Judge Dee at Work

THE RED TAPE MURDER

The coastal district of Peng-lai, where Judge Dee began his career as a magistrate, was jointly administered by the judge, in his capacity as the highest local civil servant, and by the commander of the Imperial Army unit stationed there. The extent of their respective jurisdiction was fairly clearly laid down; civilian and military affairs seldom overlapped. When Judge Dee had been serving in Peng-lai for just over a month, however, he was drawn unexpectedly into a purely military affair. My novel The Chinese Gold Murders mentions the large fort, three miles downstream from the city of Peng-lai, which was built at the mouth of the river to prevent the land­ings of the Korean navy. It was within the walls of this formidable stronghold that the military murder described in this story took place: a proper men's affair, with no ladies present — but featuring yards and yards of red tape!

Judge Dee looked up from the file he was leafing through and peevishly addressed the two men on the other side of his desk:

'Can't you two sit still? Stop fidgeting, will you?'

As the judge turned to his file again his two hefty lieutenants, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, made a determined effort to keep still on their stools. Soon, however, Ma Joong stealthily gave Chiao Tai an encouraging nod. The latter placed his large hands on his knees and opened his mouth to speak. But just then the judge pushed the file away and exclaimed disgustedly:

'This is most annoying; document P-404 is indeed missing! For a moment I thought that Sergeant Hoong must have inserted it in the wrong folder, since he was in rather a hurry yesterday before he left for the prefecture. But P-404 simply isn't there!'

'Couldn't it be in the second file, Magistrate?' Ma Joong asked. That folder is also marked with the letter P.'

'Nonsense!' Judge Dee snapped. 'Haven't I explained to you that in the archives of the fort they have two files marked P, P for Personnel and P for Purchases? In the latter file, paper P-405 concerning a purchase of leather belts is clearly marked: "Refer back to P-404". That proves beyond doubt that P-404 belongs to Purchases, and not to Personnel.'

'This red tape business is a bit beyond me, sir! Besides, those two P files contain only information-copies sent on to us by the fort. Now as regards the fort, sir, we ...'

'This is not mere red tape,' Judge Dee interrupted him sourly. 'It concerns the close observation of an established office routine, without which the entire administrative machinery of our Empire would get clogged.' Noticing the unhappy look on the deeply-tanned faces of his two lieutenants, the judge smiled despite him­self and went on in a more friendly tone, 'In the four weeks that you two have been working for me here in Peng-lai, you have proved yourselves able to deal efficiently with the rough work. But the task of an officer of the tribunal comprises more than the arrest of dangerous criminals. He must keep abreast of the office routine, harbour a feeling for its finer points, and realize the importance of adhering to those finer points — a practice some­times referred to by ignorant outsiders as red-tapery. Now this missing paper P-404 may well be quite unimportant in itself. But the fact that it is missing makes it of supreme importance.'

Folding his arms in his wide sleeves, he continued, 'Ma Joong correctly observed that these two files marked P contain nothing but copies, namely of the correspondence of the fort with the Board of Military Affairs in the capital. Those papers deal with purely military matters that don't concern us directly. What does concern us, however, is that every single file in this tribunal, whether important or unimportant, must be kept in good order, and must above all be complete!' Raising his forefinger for em­phasis, the judge went on; 'Remember now, once and for all: you must be able to rely unreservedly on your files, and you can do so only when you are absolutely sure they are complete. An in­complete file has no place in a well-run office. An incomplete file is worthless!’

'Let's heave that P-file out of the window, then!’ Ma Joong exclaimed. Then he added quickly: 'Beg your pardon, sir, but the fact is that Brother Chiao and I are rather upset. This morning we heard that our best friend here, Colonel Meng Kwo-tai, was found guilty last night of having murdered Colonel Soo, the Vice-Commander of the fort.'

Judge Dee straightened himself. 'So you two know Meng, eh? I heard about that murder the day before yesterday. Since I was very busy writing the report Hoong took to the capital, I didn't make inquiries. Anyway it's a military case that exclusively con­cerns the commander of the fort. How did you two come to know Colonel Meng?'

'Well,' Ma Joong replied, 'a couple of weeks ago we ran into him in a wine-house when he was spending his evening off here in town. The fellow is a fine athlete, excellent boxer, and the fort's champion archer. We became fast friends, and he made it a prac­tice to spend all his free evenings with us. And now they say he shot the Vice-Commander! Of all the silly nonsense ...'

'Don't worry,' Chiao Tai comforted his friend. 'Our magistrate'll straighten it all out!’

'It was like this, sir,' Ma Joong began eagerly. 'Day before yesterday the Vice-Commander ...'

Judge Dee stopped him by raising his hand. 'In the first place,' he said dryly, 'I can't meddle with the affairs of the fort. Second, even if I could, I wouldn't be interested in hearsay of the murder. However, since you know the accused, you may as well tell me something more about him, for my orientation.'

'Colonel Meng is an upright, straightforward fellow!’ Ma Joong burst out. 'We have boxed with him, got drunk with him and gone wenching with him. Let me tell you, Magistrate, that that's the way to get to know a man inside out! Now Vice-Commander Soo was a martinet and a bully, and Meng got his share of his foul mouth. I can imagine that some day Meng might fly into a rage and strike Soo down. But Meng would give himself up at once, and face the consequences. To shoot a man in his sleep, then deny he did it ... No, sir, Meng wouldn't do that. Never!'

'Do you happen to know how Commander Fang feels about it?' the judge asked. 'He presided at the court martial, I presume.'

'He did,' Chiao Tai replied. 'And he confirmed the verdict of premeditated murder. Fang is a haughty, taciturn fellow. But rumour has it that he isn't too happy about the verdict — despite the fact that all the evidence points straight to Meng. Goes to show how popular the man is, even with his commanding officer!'

'When did you two last see Meng?' Judge Dee asked.

'The very night before Soo was murdered,' Ma Joong said. 'We had our supper together in the crab restaurant on the quay. Later that night two Korean merchants joined us, and the five of us had a real good drinking bout. It was long past midnight when Brother Chiao dropped Meng at the military barge that was to take him back to the fort.'

Judge Dee sat back in his chair and slowly tugged at his long sidewhiskers. Ma Joong quickly rose and poured him a cup of tea. The judge took a few sips, then he set his cup down and said briskly:

'I haven't yet returned Commander Fang's courtesy call. It's still early in the morning; if we leave now we'll be at the fort well before the noon rice. Tell the headman to have my official palankeen ready in the courtyard to carry us to the quay. In the meantime I'll change into ceremonial dress.' He got up from his chair. Seeing the satisfied looks of his two lieutenants, he added, 'I must warn you that I can't force my assistance on the Com­mander. If he doesn't ask for my advice, then that's the end of it. In any case I'll take the opportunity to ask him for an extra copy of that missing document.'

The sturdy rowers drove the heavy military barge to the north of the river in less than an hour. On the low bank to the left rose the forbidding walls of the fortress; ahead was the muddy water of the estuary, broadening out into the wide expanse of sunlit sea beyond.

Ma Joong and Chiao Tai jumped onto the quay under the towering front gate. When the captain of the guard discovered Judge Dee's identity, he at once took him across the paved court­yard to the main building. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai stayed behind in the gatehouse, for the judge had instructed them to pick up any gossip about the sensational murder.

Before stepping inside, Judge Dee cast an admiring glance at the thick, solid walls. The fort had been built only a few years before, when Korea had revolted against the T'ang Empire, and her fleet was preparing to invade China's north-east coast. The revolt had been crushed in two difficult campaigns by a Chinese expeditionary force, but the Koreans were still smarting from their defeat, and the possibility of a surprise attack had to be reckoned with. The river-mouth, and the fort guarding it, had been declared an emergency zone, and although it was located inside Peng-lai, Judge Dee had no authority in this particular area.

Commander Fang came to meet him at the bottom of the stairs, and took him up to his private office. He made the judge sit down by his side on the large couch against the back wall.

Fang was just as formal and sparing of words as when he had come to call on Judge Dee in the tribunal of Peng-lai. He sat stiffly erect, encased in his heavy coat of mail with the iron breast- and shoulder-pieces. Looking morosely at the judge from under his grey, tufted eyebrows, he brought out haltingly a few words of thanks for the visit.

Judge Dee made the usual polite inquiries. The Commander replied gruffly that he still thought his present post unsuitable for an old combat soldier. He didn't think the Koreans would start making trouble again; it would take them years to recoup their losses. And in the meantime he, Fang, had to keep order among more than a thousand officers and men cooped up idle in the fort.

The judge expressed his sympathy, then added, 'I hear that a murder occurred here recently. The criminal has been found and convicted, but I am eager to hear more about the case. As you know, Peng-lai is my first post, and I would welcome an oppor­tunity to enlarge my experience.'

The Commander gave him a sharp look. He fingered his short grey moustache for a moment, then he got up abruptly and said curtly:

'Come along, I'll show you where and how it happened.'

While passing the two orderlies who stood stiffly at attention by the door, he barked at them:

'Get me Mao and Shih Lang!'

The Commander led the way across the inner courtyard to a large, two-storeyed building. As they ascended the broad stair­case, he muttered, 'Case worries me, to tell you the truth!’ At the head of the stairs four soldiers were sitting on a bench. They sprang to attention. The Commander guided Judge Dee down the long, empty corridor to the left. It ended at a heavy door; over its lock was pasted a strip of paper bearing the Commander's seal. Fang tore it off, kicked the door open and said:

'This was Vice-Commander Soo's room. He was murdered on the couch over there.'

Before crossing the threshold, the judge quickly surveyed the spacious, bare room. On his right was an open window arch, about five foot high and seven foot broad. In the recess below it lay a quiver of lacquered leather, containing a dozen or so iron-tipped arrows with red shafts. Four more had spilled out of the quiver. The room had no other window or door. On the left stood a simple desk of scarred, unpainted wood, on which lay an iron helmet and another arrow. Against the back wall stood a large bamboo couch. The reed mat covering it was stained with ominous, brownish spots. The floor consisted of roughly hewn boards; there was, no rug or floor mat.

After they had gone inside, the Commander said:

'Soo used to come up here every afternoon about one o'clock, after drill, to take a brief nap till two, when he would go down to the officers' mess for the noon rice. Day before yesterday Colonel Shih Lang, who assists Soo with the administrative paper­work, comes up here a little before two. Planned to go down to the mess together with Soo, and have a few words with him in private about a breach of discipline concerning a Lieutenant Kao. Shih Lang knocks. No answer, so he thinks maybe Soo has gone down already. He steps inside to make sure, and sees Soo lying on that couch over there. He has his mail jacket on, but an arrow is sticking out of his unprotected stomach, and his leather trousers are covered with blood. Soo's hands are round the arrow's shaft — apparently he made a vain attempt to pull it out. But the tip is barbed, you see. Soo's as dead as a doornail.'

The Commander cleared his throat, then went on, 'You see what happened, don't you? Soo comes in here, throws his quiver in that recess, his helmet on that desk, then lies down on the couch, doesn't bother to take off his mail jacket or his boots. When he has dozed off ...'

Two men entered and saluted smartly. The Commander motioned the tall man in the brown-leather uniform to step for­ward and grunted:

'This is Colonel Shih Lang, who discovered the body.'

Judge Dee took in Shih Lang's heavy, deeply lined face, his broad shoulders and long ape-like arms. He wore a short mous­tache and ring-beard. His lacklustre eyes stared sullenly at the judge.

Indicating the squat man who wore the short mail jacket, pointed helmet and baggy trousers of the mounted military police, the Commander added: 'And this is Colonel Mao, who was in charge of the investigation. Used to be my chief of military intel­ligence during the Korea campaign. Able fellow.'

The judge made a perfunctory bow. He thought Mao's thin, cynical face had a rather foxy expression.

'I was just explaining the facts to the magistrate here,' Com­mander Fang told the two men. "Thought we might as well have his opinion.'

The two newcomers remained silent. Then Colonel Shih Lang broke the awkward pause. He said in a deep, rather hoarse voice, 'I hope the magistrate'll find another solution. In my opinion Meng is not a murderer. Let alone one who foully shoots a man in his sleep.'

'Opinions don't matter,' the military police chief remarked dryly. 'We only deal with facts. And on that basis we reached a unanimous verdict of guilty.'

The Commander hitched up his sword belt. He took Judge Dee to the large window arch and pointed at the three-storeyed build­ing opposite. 'The ground floor and the second floor across the yard there have no windows — our storerooms are located there. But do you see that big window up on the top floor? That's the armoury.'

Judge Dee saw that the window indicated was of the same type and size as the one he was standing at. The Commander turned round and resumed, 'Now then, Soo was lying with his feet pointing towards this window. Experiments with a straw dummy proved that the arrow must have been shot from the window up in the armoury there. And at that time there was no one there but Colonel Meng.'

'Quite a distance,' Judge Dee remarked. 'About sixty feet, I'd say.'

'Colonel Meng is our champion archer,' Mao observed.

'Not a job for a beginner,' Commander Fang admitted, 'but quite feasible for an expert with the crossbow.'

The judge nodded. After a few moments' thought he asked, 'The arrow couldn't have been shot from within this room, I suppose?'

'No,' the Commander replied curtly. 'Four soldiers stand guard day and night at the head of the stairs, at the other end of the corridor. They testified that after Soo had come up here and before Shih Lang's arrival, no one passed them.'

'Couldn't the murderer have scaled the wall, entered through the window and stabbed Soo with the arrow?' Judge Dee asked. 'I am just trying to cover all possibilities,' he added quickly as he saw the pitying looks of the others.

'The wall is perfectly smooth, no human could ever scale it,' Fang said. 'Not even Shih Lang here, and he is our expert in that art. Besides, there are always soldiers about in the yard below, so nobody could perform antics on the wall unnoticed.'

'I see,' Judge Dee said. He stroked his long black beard, then asked: 'Why should Colonel Meng want to kill the Vice-Commander?'

'Soo was an able officer, but short-tempered and a bit rough in the mouth. Four days ago he cursed Meng in front of the troops, because Meng had taken sides with Lieutenant Kao.'

'I was present,' Mao said. 'Meng kept himself under control, but his face was livid. He brooded over this insult, and ...' He paused significantly.

'Meng had been bawled out by Soo before,' Shih Lang remarked. 'He was accustomed to it, didn't take it seriously.'

Judge Dee said to the Commander: 'You mentioned this breach of discipline by Lieutenant Kao before. What did he do?'

'Soo cursed Kao because his leather belt was cracked. Kao answered back and Soo was going to have him severely punished. Colonel Meng spoke up for Kao, and then Soo went for Meng.'

'I was going to put in a word for Kao too,' Shih Lang said. 'That's why I came up here, directly after the morning drill. I thought that if I talked to Soo privately, I could make him drop the case. And to think that fate ordained Kao as the main wit­ness against Colonel Meng, his protector!’

'How was that?' the judge asked.

Commander Fang sighed. 'Everybody knew that Soo always used to come up here for a nap after the morning drill. And Colonel Meng was in the habit of going up to the armoury to exercise with the heavy spear before going down to the mess hall. Fellow is as strong as an ox, doesn't know the word fatigue. But day before yesterday Meng tells his colleagues that he has a hang­over, he's not going up to the armoury after drill. Yet Meng did go! Look, do you see that smaller window up there, about twenty feet to the left of the armoury window? Well, that belongs to a room where leather goods are stored. Only the quartermaster goes up there, and only once in a fortnight or so. But Kao gets it into his head to look for a new leather belt there, because Soo had reprimanded him so severely about his old one. The fastidious beggar takes quite a time selecting a belt he likes. When he turns to the door connecting the room with the armoury, he happens to look out of the window. He sees Shih Lang enter Soo's room here. Shih Lang suddenly halts in his tracks right in front of the window arch, stoops, then starts waving his hands and rushes out of the room, shouting. Kao opens the door of the armoury to run down and find out what's wrong in the building opposite, and nearly collides with Colonel Meng, who is standing there fiddling with a crossbow. Both men rush down together and come up here directly behind the soldiers of the guard, who have been alarmed by Shih Lang. Then Shih Lang fetches me and Colonel Mao. When we arrive here, we know at once where that arrow came from, and I place Meng under arrest as the most likely suspect.'

'What about Lieutenant Kao?' Judge Dee asked.

Mao silently took him to the window and pointed outside. Judge Dee looked up and realized that though from the window of the storeroom one could cover the door of Soo's room and the space in front of the window arch, the part of the room beyond, where the couch stood, was out of range.

'How did Meng explain his presence in the armoury?' Dee asked the Commander. 'He said clearly that he wouldn't go up there that day, didn't he?'

Fang nodded unhappily. The idiot said that after he had gone up to his room to lie down, he found there a note from Soo, ordering him to meet him in the armoury at two. When asked to produce the note, he said he had thrown it away! We considered that story as strong proof of Meng's guilt.'

'It does indeed look bad for him,' Judge Dee agreed. 'Meng didn't know that Kao would go up to the leather room. If Kao hadn't surprised him, he would have sneaked back to his own room after the deed, and no one would have suspected him.' He stepped up to the desk and picked up the arrow lying next to the iron helmet. It was about four foot long, and much heavier than he expected. Its long, needle-sharp iron point, provided at the base with two wicked barbs, showed some brownish spots. 'I suppose this was the arrow that killed Soo?'

The Commander nodded. 'We had a messy job getting it out,' he remarked, 'because of the barbs.'

Judge Dee examined the arrow carefully. The shaft was lac­quered red, with black feathers attached to the end. Just below the iron point, the shaft had been reinforced by red tape tightly wound around it.

'Nothing special about the arrow,' Mao said impatiently. 'Regular army issue.'

'I see that the red tape is torn,' Judge Dee remarked. 'There is a jagged tear, parallel with the shaft.'

The others made no comment. The judge's remarks didn't seem to strike them as very brilliant. He didn't think much of them himself, either. With a sigh he put the arrow back on the desk and said:

'I must admit there's a strong case against Colonel Meng. He had the motive, the opportunity, and the particular skill required to utilize the opportunity. I'll have to think this over. Before leaving the fort, though, I'd like to see Colonel Meng. Perhaps Lieutenant Kao could take me to him, then I'll have seen all per­sons concerned in this vexing affair.'

The Commander gave the judge a searching look. He seemed to hesitate, then he barked an order at Colonel Mao.

While Lieutenant Kao was conducting him to the prison at the rear of the fort, Judge Dee unobtrusively studied his companion. Kao was a good-looking youngster, very trim in his close-fitting mail coat and round helmet. The judge tried to make him talk about the murder, but got only very curt answers. The young man was either overawed or extremely nervous.

A giant of a man was pacing the cell, his hands behind his back. As he saw the two men arrive in front of the heavy iron bars, his face ht up and he said in a deep voice: 'Good to see you, Kao! Any news?'

'The magistrate is here, sir,' Kao said rather diffidently. 'He wants to ask you a few questions.'

Judge Dee told Kao that he could leave. Then he addressed the prisoner:

'Commander Fang told me that the court martial pronounced you guilty of premeditated murder. If there is anything you might adduce for a plea for clemency, I should be glad to help you formulate that plea. My two lieutenants Ma and Chiao spoke highly of you.'

'I didn't murder Soo, sir,' the giant said gruffly. 'But they found me guilty, so let them chop my head off. That's the army statute, and a man has to die sooner or later anyway. There's no occasion for any plea.'

'If you are innocent,' the judge resumed, 'it means that the murderer must have had a compelling reason for wanting both Soo and you out of the way. For it was he who sent you the faked note, to make you the scapegoat. So that narrows down the number of suspects. Can you think of anybody who had reason to hate both you and Vice-Commander Soo?'

'There were too many who hated Soo. He was a good admini­strator but a real martinet; he had the men flogged at the slightest provocation. As for me, well, I always thought I had only friends here. If I offended someone, I did it unwittingly. So that doesn't help very much.'

Judge Dee silently agreed. He thought for a while, then re­sumed, 'Tell me exactly what you did after you came back to the fort, the night before the murder.'

'The morning, rather!’ Meng said with a wry smile. 'It was long after midnight, you know! The boat trip back had sobered me up a bit, but I was still in a happy mood. The captain of the guard, a good fellow, helped me to get up to my room. I made a bit of a nuisance of myself, and wouldn't let him go, insisting on telling him in considerable detail about the good time we'd had, what nice fellows those two Koreans were, and about their splendid hospitality. Pak and Yee their names were — funny pro­nunciation those people have!’ He scratched his unruly head, then went on, 'Yes, I remember that I let the captain go only after he had solemnly promised me that he would come along too, next week. I had told him that Pak and Yee had said they'd have even more money to spend then, and were determined to throw a real party for me and all my friends. I laid myself down on my bed fully dressed, feeling perfectly happy. But the next morning I didn't feel happy any more! I had the father and mother of all headaches. Somehow or other I managed to get through the morn­ing drill, but I was glad when it was over and I could go up to my room for a nap. Then, just as I was going to throw myself on my bed, I saw that note. I ...'

'Couldn't you see it was faked?' the judge interrupted.

'Heavens no, I am no student of calligraphy! Besides, it was just a few scrawled words. But Soo's seal was on it and that was genuine — I have seen it a hundred times on all sorts of papers. If the seal hadn't been on it, I would have thought it a prank by a colleague and would have checked with Soo. But that seal made it genuine all right, and I went up to the armoury at once. Soo didn't relish people questioning his orders! And that's how my trouble started!’

'You didn't look out of the window while you were in the armoury?'

'Why should I? I expected Soo to come up at any moment. I examined a couple of crossbows, that's all.'

'YOU ARE SHIELDING SOMEONE, MENG!’ JUDGE DEE SAID ANGRILY

Judge Dee studied Meng's broad honest face. Suddenly he stepped up to the bars and shouted angrily:

'You are shielding someone, Meng!’

Meng grew red in the face. Gripping the bars with his large powerful hands, he growled, 'You are talking nonsense! You are a civilian. You'd better not meddle in military affairs!’ He turned round and resumed his pacing.

'Have it your own way!' Judge Dee said coldly. He walked down the corridor. The turnkey opened the heavy iron door, and Lieutenant Kao took him to the Commander's office.

'Well, what do you think of Meng?' Fang asked.

'I admit he doesn't seem the type that murders a man in his sleep,' Judge Dee replied cautiously. 'But one never knows, of course. By the way, I have mislaid one of the copies of the official correspondence you always let me have so kindly. Could I have an extra copy, just to complete my file? The number of the docu­ment is P-404.'

The Commander looked astonished at this unexpected request, but he ordered his aide to get the paper from the archives.

The officer was back in a remarkably short time. He handed the Commander two sheets. Fang glanced them through, then gave them to the judge, saying, 'Here you are! Routine matter.'

Judge Dee saw that the first page contained a proposal that Kao and three other lieutenants be promoted to the rank of captain, together with a list of their names, ages and terms of service. It was stamped with the impression of Soo's seal. The second sheet contained only a few lines, wherein the Commander expressed the hope that the Board of Military Affairs would speedily approve his proposal. It bore the Commander's large seal, the date and the number P-404.

The Judge shook his head. 'There must be a mistake somewhere. The missing paper must have dealt with the purchase of material, for the next number, P-405, a request for the supply of leather belts, refers back to P-404. Therefore P in P-404 must stand for Purchases, and not for Personnel.'

'Holy heaven!' the Commander exclaimed, 'clerks do make mistakes sometimes, don't they? Well, thanks very much for your visit, Magistrate. Let me know when you have formulated your opinion on Soo's murder.'

While the judge was stepping outside he vaguely heard the Commander muttering something to his aide about 'silly red tape'.

The fiery midday sun had transformed the quay in front of the gate into a brick oven, but as soon as the barge was well out into the river, there was an agreeably cool breeze. The sergeant in charge of the barge had seen to it that the judge and his two lieutenants had comfortable seats on the platform at the stern, under an awning of green cloth.

As soon as the orderly, who had brought a large teapot, had disappeared into the hold, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai stormed the judge with questions.

'I really don't know what to think,' Judge Dee said slowly. 'All appearances are against Meng, but I have a vague suspicion that the fool is shielding someone. Did you two learn anything?'

Ma Joong and Chiao Tai shook their heads. The latter said:

'We had a long talk with the captain of the guard who was on duty when Meng came back to the fort after his spree with us. He likes Meng, the same as everybody else in the fort. He didn't mind practically carrying Meng up to his room, though that was by no means an easy job! And Meng kept on singing bawdy songs at the top of his voice. He must have wakened up all his colleagues, I fear! The captain said also that Meng was no special friend of Soo's, but that Meng respected him as an able officer, and didn't take Soo's frequent fits of anger too seriously.'

Judge Dee made no comment. He remained silent for a long time. Sipping his tea, he looked at the peaceful scenery floating by. Both banks were lined with green rice fields, dotted here and there with the yellow straw hats of the farmers working there. Suddenly he said, 'Colonel Shih Lang also thinks that Meng is innocent. But Colonel Mao, the chief of the military police, be­lieves he's guilty.'

'Meng often told us about Shih Lang,' Ma Joong said. 'Meng is the champion archer, but Shih Lang is the champion at scaling walls! The fellow is one bunch of muscle! He is in charge of drilling the soldiers in this art. They strip down to their under­clothes, and with bare feet they have to tackle an old wall. They learn to use their toes as if they were fingers. When they have found a hold, they work their toes into a crack below, then reach up to find a higher hold, repeating this till they get to the top of the wall. I'd like to try it myself some day! As for that Colonel Mao, he is a nasty suspicious specimen; everybody is agreed on that!'

Judge Dee nodded. 'According to Meng, the two Koreans footed the bill for your party.'

'Oh,' Chiao Tai said a little self-consciously, 'that was because of a rather silly prank we played on them! We were in a gay mood, and when Pak asked us about our professions, we said all three of us were highwaymen. The two fellows believed us; they said they might have work for us some day! When we wanted to pay our share, it turned out that they had settled the whole bill already.'

'But we are going to meet them again next week when they are back from the capital,' Ma Joong said. 'Then we'll tell them the truth and the evening'll be on us. We hate sponging.'

'It may disappoint them,' Chiao Tai added, 'for Pak and Yee are expecting payment for three junks, and they are all set on having a big celebration then. Did you get the joke about those three boats by the way, Brother Ma? After Pak and Yee had told us about that business deal, both of them got such a fit of laugh­ter that they nearly rolled under the table!’

'That's where I nearly landed too!’ Ma Joong said ruefully. The judge had not heard the last remark, he was deep in thought, slowly stroking his black beard. Suddenly he said to Ma Joong, 'Tell me more about that night! Especially how Meng acted, and what he said.'

'Well,' Ma Joong replied, 'Brother Chiao and I go to the crab restaurant on the quay, it's nice and cool there. About dinner time we see the military barge come alongside, and Meng and another fellow get out. They say good-bye, then Meng comes strolling over to us on the terrace. He says he has had rather a heavy day at the fort, so we should have a really good meal. And that's what we did. Then ...'

'Did Meng say anything about the Vice-Commander, or about Lieutenant Kao?' the judge interrupted him.

'Not a word!'

'Did he seem to have anything on his mind?'

'Nothing beyond a base desire for a nice girl!' Ma Joong replied with a grin. 'Accordingly we go to the flowerboats, and there Meng gets that particular problem off his mind. While we are having a few rounds on deck, those two fellows Pak and Yee arrive in a boat, drunk as can be. The madame can't get them interested in business, although she trots out the best she has. The only thing Pak and Yee want is more wine, and lots of it, and some congenial conversation. So the five of us start on a protracted drinking bout. I am not clear about the rest — Brother Chiao had better take up the story from there!'

'You disappeared from sight, let's leave it at that,' Chiao Tai said dryly. 'As for me, a couple of hours after midnight I helped Meng lower the two Koreans into a rowboat, to be taken back to the Korean quarter on the other side of the canal. Then Meng and I whistled for another boat, and had ourselves rowed to the quay. When I had put Meng on the military barge waiting there, I felt rather tired, and since the crab restaurant was so near, I asked them to put me up for the night. That's all.'

'I see,' said Judge Dee.

He drank a few more cups of tea, then he suddenly set his cup down and asked, 'Where are we here?'

Ma Joong looked at the river bank, then answered, 'About half­way to Peng-lai, I'd say.'___

'Tell the sergeant to turn the barge round and take us back to the fort,' the judge ordered.

Ma Joong and Chiao Tai tried to elicit from the judge the reason for his sudden decision, but he only said he wanted to verify two or three points he had overlooked.

Back at the fort an aide-de-camp informed them that the Com­mander was in a secret staff conference, discussing important intelligence reports that had just come in.

'Don't disturb him!' Judge Dee told him. 'Get me Colonel Mao!'

He explained to the astonished chief of the military police that he wanted to have another look at the scene of the murder, and that he wished him to be present, as a witness.

Looking more cynical than ever, Colonel Mao led the three men upstairs. He broke the paper strip that had again been pasted over the lock on the door of Soo's room, and bade the judge enter.

Before stepping inside, Judge Dee told Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, 'I am looking for something small and sharp, say a splinter, or the head of a nail, and roughly within this area.' He indicated a square space of the floor, beginning at the door and ending halfway across the room in front of the window arch. Then he squatted down and began to examine the floorboards inch by inch. His two lieutenants joined him.

'If you are looking for a secret trap-door or any such hocus-pocus,' Colonel Mao said with heavy irony, 'I must disappoint you. This fort was built only a few years ago, you know!’

'Here — I have something!' Ma Joong exclaimed. He pointed at a spot in front of the window where the sharp edge of the head of a nail protruded from the floorboard.

'Excellent!' the judge exclaimed. He knelt down and scrutin­ized the nail-head. Then he got up and asked Mao, 'Would you mind prying loose that tiny fragment of red material sticking to the head of the nail? And at the same time have a good look at those small brownish spots on the wood there!’

Mao straightened himself, looking doubtfully at the small piece of red tape on his thumbnail.

'In due time,' Judge Dee said gravely, 'I shall ask you to testify that the fragment of red tape was indeed found stuck to the head of the nail. Also, that the brown spots found near it are most probably traces of human blood.' Ignoring the Colonel's excited questions, Judge Dee took the arrow from the desk and drove it into the floorboard next to the nail-head. 'This'll mark the exact spot!' He thought for a while, then asked, 'What happened to the dead man's personal effects, and to the contents of that desk drawer?'

Irritated by Judge Dee's peremptory tone, Mao replied coldly:

Those objects were collected in two separate containers, which I asked the Commander to seal. They are locked away in my office. We of the military police are, of course, not as clever and experienced as officers of the tribunal, but we know our job, I trust!'

'All right, all right!' the judge said impatiently. 'Take us to your office!’

Colonel Mao asked Judge Dee to sit down at his large desk, which was littered with papers. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai remained standing by the door. Mao unlocked an iron chest and took from it two packages wrapped up in oiled paper. Placing one in front of the judge, he said:

'This is what we found in the leather folder the Vice-Com­mander carried on a string round his neck, under his mail jacket.'

Judge Dee broke the seal and arranged on the desk a folded identification card of the Imperial Army, a receipted bill for the purchase of a house dated seven years before, and a small square brocade carrying-case for a personal seal. He opened the latter, and seemed pleased when it proved to be empty. 'I presume,' he said to Mao, 'that the seal itself was found in the drawer of the dead man's desk?'

'It was. It's in the second package, together with the papers we found in the drawer. I thought it rather careless of Soo to let his personal seal lie about in that unlocked drawer. As a rule people always carry their seal on their person.'

'They do indeed,' Judge Dee said. He rose and added, 'I don't need to inspect the other package. Let's go and see whether the Commander is through with his conference.'

The two sentries who stood guard outside the door of the council room informed them that the conference had just ended and that tea would soon be brought in. Judge Dee brushed past them without more ado.

Commander Fang was seated at the main table in the centre of the room. At the side table on his left sat Colonel Shih Lang, and another officer the judge did not know. At the table on the other side two senior officers were sitting, and Lieutenant Kao was sorting out a pile of papers on a small table apart; evidently he had been taking notes of the proceedings. All rose from their chairs when they saw the judge enter.

'Please excuse this intrusion,' Judge Dee said calmly as he advanced to the Commander's table. 'I came to report my findings regarding the murder of Vice-Commander Soo. Am I right in assuming that the officers assembled here form the quorum for a court martial?'

'If you include Colonel Mao over there, they do,' Fang replied slowly.

'Excellent! Please let Colonel Meng be brought in, so that we can have a regular session of the court martial.'

The Commander gave an order to his aide, then he pulled a chair up to his table and invited Judge Dee to sit down by his side. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai went to stand behind their master's chair.

Two orderlies came in with trays. All drank their tea in silence.

Then the door opened again. Four military police in full armour came in with Colonel Meng in their midst. Meng stepped up to the central table and saluted smartly.

The Commander cleared his throat. 'We are convened today to hear a report by Magistrate Dee, drawn up at my request, and to decide whether the said report shall necessitate a review of the case against Colonel Meng Kwo-tai, convicted of the premeditated murder of Soo, Vice-Commander of this fort. I request Magistrate Dee to make his report.'

"The motive for this murder,' Judge Dee began in an even voice, 'was to prevent the Vice-Commander from starting an investiga­tion of a clever fraud, by which a criminal hoped to acquire a large amount of money.

'I must remind you of the office routine regarding requests for the purchase of military supplies needed for this fort. After a request has been drafted by the Commander in council, a clerk writes the text out on official paper and it is passed on to the Vice-Commander, who checks its contents and impresses his seal on every page. He then gives the document to the Commander who rechecks it and impresses his seal at the end. When the customary number of copies have been made, the original is put in an en­velope addressed to the Board of Military Affairs in the capital, sealed and forwarded there by despatch riders.'

Judge Dee took a sip of his tea, then went on, 'This system has only one loophole. If the document consists of more than one sheet, a dishonest person here who has access to the official cor­respondence may destroy all sheets but the last one that bears the Commander's seal, substitute spurious ones and then send the document to the capital, including the authentic last page.'

'Impossible!’ Commander Fang interrupted. "The other sheets must bear the seal of the Vice-Commander!'

'That's why he was murdered!’ the judge said. The criminal purloined Soo's seal, and Soo discovered it. However, before going further into that, I'll first explain how the laudable devotion to office routine of a clerk here put me on the criminal's track.

'Three days ago, a request for the promotion of four lieutenants offered the criminal his chance. The proposal, as written out in its final form, consisted of two sheets. The first contained the request together with the names, ages, etc. of the four persons concerned. The second sheet contained only the Commander's recommendation for speedy action (in general terms, mind you!), the date and the file number: P for Personnel and the figure 404. The first page bore Soo's seal, the second that of the Commander.

'The criminal got hold of this paper on its way to the despatch section. He destroyed the first sheet and replaced it by one on which he had written an urgent request for the purchase of three war junks from the Korean merchants Pak and Yee, adding that the Board of Military Affairs was to pay out the purchase price — a small fortune! — to the said two merchants. After the criminal had marked this spurious page with Soo's purloined seal, he him­self put it in an envelope and addressed it: Board of Military Affairs, Section of Supplies. Finally he wrote in a corner of the envelope the number of the paper it contained, namely P-404, as prescribed. He gave the closed envelope to the despatch clerk; the extra copies of the original letter containing the request for the promotion of the four lieutenants he himself entered into the archives. Since he was not familiar with the new rules for distri­bution, he omitted to have one of those copies sent to my tribunal.

'Now it so happened that the same despatch clerk who sent out the sealed envelope marked P-404 received that same day another letter numbered P-405 containing a request for the purchase of leather goods. He remembered that the two Ps for Purchase and Personnel sometimes gave rise to confusion in the archives. There­fore, being a good bureaucrat, he added to this number P-405 a note saying, "Refer back to P-404"; for although he had not seen the paper P-404, he remembered that the Section of Supplies had been mentioned on the envelope. The clerk distributed the copies of P-405 correctly, including one extra copy for me. But when I checked my Purchases file, I found P-404 missing. That annoyed me, for I believe in keeping my files complete. Therefore I asked the Commander here to let me have an extra copy. He gave me a letter concerning the promotion of four lieutenants, which be­longed therefore to Personnel.'

The Commander, who had been shifting impatiently on his chair, now burst out: 'Couldn't you skip all these details? What is all that nonsense about three war junks?'

'The criminal,' Judge Dee replied calmly, 'was in collusion with the merchants Pak and Yee. Having received in the capital the money for this imaginary purchase, they were going to share it with the criminal. Since it would be many weeks before the routine checks in the Board of Military Affairs revealed the dis­crepancy with your reports on supplies received, the criminal had plenty of time to prepare his abscondence with the money.

'It was a clever scheme, but he had bad luck. On the night pre­ceding the murder, Colonel Meng and my two assistants met the two Korean merchants in the city and they got drunk together. The merchants thought the three men were highway robbers, and said something about the junks and the money they were going to get for them in the capital. My assistants reported that to me, and I put two and two together. I may add that when Meng came back to the fort he boasted to the captain of the guard about the munificence of Pak and Yee, and that there was more to come. The murderer overheard this and concluded — wrongly — that Meng knew too much, which fortified him in his plan to make Meng the scapegoat. When the criminal learned the next morning that Meng had a hangover and had decided not to go up to the armoury, he sent him a faked message, sealing it with Soo's seal which he still had in his possession.'

'I don't follow all this!' the Commander exclaimed crossly. 'What I want to know is: who shot Soo, and how?'

'Fair enough!' the judge said. 'Colonel Shih Lang murdered Soo.'

It was very still. Then the Commander spoke angrily:

'Utterly impossible! Lieutenant Kao saw Colonel Shih Lang enter and leave Soo's room; Shih Lang didn't even go near Soo's couch!’

Judge Dee continued calmly, 'Colonel Shih Lang went up to Soo's room a little before two, directly after wall-scaling drill. That means that he was clad only in an undergarment, and was bare­foot. He couldn't take any weapon, and he didn't need to. For he knew that Soo was in the habit of throwing his quiver into the window recess, and his plan was to grab an arrow and stab Soo to death in his sleep.

'However, when Shih Lang came in he saw that Soo had got up. He had stepped into his boots and was standing in front of his couch, wearing his mail jacket. Thus Shih Lang couldn't stab him as planned. But then the murderer saw that one arrow had dropped out of the quiver and lay on the floor pointing at Soo. Shih Lang stepped on it, put his big toe and the next around the shaft directly behind the point, and with a powerful kick sent it flying into Soo's unprotected abdomen. At the same time he put on an act for Meng, in case he was looking out of the armoury window: he waved his arms and started to shout — drowning the cries of his victim as he fell backwards on the couch. When he had made sure his victim was dead, he went outside and called the guards. Then, having come back to the room together with the Commander and Colonel Mao, he slipped Soo's seal into the drawer of the desk during the general confusion. It was neatly done; he overlooked only one fact, namely that the dead man would be found with his boots on. That suggested to me that Soo had not been killed in his sleep. It was understandable that Soo should have kept his mail jacket on while taking a brief nap, for it's quite a job to get it off. But he had thrown his helmet on the desk, and one would have expected him also to have stepped out of his boots before lying down.'

The judge paused. All eyes were now on Colonel Shih Lang. He gave Judge Dee a contemptuous look and asked with a sneer: 'And how do you propose to prove this fantastic theory?'

'For the time being,' the judge replied calmly, 'by the fact that you have a nasty scratch on the big toe of your right foot. For where the arrow was lying, the sharp edge of a nail head pro­truded from the floorboards. It tore the red tape round the arrow's shaft when you kicked it up, and also scratched your toe. Small bloodstains mark the spot. The final proof will be here later, when Pak and Yee have been arrested, and the false document traced in the Board of Military Affairs.'

Shih Lang's face had become livid, his lips were twitching. But he pulled himself together and said in a steady voice, 'You needn't wait for that. I murdered Soo. I am in debt and needed the money. In ten days I'd have applied for sick leave, and never come back. It hadn't been my intention to kill Soo. I had hoped to be able to return the seal by leaving it on his desk. But he discovered the loss too soon, so I decided to stab him with an arrow while he was asleep. But when I came in I saw that Soo was up and about. He shouted at me: "Now I have verified my suspicions, it was you who stole my seal!" I thought I was lost, for tackling Soo armed only with an arrow would be a difficult proposition, and if Meng looked out of the window he would see our struggle. Then my eye fell on the arrow on the floor, and I kicked it up into Soo's guts.' He wiped the perspiration from his brow and concluded: 'I am not sorry, for Soo was a mean bastard. I regret that I had to make you the scapegoat, Meng, but it couldn't be helped. That's all!'

The Commander rose from his chair. 'Your sword, Shih Lang!' As the colonel unbuckled his swordbelt he said bitterly to the judge: 'You sly devil! How did you get on to me?' Judge Dee replied primly: 'Mainly by red tape!'