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The Further Adventures of Zorro

(Five of the six chapters are presented as excerpts taken directly, word for word, from the weekly introductions, and then portions of the two installments that takes place on the Channel waters is included. Camp notes are in [brackets] )

What Has Already Happened

Through the connivance of a jealous Governor who wishes to punish Zorro, a benevolent highwayman (who in reality is the caballero, Don Diego Vega, with the interests of the common people at heart) that had interfered with the crooked politics of Spanish California more than a hundred years ago, Barbados, a pirate, is given permission to attack and sack the village of Reina de Los Angeles. This he may do with the assurance of no soldier interference for the garrison under Captain Ramon has been ordered away for ht night. The loot is to be the pirates, but Captain Ramon asks as his share the Lolita Pulido, fiancé of Zorro, be abducted and carried aboard the pirate boat. In looting the village, a sacred goblet is stolen from the church, whose priest, Fray Felipe, takes an oath that he will not reenter the edifice until he obtains the cup. Don Diego Vega (Zorro) is giving his friends a bachelor dinner when the pirates break in upon them, and in the fight that follows, slashes his mark - a "Z" - on Barbados's forehead. The pirates escape, using the only horses in town; Fray Felipe asks Zorro for aid in his quest; and at that moment a servant from the outlying home of Lolita Pulido brings word of the abduction. Alone, riding the only horse left in the village, Zorro makes a dash for the coast just in time to swim after the pirate boat; he manages to touch the hand of Lolita as she dejectedly cowers in the stern, assures her of his presence, and whilst the outlaws store their booty, Zorro hides himself aboard the ship. (from original synopsis of May 6 issue in May 13 issue)

Hidden in a storeroom, Zorro discovers Lolita is separated from him by only a thin partition; he reassures her the he will protect her. In the darkness he goes above, and on deck tricks the pirates into believing that the ship is haunted; Barbados, who alone disbelieves, grows fearful when he learns that the sacred goblet is aboard. With the coming of he morning Zorro is discovered, and after a mad chase over the decks and through the rigging, is captured. As he is forced to the plank, with a bar of iron lashed to his wrists, he is permitted to give Lolita a farewell kiss - with the assurance that "another will kiss her soon." Meanwhile, fast overhauling them, is a second ship that bears on its topsail the Mark of Zorro. [The second ship is manned by his fellow Caballeros, lead by his best friend Don Audre Ruiz, with Sergeant Gonzalez from the garrison and Fray Felipe from the mission - all who have ridden like madmen to the coast to catch a ship that can pursue the pirates who have sacked their town and homes. They see Zorro forced to walk the plank, they see Lolita cry for mercy, but they are forced to watch as Zorro suddenly drops into the sea with no apparent means of escape. ] (from original synopsis of May 13 in May 20 issue)

How Did Zorro Trick the Pirates into Believing Their Ship was Haunted?