The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley is a serial adventure novel presented in thirty-nine chapters. This excerpt introduces Sergeant Pedro Gonzales, an arrogant and bellicose military officer quartered in the tavern of Reina de Los Angeles during a February storm. Gonzales boasts loudly about his desire to capture the notorious masked bandit Señor Zorro, who operates along El Camino Real, robbing the wealthy and claiming to defend the mission Indians from oppression. Zorro's signature is carving a "Z" mark on his victims' faces. Gonzales scoffs at the outlaw's reputation and claims immunity from Zorro's depredations because of his martial prowess. The interruption of a visitor—Don Diego Vega, a young aristocrat of indifferent temperament—arrives drenched from the storm, startling the already-agitated sergeant and abruptly cutting short Gonzales's blustering monologue.