'Close that door!' Judge Dee whispered.
'Superior workmanship!' Tao Gan said regretfully as he pulled the door close. When he followed the judge back through the tunnel the light of his lantern fell on a recess in the wall. He grabbed the judge's sleeve and pointed silently at the dry bones in the recess. There were four skulls, which the judge examined. He said:
'The White Lotus apparently killed its victims in the crypt. These bones must have lain here for some time already. The body in the box was their most recent victim.'
He quickly went up the flight of steps, entered the hexagonal room and said:
'Help me to get Wang's body to the well!'
They carried the limp corpse into the crypt, and dropped it into the dark hole. Far below they heard a splash.
Judge Dee again entered the room, blew out the candle and pulled the door to behind him. They crossed the crypt and climbed the steep stairs to the altar tunnel. When they were standing in the chapel again, the jade panel closed noiselessly.
Standing in front of it, Tao Gan depressed at random a few words of the inscription. But as soon as he had pressed down one square, and started on a second, the first rose and resumed its position level with the surface.
'What a fine craftsman that Hermit Han was!' Tao Gan sighed. 'If one doesn't know the key sentence, one can press down these squares till one's hair goes gray!'
'Later!' Judge Dee whispered. He dragged Tao Gan by his sleeve to the door of the chapel.
In the courtyard they met a group of servants who were coming back from the town.
'The fire has been put out!' they shouted.
Out in the street they met Han Yung-han, clad in a house robe. He said gratefully to Judge Dee:
'Thanks to the prompt action of your men the fire hasn't done much damage, Your Honor! The greater part of the roof of the storeroom is gone, and all my rice bales have been damaged by the water, but that's all. I think that the hay under the roof got heated, and caused the fire. Two of your officers were on the roof in a remarkably short time and thus could prevent the fire from spreading. Fortunately, there was no breeze; that's what I had been afraid of most!'
'So had I!' the judge said wholeheartedly.
They exchanged a few polite phrases; then Judge Dee and Tao Gan went back to the tribunal.
The judge found two weird figures waiting for him in his private office. Their robes were in tatters and their faces smeared with soot.
'The worst is,' Ma Joong said with a scowl, 'that my nose and throat are scorched by that accursed smoke! We have found out now that it's much easier to start a fire than to put it out!'
Judge Dee smiled bleakly. When he was seated behind his desk he said to the two men:
'Again you did an excellent job! I regret that I can't yet let you go and take the rest you so well deserve. The biggest task still lies ahead!'
'Nothing like variety!' Ma Joong said cheerfully.
'You and Chiao Tai had better go and wash yourselves,' the judge continued, 'and have a quick snack. Then put on your mail jackets and helmets, and come back here.' To Tao Gan he added: 'Call Sergeant Hoong!'
When he was alone Judge Dee moistened his writing brush and selected a long roll of blank paper. Then he took from his sleeve the document roll he had found in the crypt, and started to read it through.
When Hoong and Tao Gan came in the judge looked up and said:
'Get all documents relating to the case of the dead dancer together on the table here, so that you can read out for me those passages I shall ask for!'
While the two men set to work, Judge Dee began to write. He covered the roll with the quick, cursive handwriting at which he was expert, his brush seeming to fly over the paper. He paused only now and then to ask his assistants to read aloud passages from the records which he wanted to quote verbatim in his report.
At last he put down his writing brush, with a deep sigh. He rolled up his report tightly, together with the document found in the crypt, wrapped them up in oilpaper and told Hoong to seal the roll with the large seal of the tribunal.
Ma Joong and Chiao Tai came in. Clad in heavy mail jackets with iron shoulder pieces and with their pointed helmets, they looked taller than ever.
Judge Dee handed each of them thirty silver pieces. Then, looking at them intently, he spoke.
'You two will ride to the capital at once. Change horses frequently. If there should be none in the post stations, rent them; this silver should be sufficient for that. If there are no accidents, you'll be in the capital before dawn.
'Go straight to the palace of the President of the Metropolitan Court. A silver gong is suspended at the gate there. Every citizen in the Empire is entitled to beat that gong in the first hour after dawn and bring his grievance before the President. You'll beat that gong. Tell the palace chamberlain that you have come from afar to report a grievous wrong done to you. When you are kneeling before the President, give him this roll! No further explanation is necessary.'
As Judge Dee handed the sealed roll to him Ma Joong said with a smile:
'That sounds easy! Wouldn't it be better if we wore a light hunting dress? All this ironware is hard on the horses!'
Judge Dee looked gravely at his two lieutenants. Then he said slowly:
'It may prove easy, or it may prove very difficult. It is not impossible that people will try to waylay you on the road. Therefore it's better that you go as you are. Don't ask help from any officials; you are completely on your own. If anyone tries to stop you, cut him down. If one of you should be killed or wounded, the other will go on and bring the roll to the capital. Hand it to the President and to no one else.'
Chiao Tai tightened his sword belt. Fie said quietly:
'That must be a very important document, Your Honor!'
Judge Dee folded his arms in his sleeves. He replied in a tense voice:
'It concerns the Mandate of Heaven!'
Chiao Tai understood. He squared his shoulders and exclaimed:
'Ten thousand years to the Imperial House!'
Ma Joong gave his friend a bewildered look. But he automatically completed the time-honored formula:
'And long live the Emperor!'
Nineteenth Chapter
The next morning held the promise of an exceptionally fine summer day. Overnight a cool mist had come down from the mountains, its freshness lingered on in the sunny morning air.
Sergeant Hoong expected to find Judge Dee out on the terrace. But as he was about to climb the stairs leading up to the second floor, he met a clerk who told him that the judge was in his private office.
Hoong was startled when he saw him. He was sitting hunched over his desk, staring ahead of him with red- rimmed eyes. The stale air in the room, and Judge Dee's rumpled robe, indicated that he hadn't gone to bed at all but had passed the entire night at his desk. Noticing the sergeant's disconcerted look, Judge Dee said with a wan smile:
'Last night, after I had sent our two braves to the capital, I found I couldn't sleep at all. Therefore I stayed at my desk here, and again went over the entire situation as we have it now. Our discovery of the secret headquarters of Han Yung-han, and the subterranean connection thereof with Liu Fei-po's garden, have proved that both Han and Liu play an important role in a criminal com-plot. I can tell you now, Hoong, that it is a conspiracy directed against our Imperial House, and with ramifications all over the Empire. The situation is serious but, as I have reason to hope, not yet beyond remedy. I suppose that by now my report is in the hands of the
