Test of Faith
This episode was written by Robert L. McCullough and directed by Ray Austin.
(The beach. A man crawls out of the sea up onto the rocks. Diego and Alejandro are riding in the area.)
Diego: Look, Father, tracks.
Alejandro: They look they are man-made, huh, Diego? (A man jumps out of a tree and attacks Alejandro.)
Diego: Father! (Diego pulls the man off his father and is about to punch him when he sees he sees the man is disoriented and oriental.)
Alejandro: Diego, where in the world did he come from?
Diego: Far away. Very far away.
(The hacienda. Diego carries the man and lays him on the sofa.)
Alejandro: Diego, I don’t remember ever having seen an oriental person before. (to Felipe) We found him on the beach. (The man mumbles something in Japanese.)
Diego: It’s all right. The fascination seems to be mutual. You’re in California. You’re safe here. (The man continues to speak.)
Alejandro: Well, we aren’t going to be able to understand his language. He doesn’t understand ours. (Felipe signs to Diego.)
Diego: Yes. Sign language. How did you come here? (Diego signs as he speaks and translates the man’s words as best he can.) Osaka? Fisherman. He’s a fisherman from Osaka.
Alejandro: What’s he doing this far from home fishing?
Diego: I don’t know. Maybe his ship smashed into the offshore reefs. Two ships? There were two ships, yes? Alejandro. (He indicates his father.) Alejandro. Diego. (He indicates himself.) Diego. What is your name? Hiroshi?
Alejandro: Hiroshi, hola.
Diego: He’s still a little frightened.
Alejandro: Well, tell him we’re here to help him. We’re friends.
Diego: Hiroshi, you are safe here. Safe. I think he knows he’s among friends. (Felipe brings a tray of food.)
Alejandro: Hiroshi, you’ll need this for your strength. Tamales!
(The cave)
Diego: Each of these compounds is derived from minerals I found just outside the pueblo. Just a few more minutes, Felipe. Some minerals are harder than others, some more absorbent, others more elastic, still others more mysterious. Hand me that candle, would you? This is the empirical method. The same technique was used by Archimedes, Galileo, da Vince, (Felipe points at Diego.) Yes, de la Vega. Let’s see what we have, shall we? (He lights several fuses. They explode.) It works! Magnesium powder! Wonderful! (Felipe signs a question.) Quite honestly, I have no idea what it’s good for, Felipe
(Alcalde’s office)
De Soto: Well, the Herreras and the Vierielles appear to be unsullied. Now let’s take a look at the de la Vegas.
Mendoza: Alcalde, why are you so interested in the family trees of our local pueblo caballeros?
De Soto: Sergeant, Spain is involved with a very expensive war at present in Europe. It’s the job of the Spanish colonies to provide the resources necessary for Spain to continue the battle.
Mendoza: Si, but what has that got to do with bloodlines?
De Soto: The original Spanish land grants were given to those of only Spanish heritage. Therefore only those of pure Spanish blood deserve the rights of full citizenship. That includes land ownership.
Mendoza: Well, many of our families have been here a long time, Alcalde. They have beautiful haciendas.
De Soto: Which will be of significant value to the Spanish crown once their owners prove to be of impure blood.
Mendoza: But how do we know whose blood is pure?
(Outside the hacienda)
Alejandro: Diego, did you see that? He just ate that fish without even cooking it.
Diego: Their culture is so very different from ours. (The man pulls a cloth over his eyes and begins practicing with a long stick.)
Alejandro: What’s this all about?
Diego: Just stand very still. (The man swings the stick within a breath of Diego’s face. Diego doesn’t flinch.)
Alejandro: That’s impressive! (Alcalde and Lancers arrive.) I wonder what he wants. (He leaves.)
Diego: How did you do that? (The man indicates his mind, eyes and heart.)
Alejandro: And to what do we owe this honor?
De Soto: Well, I have been reviewing the genealogical records of the pueblo families, and it would appear that the de la Vega family has a particular taint to it.
Alejandro: I beg your pardon.
De Soto: Your great- great
grandmother was of French extraction, was she not?
Alejandro: What of it?
De Soto: (Laughs) So shamelessly impure. (Diego and Hiroshi join them.)
Diego: Something wrong, Father?
De Soto: Who is that?
Diego: His name is Hiroshi.
De Soto: Arrest him.
Alejandro: Arrest him? What for?
De Soto: This man is obviously a spy.
Diego: You can’t prove that.
De Soto: Diego, the man is not like us. And even if he’s not here on a military mission, we cannot let him just roam around unattended and pollute our pure Spanish bloodlines.
Diego: Don’t be ridiculous.
De Soto: Take him away, Sergeant. (Mendoza tries to move the man who stands rooted in place.) Sergeant, let’s go.
Mendoza: I’m trying to, mi Alcalde. He won’t move. His feet are like tree roots. Madre de Dios!
Diego: Alcalde, in many ways, this man is not like us. If he doesn’t want to be moved, he won’t be moved.
De Soto: Either you come with us now peacefully or you face the consequences. (A lancer raises his musket and aims at the Hiroshi.)
Diego: This man has extraordinary powers of concentration. He might very well be willing to die.
De Soto: Well, then, is he willing to let you die (De Soto moves the gun barrel until it is pointing at Diego.) before he breaks his concentration?
Mendoza: That is Don Diego!
De Soto: Indeed. And it appears he’s firmly in league with this…heathen.
Alejandro: You have no right to threaten us.
De Soto: De la Vega, I have a sworn duty to protect the citizens of Los Angeles from foreign infidels and their collaborators. Now what’s it going to be?
Hiroshi: I will go.
Diego: You speak our language.
De Soto: So! The man is obviously a
foreign agent. Why else would he pretend to speak only his foreign gibberish?
Diego: Why didn’t you speak before?
Hiroshi: You language is difficult. I did not believe I could …
Diego: How did you pick it up so quickly?
Hiroshi: My grandfather, he sheltered Christian missionaries. They left books written in your language.
Diego: The Bible?
Hiroshi: Yes. My grandfather teach discipline of the mind. I hear words of your language. I remember its sounds.
De Soto: What unmitigated tripe! The man’s a spy. Sergeant, tie him to my horse.
Mendoza: Your horse?
De Soto: Be quick about it.
Alejandro: There are laws against the abuse of prisoners, Alcalde!
De Soto: Those laws do not apply to those who would threaten our sovereign security. (He urges his horse forward, dragging the man behind him.)
Mendoza: Alcalde, not so fast, please!
(The cave.)
Zorro: No time to lose, Felipe. Do we have everything? crossbow, molding wax, fuses, arrows. Good. (Zorro leaves.)
(Outside Los Angeles. DeSoto is leading the prisoner with the lancers following.)
Mendoza: Can’t we give him some water?
De Soto: There’s water enough for him in our jail, Sergeant.
Mendoza: What are the charges against him?
De Soto: Suffice it to say that Madrid will look favorably on my capture of a foreign agent. (Zorro appears.)
Zorro: I wonder how Madrid will look upon you when you return in a pine box?
De Soto: You and my little mongrel friend here will make a wonderful pair. Lancers, take him!
(Zorro fights with them. He is wounded in the leg by De Soto but manages to escape with the prisoner.)
De Soto: Sergeant, back to the quartel for fresh troops.
Mendoza: Zorro is impossible to track.
De Soto: Yes, I know. (He sees the blood on his sword.) Impossible, Sergeant, I don’t think so, because now he’s wounded. (he laughs.)
(Further outside Los Angeles. (Zorro is tending to his wound.)
Hiroshi: You…in pain?
Zorro: I managed to stop the bleeding but it went a bit deeper than I thought.
Hiroshi: I can help you.
Zorro: It’s all right. We have to keep moving. Take my horse. Toronado will get you to safety.
Hiroshi: No, I stay with you.
Zorro: I’m sorry. I really can’t help you. Not with this.
Hiroshi: It is I who can be of help.
Zorro: How?
Hiroshi: You must let go of your pain. (He reaches for Zorro’s mask.)
Zorro: No. My identity’s a secret.
Hiroshi: (He says something in Japanese.) Who you are is not my concern,
only what you are.
Zorro: All right. (Hiroshi applies his fingertips to pressure points on Zorro’s neck.)
Hiroshi: Feelings travels from your mind to your feet.
Zorro: Much better. I don’t believe it. You’ve completely stopped the pain. How did you do that?
Hiroshi: You must know your body from the inside as well as the outside, as both a weapon and a friend.
Zorro: And this? (He picks up his sword.)
Horoshe: The sword is no match for the knowledge.
Zorro: That is very true. Unfortunately, there are times when only a sword will help.
Hiroshi: You can cut that tree with your sword or your mind.
Zorro: I’m sure I could cut that sapling with my sword, but even Toledo steel could be dulled. (Hiroshi says something else in Japanese and then kicks at the tree, cutting it down.) You’re an interesting man, Hiroshi.
(The quartel. Lancers are leaving as De Soto and Mendoza watch.)
Mendoza: Zorro is probably in hiding by now.
De Soto: Wrong, Sergeant. Now that his loathsome little friend has an idea what’s in store for him here, I’m quite sure that Zorro is helping him flee the territory.
Hiroshi: I’m a sailor. I hate horses.
Zorro: Just hang on, Hiroshi. With lancers pursuing us, we can’t afford to stop. (They are ambushed by lancers.) Hiroshi, get down! (They both fight the lancers until the lancers run away.) Are you sure you don’t want to stay. We make quite a team.
Hiroshi: You honor me but man with white hair will destroy me.
Zorro: Yes, the alcalde will always hurt you, because he lives in fear of the outside world.
Hiroshi: You do not believe in his fears.
Zorro: Be assured, my friend, the alcalde does not speak for all of California.
Hiroshi: That is good.
(They get closer to the beach as time passes.)
Zorro: I don’t think they’re coming.
Hiroshi: (He is preparing something to eat.) They will come.
Zorro: You sound rather confidant. Hiroshi, there will be other lancers. I must get you out of this territory.
Hiroshi: They will come.
Zorro: How can you be so sure?
Hiroshi: I feel it. I will it. It will be.
Zorro: You do believe in the strength of your will, don’t you?
Hiroshi: They will come.
Zorro: (As Hiroshi hands him some of the fish.) What’s this?
Hiroshi: Traditional Japanese food. Eat.
Zorro: Very good. What do you call it?
Hiroshi: Sashimi. But if we had rice, sushi.
Zorro: Well, one day when California has become a place where people from all over the world can live in harmony, perhaps then we’ll be eating sushi and tamales.
Hiroshi: Not together.
(Time passes)
Hiroshi: (As Zorro shoots off a flare.) A fire arrow. You are a clever man, Zorro.
Zorro: Chemistry is a little hobby of mine.
Hiroshi: Yes. Yes, I like hobby. (There is an answering flare in the distance.) My sister ship. They come.
Zorro: You were right. You knew they’d find you.
Hiroshi: Yes, I knew in here.
Zorro: You are a wise man, Hiroshi. A man of great faith.
Hiroshi: What a friend.
Zorro: Adios, amigo.
The End