Robert Gulik - The Chinese Bell Murders

Together with Ma Joong he left the temple by the side gate.

After walking through many narrow streets, Ma Joong located the front gate of Lin Fan's mansion. Four sleepy constables stood guard there.

While Judge Dee remained in the background Ma Joong advanced and whispered his instructions into the ear of the eldest constable.

He nodded and knocked on the gate. When the peephole opened, the constable barked at the gatekeeper:

'Open the gate and be quick about it! A burglar has entered your compound. What would happen to this mansion, you lazy dog, if we constables were not always so vigilant? Open up, before the thief makes off with your savings!'

As soon as the gatekeeper had opened the double gate, Ma Joong leaped forward and gripped him by the throat. He clapped his hand over the man's mouth till the constables had trussed him up effectively and gagged him with a piece of oilcloth.

Then Judge Dee and Ma Joong rushed inside.

The courtyards seemed deserted. Nobody appeared to stop them.

In the third courtyard Lin Fan's steward suddenly emerged from the shadows. Judge Dee barked at him:

'You are arrested on the orders of the tribunal!'

The steward's hand shot to his girdle and a long knife suddenly glittered in the moonlight.

Ma Joong prepared to jump on him, but he was not quick enough. The judge had already crashed a sweeping blow to the steward's heart, and the man fell backwards with a gasp. The judge aimed an accurate kick under his chin. The steward's head snapped back and crashed on the flagstones. He lay quite still.

'Well done!' Ma Joong whispered.

While Ma Joong picked up the steward's knife Judge Dee ran to the back courtyard. Only one paper window reflected a yellow light. Ma Joong caught up with the judge just as he kicked the door open.

They saw a small but elegant bedroom, lighted by a silk lantern on a carved blackwood stand. On the right stood a bedstead of the same material, on the left an elaborately-carved dressing-table with two burning candles.

Lin Fan, clad in a thin nightrobe of white silk, was sitting in front of the table, his back to the door.

Judge Dee pulled him round roughly.

Lin Fan looked at the judge in speechless terror. He made no move to fight. His face was pale and drawn and his forehead showed a deep gash. He had been applying a medicinal salve to this gash when the judge entered. His left shoulder was bare and showed some ugly bruises.

Much disappointed at seeing his adversary thus disabled, Judge Dee said gruffly:

'Lin Fan, you are under arrest. Stand up! You shall be taken to the tribunal at once!'

Lin Fan did not speak.

He rose slowly from his chair. Ma Joong, standing in the middle of the room, unwound a thin chain from his waist for binding Lin Fan.

Suddenly Lin Fan's right hand shot out to a silk cord that hung on the left side of the dressing-table. Judge Dee lashed out and landed a ferocious blow under Lin Fan's chin which made the latter's back crash against the wall. Lin Fan did not release his grip on the cord and as he sank unconscious to the floor his weight pulled it.

Judge Dee heard an oath behind him and turned round just in time to see Ma Joong toppling over. A trapdoor had opened under his feet.

The judge clutched his collar, thus saving him from dropping into the dark hole beneath. He pulled him up.

The trapdoor measured four feet square. It had swung down on its hinges, revealing a steep stone stairway leading into darkness.

'You were lucky, Ma Joong,' Judge Dee observed. 'If you had been standing in the middle of this treacherous thing you would have broken your legs on those stairs!'

Examining the dressing-table, the judge found a second silk cord on the right. He pulled. Slowly the trapdoor rose. Then a click, and the floor seemed perfectly normal again.

'I don't like to hit a wounded man,' said Judge Dee, indicating Lin Fan's prostrate form, 'but if I had not knocked him down who knows what other tricks he would have attempted.'

'It was a good clean blow, Your Honour,' Ma Joong said with hearty approval. 'I wonder, though, how he got that nasty gash on his head and those bruises on his shoulder. Apparently he has had some rough handling earlier today!'

'That we shall find out in due time,' Judge Dee said. 'You will now securely bind Lin Fan and also his steward. Then fetch the constables from the front gate and search the entire mansion. Arrest any other servants you may find and convey all of them to the tribunal. I shall investigate this secret passage further.'

Ma Joong stooped over Lin Fan. The judge opened the trapdoor again by pulling the cord. He took a lighted candle from the dressing-table and went down.

Having descended a dozen of the steep steps, Judge Dee found himself in a narrow passage.

Holding his candle high, he saw a stone platform on the left. Black, murky water was lapping over two broad steps under a low stone archway in the wall. On the right the passage ended with a large iron door which had a complicated lock.

He climbed up again till his head and shoulders were on a level with the floor and called to Ma Joong:

'There is a locked door down here that must be the same as the one we tried to open a few hours ago! The bales of salt were transported from the storehouse in the third courtyard of the temple along an underground water passage, that must lead to the river, inside or outside the Watergate. Search the sleeves of Lin Fan's upper gown for a set of keys so that I can open that door!'

Ma Joong went through an embroidered robe that hung on the bedstead. He pulled out two keys of intricate design and handed them to Judge Dee.

The judge descended again and tried them in the lock. The heavy iron door swung open, revealing the third courtyard of the Temple of Transcendental Wisdom bathed in the soft moonlight.

Judge Dee called a farewell to Ma Joong and stepped out into the cool night air. He heard the far-off shouts of his constables.

Judge Dee slowly walked on to the first courtyard.

It was brightly illuminated now by dozens of large paper lanterns bearing the inscription 'The Tribunal of Poo-yang.'

Under the supervision of Sergeant Hoong and Chiao Tai the constables were busy adding pulleys to the cross beam of the bell tower.

When he saw the judge, Sergeant Hoong hurriedly came over to enquire about further developments.

Judge Dee noticed with satisfaction that the sergeant looked none the worse for his adventure under the bronze bell.

The judge described Lin Fan's arrest and the secret passage connecting his mansion with the temple.

While the sergeant assisted the judge in putting on his robes, Judge Dee said to Chiao Tai:

'Go to the farm of Lin Fan with five constables! There you will find the four constables who took over from you. Arrest all inhabitants of the farm. Also the people on the junk that is lying moored to the jetty. It is a long night for you, Chiao Tai, but I want all of Lin Fan's henchmen safely under lock and key!'

Chiao Tai answered cheerfully that he liked the excitement. He immediately began selecting five sturdy men from among the constables.

Judge Dee walked over to the bell tower.

The pulleys had been put in place. The heavy bell was slowly hauled up by strong cables till it hung in its normal position about three feet above the floor.

For a few moments Judge Dee surveyed the trampled area underneath. The bones had been scattered during the frantic half hour they spent trying to escape from their bronze prison.

'Chiao Tai has given you my instructions,' he said to the headman of the constables. 'I repeat that after you have collected the bones, the dirt and dust under the bell must be sifted with the greatest care. You may find other important clues. Thereafter you will help to search Lin Fan's mansion. Leave four constables on guard duty. Report to me tomorrow morning!'