The Curse of Capistrano

Don Diego Vega is a nobleman in California in the early 1820s, when the territory is under Mexican rule. Around the missions and pueblos near San Juan Capistrano, he passes for a man who cares more about comfort than swordplay.

That act is a cover. Diego is also Zorro, the masked rider who carves a Z into his opponents with his blade and stands against the soldiers and officials who prey on ordinary people. His pose is so convincing that no one suspects him.

Diego has his eye on Lolita Pulido. Meanwhile the villainous Captain Ramon and Sergeant Gonzales are hunting the bandit, and they have no idea he moves among the gentry.

This is the first appearance of Zorro, written by Johnston McCulley and published in 1919 as a five-part serial in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly. It later appeared in book form as The Mark of Zorro, after the 1920 film. The pace is fast and swashbuckling, with rough justice at its center. Most later Zorro stories, films and television series follow its template.