. He puts the bowl behind a glass screen and adds a small amount of the third ingredient. The liquid has turned a reddish-brown colour and begins to fizz. "Felipe, grab a brush, will you?"
Meanwhile, Diego unscrews the lens from the spyglass.

Felipe watches with interest as Diego covers the lens with the fizzing liquid.

Felipe holds out his right hand as if to pull something out.

"Magic?" Diego blows across the lens. "Well, I don't think so. Even the best tricks can get explained by reason and science." He flips the lens back into the spyglass and hands them to Felipe.

"Look through this. The glass removes certain colours from our vision, making others more visible with less light."

Felipe lowers the spyglass and hands it back to Diego, somewhat confused.

"It's all a matter of knowing how the world works. I think it's time we found out how this other Zorro does his work."

Using his right index finger, Felipe makes a Z in the air.

"Yes, my friend." Diego holds the spyglass before his left eye, checking that the instructions he followed made in Émilie du Châtelet's study worked sufficiently. "Tonight, the real Zorro rides."

.

.

I was curious to find out how Diego could have made his night vision spyglass. Not surprisingly, the series doesn't quite stoke with reality. The little information I could find about a homemade night vision divice was a complicated process that required a lot of time, diligence, chemical processes and ovens to be at the exact right temperature. So it was not something you easily put together in a mere afternoon.

The first description of infrared light came from Émilie du Châtelet in 1737. She was a woman. And the first to describe what we now call infrared radiation in her publication Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu. (Essay on the nature and propagation of fire.)

The discovery of infrared light was made by William Herschel in 1800. As a result of his research with a prism, he discovered that there must be another colour besides red that is not visible to the naked human eye.

Since there are types of night vision devices that partly work by using infrared light, I have taken the liberty of assuming that was what the writers wanted us to believe and what enabled Diego to create a night spyglass.

The reason as for why I have Diego making a night vision spyglass based on the study of Émilie du Châtelet is simple, she was a woman. And she must have been an extraordinary person to be able to do and publish this kind of research as a woman in 1737. I do want to point out that William Herschel would also have been a good option for a name to use in this story. In addition to being a musician, the man was a mathematician and astrologer. He and his sister, Caroline, built the largest telescope up to that time. Brother and sister have many astrological discoveries in their names. In 1787, Caroline Herschel was the first woman with a paid scientific job as her brother's assistant in the service of King George the Third.

.

PS. I hope you've already figured out that my description of how to make night vision goggles is made up and utter nonsense.