Necklace and Calabash

IX

The judge woke early, after a fitful sleep. He got up and opened the shutters. The clear sky promised a fine sunny day. After he had washed his face and combed his beard, he began to pace the floor, his hands behind his back. Then he suddenly realized he was tarrying only because he hoped Fern would bring the morn­ing tea. Annoyed with himself, he decided he would have break­fast in the Nine Clouds Inn across the street. He had better try to gather some general information about the town, and find out how he could get a good view of the walls of the Water Palace.

Down in the hall the young clerk stood yawning at the counter. Judge Dee muttered a perfunctory reply to his 'Good morning' and crossed the street.

Unlike the Kingfisher, the Nine Clouds had its own restaurant, located behind the main hall. At this early hour only half a dozen customers were scattered around the small tables, gobbling their morning rice. A small rotund man was standing by the counter, berating a surly waiter. He paused to give the judge a sharp look from his little beady eyes, then came waddling to meet him.

'An honour to receive a famous doctor from the capital, sir! Please take this corner table, quiet and cosy! You'll find our food better than anything the Kingfisher can offer you, sir. May I recommend rice fried with pork and onions, and crisp fried trout, fresh from the river?'

Judge Dee wanted a more frugal breakfast, but it might be worth engaging the garrulous innkeeper in some further talk. He nodded, and the fat man shouted the order at the waiter.

'I found the rooms in the Kingfisher quite comfortable,' the judge remarked, 'but I don't want to make any demands on the service, for that terrible murder of the cashier has upset the routine.'

'Yes, sir, Tai Min was a good man at his job, and a quiet, pleasant youngster. But it was Mrs Wei who ran the place, sir. Fine, capable woman, but the way that niggardly husband treated her! Kept an eye on every single copper she spent, you know! When she dropped in here, I always gave her a couple of dump­lings stuffed with sweet beans — our speciality, you know. She was mighty fond of those. Gave her three or four the very night she went away, as a matter of fact. I don't hold with married women doing things they shouldn't do, sir, not me. But Wei drove her to it, and that's a fact!’ He gave a sign to the waiter and went on, 'And she always thought of the business first. Didn't want to run off before she had shown that niece of hers all the ropes. A looker, that young wench, but a bit uppish, if you ask me. Mrs Wei, she was what you might call a conscientious housewife. Wish I could say the same of my own missus... .'

The waiter brought a bamboo tray heaped with dumplings.

'Here you are, Doctor!' the innkeeper said, beaming at him. 'Take as many as you like, on the house!’

Judge Dee took a bite but found them much too sweet for his taste. 'Delicious!’ he exclaimed.

'They are all yours, sir!’ The fat man leaned over the table and resumed confidentially, 'Now I've something that'll interest you, sir. Poses a problem for you, professionally. Every time I have a meal, after about half an hour or so I get a dull pain here in my left side. Then I get a burning feeling, right here above my navel, and a sour feeling, deep in ...'

'I charge one silver piece for a consultation,' the judge pointed out gently. 'Payable in advance.'

'One whole silver piece! But you don't need to examine me, you know. Just wanted to have your opinion. I am suffering from constipation too. Now I ...'

'See your doctor,' the judge said curtly and took up his chop­sticks. The fat man gave him a hurt look and waddled back to the counter, taking the tray of dumplings with him.

The judge ate with gusto. He had to admit that the fried trout were indeed very good. When he left the Nine Clouds he saw Fern standing in the portico across the street. She wore a brown jacket and wide trousers, and a red sash round her waist; her hair was bound up with a red cloth. She wished the judge a cheer­ful 'Good morning', and added:

'Weather is fine! What about our trip up river?'

'Shouldn't I change?'

'Oh no. We'll just have to buy straw hats on the way.'

She took him down several narrow alleys that brought them in a few minutes to the east end of the quay. He bought two straw hats. While she was busy tying the ribbon of hers under her chin, he cast a quick glance at the godowns. Two coolies were carrying a bale to the clearing, supervised by a thin man with a large, bullet-shaped head. Fern went down the stone steps leading to the water, and pointed at a narrow, sleek boat moored among the larger rivercraft. While she held it steady, Judge Dee stepped inside and sat down in the stem. Skilfully she poled the boat out from among the other craft, then exchanged the pole for a long oar. As she started sculling the boat into midstream, the judge said:

'You know, I wouldn't mind having a look at the famous Water Palace.'

'That's easy enough! We'll go along this bank and pass it before crossing over. The best places are all over the other side, you see.'

There was a slight breeze over the placid brown water, but the morning sun was hot on Judge Dee's face. He stuffed his cap into his sleeve, and put the round straw hat on his head. Fern had taken off her jacket. A red scarf was wound tightly round her well-formed bosom. Leaning back in the bow, the judge looked at her standing there in the stern, moving the long sculling oar with graceful ease. Her shoulders and arms had a golden tan. He reflected — a little sadly — that there was no substitute for youth. Then he turned his attention to the riverbank. Tall pine trees grew close to the water's edge, rising up from the tangled under­growth. Here and there he noticed the narrow mouths of inlets and coves.

'You won't catch anything worth while in there,' she remarked. 'Just a few crabs and mud-fish. It's too early in the year for eels.'

As they moved upstream, the forest thickened. Moss-covered liana clung to the low branches overhanging the water. After about a quarter of an hour Fern turned the boat into mid­stream.

'Can't we follow the bank a little further?' the judge said quickly. 'We must be getting near to the palace and I'd like to have a good look at it.'

'And get both of us killed? Don't you see those painted buoys ahead? Over on that quay there's a notice in letters as large as your head ordering all craft to stay outside those buoys. And on the bank beyond the palace there is the same polite notice. If you cross the line, the archers on the battlements will use you for target practice with their crossbows. You'll have to admire the palace from a good distance!’

She sculled the boat in a broad curve round the buoys. Then he saw the three-storeyed watch-tower, at the north-west corner of the palace compound. The wood ended abruptly at a narrow inlet, evidently the mouth of the moat surrounding the palace. The north wall rose directly from the water at a slightly receding angle. The crenellated ramparts were inter­rupted at regular intervals by lower watch-towers. The sun glittered on the spiked helmets of the archers manning the battlements.

'Quite a pile, eh?' Fern called over to him from the stern.

'Rather. Let's go a little farther till we are opposite the north­east tower. Then I'll have seen everything!’

A large cargo junk glided past, the rowers swinging the long oars to the rhythm of a plaintive song. Fern joined them in her clear young voice, adjusting her sculling to the quicker beat. The judge thought the wall looked very high and forbidding. He counted eight barred archways, just above the water, evidently the gates that fed the canals and watercourses inside. Then he saw the pavilion, jutting out from the wall just above the last water-gate. It was a kind of covered balcony of trapezoid shape, with three bay windows, a large one in front flanked by two smaller ones. He estimated that the bottom of the buttress sup­porting the pavilion was about six feet above the water. A small boat moored there would be invisible from above. But how could a boat get in there without being spotted by the archers on the watch-towers?

'You hoping to see the beautiful princess at the window? What about crossing over to the other bank now?'

Judge Dee nodded. It had been heavy going upstream; Fern's shoulders glistened moistly in the sun that was steadily gaining in strength. The north bank was less thickly wooded; here and there a fisherman's thatched hut appeared among the green foli­age. When they were close Fern threw a hook weighted with two bricks into the water. The boat floated down the stream for a while, then the anchor caught and it lay still. She said with satis­faction:

'This is just about the right place. When I was here with. Tai Min the other day, we caught a couple of fine perches. Look, in this jar are the crabs' legs, the very best bait!'

'Our Master Confucius always fished with a rod,' the judge remarked as he prepared the bait, 'never with a net. He thought the fish ought to be given a sporting chance.'

'I know the quotation. When father was still alive he used to read the Classics with me. He was the head of our village school, you see. Since mother died when I was still young, and I was the only child, father spent a lot of his time on me. No, take that other line! You need a longer one for perch.' Throwing out her own line, she added, 'We had a very happy life. But when father died I had to move to the inn here, for Uncle Wei was the near­est relative. I couldn't take along the books we used to read; they belonged to the school. You being a learned doctor, you must have got a large library, haven't you?'

'Fairly large. But little time to use it.'

'I'd like to live in a scholar's home, you know. Read books about all kinds of interesting subjects, practise painting and calli­graphy. Makes you feel secure, if you know what I mean. When my aunt was still there it wasn't so bad in the Kingfisher, mind you. Uncle never gave her much for her clothes, but she inherited a few bolts of good silk, and I helped her make new robes from them. Her favourite jacket was made of red brocade, with flowers in gold thread. She thought it suited her very well, and she was right too!’

The judge lowered his line into the brown water. Settling back in the bow, he said:

'Yes, I heard that your aunt was a nice woman. I can well understand an impressionable youngster like Tai Min conceiving a kind of calf-love for her.'

'He was absolutely crazy about her! I am sure he began to gamble just because he wanted to be able to give her a present now and then!’

'Gambling is a sure way to lose money instead of making it,' the judge said absent-mindedly. He thought he felt a slight tug at the line.

'Tai Min won. But I think that Mr Lang let him win on pur­pose, the better to fleece him afterwards! That Lang gives me the creeps!’

'Lang? Where did they gamble?'

'Oh, Tai Min went to Lang's wing a few times. Hey, watch it!’

He let the line slip through his fingers. In a flash he saw a pattern emerging. Lang', would never have befriended the young cashier without a good reason.

'Give him more line!’ Fern called out excitedly.

Yes, he would give Lang rope. Lots of rope. It might lead to the link connecting Lang's ramshackle godown with the golden palace gates. Alternately slackening and tightening the line, he tried to survey the consequences of his discovery.

'Pull him in!' she hissed.

Slowly gathering in the line, he saw a fair-sized perch come to the surface. He leaned over the gunwale and got the squirming fish on board and into the basket.

'Well done! Now watch me!’ She stared at her floater, her face flushed. The breeze shifted a stray strand of glossy hair from under her straw hat. The judge was eager to get back to the south bank, for he wanted to go ashore and check whether there was perhaps a pathway there. But it would be cruel to spoil her pleasure. He threw out a short line and again went over in his mind the various possibilities. The fact that the cashier had been tortured had struck him at once as curious. Now he saw a possible explanation. Her voice roused him.

THE JUDGE CATCHES A PERCH

'They won't bite at all. Tell me, how many wives do you have?'

Three.'

'Is your First a nice lady?'

'Very. I have a happy and harmonious household, I am glad to say.'

'You being a famous doctor, you should have four. Even num­bers bring good luck! And speaking about luck, I think ...'

She tugged at her line, and brought up a smaller fish. Then they remained silent for a long time, she intent on her line, he occupied with his own thoughts. After she had caught a fairly large perch, the judge remarked:

'My legs are getting a bit cramped. I'd like to try my hand at sculling the boat. Haven't done it for many a year!’

'All right! As long as you don't overturn the boat!’

Crouching on the bottom, they exchanged places. The boat began to rock, and he had to steady her with his arm round her shoulders. 'It's very nice to be with you!’ she whispered.

Judge Dee quickly took the long oar. He knelt in the stern and moved the boat upstream a little so that she could haul the anchor up. Then he turned the boat away from shore. It didn't go too badly, but in his kneeling position he could not use his body weight and had to depend on his arms alone. The wound on his forearm began to throb. He tried to get to his feet, but the boat began to rock dangerously. She burst out in peals of laughter.

'Well, I'll manage without standing,' he said sourly.

'Where are you heading for?'

'I'd like to go ashore somewhere. I might find some medicinal herbs in the undergrowth over there. Do you mind?'

'I don't. But you won't be able to do more than poke about a little around the small coves. There is no path of any sort.'

'In that case we'll head back for the quay. It'll be easy; we'll have the current with us.'

He soon found, however, that it was easier said than done. There was much traffic now, and it took all his skill to avoid

collisions. He listened to her with half an ear as she chattered away happily. Suddenly he asked:

'Searched? Who searched what?'

'My uncle, I said! He must have searched poor Tai Min's attic. When I tidied it up this morning, I noticed someone had been over it with a fine comb! Can't imagine what uncle expected to find there! I'll take over here; you'll never manage to berth it properly!’