The Lacquer Screen

His eyes fell on the young man, who was wiping the blood off his face. 'What's wrong with the Student?' the Corporal asked.

'He drew a knife on me, boss!' the bald man said.

'He did, did he? Come here, runt!'

As the frightened youngster came up to him with lagging steps, the Corporal gave him a contemptuous look and asked with a sneer:

'So you like knife-fighting, eh? All right, show me what you can do!'

A long, gleaming knife appeared in the Corporal's hand. With his left he grabbed the Student's collar. The waiter ducked under the counter, but the girl leaned over quickly and laid her hand on the Corporal's shoulder.

'Let him go, please I' she cried out desperately.

The Corporal shook his shoulder free. He had now seen the two men by the window. He pushed the trembling Student roughly out of his way, stepped forward and ex­claimed: 'Holy Heaven! Who's the beard?'

' Strangers, boss!' the Student said obsequiously. 'Just came in.'

The waiter popped up again behind the counter. He said venomously:

'That beard called me a crook, boss!'

'Nobody ever said you weren't! But I don't trust blasted strangers.' The Corporal walked over to Judge Dee's table and asked gruffly: 'Where are you from?'

'We got into a bit of trouble,' Judge Dee replied, 'and Kun-shan sent us here.'

The Corporal gave them a dubious look. He pulled up a chair to the table, sat down and said:

'I don't know Kun-shan too well. Tell me about the trouble!'

'Me and my mate,' the judge answered, 'are simple busi­nessmen trying hard to make an honest living along the road. This morning we met a merchant out in the mountains. He took a liking to us and gave us ten silver pieces to remember him by. Then he laid himself down by the roadside to take a nap, and we went on to town to invest our money. But that merchant woke up in a nasty temper, the crook ran to the tribunal and said we had robbed him. The constables came for us, and Kun-shan took us here. It was nothing but a slight misunderstanding, based on that merchant waking up too soon.'

'That's a good one!' the Corporal said with a grin. Then he asked, suspicious again: 'Why do you drag along that beard with you? And why do you talk like a schoolmaster?'

'That beard,' Chiao Tai said, 'he let grow to please his boss. He used to be a headman of constables in the olden days, but he had to retire before he had earned his pension, because of some financial misunderstanding. By the way, are you an ex-headman too? You seem in the habit of asking questions!'

'I have to make sure, don't I?' the Corporal said sourly. 'And don't call me names, you! Ex-headman nothing! I am from the army. Corporal Liu of the Third Wing of the Western Army. Get that into your thick skull, will you?' And, to the judge: 'Is Kun-shan an old friend of yours?'

'No,' Judge Dee answered, 'we met him for the first time today. He happened to be there when the law came for us.'

'Good!' the Corporal grunted. 'Have a drink on the house!' He shouted at the waiter, who came running with a wine-jar. When they had tasted the wine, the Corporal asked:

'Where were you last?'

'In Peng-lai,' the judge replied. 'We didn't like it there.'

'Stands to reason!' the Corporal grinned. 'I have heard about the new thief-catcher-in-chief they have got there, fellow called Dee, the nastiest cross-patch in the whole pro­vince! A week ago he had the head of a friend of mine chopped off.'

'That's why we left. We used to stay with the Butcher, in his inn near the north gate.'

The Corporal crashed his large fist on the table.

'Why didn't you say so at once, brother? That bastard Kun-shan hasn't got a patch on the Butcher! Straight­forward man, the Butcher was. A bit short-tempered, maybe, much too ready with his knife. Told him a hundred times that that's a bad mistake.'

Judge Dee was glad that the Corporal concurred in his verdict. The Butcher had treacherously stabbed a man to death, and he had sentenced him just before leaving Peng-lai for the Prefecture. He asked: 'Does Kun-shan belong to your organization?'

'No, he is a kind of independent worker. A high-class burglar, very good at his job, I am told. But he's a mean, cantankerous bastard, I am glad he doesn't come here too often. You two are all right, though. Have to be, since you stayed with the Butcher. Put a string of coppers in our pool, and you are welcome to stay with us here.'

Judge Dee took a string from his sleeve. The Corporal threw it across the taproom to the bald man, who caught it dexterously.

'We would like to stay here a few days,' the judge said, 'till the hue and cry has died down, so to speak.'

'That's settled then,' the Corporal said. He shouted at the girclass="underline" ' Come over here, Carnation! Meet two new lodgers!'

As she came to the table the Corporal put his arm round her waist and said to the judge: