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39 - Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley · Mark of Zorro

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And goat's milk. They crowded forward, Troopers, natives, caballeros surrounding
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Don Diego Vega and the Signorita, who clutched at his
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: arm and looked up at him from proud and glistening eyes. Explain, Explain,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: they cried. It began ten years ago, when I was
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: but a lad of fifteen, he said, I heard tales
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of persecution. I saw my friends the fayilies annoyed and robbed.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I saw soldiers beat an old native who was my friend.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: And then I determined to play this game. It would
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: be a difficult game to play, I knew, so I
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: pretended to have small interest in life, so that men
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: never would connect my name with that of the highwaymen.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I expected to become in secret. I practiced horsemanship and
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: learned how to handle a blade. By the saints, he did,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Gonzale scrowled. One half of me was the languid
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Don Diego, you all knew, and the other half was
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the curse of Capistrano. I hoped one day to be
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and then the time came and my work began. It
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: is a peculiar thing to explain, Signories. The moment I
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: donned cloak and mask. The Don Diego part of me
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: fell away. My body straightened, new blood seemed to course
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: through my veins, my voice grew strong and firm. Fire
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: came to me, and the moment I removed cloak and mask,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: I was the languid Don Diego again, Is it not
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: a peculiar thing? I had made friends with this great
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: sergeant Gonzales, and for a purpose. Ha I guess the purpose? Cabileros,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Gonzalez cried, You tired whenever this Signor Zorro was mentioned,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: and did not wish to hear of violence and bloodshed.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: But always you asked me in what direction I was
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: going with my troopers, and you went in the other
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: direction and did your confounded work. You are an excellent guesser,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: said Don Diego, laughing as did the others about him.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I even crossed blades with you so that you would
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: not guess I was Senor Zorro. You remember the rainy
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: night at the tavern. I listened to your boasts, went
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: out and donned mask and cloak, came in and fought you, escaped,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: took off mask and cloak and returned to jest with you.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Ha I visited the Pulido Hacienda as Don Diego, and
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a short time later returned as Senor Zorro and held
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: speech with the Signorita. Hear, you almost had me, Sergeant,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: that night of Fray Felipees, the first night. I mean, ha,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: you told me there that you had not seen Senor Zorrow,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: nor had I. The fray does not keep a mirror,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: thinking that it makes for vanity. The other things were
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: not difficult, of course. You can easily imagine how as
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Senor Zorro, I happened to be at my own house
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: in town when the commandante insulted the Senorita, and the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Signorita must forgive me the deception. I courted her as
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Don Diego, and she would have none of me. Then
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I tried it as Signor Zorro, and the saints were kind,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and she gave me her love. Perhaps there was some
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: method in that also, for she turned from the wealth
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: of Don Diego Vega to the man she loved, though
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: she deemed him then an outcast and outlaw. She has
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: showed me her true heart, and I am rejoiced at it,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Your excellency, This Senorita is to become my wife, and
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I take it you will think twice before you will
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: annoy her family further. His excellency threw out his hands
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in a gesture of resignation. It was difficult to fool
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: you all, but it has been done, Don Diego continued.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Only years of practice allowed me to accomplish it. And
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: now Senor Czorro shall ride no more, for there will
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: be no need. And moreover, or a married man should
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: take some care of his life. And what man do
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I wed? The Senorita Lolita asked, blushing because she spoke
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the words where all could hear. What men do you love?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I had fancied that I loved signor Zorrow, but it
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: comes to me now that I love the both of them,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: she said. Is it not shameless? But I would rather
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: have you Signor Zorrow than the old Don Diego I knew.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: We shall endeavor to establish a golden mean, he replied,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: laughing again. I shall drop the old languid ways and
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: change gradually into the man you would have me. People
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: will say that marriage made a man of me. He
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: stooped and kissed her. There before them, all meal mushing
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: goat's milk, swore Sergeant Gonzales. This is the end of chapter,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: end of book. Thank you for listening, Si