The troopers came within sight of the _hacienda_, and could see no light. Gonzales stopped them where the driveway started, and listened in vain for sounds of the man they pursued. He dismounted and inspected the dusty road, but could not tell whether a horseman had ridden toward the house recently.
He issued quick orders, and the troop separated, half of the men remaining with their sergeant and the others scattering in such manner that they could surround the house, search the huts of the natives, and look at the great barns.
Then Sergeant Gonzales rode straight up the driveway with half his men at his back, forced his horse up the steps to the veranda as a sign that he held this place in little respect, and knocked on the door with the hilt of his sword.
Presently light showed through the windows, and after a time the door was thrown open. Fray Felipe stood framed in it, shading a candle with his hand--a giant of a man now past sixty, but one who had been a power in his time.
"What is all this noise?" he demanded in his deep voice. "And why do you, son of evil, ride your horse on my veranda?"
"We are chasing this pretty Señor Zorro, _fray_--this man they call the Curse of Capistrano," Gonzales said.
"And you expect to find him in this poor house?"
"Stranger things have happened. Answer me, _fray_! Have you heard a horseman gallop past within a short time?"
"And has this Señor Zorro paid you a visit recently?"
"I have heard that he seeks to aid the oppressed, that he has punished those who have committed sacrilege, and that he has whipped those brutes who have beaten Indians."
"It is my nature to speak the truth, soldier!"
"You will be getting yourself into difficulties with the powers, my robed Franciscan."
"I do not like the tone of your words, _fray_. I have half a mind to dismount and give you a taste of my whip!"
"_Señor!_" Fray Felipe cried. "Take ten years off my shoulders and I can drag you in the dirt!"
"That is a question for dispute! However, let us get to the subject of this visit. You have not seen a masked fiend who goes by the name of Señor Zorro?"
"You accuse me of falsehood?" Fray Felipe cried.
"My men must do something to pass the time, and they may as well search the house. You have nothing you wish to hide?"