us to that mulberry bush.'
As Pei Chiu hurriedly scrambled up, Chiao Tai whispered excitedly to the judge.
'We met that fellow Woo on the road coming here, magistrate! Ask about the horses!'
Judge Dee ordered the peasant to describe the horses of his master and his wife. Pei said that Fan had ridden a gray horse, and Mrs. Fan a blazed one. The judge nodded and motioned Pei Chin to move on.
A short walk brought them to a mulberry bush. Pei Chin pointed at a spot in the undergrowth, 'Here I shoved them under,' he said.
Ma Joong stooped and examined the dry leaves. He gathered a few in his hands and showed them to the judge. 'Those. dark stains must be blood,' he remarked.
'You two had better search this bush,' Judge Dee said. 'This dogshead is probably lying!'
Pei Chiu started to protest but the judge ignored him. Pensively playing with his side whiskers he said to Hoong, 'I fear, Hoong, that this affair is not as simple as it seems. That man we met on the road didn't look like a murderer who coolly slits the throats of two people and then makes off with the money and the horses. He looked to me rather like a man in a blind panic.'
After a while the sound of breaking twigs announced the return of Ma Joong and Chiao T'ai. The former said excitedly, waving a rusty spade, 'There's a small clearing in the middle! It looks as if something was buried there recently. I found this lying under a tree.'
'Give that spade to Pei,' Judge Dee said coldly. 'The dogshead shall dig up himself what he has buried. Show me the way.'
Ma Joong parted the undergrowth and they went among the trees, Chiao Tai dragging along the peasant, who seemed completely dazed.
In the middle of the clearing there was a patch of loose earth. 'Set to work!' the judge barked at Pei.
The peasant automatically spat in his hands, and started clearing the loose earth away. A mud-soiled white garment appeared. Aided by Chiao Tai, Ma Joong lifted a man's body out of the cavity and laid it on the dry leaves. It was the corpse of an elderly man with a closely shaved head, clad only in a thin undergarment.
'That's a Buddhist monk!' Sergeant Hoong exclaimed. 'Go on,' Judge Dee said harshly to the peasant.
Suddenly Pei Chiu let his spade drop. He gasped, 'That's the master!'
Ma Joong and Chiao Tai took the naked body of a large man from the hole. They had to be careful, for the head had been nearly severed from the body. The breast was a mass of clotted blood. Looking with interest at the heavy muscles of the corpse, Ma Joong said with appreciation, 'That was a hefty fellow!'
'Dig up your third victim!' the judge barked at Pei Chiu.
The peasant stuck his spade in the earth, but it struck a layer of rock. There was no other corpse. He looked perplexedly at the judge.
'What did you do with the woman, you rascal?' Judge Dee shouted at him.
'I swear I don't know!' the peasant cried out. 'I brought here only the master and his wife, and left them under the shrubs, I never buried nothing here! I never saw that baldpate! I swear it's the truth!'
'What is happening here?' A cultured voice spoke behind the judge.
Turning round, judge Dee saw a rotund man clad in a beautiful robe of gold- embroidered violet brocade. The lower half of his face was covered nearly entirely by a long mustache, flowing side whiskers and an enormous beard that spread out over his breast in three thick strands. On his head he wore the high gauze cap of a Doctor of Literature. He gave the Judge a quick look, then put his hands respectfully in his wide sleeves and bowed deeply. He said, 'This person is Tsao Ho-hsien, landowner by necessity but philosopher by preference.: presume that your honor is our new magistrate?' As Judge Dee nodded he continued. 'I was riding along here when a peasant told me that people from the tribunal weae on the farm of my neighbor Fan Choong. Thus I took the liberty to come and see whether I could be of any assistance.' He tried to peer past the judge at the bodies on the ground, but the judge quickly stood himself in front of him. He said curtly, 'I am investigating a murder here. If you'll kindly wait awhile down by the road, I'll presently join you there.'
As soon as Dr. Tsao had taken his leave with another deep bow,
Sergeant Hoong said, 'Your honor, there are no marks of violence on that monk's body. For all I can see he died a natural death!' 'We'll find that out this afternoon in the tribunal,' the judge said. He asked the peasant, 'Speak up, what did Mrs. Fan look like?'
'I don't know, excellency!' Pei Chiu wailed. 'I didn't see her when she came to the farm, and when I found her body her face was all smeared with blood.'
Judge Dee shrugged his shoulders. He said, 'Ma Joong, you'll call the constables while Chiao Tai guards this rascal and the bodies. Have litters made of the branches here, and see to it that the bodies are conveyed to the tribunal. Put this man Pei Chiu in our jail. On your way back you go to the barn, and let Pei show you where he concealed that mat with the clothes of the victims. I'll now go back to the farm with Hoong to search the house and to question that girl.'
The judge overtook Dr. Tsao as he was making his way carefully through the undergrowth, parting the branches with his long staff. His servant was waiting by the roadside, holding a donkey by the reins.
'I have to go to the farmhouse now, Dr. Tsao,' Judge Dee said. 'When I am through there, I shall avail myself of the opportunity to pay you a visit.'
The doctor bowed deeply, the three strands of his beard fanning out like banners. He climbed on his donkey, laid his staff across the saddle and trotted off, the servant running behind him.
'I never in all my life saw such a magnificent beard,' the judge said a little wistfully to Sergeant Hoong.
Back at the house judge Dee told Hoong to call the girl from the field. He himself went straight to the bedroom.
JUDGE DEE QUESTIONS AN OLD PEASANT
It contained one large bed, showing its bare wooden frame, two stools and a simple dressing table. In the corner near the door stood a small table with an oil lamp. As he looked down on the bare bed, his eye fell on a deep notch iii the wooden frame, near the head. The splinters looked fresh; the notch seemed to have been made quite recently. Shaking his head in doubt, the judge went over to the window. He saw that the wooden latch was broken. When about to turn away he noticed a folded piece of paper lying on the floor, directly below the window. He picked it up and found it contained a cheap woman's comb made of bone, decorated with three round pieces of colored glass. He wrapped it up again in the paper and put it in his sleeve. He asked himself perplexedly whether two women could be involved in this case. The handkerchief he had found in the hut belonged to a lady; this cheap comb was evidently the property of a peasant woman. With a sigh he went to the sitting room, where Hoong and Pei's daughter stood waiting for him.
Judge Dee noticed that the girl was mortally afraid of him; she hardly dared to look up. He said kindly, 'Well, Soo-niang, your father told me that the other day you made a very nice fried chicken for the master!'
The girl gave him a shy look, then smiled a little. The judge went on.
'Country food is much better than the stuff we get in the city. I suppose that the
