The Marked Man
This episode was written by Greg O'Neill and directed by Robert L. McCullough.
(Felipe is fishing. He hears shots in the distance. He goes to investigate and overhears the plotters.)
(Campsite outside Los Angeles.)
Correo: The time draws near, mi amigos. Fifteen years I have waited. Now, the time has come. All you must do is create a proper diversion. And if we succeed in this, you will all be greatly rewarded.
(They hear Felipe behind them.)
Gang member: Who is that?
Correo: Get him!
Gang member: Hijo!
Correo: Who are you?
Gang member: I know this one. He work for the de la Vegas. Big caballeros. He’s stone deaf.
Correo: Is he? (He fires pistol by Felipe’s ear, but Felipe has noticed and does not flinch.) Indeed. He is deaf.
Gang member: And now I am too.
Correo: He may be deaf, but he’s too intelligent to let go. He stays here till you men have plundered Los Angeles and the oh-so-grand alcalde lies dead at my feet.
(Los Angeles. The alcalde is walking with a lancer and surveying the preparations.)
Perez: Here is the platform where you will give your magnificent speech, Alcalde. And as you can see, we have taken the rope from the new mission bell and brought it right down to you. It is the very best rope.
Ramon: Don’t bother me with details, Lancer Perez, just make your report to… where is that imbecile?
Perez: Imbecile? Oh, he’s in the tavern.
(The tavern. Mendoza and Alejandro are playing chess.)
Mendoza: I just don’t know, Alejandro. I just don’t have the brain for it.
Alejandro: Check.
Mendoza: It’s like trying to teach a donkey how to play the guitar.
Alejandro: Check.
Ramon: Mendoza! You have work to do.
Alejandro. Oh, it’s my fault, Alcalde. I’m giving him a chess lesson.
Mendoza: I already know how to be in check.
Alejandro: And mate.
Diego: Father. I’m glad you’re here. I can’t seem to find Felipe.
Alejandro: What do you mean?
Diego: Well, his bed’s not been slept in, and he’s nowhere to be found.
Ramon: If only I weren’t busy with the dedication of the new mission bell, I’d give you two lessons in keeping minions under control. Mendoza. (They leave.)
Alejandro: (To Diego.) I’m sure we’ll find him somewhere. (As they exit the tavern.) Diego, did I mention that Felipe borrowed one of your mother’s old buttonhooks for some reason?
Diego: Buttonhook…fish hook…That’s it. He’s gone fishing. I’ll go to boulder creek. You’re a genius, Father.
Alejandro. Well, I have to admit I have my moments.
(Diego mounts Esperanza and rides away.)
(Men’s campsite. One is practicing shooting the crossbow.)
Correo: Nice shooting. Your only job is to put an arrow in Zorro if he interferes with my plan. The reward on his head will be yours.
Gang member: All right. Make sure it’s armed. So why don’t you want to share the bounty on Zorro, the spoils when we loot the pueblo?
Correo: I don’t want money. I want revenge. When the alcalde commanded San Ysidro, he stole a shipment of gold. Then he framed the treasurer of the town. Me.
Gang member: So that’s why you went to jail.
Correo: My family was sent back to Spain, shamed.
Morales: Ninety-six, ninety-seven. Here! (He sets up a tripod gun mount.)
Correo: You must practice until you can do this in your sleep, Morales. You won’t have much time when we’re in the plaza. Higher.
Gang member: He’s aiming too high.
Correo: What goes up, amigo, must come down. Fire! (Morales shoots upward. The ball makes a direct hit on a cabbage on a stick.) Now we can shoot over the heads of any crowd. The alcalde is as good as dead. But if all else fails, amigo, I have this. (He holds up a cross, pulls off part of it revealing it is a knife.) It’s time to go.
Gang member: What about the boy?
Correo: He stays here.
(The campsite…later.)
Diego: Felipe! Felip…Felipe! (Diego frees Felipe of his bonds.)
(The tavern. A man comes through the kitchen curtains, surprising Victoria.)
Victoria: The tavern is closed.
Gang member: (He grabs her.) This is to be a private party, Señorita.
(The alcalde’s office.)
Ramon: And you believe this preposterous story?
Diego: Felipe doesn’t lie.
Ramon: He also does not speak. So, pray tell, how do you know when he is lying or not?
Diego: We communicate through sign language.
Ramon: Ah yes…sign language. Well, perhaps you took this (he makes a palm’s up sign) for this (he turns his hand palm down). You are extremely naïve, de la Vega. The boy merely stayed out all night and concocted the story to save his own skin.
Diego: I doubt it.
Ramon: You are trying to embarrass me in front of the church elders. Well, it will not work. Now if you don’t mind, I’m an extremely busy man!
Diego: (As they leave.) “Arrogance is food for the foolish,” Felipe and I’m afraid the alcalde is a glutton. But not even he deserves an assassin’s bullet.
(The cave. Diego is seated talking to Felipe. A map is before him and as he speaks, there are scenes interspersed with the men scouting out the plaza just as he is describing.)
Diego: After the alcalde has been killed, the gang will loot the pueblo? This Correo is a ruthless opponent. Given what you’ve told me, how will he deploy his men? Since this is a religious ceremony, the lancers in the pueblo will be unarmed. They would certainly secure the armoury. Too many strangers in the square would arouse suspicion. So the gang would have to find somewhere to hide while they wait. And you said they have firecrackers. They’d be used to create a diversion. Are you sure the knife was this large? (He holds up a drawing for Felipe?) It’s far to unstable to throw. It’s a close range weapon. A musket with a range of 100 meters.
(Felipe makes a gesture of using a crossbow.)
Diego: No, I haven’t forgotten the crossbow, deadly at any range. You’re certain Correo said it would all start with the ringing of the mission bell?
(Felipe nods.)
Diego: We have no time to lose.
(Zorro’s stall. Zorro is mounted on Toronado.)
Zorro: (To Felipe.) Adios!
(Zorro rides into the pueblo. He dismounts and climbs up to the roof of a building.)
(The plaza, crowded with people.)
(Zorro knocks out one of the gang members. He climbs up onto the roof of the church. He throws down some firecrackers into the street.)
Ramon: (To Mendoza.) See that there are no more disturbances.
Mendoza: Sí, mi alcalde, I will start by checking the tavern.
Zorro: (His thoughts are in voiceover.) Ah, the crossbow. Where are the others? So, there you all are. And you’re about to have company.
(Mendoza enters the tavern kitchen, where Victoria is tied up in a chair.)
Mendoza: Señorita Escalante, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare chicken leg lying around, would you? (A pistol is thrust in his face.) I could come back later.
Gang member: (To Victoria.) And now you have a friend to keep you company until I return. And then we’ll have our party.
Gang member #2: (Sees Zorro across on another roof.) Ah! Just stay there, Zorro. (Aims and fires. Sees that he has hit his target.)
(The plaza.)
Ramon: Fair people of Los Angeles…
(As he speaks, on the other roof, Zorro takes the arrow out of his cape which he had put over a stick figure.)
(The plaza.)
Ramon: …this is an important occasion. Therefore my role today will be brief.
Zorro: (Voiceover) I need his long-winded pomposity, and today he decides to be brief.
Ramon: First I would like to welcome our visiting dignitaries.
(Applause.)
Zorro: (Voiceover) Where is that musket? (He sees it.) Of course. A high arc would increase the musket’s effective range.
Ramon: I would personally like to thank them for traveling all this way to Los Angeles where the sky is always blue and the air is always clean.
(Zorro climbs down from the building as Ramon continues talking.)
Ramon: Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, as I was saying, when I was a young man as some of you are out there today, I had (Zorro is seen knocking out the man with the crossbow.) a longing, a dream, a yearning, a desire, nay, an obsession. And so, esteemed members of the clergy and fair citizens of Los Angeles, it is with great pride in being the person you selected in inaugurating this great mission bell, this bell that was paid for by great generosity from myself and the other caballeros of this pueblo, and as I said, from myself, your most humble alcalde. (Zorro knocks out the man with the rifle.)
(The tavern.)
Gang member: Come on, come on.
(As the man looks out the window, Mendoza struggles to move his chair closer to where a knife is lying on the table.)
(The plaza.)
Zorro: (Voiceover.) Now, for
the missing piece…where is it?
Ramon: May the sound of the new mission bell ring out the commitment that I feel
for my people of Los Angeles.
Zorro: (Aloud.) A monk wearing boots? (Voiceover.) Sorry, Alcalde, I cannot let you ring the bell. (He holds the rope to the bell. Ramon looks toward the bell tower, but can’t see Zorro who has ducked behind the wall.)
(Ramon tries once more to tug on the rope.. This time the bell rings.)
(The tavern.)
Gang member: The bell! This is it.
(A freed Mendoza hits him over the head with a frying pan.)
Mendoza: There’s your bell, Señor.
Victoria: Very nice, Sergeant. Come on.
(The plaza.)
(Ramon sees Zorro sliding down the rope from the bell.)
Ramon: Zorro! I should have known. (Ramon cocks and aims his pistol at Zorro. Correo starts toward Ramon with the knife. As Zorro lands, he kicks Ramon to the ground and Ramon drops the pistol. Zorro kicks the knife out of Correo’s hand. Correo picks up the pistol.)
Ramon: Correo!
(Ramon draws his sword and stands side by side with Zorro against Correo
Correo: Fifteen years in territorial prison, alcalde. (He aims at Ramon and pulls the trigger, but the gun doesn’t fire. Correo runs to a horse and rides away.)
Ramon: (To the crowd.) Obviously a deranged man. (To Zorro.) You, you were behind all of this. (Raises his sword toward Zorro.)
Zorro: (Zorro knocks the sword from his hand.) I assure you, Alcalde, if it were my intention to kill you, you would already be dead. (To the crowd.) With all respect to the church and its ceremonies, my work is incomplete. (Zorro mounts and rides away.)
(The campsite.)
Zorro: Looking for your hostage, Correo? The young man you left tied to this tree could have starved to death. You endangered the lives of innocent people in the plaza today. Your personal vendetta against the alcalde knows no bounds, it seems.
Correo: You don’t understand. I went to prison for Luis Ramon.
Zorro: Killing him will not change that, Señor.
Correo: But it’s all I’ve thought about. It’s all I’ve lived for.
Zorro: Then it’s time you found something better to live for.
Correo: Fifteen years in prison, Señor. Do you know what that can do to a man?
Zorro: I only hope the alcalde will learn that for himself someday. Till then, I’m grateful that your plan failed today.
Correo: Then you’re not going to hand me over to him?
Zorro: No. I’m going to hope that you’ve learned the futility of revenge. You’re a free man. Keep it that way. (Zorro mounts.) Adios, amigo.
The End.