gentleman from squandering his entire fortune. But I can't do anything about that until I have ascertained. whether it isn't the nephew who is stealing his employer's money, and whether he is implicated in the dancer's murder.'
'Shall I go and visit that young man this afternoon, Your Honor?' the sergeant asked. 'I might go over all the accounts with him, and try to find out what part Wan I-fan plays in this affair.'
'That's an excellent proposal!' Judge Dee said. He took up his writing brush and wrote a brief letter of introduction for the sergeant, addressed to Liang Fen. Then he selected a sheet of official stationery and jotted down a few lines. As he impressed the large red seal of the tribunal on it he said:
'This is a request to my colleague, the magistrate of Ping-yang in Shansi Province, to send me by returning courier all data about the Fan family, and more especially about Miss Fan Ho-i, here called Almond Blossom. It is very strange that she insisted on being sold in this distant city of Han-yuan. Perhaps the roots of her murder lie in her native place! Have this letter dispatched by special messenger.'
He rose and concluded:
'Put my light hunting dress out, Hoong, and my riding boots. I'd better be off. I feel I can do with a change of air!'
Twelfth Chapter
Ma Joong and Chiao Tai stood waiting in the courtyard with three horses.
After Judge Dee had inspected the horses, the three men swung themselves into the saddle, the guards pushed open the heavy gate, and the cavalcade left the tribunal.
Riding toward the east, they left the city and soon found themselves on a kind of headland. Below, a fertile plain spread out as far as they could see.
The descent was quickly made. When they were down in the plain, Judge Dee looked with interest at the sea of waving, green paddy on both sides of the road.
'It looks promising!' he remarked with satisfaction. 'We'll have a good harvest this autumn! But I don't see any country house!'
They halted in a small village, and ate a simple noon meal in the local inn. When the village headman came to pay his respects Judge Dee inquired about the country house. But the old man shook his head. He said:
'In this entire neighborhood there's no house built of brick. The landlords live in the mountains; it's cooler there.'
'Didn't I say that Han is a crook?' Ma Joong muttered.
'We may have better luck farther on,' the judge said.
After half an hour they reached the next village. Passing through a narrow road lined by hovels, Judge Dee heard loud shouting in front. Arrived in the market place, he saw a crowd of peasants assembled under the old tree in the center, brandishing sticks and clubs and shouting and swearing at the top of their voices. High on his horse, the judge could see that they were beating and kicking a man lying at the foot of the tree. He was covered with blood.
'Stop that at once!' Judge Dee shouted. But no one paid him the slightest attention. He turned round in his saddle and angrily ordered his two assistants: 'Break up that crowd of yokels!'
Ma Joong jumped down from his horse and rushed into the crowd followed by Chiao Tai. Ma Joong grabbed the first man he could lay hands on by his neck and the seat of his trousers, lifted him over his head and threw him in the middle of the crowd. Then he jumped after him and made his way by placing blows and elbow thrusts on left and right, Chiao Tai protecting his rear. In a few moments they had fought their way to the tree and separated the attackers from their groaning victim. Ma Joong shouted:
'Lay off, you clodhoppers! Don't you know that His Excellency the Magistrate has arrived?' And he pointed to the rear.
All heads turned round. When they saw the commanding figure on horseback they quickly lowered their weapons. An elderly man came forward and knelt by Judge Dee's horse.
'This person,' he said respectfully, 'is the headman of this village,'
'Report what is going on here!' the judge ordered. 'If that man you are beating to death is a criminal, you should have brought him to the tribunal in Han-yuan. As village head you ought to know that it's a heinous offense to take the law into your own hands!'
'I beg Your Excellency's forgiveness,' the headman said. 'We were acting rashly, but the provocation was great. We of this village slave from morning till night to scrape together a few coppers for our daily bowl of rice, and then that swindler comes and robs us! The young fellow over there discovered that the crook used loaded dice. I beg Your Excellency's favorable consideration!'
'Let the fellow who discovered the cheating come forward!' Judge Dee ordered. To Ma Joong he added: 'Bring that wounded man here!'
Soon a stalwart peasant and a weird, disheveled elderly person were kneeling on the road.
'Can you prove that this man cheated?' the judge asked.
'The proof is here, sir!' the peasant answered, taking from his sleeve two dice. Just as he was rising to hand them to the judge, the wounded man rose too and with amazing celerity snatched the
A VILLAGE HEADMAN REPORTS TO THE JUDGE
dice from the peasant's hand. Waving them up and down in his hand, he shouted excitedly:
'May all the curses of Heaven and Earth descend upon this poor man if these dice are loaded!' He handed them to the judge with a deep bow. Judge Dee let the dice roll along the palm of his hand, then scrutinized them carefully. He gave the accused a sharp look. He was a scraggy man of about fifty. His hair, streaked with gray, hung over a long, deeply lined face disfigured by a bleeding wound on the forehead. He had a mole the size of a piece of copper cash on his left cheek, from which sprouted three hairs several inches long. Judge Dee said coldly to the peasant:
'These dice aren't loaded; neither have they been tampered with in any other way!' He threw them at the headman. He caught them and started to study them together with the others, muttering in astonishment. The judge addressed the crowd in a stern voice: 'Let this be a lesson to you! If you are oppressed by robbers or treated unjustly by your landlords, you can always come to the tribunal and I'll carefully consider your plaints. But don't ever again have the nerve to take the law into your own hands, or you'll be severely punished. Go back to your work now, and don't squander your time and money on gambling!'
The headman knelt and knocked his forehead on the ground to express his gratitude for this leniency.
Judge Dee ordered Ma Joong to let the wounded man sit behind him on his horse; then the cavalcade moved on again.
In the next village they halted to let the man wash himself at the well and clean his clothes. Judge Dee had the headman called and asked him whether he knew about a country house in that neighborhood, built on a slight elevation. The man replied that there was none that he knew of. He asked what it looked like, and who the owner was; there might be such a house farther along the road. Judge Dee said that it didn't matter.
The wounded man bowed deeply before the judge and wanted to take his leave. But Judge Dee, noting his limp and the deadly pallor of his face, said curtly:
'You go with us to the boundary post my man; you need a doctor. I don't hold with professional gamblers, but I can't leave you here as you are.'
Late in the afternoon they arrived at the boundary village. Judge Dee ordered Ma Joong to take the wounded man to the local physician. He himself rode on with Chiao Tai to inspect the military guard post on the
