Suddenly the steward appeared on the terrace, leading a squat man whose pointed helmet, short mail-coat and baggy leather trousers proclaimed him to be a corporal of the mounted military police. He stood stiffly at attention in front of the judge, and said in a clipped voice:
"I have the honor to report that my patrol has arrested the man Pan Feng six miles south of Five Rams Village, two miles east of the main road. Just now I delivered him to the warden of the jail in Your Honor's tribunal."
"Excellent work!" Judge Dee exclaimed. To Chu he added: "I greatly regret that I have to leave now to look into this. But I don't want to break up this splendid feast. I'll take along only Sergeant Hoong."
Chu Ta-yuan and the other guests conducted the judge to the front courtyard, where he took leave of his host, apologizing again for his abrupt departure.
"Duty comes first!" Chu said heartily. "And I am glad that the scoundrel has been caught!"
When they were back in the tribunal Judge Dee said curtly to Hoong:
"Call the warden of the jail."
The warden appeared and greeted the judge.
"What did you find on the prisoner?" Judge Dee asked him.
"He carried no weapons, Your Honor, only his pass and small money."
"He didn't have a leather bag with him?"
"No, Your Honor."
The judge nodded and told the warden to lead them to the jail.
When the warden unlocked the iron door of a small cell and lifted his lantern, the man who was sitting on the bench rose with a clanking of heavy chains. Judge Dee thought that at first sight Pan Feng looked like a rather inoffensive old man. He had an egg-shaped head with tousled gray hair, and a drooping mustache. His face was disfigured by a red welt across his left cheek. Pan did not start upon the usual protestations of innocence but looked at the judge in respectful silence.
Folding his arms in his wide sleeves Judge Dee said sternly:
"A very serious accusation has been brought against you in the tribunal, Pan Feng."
Pan said with a sigh:
"I can easily imagine what happened, Your Honor. My wife's brother Yeh Tai must have brought a false charge against me. That good-for-nothing is always bothering me for money and of late I have resolutely refused to lend him any more. I suppose this is his revenge."
"As you know," the judge said evenly, "the law doesn't allow me to question a prisoner in private. But it might spare you embarrassment in court tomorrow if you now told me whether you have had any serious quarrels with your wife lately."
"So she is in it, too!" Pan remarked bitterly. "Now I understand why she has been behaving so strangely these last weeks, going out at unusual hours. No doubt she was helping Yeh Tai to concoct the false accusation. When day before yesterday I . . ."
Judge Dee raised his hand.
"You'll tell the full story tomorrow," he said curtly. He turned around and left the jail.
Fifth Chapter
The next morning Judge Dee entered his private office shortly before the hour of the morning session. He found his four lieutenants waiting for him.
Sergeant Hoong saw that the judge was still looking very pale and tired. He had been busy till deep in the night, supervising the loading of the tilt carts. As he sat down behind his desk Judge Dee said:
"Well, my family is off. The military escort arrived before dawn. If there's no new snowfall, they should reach Tai-yuan in about three days."
He passed his hand wearily over his eyes. Then he continued in a brisk voice:
"Last night I briefly interviewed Pan Feng. My first impression is that our theory is right and that a third person murdered his wife. Unless he is a consummate actor, he has not the faintest idea of what happened."
"Where did Pan run off to, day before yesterday?" Tao Gan asked.
"We'll hear that presently when I question him in the tribunal," Judge Dee said. He slowly sipped the hot tea that the Sergeant-had offered him, then went on:
"Yesterday night I told you three not to leave Chu's dinner, not only because I didn't want to spoil the party, but also because I vaguely felt something queer in the air. I was feeling rather ill, so it may have been my imagination. But I would like to hear whether you people noticed anything unusual after my departure."
Ma Joong looked at Chiao Tai. He scratched his head, then said ruefully:
"I must confess, Your Honor, that I had just a little too much of that liquor. I didn't notice anything particular. But brother Chiao may have more to tell."
"I can only say," Chiao Tai said with a wan smile, "that everybody was in a very happy mood—including me!"
Tao Gan had been fingering pensively the three long hairs sprouting from his left cheek. Now he said:
"I am not very partial to that strong liquor, and since Master Lan doesn't drink at all, I spent most of the time talking with him. But that did not prevent me from keeping an eye on what was happening around the table. I must say, Your Honor, that it was just a pleasant dinner party." When Judge Dee made no comment, Tao Gan went on: "However, Master Lan told me an interesting thing. When we came to speak about the murder, he said that Yeh Pin is an old dodderer but not a bad fellow; but he thinks that Yeh Tai is a mean scoundrel."
"Why?" Judge Dee asked quickly.
"Some years ago," Tao Gan replied, "Lan taught him boxing, but only for a few weeks. Then he refused to teach him any more, because Yeh Tai wanted to learn only a few nasty dangerous blows, and showed no interest at all in the spiritual background of the sport. Lan says that Yeh Tai is extraordinarily strong, but that his mean character precludes his ever becoming a good boxer."
"That is useful information," the judge said. "Did he tell you anything else?"
"No," Tao Gan answered, "for then he started showing me the figures he makes with the Seven Board."
"The Seven Board!" Judge Dee said, astonished. "That is just a children's toy! I remember playing with it when I was a boy. Do you mean that paper square cut up into seven pieces, with which you can make all kinds of figures?"
"Yes," Ma Joong laughed, "that's a queer hobby of old Lan's. He maintains that it is much more than just a children's game. He says it teaches you to recognize the essential features of everything you see, and is an aid to concentrating the mind."
"He can make practically anything with it you tell him to," Tao Gan said, "and at a moment's notice." He took from his capacious sleeve seven pieces of cardboard, put them on the table and fitted them together so as to form a square. "This is the way you cut the paper," he said to the judge.
Shuffling the pieces he continued: "I first told him to make the Drum Tower, and he made this:
"That was too easy, so I said a running horse. That also he got immediately:
"Then I said an accused kneeling in the tribunal, and he made this:
"I got sore," Tao Gan continued, "and told him to make a drunken constable and a dancing girl. But he made them!
"Then," Tao Gan concluded, "I gave up!"
Judge Dee joined in the general laughter. Then he said:
"As to my uneasy feeling that something was wrong last night, since none of you noticed anything, I assume it must have been that I was ill. Chu Ta-yuan's mansion is extraordinarily large, though. I nearly got lost in all those dark corridors."