and presently a huge, bony fellow emerged. He was as tall as Ma Joong but lacked the latter's weight.
Lifting up the oil lamp, he surveyed his visitors with small, mean eyes. Then he cursed roundly and growled at Ma Joong:
'So that wretched rat stole my hairpin. Now what do you have to do with that?'
'I want to buy the pair of them. When this bastard produced only one, I knew he was holding out on me. I gently persuaded him to tell me where I could find the other one.'
The other guffawed. He had uneven, yellow teeth.
'We shall do business, brother!' he said. 'But first let me kick in the ribs of this fat sneak thief-just to show him how to behave towards his betters!'
He put down the oil lamp as a preliminary to action. The fat man suddenly kicked the lamp over with surprising deftness. Ma Joong let go of his collar and the terrified thug ran away as fast as an arrow from the bow.
Hwang San swore and wanted to run after him. Ma Joong caught him by the arm saying quickly:
'Let the wretch go! You can settle with him later. I have urgent business with you.'
'Well,' Hwang San growled, 'if you have cash with you we might make a deal. I have had bad luck all my life and somehow I have a feeling that those accursed hairpins will land me in trouble if I don't sell them quickly. You have seen one of them; the other is exactly the same. What will you give?'
Ma Joong looked around warily. The moon had come out and he noticed that the place seemed completely deserted.
'Where are the other fellows?' he enquired. 'I don't like to do business in front of witnesses!'
'Don't worry,' Hwang San reassured him, 'they are all away making the rounds in the shopping centres.'
'In that case,' Ma Joong said coldly, 'you can keep your hairpin, you wretched murderer!'
MA JOONG'S FIGHT UNDER THE CITY WALL
Hwang San swiftly sprang back.
'Who are you, you bastard?' he shouted angrily.
'I am the lieutenant of His Excellency Judge Dee,' Ma Joong answered, 'and I am going to take you to the tribunal as the murderer of Pure Jade. Now will you come along or shall I have to beat you to a pulp first?'
'I have never heard of the wench,' Hwang San barked, 'but I know your dirty kind of constable and the corrupt judges for whom you act as running dog! Once you get me in the tribunal you will pin some unsolved crime on me and then torture me till I confess. I'll take my chance with you!'
As he spoke the last words he aimed a vicious blow at Ma Joong's middle.
Ma Joong parried and swung at Hwang San's head. The latter, however, caught the blow in the approved way and followed up with a quick thrust at Ma Joong's heart.
Blow was exchanged for blow wihout * (* This is a spelling error in the original text of the book) either of them being able to score a real hit.
Ma Joong realised that he had found his equal in this art. Hwang San was lean but his bones were unusually thick so that their body weight would be about the same. As to Hwang San's boxing, this was of such superior quality that Ma Joong placed him in the eighth, or next-highest grade. Ma Joong himself was of the ninth grade, but this advantage was neutralised by the fact that Hwang San was thoroughly familiar with the ground and repeatedly forced Ma Joong to make a stand on an uneven or slippery patch.
After a strenuous fight, Ma Joong lashed out and succeeded in crushing Hwang San's left eye with an elbow blow. Hwang San countered with a kick on Ma Joong's thigh, which greatly impeded his footwork.
Then suddenly Hwang San aimed a kick at Ma Joong's groin. Ma Joong leaped back and caught his opponent's foot in his right hand. He was going to press Hwang San's knee down with his left hand, keeping his leg stretched to prevent him from drawing near, and kick his opponent's other leg out from under him. But he slipped and missed. Hwang San immediately bent his knee and dealt Ma Joong a fearful blow on the side of the neck.
This blow is counted among the nine fatal strokes of boxing. If Ma Joong had not happened to have his head turned so that his jaw caught half of the blow, he would have been finished then and there. As it was, he let go of Hwang San's foot and staggered backwards. The effects of the disrupted blood circulation blurred his eyes. At that moment he was completely at the mercy of his opponent.
A great boxer of antiquity, however, once stated: 'A fight between two people of equal strength, weight and technique, is decided by the spirit.' Although Hwang San had mastered all the physical aspects of the art, he had a low, brutish mind. Since Ma Joong was defenceless, Hwang San could have chosen any one of the nine, clean death blows, but his base instinct prompted him to aim a nasty kick at Ma Joong's groin.
To repeat the same blow twice is one of the basic mistakes in boxing. Ma Joong's blood circulation was so badly disturbed that he was unable to execute any complicated move; he did the only thing he could in the circumstances: he clasped Hwang San's lower leg in both arms and twisted it round with all his strength. Hwang San emitted a hoarse cry as his knee joint was dislocated. At the same time Ma Joong drove his body forward, fell down together with Hwang San, and sank on his middle with his knees. Then Ma Joong felt his strength give out. He rolled over and over till he was well out of the reach of Hwang San's flailing arms. Lying on his back, Ma Joong concentrated on those secret breathing exercises that restore the normal circulation of the blood.
When he felt that his head was clear and his nervous system restored to normal, Ma Joong scrambled up and went over to Hwang San. His opponent was making frantic attempts to get up. Ma Joong placed an accurate kick on Hwang's jaw, his head crashed backwards and struck the ground. Then from around his middle Ma Joong unwound the long, thin chain used for binding criminals and secured Hwang San's hands behind his back. Drawing them as high up to the shoulders as they would go, Ma Joong slipped one end of the chain in a running noose round Hwang San's neck. If he made the slightest attempt at freeing his hands the thin chain would cut into his throat.
Ma Joong squatted down by his side.
'You nearly got me, you rascal!' he said. 'Now spare His Excellency and me unnecessary trouble and confess your crime!'
'If my accursed bad luck had not again caught up with me,' Hwang San gasped, 'you would have been dead now, you dog of a constable! As to my confessing to any crime, leave that to your corrupt master.'
'Have it your own way!' Ma Joong said coldly.
He walked into the nearest alley and pounded on the door of a house till a sleepy man opened it. Ma Joong identified himself and ordered the man to fetch the warden of the quarter, with instructions to come immediately with four men and a couple of bamboo poles.
Then he went back to stand guard over his prisoner who let out a stream of the foulest curses.
When the warden and his men arrived they made a stretcher of the poles for carrying Hwang San. Ma Joong threw an old robe over him that he had found in the hut and they went back to the tribunal.
Hwang San was handed over to the warden of the jail. Ma Joong ordered a bone-setter called to put Hwang's knee right.
Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan were sitting up waiting for Ma Joong in the chancery. They were very happy when they heard the news of the criminal's capture. The sergeant said with a broad grin: 'This indeed calls for a snack and a few rounds!' The three headed for the main street and entered an all-night restaurant.
Thirteenth Chapter:
Judge Dee returned to Poo-yang late in the afternoon of the next day.
After a hasty meal in his private office, during which Sergeant Hoong related the latest developments briefly,
