Zorro (novel) with Isabella and her chaperone, to find his father in prison and his lands confiscated by his arch-enemy Moncada. It is time for Zorro to ride again. Diego proposes to Bernardo that there should be two masked men, to get more done and to confuse the enemy, creating a fox mystique. Diego frees his father from prison, an older and frailer Don De La Vega, and gives him into the care of White Owl and his wife Regina at the Indian village to convalesce. Diego is captured and arrested, and freed by not one but two Zorro figures. Zorro confronts
Zorro, The Gay Blade was Zorro. That legacy now falls to Diego. He decides the masked ball is the perfect place to announce Zorro's return. On his way there, Zorro witnesses a peasant being extorted. He confronts and defeats Esteban's tax collector, then instructs the peon to spread the word that El Zorro has returned. Diego, in Zorro costume, dances with Florinda at the ball. Velasquez, the tax collector, reports the theft to Esteban, pointing to Diego as Zorro. A duel ensues with Esteban, and Zorro escapes by again jumping from a high wall, but this time injuring his foot and hobbling away. Later