The judge gave him a shrewd look.
'Do that,' he said evenly. A visit to this dancer seems more promising than your planned talk with the sea captain.'
'I'd better see him too, sir if you have no other work for me tomorrow morning, that is. I got the impression that Mansur hates Captain Nee. Therefore it might be worth while to hear what Nee has to say about Mansur!’
'All right. Report to me after you have made those two calls. You, Tao Gan, will come here directly after breakfast. We must draw up together a preliminary report to the Grand Council on the Censor's murder. We'll send that to the capital by special courier, for the Council must be informed of the Censor's death with the least possible delay. I shall advise them to keep this news secret for a day or two, so as not to prejudice the delicate balance of power at court, and give me a little time to discover what is behind this foul murder.'
'How did the Governor take the news about this second murder in his domain, sir?' Tao Gan asked.
'That I don't know,' Judge Dee answered with a faint smile. 'I told his physician that the Censor's body was that of one of my men, who had got into trouble with a Tanka woman. I had the corpse encoffined at once, to be sent to the capital at the first opportunity, together with Dr Soo's. When I see the Governor tomorrow, I shall tell him the same story as I told his physician after he had conducted the post mortem. We'll have to be careful with that doctor, by the way; he's a quick-witted fellow! He said that the Censor's face looked familiar to him, you know. Fortunately he had only seen the Censor all dressed up in his ceremonial dress when he paid his first visit to Canton six weeks ago. When we have finished the report to the Council, Tao Gan, we'll call together on Mr Liang Foo. He visits that confounded temple regularly to play chess with the abbot, and we could do with more information about that huge sanctuary. At the same time I shall consult Liang about the possibility of the Arabs making mischief here. They are only a handful compared to the total population of this vast city, but Chiao Tai just pointed out to me on the map the strategic points they control. They could easily create a disturbance, not important in itself, but dangerous in so far as it could be used as cover for some other devilry here or elsewhere. Can we trust that other expert on Arab affairs, Mr Yau Tai-kai?' Chiao Tai frowned and replied slowly:
'Yau's jovial airs are not quite genuine, sir. He's not what I'd call a nice person to know. But as to engaging in murder, or in political plots ... no, I don't think he is the type for that.'
'I see. Then there's still that enigmatic blind girl. She must be traced as quickly as possible, and without the local authorities getting wind of it. Tomorrow morning, Tao Gan, you will call at the tribunal on your way here. Give the headman of the constables a silver piece, and ask his men to look for her, as a personal favour. Tell him she's a niece of yours who misbehaved, and to report directly to you. In that way we won't endanger her safety.' He rose, straightened his robe, and added: 'Well, let's have a good night's rest now! I advise you two to keep your doors locked and barred, for it has now been proved that both of you are marked men. Oh yes, when you have had your talk with the headman, Tao Gan, visit the Prefect, and give him this scrap of paper. I have jotted down the name and address of the prostitute I talked with in the temple yard. Order Pao to summon her together with her owner, buy her out and have her conveyed back to her native place by the first military transport going north. Tell him to give her half a gold bar, so that she can get herself a husband when she's back in her village. All expenses are to be charged to my private account. The poor creature gave me valuable information, and she is entitled to a reward. Good night!'
IX
The next morning Chiao Tai woke up before dawn. He washed quickly by the light of the single candle supplied by the inn, then dressed. About to slip his coat of mail over his head, he hesitated. He threw the heavy coat on the chair, and put on instead an iron-plated vest. 'My medicine against a sudden pain in the back!’ he muttered, putting on his brown robe over the vest. After he had wound the long black sash round his waist and put on his black cap, he went downstairs and told the yawning innkeeper that when a litter came for him, the innkeeper should tell the bearers to wait for his return. Then he went outside.
In the semi-dark street he bought four oil-cakes, hot from the portable stove which the hawker was fanning vigorously. Munching them contentedly, he walked down to the Kuei-te Gate. On arrival at the quay, he saw that the red rays of dawn were colouring the masts of the craft moored alongside. Mansur's ship was gone.
A troup of vegetable dealers filed past him, each carrying on a pole across his shoulders two baskets loaded with cabbage. Chiao Tai accosted the last one, and after some complicated haggling in sign language bought the whole lot, including the carrying pole, for seventy coppers. The man trotted off singing a Cantonese ditty, happy that he had overcharged a northerner, and saved himself the long trip to the boats into the bargain.
Chiao Tai shouldered the carrying pole and stepped on to the stern of the first boat alongside the quay. From there he went over to the next, and on to the third. He had to tread warily, for the mist had made the narrow planks connecting the boats rather slippery, and the boat people apparently considered the gangboards the proper place for cleaning fish. Chiao Tai cursed under his breath, for on many boats slatternly women were emptying buckets of night-soil into the muddy river, and the stench was overpowering. Here and there a cook hailed him, but he disregarded them. He wanted to find the dancer first, then have a closer look at the waterfolk. Thinking of Zumurrud gave him a queer tight feeling in his throat.
It was still fairly cool and his load was not too heavy, but being unaccustomed to this particular method of carrying things he was soon perspiring profusely. On the stem of a small boat he halted and had a look around. He couldn't see the city wall any more, for he was surrounded on all sides by a forest of masts and stakes, hung with fishing nets and wet laundry. The men and women moving about on the boats seemed a race apart. The men had short legs but long, muscular arms that accentuated then-swift, loping walk. Their high cheekbones jutted out from their swarthy faces, and their flat noses had wide, flaring nostrils. Some of the young women were rather pretty in a coarse way; they had round faces and large, quick eyes. Squatting on the gangways of the Tanka boats and beating the laundry with heavy round sticks, they were busily chattering together in a guttural language that sounded completely unfamiliar.
Although men and women alike studiously ignored Chiao Tai, he had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being stealthily observed all the time. 'Must be because few Chinese come here!’ he muttered. 'Those ugly dwarfs stare at me as soon as my back is turned!’ He was glad when at last he saw a narrow strip of open water ahead. A bamboo bridge led to a long row of large, gaudily painted Chinese junks, anchored stem to stern. Alongside the first row was a second, then a third, connected by broad gangways provided with banisters. The fourth row was the last, close to midstream. Chiao Tai climbed onto the stern of the nearest junk and saw the broad expanse of the Pearl River. He could just discern the masts of the craft moored alongside the opposite bank. He counted and found he was on the third boat of the fourth row. The ship heading it was as large as a war junk. Its high masts were decorated with silk banners, and all along the eaves of the cabins hung limp garlands of coloured lampions, swaying to and fro in the faint morning breeze. He got on board by walking along the narrow side decks of the intervening junk, carefully balancing his baskets.