Johnston McCulley

“ Ramón only hoped that Don Diego would not learn much of the happening, for if a Vega raised hand against him, the captain would have difficulty maintaining his position.
Pacing the floor of his office, Captain Ramon allowed his wrath to grow, and thought on these things and many others. He had kept abreast of the times, and he knew that the governor arid the men about him were sorely in need of more funds to waste in riotous living. They had plucked those men of wealth against whom there was- the faintest breath of suspicion, and they would welcome a new victim. ”

“ The soldier saluted, hurried out to his horse, and rode furiously toward the north, toward San Fernando and Santa Barbara, and on to San Francisco de Asis, with the orders ringing in his ears that he should make all haste and get a change of horses at every mission and pueblo in the name of his excellency. ”

“ The Pulido hacienda is an excellent place for such a man to hide, being somewhat off the main highway. I fear that Señor Zorro makes it his headquarters when he is in this vicinity; and I await your instructions in the matter. I may add that Don Carlos scarcely treated me with respect while I was in his presence, and that his daughter, the Señorita Lolita, scarcely could keep from showing her admiration of this highwayman and from sneering at the efforts of the soldiery to capture him. ”