Necklace and Calabash

When Judge Dee woke up, the town had grown silent. He reck­oned it was getting on for midnight. The sky was a little overcast, and there were occasional gusts of wind, but he didn't think there would be rain. A quick survey of the neglected garden showed that it was empty. The captain's men must be in the hall, or at the front entrance of the inn.

He stripped naked and put on a pair of wide black trousers of thin cotton, and over those the long black robe. At one moment he considered transferring the precious yellow document to its collar, then thought better of it. If he failed, the document would be of no use, for it would be found on his dead body. This time it was all or nothing. After all the fumbling in the dark, all the fighting with elusive shadows, at last a concise, clear-cut issue!

Humming softly, he fastened a leather belt round his waist. The long black sash he tied crosswise round his broad torso, and stuck the sword under it on his back, so that the hilt was over his right shoulder. Then he had a' look at the wound on his forearm. It seemed to be healing well, and he covered it with a black plaster. Finally he placed a small black skull-cap on his head.

In the corridor outside his room everything was quiet. While he was walking to the head of the staircase, however, a creaking floorboard made him halt, alarmed. He listened for a while, but no sound came from the hall below.

The judge went down, keeping close to the wall. There was no one in the hall, but he heard the guardsmen talking together out on the portico. Remembering that the previous night Mr Wei had left to call the groom by a small back door in his office, he went behind the lattice screen. He unbolted the door, and found himself in the now familiar back garden. Having left by the gate beside the storehouse, he walked through the alley to the street that ran parallel with the main thoroughfare. In daytime it was a thriving shopping centre, but now all the shutters were up and it was dead quiet. The judge wished he had a storm lantern, for if clouds obscured the pale moon, it would be pitch dark on the quay.

Suddenly raucous voices came from a side-street. Judge Dee quickly looked round for a portico to hide in, but the night watch was already round the corner and challenged him. The sergeant lifted his storm-lantern.

'Aha, Doctor Liang! You are out late, Doctor! Anything we can do for you?'

'I was called out for a difficult delivery, near the fish-market.'

'We can't help you there, Doctor!’ the sergeant said. His men guffawed.

'What you can do,' the judge remarked, 'is lend me your lantern.'

'You're welcome!’ The soldiers marched off.

Judge Dee put the lantern out, for he might badly need it later on. When he was getting near to the quay he looked over his shoulder a few times, for he had the uneasy feeling that he was being stared at. But all the windows were shuttered, and he saw nothing move among the shadows between the houses.

The east end of the quay was shrouded in a grey mist. Letting himself be guided by the oil-lamps of the boats, he reached the waterside. As he was looking over the long row of craft moored there he wondered which boat would be Fern's. They all looked alike in the darkness.

'It's the fifth from the left,' a small voice spoke behind him.

The judge swung round, and frowned at the slender black figure. 'So it's you! Why are you following me?'

'Your own fault, for you kept me awake! My attic is right over your room, you see, and I, too, had planned to make it an early night. First I heard you stamping around, and then you began to toss about on your bed! I couldn't get any sleep, and when you made the floorboard in the corridor creak I thought I'd better follow you and see what you were up to. Quite rightly too, as it turns out, for I certainly don't want to see my boat founder. П am rather fond of it.'

'Listen, Fern, this nonsense must stop! You go back home at once. I know what I am doing.'

'Not in a boat you don't! Where are you bound for?'

'I'm not going far, if you must know. The fourth cove up­stream.'

She sniffed.

'Think you could ever find that, in the dark? Believe me, you can hardly see the mouth even in broad daylight! Very narrow, and clogged with water-weeds. I happen to know that cove, be­cause there are good crabs there. Come along, step inside!'