you that those other Chinese bastards were prepared to do everything just for the money!'
He then enumerated the names of three Chinese shopkeepers and four soldiers.
Tao Gan carefully noted down their names.
Judge Dee beckoned Chiao Tai to his side. He said in a whisper:
'Go immediately to your quarters in Chien's mansion and place those four soldiers under arrest. Then go with Corporal Ling and twenty men to Yoo Kee's mansion and arrest the two Uigurs there. You will then apprehend the three Chinese shopkeepers. Finally you will arrest The Hunter and his confederates in the Northern Row!'
As Chiao Tai hurried away Judge Dee said to Ooljin:
'I am not an unjust man, Ooljin. I won't stand for a
Chinese receiving a reward because he betrayed you after he had instigated and abetted your crime. If you want to prevent this man Yoo Kee from getting away with his treacherous deeds, you had better tell how Magistrate Pan was murdered!'
The Uigur's eyes blazed with unholy glee.
'Here is my revenge!', he shouted. 'Listen, you official! Four years ago that man Yoo Kee gave me ten silver pieces. He told me to go to the tribunal and tell the new magistrate that that very night he could catch Yoo Kee in a secret conference with an emissary of the Uigur Khan, near the ford. Magistrate Pan came along with one assistant. The latter I knocked down as soon as we were outside the city gate. I myself cut the magistrate's throat and dragged his body to the river bank.'
Ooljin spat in the direction of Yoo Kee.
'Now what about your reward, you dog?', he yelled.
Judge Dee nodded to the senior scribe. He read aloud his notes of what the Uigur had said. Ooljin agreed that it was a true account of his confession. The document was handed to the Uigur and he impressed his thumbmark on it.
Then Judge Dee spoke:
'You, Ooljin, are an Uigur prince from over the border and your crime of sedition concerns the external relations of our Empire. I am in no position to find out if and how deeply your Khan and the chieftains of the other tribes are implicated in this scheme of rebellion. It is not within my competence to pass judgement on you. You shall be conveyed immediately to the capital. There your crime shall be dealt with by the Board for Barbarian Affairs.'
He gave a sign to the headman. Prince Ooljin was laid on a stretcher and carried back to the jail.
'Bring the criminal Yoo Kee before me!' Judge Dee ordered.
A CRIMINAL CONFESSES HIS NEFARIOUS SCHEMES
As Yoo Kee was pressed to his knees in front of the dais, Judge Dee said sternly:
'Yoo Kee, you are guilty of high treason. This is a crime against the state for which the law prescribes a terrible punishment. Yet perhaps the great name of your late father and a recommendation from me might bring the authorities to mitigate somewhat the fearful fate that awaits you. Therefore I advise you to confess now and give a full account of your crime!'
Yoo Kee did not reply. His head hung low and he breathed heavily. Judge Dee gave a sign to the headman to leave him alone.
At last Yoo Kee looked up. He said in a toneless voice, quite different from his accustomed animated way of talking:
'Beyond the two Uigurs, I have no accomplices in my mansion. I would have told my servants at the very last moment that we were going to take over the town. The four soldiers received a gift in money. Tomorrow, on the hour of midnight, they would light a signal fire on the highest watch tower in the Chien mansion. They were told that this would be the sign for a band of ruffians to create a disturbance and that that was the cover under which the two large goldsmiths' shops of this city would be looted. In fact, however, the fire would be the sign for the Uigur tribes over the river to attack. Ooljin and his Chinese helpers would then have opened the Watergate, and…'
'Enough!', Judge Dee interrupted him. 'Tomorrow you shall have full opportunity for telling the entire story.
Now I only want you to answer one question. What did you do with the testament you found concealed in your late father's scroll picture?'
A look of surprise flashed over Yoo Kee's haggard face. He replied:
'Since the original testament stated that the property was to be divided equally between me and my half brother Yoo Shan, I destroyed it. Instead I inserted into the lining of the scroll a paper that I had written myself and that would establish beyond all doubt that I was the only rightful heir.'
'You see', the judge said disdainfully, 'that every one of your black deeds is known to me! Lead the criminal back to jail!'
Not long after the judge had closed the session, Chiao Tai came to his private office and reported that all the criminals had been duly placed under arrest. In the Northern Row there had been some trouble, The Hunter had resisted his arrest but he had been knocked down by Corporal Ling.
Judge Dee leaned back in his chair. Sipping a cup of hot tea he said:
„ Ooljin and the six Uigurs must be conveyed to the capital. Let Corporal Ling select ten soldiers, and set out on horseback tomorrow morning. If they change horses at the nearest military post, they should be in the capital within a week. The three shopkeepers and the soldiers who accepted the bribe, I shall judge here.'
Looking at his four lieutenants sitting in a half circle in front of his desk, Judge Dee continued with a smile:
'I think that with the arrest of the leaders we have nipped this plot in the bud!'
Chiao Tai nodded eagerly.
'The Uigur tribesmen', he said, 'are not to be despised as warriors in a pitched battle in the open field. They are fine horsemen and their archers shoot with deadly accuracy. But they have neither the experience nor the equipment necessary for laying siege to a walled city. When tomorrow night they don't see the signal fire on the watch tower, they will not dare to attack!'
Judge Dee nodded.
'I leave it to you, Chiao Tai', he said, 'to make the necessary preparations to meet any eventuality.'
With a bleak smile the judge added:
'You cannot complain that you are not kept busy here, my friends!'
'The other day when we were approaching Lan-fang', Sergeant Hoong said with a smile, 'Your Honour observed that our task here would be interesting because we would meet here unusual problems! That surmise has indeed come true!'
Judge Dee wearily passed his hand over his eyes.
'I find it difficult to believe', he said, 'that it is only one week since we arrived here in Lan-fang!'
Putting his hands into his wide sleeves he continued:
'Looking back upon the last few days I think that Chien Mow's mysterious visitor worried me more than anything else. It was evident that he was the brain behind the tyrant's activities. I knew that as long as he was free anything might happen!'
'How did Your Honour discover that it was Yoo Kee?', Tao Gan asked. As far as I can see there was no clue at all to the stranger's identity!'
Judge Dee nodded.
'It is true', he replied, 'we did not know much. Yet there were two indirect clues. First, we knew that he must be a man conversant with the internal and external affairs of the Empire. Second, that he probably lived in the vicinity of Chien Mow's mansion.
I must confess that at first I strongly suspected Woo Feng of being our man. Woo is exactly the kind of reckless fellow who would venture on such a wild scheme. And his family background would have given him sufficient knowledge of affairs of state to guide Chien Mows' actions.'
'Moreover', Sergeant Hoong interrupted, 'there is Woo's queer predilection for barbarian art!'
