And then came evening, and down by the natives' adobe huts big fires were lighted, and the natives gathered around them to cook and eat and speak of the events of the day. Inside the house the evening meal had been prepared, and the family was about to sit at table when some one knocked upon the door.
An Indian ran to open it, and Señor Zorro strode into the room. His sombrero came off, he bowed, and then he raised his head and looked at the speechless Doña Catalina and the half-terrified Don Carlos.
"I trust you will pardon this intrusion," he said. "I am the man known as Señor Zorro. But do not be frightened, for I have not come to rob."
Don Carlos got slowly upon his feet, while Señorita Lolita gasped at this display of the man's courage, and feared he would mention the visit of the afternoon, of which she had refrained from telling her mother.
"Scoundrel!" Don Carlos roared. "You dare to enter an honest house?"
"I am no enemy of yours, Don Carlos!" Señor Zorro replied. "In fact, I have done some things that should appeal to a man who has been persecuted."
That was true, Don Carlos knew, but he was too wise to admit it and so speak treason. Heaven knew he was enough in the bad graces of the governor now without offending him more by treating with courtesy this man for whose carcass the governor had offered a reward.
"I crave your hospitality, _señor_. In other words, I would eat and drink. I am a _caballero_, hence make my claim in justice."
"Whatever good blood once flowed in your veins has been fouled by your actions!" Don Carlos said. "A thief and highwayman has no claim upon the hospitality of this _hacienda_."
"I take it that you fear to feed me, since the governor may hear of it," Señor Zorro answered. "You may say that you were forced to do it. And that will be the truth!"
Now one hand came from beneath the cloak, and it held a pistol. Doña Catalina shrieked and fainted, and Señorita Lolita cowered in her chair.
"Doubly a scoundrel, since you frighten women!" Don Carlos exclaimed angrily. "Since it is death to refuse, you may have meat and drink. But I ask you to be _caballero_ enough to allow me to remove my wife to another room and call a native woman to care for her."