Johnston McCulley

“ You would descend to torture?"
"Meal mush and goat's milk!" quoth Sergeant Gonzales. "You fooled me once in some manner, but you will not so fool me again. Search the house, troopers, and be sure that you search it well. I shall remain in this room and keep this entertaining fray company. I shall endeavor to discover what his sensations were while he was being whipped for swindling."
"Coward and brute!" Fray Felipe thundered. "There may come a day when persecution shall cease."
"Meal mush and goat's milk!"
"When this disorder ends and honest men be given their just dues!" Fray Felipe cried. ”

“ Gonzales asked.
"Is it not a time of night for honest men to be abed?" Fray Felipe asked in turn.
"It is, fray—yet we find you out of it. How does it "happen that you have not come from the house before? Did we not make enough noise to awaken you?"
"I heard sounds of combat—"
"And you may hear more, fray, else feel the sting of a whip again, unless you answer questions swiftly and to the point. Do you deny that Señor Zorro has been here?"
"I do not."
"Ha! Now we have it. You admit, then, that you are in league with this pretty highwayman, that you shield him upon occasion? ”

“ Their horses were beginning to show some fatigue already, but they did not spare the animals.
They saw Señor Zorro turn into the driveway that led to Fray Felipe's house; and Sergeant Gonzales chuckled low down in his throat because he felt that he had guessed correctly.
He had the highwayman now! If Señor Zorro continued to ride, he could be seen and followed because of the bright moonlight; if he stopped, Señor Zorro could not hope to cope successfully with half a score of troopers with Gonzales at their head. ”