No sooner does the honest new commandante arrive than he is assassinated by a mysterious stranger who frames an elderly beggar for the crime and appears to be part of a larger conspiracy.

Sergeant Garcia receives a mysterious note from Zorro. The happy soldier reads that Zorro will give himself up. When he returns for his sword, it is gone, so he sadly returns to the cuartel without having captured his foe.

The King's tax collector and his nephew are stopped by conspirators, while on their way to Los Angeles. The conspirators threaten the men unless they cooperate, then they seize Morales' official documents.