The two friends looked at him in respectful silence.

His face contorted in a lopsided smile. His arms twitched; then he lay still.

"The fellow is gone," Ma Joong said hoarsely. Rising, he went on. "He nearly got me, though. He was lying in wait for me, stretched out fíat on one of those beams between the pillars, high up near the ceiling there. But before letting himself drop down he made a sound, and I could twist aside a bit. Just in time too. If he had landed on my neck the way he planned, he would have broken my back!"

"And now you have broken his, so that score is even," Chiao Tai said. "Let's search this temple; those are the magistrate's orders." They went through the central and the back courtyard, and also searched the empty cells of the monks, and the wooded patch behind the temple compound. But except for some frightened field mice, they found nothing.

Back in the front hall Chiao Tai looked thoughtfully at the altar table.

"Don't you remember," he asked, "that there is often a cavity behind those things where the monks hide their silver candles and incense burners in times of trouble?"

Ma Joong nodded. "We might as well have a look," he said. They pushed the heavy table aside. In the brick wall behind it there was indeed a low, deep niche. Ma Joong stooped and looked inside. He cursed.

"The whole place is chock-full of old, broken monks' staffs," he said disgustedly.

The two friends walked out by the main gate and strolled back to the guardhouse. After they had given the corporal in charge there the necessary instructions for conveying Ah Kwang's body to the tribunal, they mounted their horses and rode back. When they passed through the west city gate, it was already dark.

They met Sergeant Hoong in front of the tribunal. He told them that he had just come back from the shipyard, where the judge was having his evening meal with Koo Meng-pin.

"I was lucky today," Ma Joong remarked. "Therefore I'll treat the two of you to a good meal in the Nine Flowers Orchard." When they entered the restaurant they saw Po Kai and Kim Sang sitting together at a corner table. Two large wine jugs were standing in front of them. Po Kai's cap was tilted far back; he seemed in an affable mood.

"Welcome, my friends!" he shouted jovially. "Come and join us! Kim Sang has only just arrived; you can help him try to catch up with me!"

Ma Joong walked up to him and said sternly, "Last night you were drunk as an ape. You gravely insulted me and my friend, and you disturbed the peace by squealing obscene songs. I sentence you to paying for the wine! The food is on me!"

All laughed. The owner brought a simple but tasty meal, and the five men drank several rounds of wine. When Po Kai ordered a new jug, Sergeant Hoong rose and said, "We had better return to the tribunal; our judge will be back by now."

"August heaven!" Ma Joong shouted. "Of course! I must report about that temple!"

"Have you two at last seen the light?" Po Kai inquired incredulously. "Tell me, what temple has the advantage of your prayers?"

"We caught Ah Kwang in the deserted temple," Ma Joong said. "That temple is certainly deserted now; there's nothing left but a heap of broken staffs!"

"A very, very important clue!" Kim Sang said, laughing. "Your boss will like that!"

Po Kai wanted to see the three men off to the tribunal, but Kim Sang went on. "Let's stay awhile in this hospitable place, Po Kai, and drink a few more rounds."

Po Kai hesitated. Then he sat down again, saying, "All right, one tiny little last nip then. Remember that I disapprove of insobriety."

"If there is no other work for us," Ma Joong said, "we'll drop in again later in the night, just to see how you take that last nip!" The three men found judge Dee sitting alone in his private office. Sergeant Hoong noticed that he was looking wan and tired. But he brightened up when he heard Ma Joong's report about the discovery of Ah Kwang.

"So my theory about the murder by mistake was right," he said. "But we still have the problem of the woman. Ah Kwang left immediately after the murder, without even taking the cashbox; he knew nothing about what happened after he had fled. That thieving servant Woo might have caught a glimpse of the third person who is certainly involved in this affair. We'll learn that in due time when he has been caught."

"We made a thorough search of the entire temple and the strip of wood around it," Ma Joong said, "but we found no dead woman there. We only found behind the altar table a heap of broken staffs, like the monks are wont to carry."

The judge sat up straight in his chair. "Monks' staffs?" he exclaimed incredulously.

"Only old, discarded ones, magistrate," Chaio Tai put in. "All of them were broken."

"What a curious find!" Judge Dee said slowly. lie thought deeply. Then he roused himself and said to Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, "You two had quite a day; you better retire now arid take a good night's rest. I'll stay here and talk a bit with Hoong."

After the two stalwarts had taken their leave, judge Dee settled back in his chair and told the sergeant about the loosened board in the White Cloud Temple. "I repeat," he concluded, "that it was a deliberate attempt at killing me."

Hoong gave his master an anxious look.

"On the other hand," he said, "that board may indeed have been worrneaten. When your honor put his weight on it-"

"I didn't!" the judge said curtly. "I just tapped it with my foot to test it." Seeing Hoong's uncomprehending look, he added quickly, "Just when I was about to step on it, I saw the ghost of the dead magistrate."

The crash of a door slamming shut somewhere in the building resounded in the room.

Judge Dee sat up abruptly.

"I told Tang to have that door mended!" he burst out angrily. With a quick look at Hoong's pale face, he took up his teacup and brought it to his lips. But he didn't drink. He stared fixedly at the small gray particles that were floating on the surface of the tea. Slowly putting the cup down again, he said tensely, "Look, Hoong, somebody has put something in my tea."

The two men looked silently at the gray powder that was slowlv dissolving in the hot tea. Suddenly Judge Dee rubbed his finger over the tabletop. Then his drawn face relaxed in a wan smile.

"I am getting nervous, Hoong," he remarked wryly. "That slamming door made some plaster drop down from the ceiling. That's all.

Sergeant Hoong heaved a sigh of relief. He went to the tea table and poured out a new cup for the judge. Sitting down again, he remarked, "Perhaps after all the loose board has a natural explanation too, your honor. I can't imagine that the man who murdered the magistrate would dare to attack your honor! We haven't the slightest clue to his identity and-"

"But he doesn't know that, Hoong," the judge interrupted. "He doesn't know what suggestions the investigator may have made to me; he may think I am not proceeding against him only because I am biding my time. That unknown criminal is doubtless following all I do with close attention, and something I did or said may have given him the idea that I am on his track." The judge tugged slowly at his mustache. Then he continued. "I'll try now to expose myself as much as possible, so as to tempt him to make another try. Then he'll perhaps betray himself."

"Your honor shouldn't take that awful risk!" Hoong exclaimed, aghast. "We know he is a ruthless and ingenious scoundrel. Heaven knows what new evil scheme he is preparing now! And we don't even know-"

Judge Dee had not been listening. Suddenly he rose. Taking up the candle, he said curtly, "Come along, Hoong!"

Sergeant Hoong followed the judge as he quickly crossed the main courtyard and went to the magistrate's private residence. He entered and silently walked through the dark corridor to the library. Standing in the door, he lifted the candle and surveyed the room. It was exactly as he had left it after his former visit. Stepping up to the tea stove, he ordered Hoong, "Drag that armchair over here, sergeant!"