girl's white sash and started bandaging Ma Joong's arm. 'What happened?' he asked.
'Suddenly,' Ma Joong replied, 'one of those dogs grabbed me from behind. I wanted to duck to throw him over my head, but then the second kicked me in my stomach and drew his knife. I thought T was done for, but then the fellow who held me from behind suddenly let go. I could twist my body aside at the last moment and the knife aimed at my heart landed in my left arm. I put my knee in the fellow's groin, and placed a right under his jaw that made him crash backward through the railing. The man behind me must by that time have thought better of it and jumped overboard, I heard a splash. Then the third one was on me. It was a hefty fellow, and I couldn't use my left arm. You came just in time!'
'That'll stop the bleeding,' Chiao Tai said as he knotted the ends of the sash round Ma Joong's neck. 'Keep your arm in this sling.'
Ma Joong winced as Chiao Tai pulled the bandage tight. Then he asked, 'Where's that blasted poet?'
'Let's go up on deck,' Chiao Tai said. 'He's probably emptying all the wine jugs!'
But when they came up, the deck was deserted. They called Po Kai's name. The only sound that broke the stillness was the splashing of oars from afar through the mist.
With an awful curse Ma Joong ran to the stern. The dinghy was gone.
'The treacherous son of a dog!' he shouted at Chiao Tai. 'He was in it too!'
Chiao Tai bit his lips. He hissed, 'When we get that lying bastard I'll wring that scraggy neck of his with my own hands.' Ma Joong tried to peer through the mist that surrounded the barge.
'If we get him, brother,' he said slowly. 'I think we are somewhere down river. He has a good start, for it'll take us a long time to bring this barge back to port.'
FOURTEENTH CHAPTER
IT was near midnight when Ma Joong and Chaio Tai came back to the tribunal. They had moored the Korean barge under the Rainbow Bridge, and told the guards of the east gate to put a few men on it to see that nothing was disturbed.
Judge Dee was still closeted in his private office with Sergeant Hoong. He looked up and stared amazed at the disheveled pair. But as Ma Joong told his story, his amazement changed into a deep anger. When Ma Joong had finished, the judge jumped up and started pacing the floor, his hands on his back.
'It's unbelievable!' he suddenly burst out. 'Now this murderous attack on two officers of my tribunal, directly after the attempt at eliminating me!'
Ma Joong and Chiao Tai looked astonished at Hoong. He quickly told them in an undertone about the loose board in the bridge over the cleft. He left out the warning of the dead magistrate; he knew that the occult was the only thing in the world this formidable pair were really afraid of.
'Those dogsheads lay their traps well,' Chiao Tai observed. 'Also their attack on us had been cleverly arranged. That conversation in the Nine Flowers Orchard was a carefully rehearsed scene!'
Judge Dee had not been listening. Standing still, he said, 'So it's gold they are smuggling! The rumors about the arms were just a hoax to divert my attention. But what would they smuggle gold to Korea for? I had always thought there was plenty of gold there.' He angrily tugged at his beard. Sitting down behind his desk again, he resumed.
'Earlier tonight I had been discussing with Hoong why those rascals wanted me out of the way. We concluded that they must imagine that I know more about them than I actually do. But why murder you? The attack on the barge was evidently prepared after you had left Po Kai and Kim Sang. Try to remember whether during the meal you said something that might have given them cause for alarm.'
Ma Joong frowned and thought deeply. Chiao Tai pensively fingered his small mustache. Then the latter said, 'Well, there was the usual small talk, and quite a few jokes. But apart from that-' He shook his head disconsolately.
'I did say something about our going to that deserted temple,' Ma Joong put in. 'Since you had stated publicly during the session that you were going to have Ah Kwang arrested, I thought there was no harm in telling them that we got Ah Kwang there.'
'Wasn't there something said also about those old staffs?' Sergeant Hoong asked.
'Yes, that's true!' Ma Joong said. 'Kim Sang made a joke about it.'
The judge hit his fist on the table.
'That must have been it!' he exclaimed. 'For some reason or other those staffs are very important!'
He took his fan from his sleeve and started to fan himself vigorously. Then he said to Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, 'Look here, couldn't you two be a bit more careful when you are tackling those rogues? Ah Kwang told us exactly what we wanted to know before he died, and those Korean boatmen probably only executed Kim Sang's orders, so with those it doesn't matter. But if you had caught Kim Sang alive, all our problems would probably have been solved!'
Chiao Tai scratched his head.
'Yes,' he said ruefully, 'come to think of it, it would have been nice if I had caught him alive. But it all happened rather quickly, you see. It was all over before I had realized that it had begun, so to speak!'
'Forget what I said,' Judge Dee said with a smile. 'I am being unreasonable. It is a pity, however, that Po Kai spied on you when you witnessed Kim Sang's death. That rascal now knows exactly what we know. If he hadn't been there, he would now be worrying himself to death whether Kim Sang betrayed the entire plot or not. And a worried criminal is liable to do foolish things and thereby give himself away.'
'Couldn't we interrogate those shipowners Koo and Yee under torture?' Ma Joong asked hopefully. 'After all it was their two managers who tried to murder Chiao Tai and me!'
'We haven't a shred of proof against Koo and Yee,' the judge said. 'The only thing we know is that Koreans play an important role in the criminal scheme, which is only to be expected since we knew now that they are smuggling gold to Korea. Magistrate Wang made an unfortunate choice when he selected that Korean girl to entrust his documents to. Evidently she showed the package to her friend Kim Sang, and he removed the incriminating papers from the lacquer box.
They didn't dare to destroy the box, because they feared that Magistrate Wang might have left a note among his papers stating that he gave that package to the girl; if she would be unable to produce it when asked for it, she would have been arrested as a suspect. Perhaps it was for that very reason that the dead magistrate's private papers were stolen from the Court's archives. The criminals must have a very large organization indeed; they have their agents even in our imperial capital! Somehow or other they must also be concerned in the disappearance of the woman on Fan's farm, and they must have some connection with that pompous fool, Dr. Tsao. We have a number of disconnected facts, but the key that would give sense to this confused pattern of suppositions and suspicions is lacking!'
Judge Dee heaved a deep sigh. Then he said, 'Well, it is past midnight; you three had better retire now and have a good rest. On your way out, sergeant, you must rouse three or four clerks from their beds, and tell them to write out placards for the arrest of Po Kai, on the charge of atternpted murder, and giving his full description. Order the guards to nail those placards this very night on the gate of the tribunal, and on the big buildings all over the city, so that the people'll read them first thing in the morning. If we catch that elusive rascal, we'll probably make some headway.'
The next morning when judge Dee was taking his breakfast in his private office,
