'Or the end,' Hou muttered under his breath. He rose also and walked to the window. The gravediggers had left their shelter and were starting their work. He grew pale and quickly glanced away. Turning round he said hoarsely, 'The rain has stopped.'
'Then I'd better go!' Magistrate Dee exclaimed.
Together the three friends descended the narrow, winding staircase.
In the courtyard below an elderly man stood waiting with two horses. The waiter filled the stirrup cup. The three friends emptied it in one draught, then there were the confused last messages and wishes. The magistrate swung himself into the saddle; the graybeard ascended the other horse. Magistrate Dee waved his whip in farewell, then the pair rode down the path that led to the highway.
As Secretary Liang and his friend Hou stood looking after them, the latter said with a worried look, 'I didn't like to tell Dee, but this morning a man from Peng-lai told me about queer rumors there. They are saying that the ghost of the murdered magistrate has been seen walking in the tribunal.'
THE PARTING OF THREE FRIENDS
Two days later, toward noon, Magistrate Dee and his assistant reached the border of Shantung Province. They had their noon meal in the military post, changed their horses, then went on eastward along the highway to Peng-lai. The road led through a thickly wooded, hilly country.
The magistrate wore a simple brown traveling dress. His official costume and a few personal belongings he carried in two capacious saddlebags. Since he had decided that his two wives and his children should follow him later, after he had settled down in Peng-lai, he could afford to travel light. Later his family would bring along his other possessions and his servants in tilt carts. His assistant, Hoong Liang, carried the magistrate's two most prized possessions, the famous sword Rain Dragon, an heirloom of the Dee family, and the old standard work on jurisprudence and detection, in the margins of which Dee's late father, the imperial councilor, had added copious notes in his precise handwriting.
Hoong Liang was an old retainer of the Dee family in Tai-yuan; he had looked after the magistrate when he was still a child. Later, when the magistrate had moved to the capital and set up his own household there, the loyal old servant had accompanied him. He had made himself very useful helping in supervising the household, at the same time acting as Dee's confidential secretary. And now he had insisted on following his master to Peng-lai, his first post in the provinces.
Letting his horse step in an easy gait, the magistrate turned round in his saddle and said, 'If we keep this dry weather, Hoong, we should arrive tonight at the garrison city of Yen-chow. We can start from there early tomorrow morning, so that we reach Penglai in the afternoon.'
Hoong nodded.
'We shall ask the commander at Yen-chow,' he said, 'to send an express messenger ahead, to apprise the tribunal of Peng-lai of our impending arrival, and-'
'We'll do nothing of the sort, Hoong!' the other interrupted quickly. 'The senior scribe, who, after the murder of the magistrate there., was temporarily charged with the administration, knows that I have been appointed, and that's enough! I prefer to arrive unexpectedly. That's also why I refused the military escort the commander of the boundary post offered me.'
As Hoong remained silent, his master continued.
'I carefully studied the file of the magistrate's murder, but as you know the most important part is missing, namely the private papers found in the dead man's library. The investigator brought them back with him to the capital, but they were stolen.'
'Why,' Hoong asked worriedly, 'did the investigator stay only three days in Peng- lai? After all, the murder of an imperial magistrate is no small matter; he should have devoted more time to the case, and not have left there without at least having formulated a theory about how and why the crime was committed.'
Magistrate Dee nodded eagerly.
'And that,' he remarked, 'is only one of the many curious aspects of the case! The investigator reported only that Magistrate Wang had been found poisoned in his library, that the poison had been identified as the powdered root of the snake tree, that it was not known how that poison had been administered, and that there were no clues to the criminal, nor to his motive. That was all!'
After a while he continued. 'As soon as the papers of my appointment had been signed, I went to the Court to call on the investigator. But I found he had left already on a new assignment far down in the south. His secretary gave me the incomplete dossier. He said that the investigator had not discussed the case with him, that he had left no notes on it, and no oral instructions as to how he thought the case should be handled. So you see, Hoong, we'll have to start from scratch!'
The graybeard did not answer; he did not share his master's enthusiasm. They rode on in silence. Since some time now they had met no other travelers. They were traversing a wild stretch of country; high trees and thick undergrowth lined the road on both sides. After they had turned a bend, suddenly two men on horseback emerged from a narrow side path. They wore patched riding jackets, and their hair was bound up with dirty blue rags. While one aimed the arrow on his crossbow at the travelers, the other rode up to them, a drawn sword in his hand.
'Get down from your horse, official!' he shouted. 'We'll accept yours and that of the old man as a courtesy of the road!'
SECOND CHAPTER
HOONG quickly turned round in his saddle to hand his master his sword. But an arrow swished past his head.
'Leave the toothpick alone, old man!' the archer shouted. 'The next arrow goes right into your throatl'
Magistrate Dee quickly surveyed the situation. Angrily biting his lip, he saw there was little he could do; they had been taken completely by surprise. He cursed himself for not having accepted the military escort.
'Hurry up,' the first ruffian growled. 'Be grateful that we are honest highwaymen, who let you off with your life.'
'Honest highwaymen!' the magistrate said with a sneer as he climbed down from his horse. 'Attacking an unarmed man, and that with an archer to cover you! You two are just a couple of common horse thieves!'
The man jumped from his horse with amazing quickness and stood himself in front of the magistrate, his sword ready. He topped him by an inch; his broad shoulders and thick neck showed him to be a man of extraordinary strength. Pushing his heavyjowled face forward he hissed, 'You can't insult me, dog-official!'
Magistrate Dee's face went scarlet. 'Give me my sword!' he ordered Hoong.
The archer drove his horse immediately in front of the graybeard.
'Keep your mouth shut and do as you are told!' he said threateningly to the magistrate.
'Prove that you aren't just a couple of thieves!' the magistrate snapped. 'Hand me my sword. I'll first finish off this rascal and then settle with you!'
The big man with the sword suddenly guffawed. Putting his sword down, he
