improvised club for the other's head. As the man ducked quickly, a truculent voice called out loudly from the door:
'Who is making trouble here?'
A cadaverously lean man with a slight stoop came toward them. The two ruffians hastily put away their knives and bowed. Resting his hands on a knobstick the old man stood there surveying them with crafty eyes from under gray tufted eyebrows. Although clad in an old brown robe and wearing a greasy skullcap, he had an unmistakable air of authority. Looking at the husky man he said sourly:
'What are you at now, Mao Loo? You know that I don't like killings inside the city.'
'The rule is that an interloper be killed!' the other muttered.
'That's for me to decide!' the old man said gruffly. 'As head of the Beggars' Guild I have my responsibilities. I don't condemn a fellow before I have heard him. Hey, you, what do you have to say for yourself?'
'I just wanted to have a bite before I went to see you,' Judge Dee answered sullenly. 'I came to this accursed town only a few hours ago, but if a man can't eat his noodles in peace here I'd better return where I came from!'
'It's true, boss!' The waiter now joined the conversation. 'He said he had come from Chiang-pei when I talked to him just now.'
The graybeard looked speculatively at the judge. He asked:
'Have you any money?'
The judge took a string of cash from his sleeve. The other snatched it from his hand with amazing quickness, then said placidly:
'The entrance fee is half a string, but I'll accept the whole string, as mark of your good will. Every night you'll come to the Inn of the Red Carp and hand me ten per cent of your earnings.' He threw a dirty slip of wood inscribed with a number and some cabalistic signs on the table and added: 'This is your membership tally. Good luck!'
The tall ruffian gave him a nasty look.
'If you ask me-' he began.
'I don't scare!' the head of the beggars snapped at him. 'Don't forget that it was me who took you on when the Guild of the Carpenters' had kicked you out! What are you doing here anyway! I was told that you had gone to Three Oaks Island!'
Mao Loo muttered something about having to see a friend first. The one-eyed man said with a leer:
'A friend in skirts! He had come to fetch his wench but she pretended to be ill! That's why he is in that nasty temper!'
Mao Loo cursed.
'Come along, you fool!' he growled. The two men bowed to their boss and left.
Judge Dee wanted to engage the graybeard in some further conversation, but that worthy had lost interest in him. He turned round and was respectfully conducted to the door by the waiter.
The judge resumed his former seat. The waiter placed a bowl of noodles and a beaker in front of him and said, not unkindly:
'An unfortunate misunderstanding, brother! Here; the manager gives you a cup of wine, for free! Come in often!'
Judge Dee quietly ate his noodles and found them surprisingly appetizing. He thought to himself that it had been a good lesson. If ever again he would go out in disguise, he would choose the part of an itinerant doctor or soothsayer. For those stay as a rule only a few days in one place, and they are not organized in guilds. When he had finished his noodles he noticed that the wound in his side was bleeding. He paid his coppers and left.
He went to a pharmacy in the market place. While the assistant was washing his wound he remarked:
'You were in luck, my man! It's only a flesh wound, this time. I trust you hit the other fellow better!'
He covered it with an oil plaster; the judge paid five coppers, and went uptown again. As he slowly climbed the steps leading up to the street of the tribunal, the shopkeepers were already putting up their wooden shutters. He heaved a sigh of relief when he' came to the level road running in front of the tribunal. After having ascertained that none of the guards was about, he quickly crossed the street and slipped into the narrow alley where the side entrance was. Suddenly he stood still, then pressed himself against the wall. Farther ahead he saw a figure, clad in black, in front of the side door. The man was stooping, apparently studying the lock.
Judge Dee strained his eyes to see what he was doing. Suddenly the man righted himself and looked round to the entrance of the alley. The judge couldn't see his face; he had wound a black scarf around his head. He saw the judge and quickly turned to flee. But Judge Dee was on him in three jumps and grabbed his arm.
'Leave me alone!' the black figure cried. 'I'll shout if you don't!'
Greatly amazed, the judge let go. It was a woman.
'Don't be afraid!' he said quickly. 'I am from the tribunal. Who are you?'
The woman hesitated. Then she said with a trembling voice:
'You look like a footpad!'
'I went out in disguise on a special mission!' the judge said, irritated. 'Now speak up, what are you doing here?'
The woman lowered the scarf. It was a young girl with an intelligent, very attractive face. She said:
'I have to see the magistrate on urgent business.'
'Why, then, didn't you present yourself at the main gate?' Judge Dee asked.
'Nobody of the personnel must know that I come to see the magistrate,' the girl said quickly. 'I hoped to attract the attention of a maidservant, and let her take me to the private residence of the judge.' Giving him a searching look she asked: 'How do I know that you are from the tribunal?'
The judge took a key from his sleeve and unlocked the door. He said curtly:
'I am the magistrate. Follow me!'
The girl gasped. Stepping up to him, she said in an urgent whisper:
'I am Willow Down, the daughter of Han Yung-han, Your Honor! My father sent me; he has been attacked and wounded. He begs you to come quickly! He told me that only Your Honor must know about this; it's of the utmost importance!'
'Who attacked your father?' Judge Dee asked, astonished.
'It was the murderer of Almond Blossom, the courtesan! Please come now to our house, Your Honor; it isn't far!'
The judge went inside. He broke two red roses from the shrub that grew against the garden wall. Then he stepped back into the alley, locked the door and handed the two flowers to the girl. 'Stick these in your hair,' he ordered. 'Then lead the way to your house!'
The girl did as he had said, and walked toward the entrance of the alley, the judge following a few paces behind her. If they should meet the night watch or some late passer-by, they would think she was a prostitute going home with a client.
A short walk brought them to the sumptuous gate of the Han mansion. She quickly led him round the house to the kitchen door. She opened it with a small key she took from her bosom, and went inside, with Judge Dee close behind her. They crossed a small garden to a side building. Willow Down pushed a door open, and motioned the judge to go inside.
The back wall of the small but luxuriously appointed room was taken up almost entirely by a large, high couch of carved sandalwood. On the couch Han was lying back among a number of large silk pillows; the light of the silver candle on the tea table by the window shone on his pale, haggard face. When he saw the judge in his unusual attire, he uttered a frightened cry and wanted to get up. Judge Dee said quickly:
'Don't be afraid. It is I, the magistrate! Where are you wounded?'
'He was felled by a blow on his temple, Your Honor!' Willow Down said. As the judge sat down on the tabouret by the couch, she went to the tea table and took a towel from the hot-water basin. She wiped her father's face with it, then pointed at his right temple. Judge Dee leaned forward and saw that there was indeed a nasty-looking, dark-blue bruise. Willow Down carefully held the hot towel against it. Now that she had shed her black mantle, the judge saw that she was a very elegant and attractive girl indeed. The anxious look she gave her father proved that she was very fond of him.
Han stared at the judge with wide, frightened eyes. He was quite a different man from that of the afternoon.
