The girl's eyelids fluttered. She gave them one glance from eyes half-crazed with pain and fear, then the bluish lids came down again. A strap of leather ran over the lower half of her face. While gagging her effectively, at the same time it kept her head fixed tightly to the wall.
Tsung Lee stretched out his hands to remove the gag, but the judge pushed him back roughly.
"Keep your hands off!" he ordered. "You might hurt her worse than she already is! Leave this to us!"
Tao Gan had taken off the chains that were wound round her waist, arms and legs. He said: "This ironware serves only to conceal the clamps that fix her limbs, sir!" He pointed to iron hooks round her ankles, thighs and upper and lower arms. Then he quickly took from his sleeve his folder with instruments.
"Wait!" Judge Dee ordered.
He closely examined the spearpoint. Then he carefully pressed down the flesh surrounding it till the point came free. Blood welled up and stained the coat of white plaster that covered the girl's body. It didn't seem more than a flesh wound. With his strong hands the judge bent the spear so that it pointed away from the girl's body, then broke the shaft with a quick twist. The hand of the wooden devil cracked and fell to the floor.
"Now you go ahead with the legs!" he snapped at Tao Gan. "Give me a pair of pincers!"
While Tao Gan began to loosen the iron clamps that secured the girl's legs, the judge set to work on the gag. When he had pulled out the nails that fixed the ends of the leather strap to the wall, he removed the wad of cotton wool from the girl's mouth, then started with infinite care on the clamps that had cut deep into the flesh of her arms.
"Expert workmanship!" Tao Gan muttered with grudging admiration. He was loosening the clamp that held her right thigh.
Tsung Lee had buried his face in his hands. He was sobbing convulsively. The judge barked at him: "Hey there! Support her head and shoulders!"
As Tsung Lee put his arm round her shoulders and held her limp body upright, Judge Dee helped Tao Gan to remove the last clamp that held her right arm. The three men lifted her from the boulder and laid her on the floor mats. The judge took off his neck cloth and wrapped it around her waist. Tsung Lee squatted at her side, stroking her cheeks and whispering endearing words. But the girl was in a dead faint.
Judge Dee and Tao Gan wrenched two long spears from the hands of a pair of green devils further on. They laid the spears side by side on the floor. Tao Gan took off his upper robe and fastened it to the shafts so as to make a primitive stretcher. When they had laid the girl on it, Tao Gan and Tsung Lee took hold of the ends of the shafts.
"Take her to Miss Ting's room!" Judge Dee ordered.
XVII
Judge Dee had to knock for a long time before Miss Ting opened. She wore only a thin bed-robe. Looking the judge up and down with sleep-heavy eyes she said: "You could be my husband, using my room at all hours!"
"Shut up and get out of the way!" the judge said crossly. She stepped back and looked dumbfounded at the two men as they carried their burden inside. While they were putting the unconscious girl on Miss Ting's bed, Judge Dee said to her: "Fan the coals in that brazier and heat up this room. Prepare a large pot of hot tea and make her drink as much as possible. She was exposed naked for many hours in a cold and damp gallery, and although the coat of plaster on her body may have acted as a protection, she still may have got a dangerous chill. Then soak the plaster thoroughly with warm water and remove it with a towel. Be careful, the wound on her breast is only superficial, but the bruises on her arms and legs may be worse than they seem. Verify also whether her back is injured. As an acrobat you know all about sprained muscles and bone-setting, don't you?"
Miss Ting nodded. She cast a pitying glance at the still figure on the bed.
"I'll get some drugs and plasters now," the judge added. "These two men will stand guard outside the door. Set to work!"
Miss Ting asked no questions but immediately began to revive the coals in the brazier with a bamboo fan. Judge Dee took Tao Gan and Tsung Lee outside. He said: "Fetch Mr. Kang. If Mo should appear, arrest him. Not too gently!" He rushed upstairs, to his own quarters on the third floor.
He roused the sleeping maids. When they had opened the door, he went into the bedroom, which was lighted only by two burned-down candles. Through the open bed curtains he saw that his three wives were sleeping peacefully, lying close together under the embroidered quilt.
He tiptoed to their medicine chest and rummaged about in its drawers till he had found the box with the oil-plasters and a few small boxes with salves and powders. As he turned around, he saw that his First Lady had awakened. She raised herself to a sitting position. Pulling her night robe up to cover her bare torso she looked at him with sleep-heavy eyes. Judge Dee gave her a reassuring smile, then went out again.
Back in front of Miss Ting's room, Tao Gan reported that Kang I-te's room was empty. Neither he nor his bear were there. They had seen no one.
"Go to Mrs. Pao's room," the judge ordered, "and bring her here."
"Who was the fiend who tortured her, Your Honour?" Tsung Lee asked tensely. His face was distorted with anger and anxiety. "We'll know soon!" the judge answered curtly.
Tao Gan came back. The door of Mrs. Pao's room had been locked. He had forced it open but nobody was there. He had found only a bundle of clothes belonging to White Rose. Mrs. Pao's luggage was missing, and neither of the two beds had been slept in.
Judge Dee made no comment. He started pacing up and down the corridor, his hands on his back. After a long wait Miss Ting opened the door and beckoned the judge.
"I'll call you when I am ready," he said to the two men, and followed her inside.
He walked up to the bed. Miss Ting folded the covers back. While she held the candle close Judge Dee examined the bruises on the white body. The girl was still unconscious, but her lips twitched when the judge probed the deep cuts left by the clamps. He righted himself and took a small box from his sleeve.
"Dissolve the contents in a cup of hot tea," he ordered. "It's a pain-stilling soporific."
Then he further examined the girl's body. He didn't like the heart-beat, but there seemed to be no internal lesions. She was a virgin, and there were no signs that she had been beaten except for a bluish spot on her left temple. He put salve on the bruises, then covered them with thick oilplasters. He saw to his satisfaction that Miss Ting had pasted the membrane of an egg over the wound on her breast. The judge covered her up again. He took a pinch of white powder from another box he had brought and inserted it in White Rose's nostrils.
Miss Ting handed him the cup with the medicine. On a sign from the judge she raised the girl's head. The girl sneezed and opened her eyes. The judge made her drink the medicine, then let her lie back again. He sat down on the edge of the bed. The girl stared up at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes.
"Call the two men here!" Judge Dee ordered Miss Ting. "Soon she'll be able to talk, and I want them to be present as witnesses."
"Her condition isn't… dangerous?" Miss Ting asked anxiously.
"Not too bad," Judge Dee said. Giving her a quick smile he patted her on the shoulder and added: "You did very well. Now get those two fellows!"
As Tao Gan and Tsung Lee came in, the judge said softly to White Rose: "You are safe now, my dear. Presently you'll have a nice long sleep."
He didn't like the queer stare in the girl's eyes. "You talk to her!" he ordered Tsung Lee.
The poet bent over her and softly called her name. Suddenly the girl seemed to understand. She looked at him and asked in a barely audible voice: "What happened? Did I have a nightmare?"
Judge Dee made a peremptory sign to Tsung. The poet knelt down by the side of the bedstead and took the girl's hand in his, stroking it softly. The judge said to the girl reassuringly: "Whatever it was, it's all past and done with now!"