Don Alejandro had opened his beautiful hacienda for all the neighboring rancheros to meet a new caballero, recently arrived from Monterey.  The August day had been warm, and the evening was pleasantly comfortable outdoors.  It was still daylight, and the guests mingled about, enjoying the hospitality of their host and the lavish buffet he had prepared for them.  Coming up the road, a carriage preceded a cloud of dust and stopped in front of the house; the guest of honor had arrived at last.
     "Don Bernardo Ciencia, welcome to my home," greeted de la Vega, shaking hands with the bronzed, rugged-faced man.  The newcomer was a few years younger than his host, and his wife still an attractive woman with dark brown hair.
     "Thank you, Señor de la Vega.  I apologize for our tardiness; we took a wrong turn.  May I present my wife, Doña Carlota."
     "Delighted, Señora.  Come this way, and I'll introduce you to the others."
     Some time later, Diego de la Vega stepped from the house and his father pulled him aside to meet the new couple.
     "A pleasure, Don Diego," Don Bernardo commented, shaking hands with the younger man.  "Your father tells me that you attended Madrid University and did quite well there."  The tall caballero demurred, but was interrupted by his father.
     "Now, Diego.  He's being modest as usual, Don Bernardo.  My son doesn't believe education should be limited to one's school days, but should be a life-long pursuit.  To that end, he continues to read and study every spare moment.  Diego is probably the most educated man in the territory, and I'm proud to say that most of his learning came from his own efforts."
     "An impressive testimony.  Señor, you are just the man I've been hoping to find here in Los Angeles.  I have two children--twins--who are preparing to enter the university in Mexico City next month.  They have been well-schooled until now, but I am afraid that there may be gaps in their knowledge that could hurt them.  I know it is a great imposition to ask, but would you be willing to tutor them during the next three weeks to help them prepare for their entrance examinations?  I realize that instructing teenagers is not the usual occupation for a caballero, but I'd gladly pay whatever fee you'd name."
     Diego was intrigued.  "I'd be happy to instruct your sons without charge, but only on the condition that they are genuinely eager to learn.  I've been teaching Felipe at home for years, so I'm well acquainted with the challenges of educating boys."
     "Uh, yes.  Well, they are indeed eager students, and would not disappoint your best efforts."  It was agreed that the instruction would commence the following day and every other morning after that until the Ciencia children left for Mexico.

     The next morning Diego and Felipe were in the library; the older man perusing his books and pulling several off the shelves.
     "I'll use this first session to get an understanding of what the boys know and where I can add something.  Would you like to join our little classes, Felipe?"
     The young man was convinced he would be outshone by the two prodigies shortly to arrive, but mouthed, "I might listen in."  The sound of carriage wheels outside lifted Diego's head.
     "They're here."  He opened the front door just as Ciencia was about to knock.  Behind the new neighbor was a well-groomed young man with the athletic good looks of his father and a beautiful young woman, who lifted her chin stubbornly when she saw the confusion in de la Vega's expression.  "Please come in," he stammered.
     "Thank you, Don Diego.  These are my children:  my son, Tomás and daughter Estrella.  This is Señor de la Vega," he added to the young pair.
     "I think I misunderstood you, Don Bernardo.  You surely didn't mean for me to prepare your daughter for university examinations, did you?" queried Diego incredulously.
     "I did indeed.  She's every bit as brilliant as my son, and I'm determined that she shall have the same advantages."
     "But, I beg your pardon, Señor; surely you know that women have never been allowed entrance into a university.  It's unheard of."
     "See, Father; what did I tell you?  He's too conventional to conceive of a woman with a mind fit for anything bigger than housekeeping," asserted the girl coolly.
     "Hush, Estrella.  It is true, Don Diego," appealed Don Bernardo, "that no woman has yet received entrance into a university, but that is my problem, not yours.  I plan to go to Mexico City with my children and fight for Estrella to be accepted on the basis of her learning, not turned down for her gender.  Are you still willing to teach--my daughter as well as my son?"
     De la Vega considered the challenge.  Maybe he was too conventional as the girl had said.  On the other hand, was education ever a waste, even if she could not go to the university?  He came to a decision, which Felipe had anticipated.  "I'll teach them both.  Knowledge equips everyone for the future."
     "Excellent," his neighbor beamed.  "I thought you were open-minded enough for the job.  You'll find them quite competitive, which is good; they push each other.  Tomás doesn't want his sister to exceed him in anything, and Estrella's just as determined to know as much as any man.  If time allows, would you also teach them the history of Los Angeles?  I think knowledge of one's new home is something every resident should have."
     After the father left, Diego got down to the business of discovering the depths of his students' knowledge.  Both were perfectly fluent in Latin, translating passages from Caesar's famous writings effortlessly.  Their English was also excellent, and Diego had them read aloud some scenes from Shakespeare.  The spirited señorita was a good impromptu speaker, able to explain clearly and logically any subject familiar to her.  Her more quiet-natured brother was well-versed in ancient philosophy and geography.  Their last tutor, however, was apparently not comfortable with chemistry and physics or any math higher than simple trigonometric functions.  Now their new instructor knew where to begin.  On their next day together, Diego would concentrate on math and science.

     The brother and sister had been catching on so quickly and enthusiastically to calculus and chemistry that by their fourth day of instruction, Diego felt they could all take a break from heavier studies to fulfill Don Bernardo's one request.  The three drove through the pueblo to the alcalde's office.  Knocking, then opening the door, de la Vega ushered his pupils inside.
     "Buenos dias, Alcalde.  These are my students of whom I spoke, the children of Don Bernardo Ciencia."  He introduced them to the commandant, who was disdainfully contemptuous as he met Estrella.
     "You are preparing to go to the university, Señorita?" he asked with a snort of derision.  "Hasn't anyone told you that higher education is for men only?"  The girl's eyes shot sparks of fury, and the caballero jumped in to smooth over the breach.
     "Señorita Ciencia is using the mind God gave her, which has aptitude in every area we've studied.  We're here to examine the pueblo records as I arranged with you."  DeSoto gave him a disgusted look, and shook his head while retrieving the large books from his shelves.
     The young lady touched Diego's arm lightly, and looked up at him with a blatantly adoring expression.  "Gracias, Señor," she whispered, while her brother rolled his eyes.
     The alcalde dropped the volumes on Sergeant Mendoza's desk.  "Here you are--just don't take them out of the office.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."  He sat down at his own desk and began reading through a stack of papers.
     The teenagers pulled up chairs and opened the oldest book.  They read through the original entries made by the first commander of the town.
     "Most of this is an everyday log of accounts, Don Diego," Tomás reported.  "How many animals, how many men, women, and children, what supplies they brought, and so on."  He turned the page and read on.  "Now this is more interesting--listen:  'March 18, 1782--Our supply ship from La Paz is two months overdue.  Food stores are being used up.  April 5, 1782--Still no ship.  Our crops have just been planted but it will be many months before they come in to provide us food.  None of us knows how to live off the land as the Indians do.  I have ordered half rations for everyone in the pueblo.  May 1, 1782--The good padre has appealed to all of us to pray for a miracle from heaven.  Unless the gracious Lord provides, we all face starvation.  Many of our tiny number are already weak from lack of food.  May 27, 1782--Another ship sailed into San Pedro Bay, attracted by our signal fire.  We are saved by the mercy of God, at the last possible moment.  In commemoration of our deliverance, we are burying a small box, filled with our most valuable treasure, beneath the first structure built in our town.'"  He looked at his tutor.  "What do you make of that, sir?"
     His sister exclaimed, "A treasure.  A buried treasure!  Do you suppose it's still there?  Could we find it?"
     Tomás reasoned, "It must be under the cornerstone of the church.  That is logically the oldest building."
     "In other pueblos that is true," Diego corrected.  "However, Los Angeles is the exception.  The church in the plaza was begun less than five years ago.  Before that, we all had to drive to the San Gabriel Mission, a few miles away."
     "Somewhere under the cuartel, then.  That would be the next most probable place," guessed Estrella.
     "Very likely," de la Vega agreed.  "However, I don't think the alcalde would appreciate our digging under all the buildings to find a box, though it would be a fascinating article to recover for its historical value.  Continue reading, please."

     Sergeant Mendoza came running across the garrison courtyard at the call from his commandant.  "Sí, Alcalde," he reported with a salute. "Sergeant," smiled DeSoto, at his most genial, "You've been assigned to this post many years, haven't you?"
     The lancer wondered where the conversation was leading.  "Sí, Alcalde, I've been in Los Angeles twelve years now," he answered cautiously.
     "Hmm."  The officer pursed his lips together thoughtfully.  "Do you happen to know which of these garrison buildings is the oldest?"
     "No, sir, but I think the jail was built shortly before I arrived."
     "Perhaps the barracks was built first," the officer mused.  "I want a work detail to report to me the first thing in the morning."

     The next day Diego rode into town to work on the newspaper.  His new schedule had certainly compressed his free time.  Fortunately, there had been no need for Zorro in the last few days, but neither had there been any opportunity to see Victoria at the tavern.  He felt restlessly dissatisfied with life in general when he could not see her, and finally pushed aside his work.
     Mid-morning found Señorita Escalante preparing food she would need for lunch.  She was cutting meat from a roast chicken when there was a knock at the kitchen door.  "Come in," she called.  "Diego," she said, somewhat surprised, as her visitor stepped through the doorway.  "You don't have to use the back door.  What brings you here?"
     "Your delightful company and the benefit of your feminine advice.  And I'll gladly pay for both by helping you while we talk."
     "I can always use extra help," she smiled.  "Wash your hands, and you can finish boning this chicken."  When he sat down, she began to tear the feathers from another bird.  "I've heard about your new pupils.  Is it true that one of them is a girl?"
     "Yes--that's the problem.  When we first met, Estrella had a chip on her shoulder about her desire for a higher education.  I offended her with my astonishment, I guess.  But as we've worked together, she's done a complete turnaround.  Now I think she has a crush on me."
     Victoria's peal of laughter filled the kitchen.  Her companion was exasperated.
     "Now what's so funny about that?" he demanded.
     "Nothing, nothing!" she gasped.  "The girl has excellent taste.  But the expression on your face!"  A second glance at his bemused countenance sent her off into another fit of mirth.  He reluctantly joined her with a smile.
     "Come on; I'm serious.  What should I do?"
     The innkeeper stifled her giggles and considered.  "She's leaving soon for Mexico City, isn't she?  You probably don't need to do anything.  It's the most natural thing in the world for a girl to fall in love with an older man, especially if the man is handsome, intelligent, and courteous.  She'll grow out of it as she meets more men her own age.  In the meantime, you can be flattered; you're her first love."
     "I'd rather be a woman's last love than her first," he reflected.
     She looked in his face sympathetically.  "You and I--we're a lot alike.  Both waiting and hoping that someday . . ."  She trailed off and catching herself, changed the subject quickly.  "What do you think the señorita's chances are of being accepted by the university?"
 
     Don Alejandro strode in the front door the following noon with news from town.  He found his son, Felipe, and the two Ciencia students performing an experiment on the dining table.  He watched Diego lead his pupils through testing various elements with water, alcohol, and fire and helped them draw inferences on each substance based on what they had observed.  The older man was secretly impressed with his son's understanding of the mysteries of science, and noted with satisfaction his patient ability to teach.  When he was able to interrupt the class, he told the others the events of the day.
     "You'll never believe what the alcalde has the soldiers doing!  They are digging under the walls of all the cuartel's buildings!  The place looks like a rabbit's warren.  Mendoza said they are looking for something, but he wouldn't say what."
     Tomás exclaimed, "He must be looking for the treasure!  Sir, may we go to town and see if he's found it?"
     "Treasure?" echoed Alejandro.  "What treasure?"
     "The treasure the first settlers buried to commemorate the miracle," filled in Estrella.  "The alcalde must have heard us reading about it the other day.  I guess he's decided to recover the box to document the history of Los Angeles."
     Her tutor grimaced and exchanged a skeptical glance with his father, whose eyebrows had shot up at the girl's assessment of DeSoto's intentions.
     "The fact that the alcalde is keeping the object of his search a secret does not argue well for the purity of his motives.  I suspect he means to pocket anything he finds," the older de la Vega reasoned grimly.
     "But he can't do that!" cried the horrified girl.  "You'll tell him so, won't you, Don Diego?" she implored, turning her large, confident eyes appealingly toward her instructor.
     "Of course I will," he soothed.  "Why don't we drive into town and have a word with him?"
     The cuartel was a beehive of activity, as Alejandro had said.  The digging of the soldiers had attracted the attention and speculation of the townspeople, who privately joked about the mental stability of the harsh commandant.  Diego drove the carriage to the tavern and helped the girl alight after her brother.  Victoria came outside, eyes twinkling, and asked to meet the twins.  De la Vega performed the introductions and solicited her opinion of the alcalde's latest start.
     "I don't know what he's up to, but if he keeps digging under the foundations, all his buildings will collapse," the innkeeper observed.   Diego filled her in on what they had discovered in the pueblo's records, and she nodded.  "Ahh--now it makes sense.  It also explains why Sergeant Mendoza has been asking every property owner in town the construction date of his building.  I guess he found out that the cuartel buildings are the oldest.  Well, the alcalde's search hasn't been successful yet, or they wouldn't still be digging.  But if he does find it, I've a feeling he will be disappointed," she commented judiciously before returning indoors.
     The caballero and his pupils located the alcalde in the garrison courtyard, overseeing his tired, hot lancers shoveling dirt away from an interior wall.  The commandant was annoyed at the interruption.  When Diego reminded him of his obligation to protect the history of the town, DeSoto hesitated just a moment before responding hastily, "Yes, yes--of course.  Now if you don't mind, we're rather busy here."  He gestured the way out.

     On the way back to the hacienda, Estrella was indignant over the alcalde's attitude, Tomás exasperated with her outbursts, and Diego drove quietly, scarcely hearing their bickering.  He was puzzling over the old mystery and wondering if it could be solved.  Did the first settlers really bury the box, and if so, would it have weathered apart in the past forty years?  The wording of the old entry seemed awkward, too; what had it said?  "Burying a small box, filled with our most valuable treasure, beneath the first structure built in our town."  What could those pioneers have considered a treasure?  The original forty-four people were not wealthy; in fact, most were poor and jumped at the offer of free land in Alta California.  Neither were there many soldiers accompanying the group.  Perhaps it was unlikely for the barracks to have been built first, after all.  The families would have erected temporary shelters to live in while adobe was being prepared for permanent homes.  Suddenly with a flash of insight, he saw it all.
     "I think I know where the box is," he announced to his students.  And what's in it, he thought to himself.

     It amused Diego the rest of the day and the next to think of the alcalde expending so much energy following a false trail.  The caballero was not inclined to help the stubborn officer just yet; after all, the facts recorded in the pueblo records were there from which anyone could draw conclusions.  But his next teaching day, matters had become more serious, as Don Alejandro reported.
     "DeSoto is abandoning his search around the garrison and is claiming the law of eminent domain to dig around the shops and homes in the plaza," he fumed.  "He's ruining people's private property."
     Diego thought quickly.  "Tomás, Estrella; how would you like to be the ones to tell the alcalde where we think the box might be and watch its recovery?"  They agreed enthusiastically, and he added, "I'll write a note to the alcalde to explain my reasoning--that the first settlers would have made protecting their precious water supply a priority.  Perhaps it will persuade him to start digging elsewhere and leave the townspeople alone.  We'll continue our lessons when you return."  His father offered to accompany the pair back into town, and when they had left, Felipe caught his older friend's eye.  Exchanging a grin, they both ran to the fireplace's hidden door.
     Ignacio DeSoto had no respect for Diego's competence in any practical, manly skills, but he did grudgingly acknowledge his former schoolmate's mental capacity.  When he received the note from the Ciencia twins, he was receptive to trying a new area; the hostility from the townspeople coupled with more fruitless searching had made the morning a trying one.  He ordered his men to dig beneath the plaza's fountain.  Within the hour, Zorro cantered his big stallion into the plaza, dismounted quickly, and drew his sword to challenge the alcalde.  But his opponent was unarmed, as were all the lancers in the plaza.
     "There's a small matter of government destruction to private property, and these good townspeople want to know when your garrison will repair the damage caused by your treasure hunt," demanded the masked hero.
     DeSoto was chagrined at being caught unprepared and had no choice but to give a pleasing answer.  "Tomorrow.  The men will replace the dirt tomorrow."
     A grinding rumble from within the armory gates turned every head in the plaza.  A lancer ran to investigate and returned shouting.
     "Alcalde!  The barracks' walls have fallen in!"  Exclamations of dismay greeted the news and many ran to see the damage.
     "Zorro!  This is more of your doing," accused the officer.
     His enemy shook his head.  "Hardly.  Any wall will collapse when its foundation is removed."  At that moment, a private called that he had found something.  The alcalde, Diego's students, and interested townspeople crowded closely to see as the man brought up a small metal box.
     "Give it to me," DeSoto demanded, and the private did so.
     "One moment, Alcalde," reminded Alejandro, "The box belongs to Los Angeles, not you."
     "As alcalde, the responsibility of protecting the pueblo's history is mine, de la Vega."
     Señorita Ciencia demanded with heat, "Then why is everyone suspicious that you plan to keep the treasure for yourself?  A better place for the box would be the church."  The crowd murmured its assent with the girl's words as the officer glared at her.
     Zorro recommended with a grin, "Señorita, let the alcalde have the box.  He'll open it now to show everyone its contents."
     Revealing the box's treasure was the last thing the commandant wanted to do, but again had been outmaneuvered by the man in black and the pressuring crowd.  He reluctantly agreed, forcing open the lid.  His look of astonishment could not have been more comical.
     "Seeds!" he gasped.  "Nothing but seeds!"  Through his fingers trickled seeds for beans, peas, corn, wheat, and melons.
     "Yes, Alcalde," stated Zorro.  "Seeds for food.  The first settlers commemorated their deliverance with a far greater treasure than gold."  He saluted and raced from the town as suddenly as he'd appeared.

     "Diego," called Señorita Escalante as the de la Vegas and Felipe entered the tavern three weeks later.  "A letter arrived for you this morning."
     "Gracias," he replied, taking it from her hand.  He opened it and began to read.  "It's from Don Bernardo.  He says that both his children passed the entrance examinations, but when the university's governing directors found out Estrella was a female, they absolutely refused to admit her."
     "Poor girl--I know she had her heart set on getting in," Victoria commiserated.  "Perhaps someday women will have the same educational opportunities as men."
     "What a different world that would be," reflected Alejandro.  "Anyway, Diego, both children passed, and that's a real credit to your teaching ability."
     His son nodded, still reading.  "Tomás has started classes, and the university professors were so impressed by Estrella that they recommended her as a teacher to a young ladies' seminary.  She's staying in Mexico City also, and Don Bernardo is returning on next week's coach."
     "Your young admirer has forgotten you already," the lovely innkeeper teased.  "How fickle."
     Diego laughed, relieved.  "Whew!  But she's remembered something I taught her--the future belongs to those who are willing to learn."