The corporal escorted them to a small hostel. An obsequious manager came out to meet them. While a groom led away the horses, the manager himself assisted the judge in taking off his heavy riding boots. When Judge Dee had been supplied with comfortable straw sandals, he was taken upstairs to a poorly furnished but scrupulously clean room. The manager opened the window, and the judge saw over the rooftops the broad expanse of the river, reflecting the red rays of the setting sun.

A servant brought lighted candles and a basin with hot towels. While the judge was refreshing himself, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai came in. Ma Joong poured a cup of tea for the judge, then said:

"That gambler is a queer fellow, Your Honor! He told me that in his youth he had been a clerk in a silk store, down south. The manager took a liking to his wife and trumped up a charge of theft against him. The constables gave him a beating but he succeeded in escaping. While he was away, the manager took his wife as concubine. When the hue and cry had subsided, he secretly came back and begged his wife to flee with him, but she laughed and said she liked it better where she was. He says that during the ensuing years he roamed all over the Empire. He talks like a doctor of literature and calls himself a commission agent, but I think he is nothing but a 'guest of rivers and lakes,' or in plain language, an itinerant swindler!"

"Those fellows always have a tale of woe ready!" Judge Dee remarked. "We'll never see him again!"

There was a knock on the door. Two coolies entered, carrying four large hampers. One contained three fine large fishes, stewed in ginger sauce, the other a large bowl with rice and salted eggs. A red visiting card proclaimed this to be a present from the corporal. In the two other baskets they found three roasted chickens, three plates with stewed pork and vegetables and a jar with soup. This proved to be the welcome gift of the headman and the village elders. A waiter brought three jars of wine, by courtesy of the manager of the hostel.

When the dishes had been placed on the table, Judge Dee gave the coolies some silver wrapped up in a piece of red paper as return present; then he said to his two assistants:

"Since we are on the road together, I won't stand on ceremony! Sit down, we'll dine together."

Ma Joong and Chiao Tai protested vehemently, but the judge insisted and finally they sat down opposite him. The long ride had given them an excellent appetite; they ate with gusto. Judge Dee was in high spirits. Han's story had proved to be a lie; he now knew that Han was the criminal and sooner or later he would find a way to get him. He now could dismiss his worries about the White Lotus being revived; all that had been nothing but an invention.

When they were enjoying their after-dinner tea, a waiter brought in a large envelope addressed to Judge Dee. It contained an elegantly phrased and neatly written intimation that a certain Tao Gan begged to be allowed to call on His Excellency the Magistrate. "That'll be one of the village elders," Judge Dee said. "Show the gentleman up!"

To their amazement the thin figure of the gambler appeared in the door opening. After his visit to the doctor he had evidently patronized the village shops. He had a bandage over his forehead, but he now presented a very neat appearance. He wore a simple blue robe with a black silk sash, and on his head he carried with perfect confidence a high cap of black gauze such as is favored by elderly gentlemen of leisure. Bowing deeply, he said in an educated voice:

"This insignificant person, named Tao Gan, respectfully greets Your Honor. Words don't suffice to express-"

"Enough, my man!" Judge Dee said coldly. "Don't thank me; thank Providence that saved you! Don't think I have any sympathy for you; the beating you got is probably not more than you deserved! I am convinced that somehow or other you cheated those peasants, but I won't have lawlessness in my district. That's the only reason why I protected you!"

"Even so," the gaunt man said, completely unperturbed by this harsh address, "I hoped to be allowed to offer Your Honor my humble assistance, as a slight mark of my profound gratitude. For I presume that Your Honor is engaged in the investigation of a kidnaping case."

With difficulty Judge Dee concealed his astonishment.

"What are you talking about, my man?" he asked curtly.

"The exercise of my profession," Tao Gan replied with a deprecating smile, "necessarily encourages a sharpening of one's powers of deduction. I happened to overhear Your Honor asking about a country house. But I noticed that Your Honor was unconversant with its appearance and the name of its occupant."

He slowly wound the long hairs sprouting from his cheek round his forefinger, then continued placidly:

"Kidnapers will bandage the eyes of their victim and take him to a distant place where by dire threats they force him to send a letter to his family, asking them to send a large ransom. After the money has been received, they either kill their victim, or send him home again with his eyes bandaged as before. In the latter case such an unfortunate man may have a vague impression of the direction in which he was taken. But, of course, he doesn't know what the house looked like, or the name of its owner. Since I thus deduced that a victim of such a dastardly crime had reported to Your Honor's tribunal, I made bold to offer my advice."

Again the gaunt man bowed deeply.

Judge Dee said to himself that this was a remarkably astute fellow. He said:

"Let's for the sake of argument assume that your deduction is correct. What would then be your advice?"

"In the first place," Tao Gan answered, "I have been all over this district; in this plain there is no such house. On the other hand, I know several of such villas in the mountains north and west of Han-yuan."

"Now suppose that the victim remembered distinctly that the greater part of the journey went along a level road?" the judge asked. A sly smile spread over Tao Gan's sardonic face.

"In that case, Your Honor," he answered, "the house is located inside the city."

"What a preposterous remark!" Judge Dee exclaimed angrily.

"Not quite, Your Honor," the other said calmly. "The only thing those rascals need is a house with a fairly large garden and a raised terrace. Having brought their victim in a palanquin inside the compound, they'll carry him slowly round about there for an hour or so. They are very skillful; they create the impression of passing a mountainous region by climbing up and down the terrace, muttering from time to time: 'Look out for that ravine!' or similar remarks. Those crooks have carefully studied that technique, Your Honor, and execute it in a most convincing manner."

The judge looked thoughtfully at the thin man, slowly caressing his side whiskers. After a while he said:

"An interesting theory! I'll keep it in mind for future reference. Before you go, listen to my advice. Change your life, my friend; you are clever enough to earn your living in a decent way!" He wanted to dismiss him, but asked suddenly: "By the way, how did you fool those peasants? I am just curious to know; I shan't take action against you."

The thin man smiled faintly. He called the waiter and ordered him:

"Go downstairs and bring His Excellency's right riding boot!"

When the waiter returned with the boot, Tao Gan, with nimble fingers, removed two dice from its folded rim, and handed them to the judge. He said:

"After I had snatched these loaded dice from the yokel who was going to give them to Your Honor, I presented to you for inspection a pair of normal dice, which I had kept concealed in the palm of my hand. While everybody was looking intently at Your Honor inspecting those dice, I took the liberty of depositing the false ones in Your Honor's boot, temporarily, I hoped."