'Outsiders are not permitted to witness that ritual!' he said. Judge Dee shook his arm free. He said coldly, 'Your youth is the only excuse for your ignorance. Remember that you are addressing your magistrate. Lead the way.'
In the yard in front of the back hall a tremendous fire was burning in a large open oven. There was no one about but one monk, who was busily working the bellows. An earthenware jar was standing by his side. The judge noticed also a large oblong box lying next to the oven.
'Where is the dead body?' he asked.
'In that rosewood box,' the young monk said in a surly voice. 'Late this afternoon the men from the tribunal brought it here on a litter. After the cremation the ashes are collected in that jar.' The heat was nearly unbearable.
'Lead me to the abbot's quarters!' the judge said curtly. When the monk had taken him up on the terrace, he left to look for the abbot. He seemed to have forgotten all about the tea. Judge Dee did not mind; he started pacing the terrace, the cool, moist air that came up from the cleft was a pleasant change after the fearful heat near the furnace.
Suddenly he heard a muffled cry. He stood still and listened. There was nothing but the murmur of the water below in the cleft. Then the cry was heard again, it grew louder, then ended in a groan. It came from the cave of Maitreya.
The judge went quickly up the wooden bridge leading across the entrance of the cave. When he had done two steps he suddenly froze. Through the haze rising up from the cleft he saw the dead magistrate standing at the other end of the bridge.
A cold fear gripping his heart, he stared motionless at the grayrobed apparition. The eye sockets seemed empty, their blind stare and the gruesome spots of decay on the hollow cheeks filled the judge with an unspeakable horror. The apparition slowly lifted an emaciated, transparent hand, and pointed down at the bridge. It slowly shook its head.
The judge looked down to where the ghostly hand was pointing. He only saw the broad boards of the bridge. He looked up. The apparition seemed to be dissolving into the mist. Then there was nothing.
A CREMATION OVEN IN A TEMPLE
A long shiver shook the judge. He placed his right foot carefully on the board in the middle of the bridge. The board dropped. He heard it crash down on the stones at the bottom of the cleft, thirty feet below.
He stood motionless for some time, staring at the black gap in front of his feet. Then he stepped back and wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
'I deeply regret to have kept your honor waiting,' a voice said. Judge Dee turned round. Seeing Hui-pen standing there, he silently pointed at the missing board.
'I told the abbot many times already,' Hui-pen said, annoyed, 'that those moldering boards must be replaced. One of these days this bridge will cause a serious accident!'
'It nearly did,' Judge Dee said dryly. 'Fortunately, I halted just when I was about to cross, because I heard a cry from the cave.' 'Oh, they are only owls, your honor,' Hui-pen said. 'They have their nests near the entrance of the cave. Unfortunately, the abbot can not leave the service before he has spoken the benediction. Can I do something for your honor?'
'You can,' the judge answered. 'Transmit my respects to his holiness!'
He turned and walked to the stairs.
TWELFTH CHAPTER
WHEN Ma Joong had brought the peasant's daughter home, her aunt, a jovial old lady, had insisted that he take- a bowl of gruel there. Chiao T'ai had waited for him in the guard house for some time, then ate his rice there together with the headman. But as soon as Ma Joong came back, they rode out together. Outside in the street Ma Joong asked Chiao Tai, 'You know what that girl Soo-niang said to me when I left there?'
'That you were a splendid fellow,' Chiao T'ai said indifferently. 'You don't know a thing about women, brother,' Ma Joong said condescendingly. 'That's of course what she was thinking, but women don't say those things, you know, at least not at the beginning. No, she said I was kind.'
'Almighty heaven!' Chiao Tai shouted, aghast. 'You-and kind! The poor, stupid wench! But then, I needn't worry, you don't have a chance. You haven't got a piece of land, have you? You heard her say that's what she wants.'
'I have got other things,' Ma Joong said smugly.
'I wish you would take your mind off the skirts, brother,' Chiao Tai grunted. 'The headman told me a lot about that fellow Ah Kwang. We needn't look for him inside the city; he only comes here occasionally, far drinking or gambling; he doesn't belong here. We must find him somewhere upcountry, that's where he knows his way about.'
'Seeing that he's a country bumpkin,' Ma Joong said, 'I don't think he'll have left the district. He'll have taken to the woods west of the town.'
'Why should he?' Chiao T'ai asked. 'As far as he knows, there's nothing to connect him with the murder. If I were in his place, I would lie low in some place nearby for a few days, and see which way the wind was blowing.'
'In that case,' Ma Joong said, 'we might kill two birds with one stone if we begin by searching that deserted temple.'
'You are right for once,' Chiao Tai said wryly. 'Let's go there.' They left the city by the west gate, and rode along the highway to the guardhouse at the crossing. They left their horses there, then walked to the temple, keeping to the left side of the road, where they were covered by the trees.
'The headman told me,' Chiao Tai whispered when they had come to the ruined gatehouse, 'that Ah Kwang is stupid in everything except woodcraft and fighting. He also has a mean way with a knife. So we had better go about this job seriously and approach that temple without his spotting us-if he is there.'
Ma Joong nodded and crept into the undergrowth beside the gate, followed by Chiao T'ai.
After they had struggled through the dense shrubbery for a while, Ma Joong raised his hand. Carefully parting the branches, he nodded to his friend. Together they scrutinized the high building of weatherbeaten stone that rose on the other side of a mossovergrown court. A flight of broken stone steps led up the main entrance, just a dark opening; the doors had disappeared long ago. A couple of white butterflies fluttered about among the high-grown weeds. Apart from that nothing was stirring.
Ma Joong picked up a small stone and threw it against the wall. It clattered down the stone steps. They waited, their eyes glued on the dark entrance.
'I saw something moving inside!' Chiao Tai whispered.
'I'll slip inside there,' Ma Joong said, 'while you circle the temple and get in by a side gate. W'e'll whistle if we find something.'
Chiao Tai moved away in the undergrowth on his right, Ma Joong crept in the opposite direction. When he estimated he was near the left corner of the building, he came out and stood with his
