Judge Dee at Work

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.