CHAPTER XVII. SERGEANT GONZALES MEETS A FRIEND
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?"
"I have not!"
"And has this Señor Zorro paid you a visit recently?"
"I do not know the man you mean."
"You h
