Necklace and Calabash

XIII

An irritating, persistent itch in his neck woke Judge Dee. With a start he noticed that the barred window was dark. He swung his legs to the floor and ran to the window. To his relief he heard the cooks chopping meat and singing lustily. Since no orders were being shouted, it must still be well before the hour of the evening rice. Rubbing his itching neck, he found lots of small ants crawl­ing about under his collar. And there were more on his beard and whiskers, and on the front of his robe. Annoyed, he brushed the small insects off as well as he could.

Now there was light behind the windows of Lang's suite, and one panel of the folding doors stood ajar, but he could hear no voices from within. Two vegetable vendors came into the garden and made straight for the kitchen. Judge Dee waited till they had left again with their empty baskets, then he slipped outside and went to the gate in the garden wall. To his surprise the don­key was still there. It stood close to the wall, nuzzling among the garbage. He quickly went back to the storehouse and grabbed the crutches. Feeling safe in his disguise, he rode to the quay.

A mixed crowd was about under the smoking oil-lamps of the foodstalls in front of the fish-market and there was a hubbub of shrill voices. Judge Dee had to halt when a cartload of melons toppled over in front of his donkey. Bystanders came rushing on to help the vendor collect his merchandise. A shabbily dressed man grabbed the rein of his donkey. 'I'll get you through, Master Gourd!’ he called out cheerfully. As the coolie was shoving people away, the judge suddenly heard someone whisper behind him:

'They are after him, but he has disappeared.'

Quickly the judge turned round in the saddle. In the uncertain light he only saw the laughing faces of a few youngsters who were pushing his donkey on from behind. The next moment he was clear of the tumult.

Judge Dee rode on with a puzzled frown. The fight in the go­down had proved beyond all doubt that the old man was on his side. Yet the whispered remark, addressed to him by someone who must have mistaken him for Master Gourd, seemed to mean that the Taoist was kept informed about his movements. What could be the old monk's connection with this baffling case? Again he tried to remember where he could have met him before. In vain.

A thin evening mist came drifting in from the river. Now that he was approaching the far end of the quay where there were no shops or street stalls, everything looked dark and desolate. The only points of light came from the bow lamps of the moored craft that were bobbing up and down in the black water.

When the judge had passed the first godown in the row, he dismounted and placed his crutches against the wall. Then he walked on to the tall trees that marked the clearing at the oppo­site end, his sword on his back. Just as he was passing underneath some dark branches, a hoarse voice spoke directly above his head:

'You're late. But Hao hasn't arrived yet'

Looking up, he vaguely saw the huge shape of one of Lang's bodyguards, perched on a thick branch. Yes, Mr Lang did indeed know his routine work. The judge crossed the clearing and knocked on the door. The bullet-headed man opened it at once. 'Glad you came!’ he muttered. 'The place is giving me the creeps!’

'Afraid of Tai Min's ghost?' the judge asked coldly. He pushed the bench up to the wall and sat down.

'Not me!’ The accountant seated himself by Judge Dee's side. 'Squealed like a pig, you know! A pity the stupid bastards let him die before they had really started.' A cruel smile twisted his thick lips. 'They had fixed him to this very bench, you see. First they ...'

'I am not interested in your little games.' The judge laid his sword across his knees and leaned back against the wall. 'You can tell me what you got out of him, though.'

'Practically nothing. When the men burned his feet, he shouted a hundred times that he didn't have the pearls. Thereafter he did some more squealing about it being no use going on because he just didn't have them. He died cursing us, the impudent scoundrel. The stupid idiots slit his belly open, to see whether he had swal­lowed the pearls. Nothing doing, of course.' Looking at Judge Dee's sword, he added nervously, 'That sword might make Mr Hao suspicious. Are you sure you shouldn't put it away out of sight somewhere?'

'Very sure.'

The judge folded his arms and let his chin sink on his breast. He tried to think of nothing, but the many problems he was facing kept bothering him. From now on he would have to con­centrate on the dead cashier. For even if Mr Hao proved to know exactly who the plotters in the palace were, he, the judge, could take no official action against them until he had found the neck­lace. The Princess had especially stressed that point. Again he wondered what Tai Min had had in mind when he decided to cheat Lang. Somehow or other he had the feeling that a talk with Mrs Wei, the absconding wife, would provide a clue to what Tai Min had done with the necklace. 'Sit still!’ he snapped at the accountant who was fidgeting in his seat. The only information he possessed regarding Mrs Wei had been supplied by Fern. An uncommonly intelligent girl, but still a girl, and one who had lived with the Weis only a few months. He doubted whether he could trust her favourable judgement of the innkeeper's wife. Fern had stated that Mrs Wei had not committed adultery with the cashier, and Wei was an unpleasant old codger. Yet it was scandalous be­haviour for a housewife to leave her husband without one word of explanation. Wei had mentioned a vagrant bully as his wife's lover. That was also a point he would have to look into. He ought to have had a longer talk with Wei, but events had been moving so quickly that ... 'What are you muttering about?' he peev­ishly asked the man beside him.

'Just that I am getting worried about Hao. We've been waiting here for nearly an hour now, you know! Why should he make this appointment if he doesn't mean to keep it?'

The judge shrugged.

'Why, you say? Well, he was probably detained by some un­expected ...' Suddenly he broke off. Then he hit his fist on his knee. 'Holy Heaven, I should've thought of that! Of all the ...'

'What ... why ...' the other stuttered.

'I am just as big a fathead as you!' Judge Dee said bitterly. 'The appointment was a dirty trick, of course!'

Ignoring the accountant's frightened questions, he jumped up, rushed outside and blew hard on his fingers twice. The whistle sounded shrilly all over the silent clearing. The door of the next godown was opened a few inches, and a bearded face peered cautiously outside. Then loud commands and the clatter of arms came from the pine forest. A big dark shape fell down from the tree opposite. Two soldiers caught the bodyguard. He put up a fight but was felled by a blow on the head from the flat of a sword. All at once the clearing was crowded with guardsmen, armed to the teeth. As two began to break down the door of the second godown with their battle-axes, Captain Siew came running to the judge, followed by Lieutenant Liu.

'We saw no one pass here after you,' the captain said. The thin fellow behind you is Mr Hao, I suppose?'

'No, he isn't. But he is responsible for the torturing and the killing of the cashier. Have him arrested at once! Hao didn't turn up. Where are your horses? We must get to the Kingfisher as fast as we can!’

The captain barked an order at Liu, then ran towards the forest, Judge Dee close behind him. 'How many men do we need?' Siew called out over his shoulder. 'Four'll do!' the judge replied, panting.

Beyond the second bend of the forest path six cavalrymen were guarding a few dozen richly caparisoned horses. Judge Dee and the captain took two and swung themselves into the saddle. As he drove his horse on, the captain shouted at four men to follow them.

In the clearing the soldiers were lining up Lang's men and chaining them together. The stolid Lieutenant Liu was personally tying up the bullet-headed man with a long thin cord. Passing by him, Judge Dee called out:

'Don't forget the donkey! It's waiting at the end of the row!'

Then the six horsemen rode on to the quay at a gallop.