They were well out on the lake now. The judge cast out his line. Suddenly he quickly drew it in again. Ma Joong cursed. He also had seen the large, dark shadow that passed through the green water, just underneath the boat. There was a flash of two small, glowing eyes.
"Here we shan't catch anything!" Judge Dee remarked testily. "Those brutes will have chased away all the fish! Look, there goes another one!" Noticing the frightened look of his four companions, he went on: "I had surmised all along that it was those huge tortoises that explained the disappearance of the bodies of those unfortunate people who drowned in the lake. Once those animals have acquired a taste for human flesh… But don't be afraid, they'll never attack live people. Take her farther out, Ma Joong; ahead we'll have a better chance."
Ma Joong started to scull vigorously. The judge folded his arms in his sleeves, and looked pensively at the town on the distant bank.
"When did Your Honor discover that Liu Fei-po had murdered the old Councilor and usurped his place?" Sergeant Hoong asked.
"Only at the very last moment," Judge Dee replied. "I mean that night I passed without sleep at my desk, after I had sent Ma Joong and Chiao Tai to the capital. The case of the spendthrift Councilor, however, was but a side issue; the central problem was that of the dead dancer. And that case really started several years back, with Liu Fei-po's thwarted ambitions. But during the last phase, which we witnessed here in Han-yuan, the political plans of Liu were relegated to the background by his emotional relation to two women, namely his daughter, Moon Fairy, and his paramour, Almond Blossom. That relation is the kernel of this case: when I had understood that point, all the rest at once became crystal clear.
"Liu Fei-po was a man of extraordinary talents, courageous, resourceful, energetic, a born leader. But his failing to pass the literary examination wounded his pride, and his subsequent great success in the business world could never heal that wound. It festered on, and culminated in a bitter resentment against our government.
"An accidental occurrence roused his ambition to revive the old White Lotus movement, in order to overthrow our Imperial House and found himself a new dynasty. Once he happened to purchase in a curio shop in the capital and old manuscript, written by Hermit Han, which contained his plan for the secret crypt. The Grand Inquisitor discovered this manuscript among Liu's papers, in his residence in the capital. Hermit Han states there that he planned to build such a crypt, as a haven of refuge for his descendants in turbulent times. He says he planned to hide there his entire treasure, twenty boxes with gold bars; to dig there a well, and to store there dried foodstuffs. The manuscript ends with a design for the letter lock of the entrance to the crypt, in the altar in the Buddhist Chapel. And the Hermit appended a note to the effect that the secret should be transmitted in the Han family, from father to eldest son.
"When he had read this, Liu probably began by assuming it only represented the vagaries of an old man's mind. But he decided that it might be worthwhile to visit Han-yuan, in order to verify whether Hermit Han perhaps actually executed his plan. Liu arranged for Han Yung-han to invite him to stay in his house for a week or so. Then Liu found out that Han knew nothing about his ancestor's plans. Han only knew about Hermit Han's instruction that the Buddhist Chapel should never be closed, and that a lamp should be kept burning there always. Han thought that this was a proof of his ancestor's piety, but of course the Hermit's real intention was that his descendants should have access to the secret entrance at all times of day and night, to cope with any sudden emergency. One night Liu must have paid a secret visit to the chapel. Then he found that the crypt and everything else really existed, just as the Hermit had described. Liu must have realized that the sudden demise of the old Hermit had prevented him from divulging the secret to his eldest son, Han Yung-han's grandfather. But the printer of the chess handbook published the manuscript exactly according to Hermit Han's draft, including the last page with the enigmatical chess problem. No one except Liu Fei-po, and probably the dead dancer, ever knew that the problem was nothing but the key to the letter lock in the Buddhist Chapel."
"The Hermit was an exceedingly clever man!" Tao Gan exclaimed. "The fact that the chess problem was published guaranteed that this key would never be lost; yet no uninitiated person could ever guess its real meaning!"
"Indeed," Judge Dee said, 'Hermit Han was a wise and very learned man, a man I would have liked to have met! But to continue. Now Liu Fei-po had in the Han treasure the enormous capital needed for organizing a nationwide conspiracy, and at the same time he had at his disposal an ideal place to serve as secret headquarters and council room of the movement. He built a villa on the empty lot in between the Han mansion and the residence of Councilor Liang, and had four workmen make the subterranean passage connecting the crypt with his own garden. I assume that thereafter Liu himself killed the four unfortunate workmen, since we found the bones of four men in the secret passage.
"However, as the plot expanded, Liu's expenses increased. He had to send substantial bribes to corrupt officials; he had to pay bandit leaders and supply them and their men with arms. Liu's own capital and the Hermit's treasure melted away, and he had to look for other sources of income. Then he conceived the plan to appropriate the wealth of Councilor Liang. He used to walk with the old man in his garden, and it was easy for Liu to make himself familiar with the Councilor's habits and those of his small household. About half a year ago he must have lured the old man into the secret passage, and there murdered him. He placed the body in a coffin there, where Tao Gan and I found it. From that time on the 'Councilor' became ill, his eyes grew worse, he became forgetful, and began to pass the greater part of his time in his bedroom. All this camouflage enabled Liu Fei-po to play his double role. He must have disguised himself in the crypt, then crept through his own garden into the Councilor's house. The rooms occupied by the secretary, Liang Fen, were located at the other end of the compound, and the old couple who acted as servants were really in their dotage; thus everything was favorable for his impersonation. Sometimes, however, unforeseen circumstances obliged him to act his part longer than anticipated. This, together with Liu's attending meetings of the White Lotus council in the crypt, explain his 'vanishing tricks,' which began to attract the attention of the members of his household-as related by the palanquin bearer to Sergeant Hoong.
"Together with his henchman Wan I-fan, Liu made a careful study of the Councilor's properties, and then they began to sell out his estates. In this manner Liu obtained the funds he needed for completing the preparations for the insurrection. Everything went well. He began to consult with his confederates about a suitable time for action. Just then, however, there came trouble. It started in Liu's private life. This brings us to the courtesan Almond Blossom, or, to call her by her real name, Miss Fan Ho-i."
The boat was lying still now. Ma Joong had seated himself, cross-legged, in the stern. He and the three others listened intently to the judge. Judge Dee pushed the sun hat back from his forehead. Then he spoke.
"The conspiracy had spread also to Shansi Province. A landowner in Ping-yang, called Fan, became a member. But later he repented, and decided to denounce the plot to the authorities. The White Lotus came to know about his plan. He was forced to commit suicide, after they had compelled him to sign a forged document in which he confessed to having commited a crime against the State. All his possessions fell into the hands of the White Lotus; his widow, his daughter, Ho-i, and his infant son were reduced to the state of beggars. His daughter thereupon sold herself as a courtesan. With the money thus obtained her mother could purchase a small farm in Ping-yang, and later Almond Blossom sent her regularly the greater part of her earnings, for the education of her small brother. These data I found in the report which the secret agents sent in yesterday from Ping-yang, after they had apprehended and questioned the local leaders of the White Lotus.