The Emperor's Pearl

X

When the three men had climbed back into the garden again, Judge Dee cut short Kwang Min's excited questions and said to Hoong:

'Ride to the market and fetch the village headman and a dozen or so local militia.'

He began to pace the garden, from time to time angrily shaking his sleeves. Dr Pien took Mr Kwang aside and started a whispered conversation.

Sergeant Hoong came back in a remarkably short time. He brought a flustered headman and a group of frightened-looking youngsters, armed with long bamboo sticks.

Judge Dee ordered the village headman to have the corpse put on a stretcher and brought to the tribunal. His men were to stay and guard the house till the constables would come to take over. Seeing their unhappy faces, he snapped at them:

'It's broad daylight now, isn't it? There's nothing to be afraid of!' He added to Pien and Kwang: 'We'll return to the village together. You two may borrow horses from the militia here.'

When the cavalcade had arrived in Marble Bridge Village, Judge Dee told Mr Kwang to take them to his junk.

It proved to be quite a big barge that took up most of the space afforded by the quay beyond the bridge. Four haggard-looking boatmen were unrolling the sail of bamboo-matting. The judge told Kwang and the two others to wait on the jetty, and walked over the narrow plank that served as gangway to the ship. Standing on the foredeck he shouted for the captain. After a long wait a tousled head rose up from the hatch. The captain stepped on deck, hitched up his trousers and stared at the judge with bleary, bloodshot eyes. Evidently he and his crew had a rather heavy night behind them.

'Take me to Mr Sun ! ' Judge Dee ordered.

The captain shambled to the raised stern, consisting of a double cabin. After repeated knocking on the narrow door, the window by its side was pushed open. A thin man with a scraggy neck and an aggressive short beard leaned out. A white cloth was wound tightly round his head.

'Do you have to make that awful noise?' he asked crossly. 'I am suffering from a splitting headache. I shouldn't be disturbed!'

'I am the magistrate. No, stay where you are! I only want to ask you how you passed last evening, Mr Sun.'

'In bed, sir. Didn't even have one bite for dinner. These attacks bother me regularly, you know. Confounded nuisance.' He put his elbows on the sill and went on: 'Not that I have no warning, though. The first sign is a feverish feeling, and complete lack of appetite. It is followed by a slight sickness, accompanied by a sour taste in my mouth, and then —'

'Most distressing. Did Mr Kwang come to see you?'

'He did. He looked in before dinner to tell me he was off to the boat races, with a friend of his. Didn't hear him come back. But you'll doubtless find him in his cabin, next to mine here. Was there an accident? '

'I am looking for witnesses. A man was murdered.'

Mr Sun gave the slovenly captain a baleful look.

'Evidently the victim wasn't our captain ! ' he remarked with a sigh. 'A great pity. I never was on a worse-run boat!'

The captain began to mutter indignantly, but the judge turned to him and snapped: 'You'll sail this boat down to the landing-stage near the west gate of the city, and keep it there until further notice!' And, to Mr Sun: 'I am afraid you'll have to stay here for a day or two, Mr. Sun. You might utilize the delay for consulting a doctor. I wish you a speedy recovery.'

Mr Sun started to protest that he was in a great hurry to travel on, but Judge Dee turned his back on him and went on land.

'You are an important witness,' he told Mr Kwang. 'Therefore you'll have to break your journey here. I told the captain to bring the junk to the landing-stage, you can either stay on board or take a room in a hostel, as you like. But report your address to the tribunal at once, so that I can summon you when I need you.' Kwang frowned and was going to say something, but the judge continued in a crisp voice to Pien: 'I'll be needing you too, doctor. You are not to leave the city for the time being. Goodbye.'

He jumped on his horse and rode off, together with Ser­geant Hoong. When they were riding along the highway the sun had risen higher and was scorching them with its pitiless rays.

'We should have taken straw hats along!' Judge Dee muttered.

'It's bound to grow hotter still, sir! Not a breeze is stir­ring, and I don't like those small black clouds gathering over there. We may be in for a thunderstorm, later in the day.'

The judge made no comment. They rode on in silence. When the south gate came into sight Judge Dee suddenly burst out:

'That's the third murder in two days! And of Sia Kwang, the only man who could have shed some light on this baffling business!' Then he went on in a calmer voice: 'I'll tell you frankly that I am worried, Hoong. There's a danger­ous, completely ruthless criminal on the loose in our town.'

The corporal of the guard had seen them approaching. Now he stood stiffly at attention in front of the guardhouse, inside the gate. Through the window came a rattling sound. Two soldiers were sorting out bamboo markers on the high table. Judge Dee halted his horse, bent down from the saddle and looked through the window. After a while he righted himself, and pensively let his riding-whip swing to and fro. He had a vague feeling that those rattling markers ought to remind him of something that was in the back of his mind. But the connection was just out of his reach. He knitted his eyebrows.

The corporal looked at him, astonished. He said awkwardly:

'It is, ah ... a rather hot day, Excellency.'

Deep in thought, Judge Dee had not heard him. Suddenly he smiled broadly. Turning to Hoong on the horse behind him, he exclaimed:

'Holy Heaven, that must be it, of course!' Then he said briskly to the corporal: 'Let those two men of yours arrange all those markers according to their numbers. If they should find two that bear the same number, send those to the tri­bunal at once!'

He urged on his horse.

Hoong wanted to ask the judge what was wrong with the markers, but Judge Dee said quickly:

'I'll go to see Sheng Pa's girl-friend myself. You go to the Kou mansion and find out from the servants whether Kou went out this morning. I don't care whether you bully or bribe, as long as you get that information!'

'What about the morning session of the tribunal, sir?' the sergeant asked worriedly. 'The news of the Amber Lady's murder will have spread throughout the city now, and soon the people will know about Sia Kwang's death too. If we don't issue some sort of official statement, tongues will begin to wag and all kinds of fantastic stories will be told in the tea houses!'

Judge Dee pushed his cap back from his perspiring brow.

'You are right of course, Hoong! Let it be announced that there'll be no morning session today, but that the court will convene at noon. I'll then just make known the bare facts and add a non-committal statement about the investiga­tion being in progress. Let's exchange our caps. I have no idea who or what that Miss Liang is, so that I had better go there incognito.'

After he had put on Hoong's small skull-cap, they parted. Judge Dee rode in the direction of the Temple of the War God. Wearing that cap and covered with dust and perspira­tion as he was, he hoped that he would not be recognized.