"That gap in the trellis is repaired, magistrate," Ma Joong reported. "On our way back we questioned a few servants of the large mansions near the second bridge. They said that sometimes after a party they carry large baskets with garbage on a litter to the canal, and dump it into the water. But we would have to make a house-to-house investigation to find out whether some such thing happened at the time Chiao Tai and I watched the incident there."

"That'll be the explanation!" Judge Dee said, relieved. "Come with me to my office now. Kim Sang will be waiting there." While they were walking to the office, the judge told the two men briefly about the disappearance of Mrs. Koo.

Hoong was talking to a good-looking young man about twentyfive years old. When he had presented him to the judge, the latter asked, "I presume by your name that you are of Korean descent?"

"Indeed, your honor," Kim Sang said respectfully. "I was born here in the Korean quarter. Since Mr. Koo employs many Korean sailors, he engaged me to supervise them and to act as interpreter."

Judge Dee nodded. He took Sergeant Hoong's notes of Kim Sang's story, and read them through carefully. Passing them on to Ma Joong and Chiao Tai he asked Hoong, "Wasn't Fan Choong last seen on the fourteenth, and also early in the afternoon?" "Yes, your honor," the sergeant replied, "Fan's tenant farmer stated that Fan left the farm after the noon meal, accompanied by his manservant Woo, and went away in a westerly direction." "You wrote here," the judge went on, "that Dr. Tsao's house is located in that same area. Let's get all this straight. Give me the district map."

When Hoong had unrolled the large pictorial map on the desk, judge Dee took his brush and drew a circle round a section of the area west of the city. Pointing to Dr. Tsao's house, he said, "Look here now. On the fourteenth, after the noon meal, Mrs. Koo leaves this house in a westerly direction. She turns right at the first crossing. Now where did her brother leave her, Kim?"

"When they were passing that small patch of wood where the two country roads join, sir," Kim Sang answered.

"Right," Judge Dee said. "Now the tenant farmer states that Fan Choong left about that same time, going in a westerly direction. Why didn't he go east, along that road that leads directly from his farm to the city?"

"On the map that looks indeed shorter, your honor," Kim Sang said, "but that road is very bad, it is just a track, and hardly usable after rain. Actually that short cut would have taken Fan longer than the detour by the highway."

"I see," Judge Dee said. Taking up his brush again, he made a mark on the stretch of road between the crossing of the country roads, and the highway.

"I don't believe in coincidences," he said. "I think we may assume that on this spot Mrs. Koo and Fan Choong met. Did they know each other, Kim?"

Kim Sang hesitated somewhat. Then he said, "Not that I know, your honor. But seeing that Fan's farm is not far from Dr. Tsao's house, I could imagine that Mrs. Koo, when she was still living with her parents, would have met Fan Choong."

"All right," Judge Dee said. "You gave us most useful information, Kim; we'll see what we can do. You may go now."

After Kim Sang had taken his leave, the judge looked significantly at his three assistants. Pursing his lips, he said, "If we remember what that innkeeper said about Fan, I think the conclusion is obvious."

"Koo's efforts didn't come up to the standard," Ma Joong remarked with a leer. But Sergeant Hoong looked doubtful. He said slowly, "If they eloped together, your honor, then why didn't the guards on the highway see them? There are always a couple of soldiers sitting around in front of such guard posts, and they have nothing to do but to drink tea and to stare at everybody who passes by. Moreover, they must have known Fan by sight, and they certainly would have noticed if he passed there together with a woman. And what about Fan's manservant?"

Chiao Tai had risen and now stood looking down at the map. He observed, "Whatever happened, it happened right in front of the deserted temple. And the innkeeper told some queer stories about that place! I notice that the particular stretch of road is invisible from the guard post, and also from Fan's farm, and from the house of Dr. Tsao. Neither can it be seen from the small farm where Mrs. Koo's brother had his foot bandaged. It would seem that Mrs. Koo, Fan Choong and his servant disappeared on that stretch of road into thin air!"

Judge Dee rose abruptly. He said, "It's no use theorizing before we have examined that area ourselves, and talked with Dr. Tsao and Fan's tenant farmer. The sky is clear for once; let's go out there now! After last night's experiences, I feel I could do with a nice ride through the country in broad daylight!"

THE peasants working in the fields outside the west city gate lifted their heads and gaped at the cavalcade they saw passing along the mud road. Judge Dee rode in front, followed by Sergeant Hoong, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai. Behind them came the headman of the constables with ten of his men, all on horseback.

Judge Dee had decided to take the short cut to Fan Choong's farm. But he soon saw that Kim Sang had been right, it was a very bad road indeed. The dried mud had hardened into deep furrows, their horses had to step slowly, and mostly they rode in single file.

When they had passed a patch of mulberry trees, the headman forced his horse into the field and rode up to the judge. Pointing at a small farmhouse standing on an elevated spot ahead he said officiously, "That is Fan's farm, your honor!"

Giving him a sour look, judge Dee said sternly, "I won't have you trample the peasants' good fields, headman! I know that is Fan's farm, because I took the trouble to look at the map."

The crestfallen headman waited till judge Dee's three assistants had passed him. Then he muttered to the eldest of his men, "What a martinet we have got! And those two bullies he has brought along! Yesterday they made me take part in the drill, me, the headman!"

"It's a hard life," the constable sighed. "And I, I don't have relatives who leave me a snug little farm."

When they had come to a small thatched but by the roadside, judge Dee jumped from his horse. From there a winding path went up to the farm. The judge ordered the headman to wait there with his men while he and his three assistants went on to the farmhouse on foot.

A SECTION OF THE DISTRICT PENG-LAI

Passing in front of the but, Ma Joong kicked the door open, revealing a large pile of faggots.

"You never know!" he remarked and made to pull the door shut again.

But Judge Dee pushed him aside, he had seen something white among the dry branches. He picked it up and showed it to the others. It was a woman's embroidered handkerchief; it still smelled faintly of musk.

"The women in the fields don't use these as a rule," the judge remarked as he put it carefully away in his sleeve.

The four men walked up to the farmhouse. About halfway a sturdy girl, clad in a blue jacket and trousers and with a colored cloth wrapped round her head, was busy weeding the field. She righted herself and looked with open mouth at the men. Ma Joong gave her an appraising look. "I have seen worse," he whispered to Chiao Tai.

The farmhouse was a low building of two rooms. Against the wall there was a kind of porch, with a large toolbox underneath it. A barn stood somewhat apart, separated from the house by a high hedge. In front of the door a tall man clad in a patched blue robe stood sharpening a scythe. Judge Dee stepped up to him and said curtly, "I am the magistrate of Peng-lai. Lead us inside."