The Chinese Maze Murders (31 page)

Judge Dee was standing in the paved courtyard in front of the stone gate giving access to the maze. He was issuing his final instructions to Sergeant Hoong, Ma Joong and Tao Gan. Twenty constables were gathered around them.

“I don’t know,” Judge Dee said, “how long the road will prove to be. I assume that it will be relatively short, but we cannot be sure. As we walk along one constable will detach himself from our group every twenty feet or so. He will remain standing there so that he can shout to the man in front and behind. I would not like to get lost in this maze!”

Turning to Ma Joong the judge added:

“You will walk ahead with your spear. I don’t believe all those stories about mantraps in this maze, but the place has been growing wild for years, and dangerous animals may have made their lairs here. Let everybody be careful!”

Then they passed underneath the stone archway and entered the maze.

In the dim tunnel they were met by the dank smell of
rotting leaves. The path was narrow but two men could easily walk abreast. On both sides closely planted trees and overgrown boulders formed an impenetrable wall. The trees were of all kinds, but not one single pine tree was in sight. The branches met overhead linked together by thick clusters of vine that often hung so low that Judge Dee and Ma Joong had to stoop in order to pass underneath. The tree trunks were covered with extraordinarily large fungi. Ma Joong hit one with his spear. An evil-smelling cloud of white dust burst from it.

“Be careful, Ma Joong!” the judge warned him. “Those things may be poisonous!”

At the first left turn the judge halted. He pointed with a contented smile at three gnarled pine trees standing close together right in the curve.

“That is our first landmark!” he observed.

“Look out, Your Honour!” Ma Joong shouted.

Judge Dee quickly jumped aside.

A spider as large as a man’s hand dropped to the ground with a dull thud. Its hairy body was spotted yellow, its eyes shone with an evil green light.

Ma Joong crushed it with the butt of his spear.

Judge Dee drew his neckcloth tight.

“I would not like to have one of those fall on my neck!” he observed dryly. Then he walked on.

The path seemed to double back. After twenty feet or so it made a sharp right turn.

“Halt!” Judge Dee called out to Ma Joong. “There is our next landmark!”

Alongside the path, four pine trees stood in a row.

“Here,” Judge Dee said, “we must leave the regular path and enter the secret short cut. Explore the space between the second and third pine tree!”

Ma Joong poked with his spear among the thick under-growth.
Suddenly he jumped, pushing the judge unceremoniously back.

A red adder of about two feet long crept over the rotting leaves and disappeared with amazing quickness in a hole under the tree.

“A hospitable place!” Ma Joong growled. “That reptile was not included in the landscape picture!”

“That is why I told you to put on your thick hunting leggings!” Judge Dee remarked. “Have a good look!”

Ma Joong squatted and peered under the branches. As he straightened himself he said:

“Yes, there is a path here. But it is so narrow that a man can hardly pass. I shall go first and push the overhanging branches apart!”

He disappeared among the dense foliage. Judge Dee drew his robes tight about him and followed with Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan walking behind him. The constables looked doubtfully at Headman Fang. Drawing his short sword he called out to his men:

“Don’t hesitate! If there are any wild animals we shall take care of them!”

The passage proved only a few fathoms long. After a brief struggle with the thorny branches they came out on the main path again.

On left and right there was a sharp curve. Judge Dee first turned left. He saw a long, straight stretch ahead.

He shook his head.

“It must be the opposite direction,” he said. “I don’t think that a short cut would include such a long straight section of the path.”

He turned back to the spot where they had come out on the path. When they had rounded the corner they found themselves in a short passage.

“Here we are!” Judge Dee exclaimed excitedly. He
pointed to left and right. Three pine trees stood on one side of the path, two on the other.

“According to the Governor’s picture,” Judge Dee said to his companions, “the hidden pavilion must be very near. I assume that there is a path between that pair of pine trees. The three opposite would seem to be there only to make a total of five!”

Ma Joong eagerly plunged into the shrubs that filled the space between the two trees. They heard him curse fiercely.

He emerged again, his leggings soaked in mud.

“There is nothing there but a stagnant pool!” he said disgustedly.

Judge Dee frowned.

“There must be some path round that pool,” he said impatiently. “Up till now everything checked!”

Headman Fang gave a sign to the constables. They drew their swords and started hacking the undergrowth away. The edge of a black pool appeared. Bubbles were still rising on the spot where Ma Joong had plunged in. A foul smell polluted the air.

Judge Dee stooped and peered under the overhanging branches. Suddenly he shrank back.

A queerly shaped head rose slowly from the water. Its yellow eyes looked at them with a fixed stare.

Ma Joong gasped and raised his spear. But the judge laid a restraining hand on his arm.

Slowly a huge salamander crawled out of the pool. Its slimy body was more than five feet long. Once on the bank it slithered away quickly among the water plants.

All had received a bad fright.

“I prefer six Uigurs to that animal!” Ma Joong said feelingly.

But the judge seemed very pleased. He said with evident satisfaction:

“I have often read in our old books about those large salamanders. This is the first time I have actually seen one!”

Then he scrutinized what was visible of the bank of the pool-It did not look very promising, there was nothing but a mass of mud-covered waterplants. The judge then surveyed again the black water.

“Do you see that stone there?” he suddenly said to Ma Joong. “Evidently that is the first of a row of stepping stones leading across. Let us go ahead!”

Ma Joong tucked the slips of his robe in his girdle. The others followed his example.

He stepped on the flat stone and explored the surrounding area with his spear.

“Here is the next stone!” he called out, “directly in front left!”

He pushed the low branches apart and made a step forward. Then he suddenly halted. Judge Dee who was following close behind collided with him. The judge would have fallen into the water if Ma Joong had not steadied him.

Ma Joong silently pointed at a broken branch. He whispered in Judge Dee’s ear:

“That branch was broken by a human hand, and not so long ago either. Look, the leaves have not yet dried. Someone passed along here yesterday, Your Honour! He slipped on this stone and when trying to steady himself grabbed this branch!”

Judge Dee looked at the branch and nodded.

“He may be quite near; we had better be prepared for an attack!” he replied in a low voice. Then the judge passed the word to Sergeant Hoong who was standing on the stone close by, and he in his turn informed Tao Gan and Headman Fang.

“I prefer any human being to that slimy beast!” Ma
Joong muttered. Testing the balance of his spear he went ahead.

The pool proved not very large but they lost much time because they had to locate the stepping stones one by one; some of them were just under the surface of the water. A person who knew the pattern, however, could cross the pool in a few minutes.

When they were on solid ground again Ma Joong and Judge Dee crouched. The judge parted the branches a little.

There was a fairly large clearance, hemmed in by trees and huge boulders. In the middle stood a round pavilion built of stone, under a high cedar tree. The windows were shuttered but the door stood ajar.

Judge Dee waited till all the constables had crossed the pool. Then he shouted:

“Surround the pavilion!”

As he spoke he sprang forward, ran to the pavilion and kicked the door open. Two large bats flew out with flapping wings.

The judge turned round. The constables had fanned out and were searching the bushes. Judge Dee shook his head.

“There is no one here,” he said. “Let the headman and the constables make a thorough search of this clearance!”

Then he went inside again, Ma Joong and his two other lieutenants following him. Ma Joong pushed the shutters open.

In the dim, greenish light Judge Dee saw that the pavilion was bare but for a stone table in the centre and a marble bench against the back wall. Everything was covered by a thick layer of dirt and mould.

On the table stood a box of about one foot square. Judge Dee bent over it. He brushed the dirt off with the tip of his
sleeve. The box was made of green jadeite, beautifully carved with dragons and clouds.

The judge carefully lifted the cover. He took out a small roll wrapped up in a piece of faded brocade.

As he held it up for his companions to see he said in a solemn voice:

“This is the Governor’s testament!”

Slowly Judge Dee unwrapped it. He unrolled the scroll and read aloud:

‘This is the last will and testament of Yoo Shou-chien, Member of the Imperial Academy, ex-Governor of the Three Eastern Provinces, etc.

Revered Sir and Colleague, to you who have solved the riddle of my picture and who have penetrated to the heart of my maze, I herewith make my bow!

One sows in spring and reaps in autumn. When twilight is setting over one’s declining years it behoves a man to look back and weigh his deeds as they shall be weighed in the Hereafter.

I thought that I had attained success. I suddenly found nothing but miserable failure. I strove hard to reform the Empire and I failed to reform my son Yee Kee, my own flesh and blood.

Yoo Kee is a man of wicked nature and inordinate desires. Since I foresaw that after my death he would sooner or later bring about his own downfall, I married again in order to fulfil my duty to my Ancestors and to ensure that our house would not perish should Yoo Kee die in prison or on the execution ground.

Heaven blessed this marriage with my second son Yoo Shan of whom I have great expectations. It is my duty to see that Yoo Shan shall continue to prosper after my death.

If I divide my property equally between my sons Yoo Kee and Yoo Shan, I endanger the latter’s life. Hence on my deathbed I shall make it appear as if I leave everything to Yoo Kee. But here I write down my real intention over my seal and signature and state that it is my will that if Yoo Kee reforms he and Yoo Shan shall each receive half; should Yoo Kee be guilty of some crime, everything shall go to Yoo Shan.

I shall hide in the picture scroll a written testament to that effect for Yoo Kee to discover. If he faithfully executes this last will, all will be well and Heaven will have had mercy on my house. Should Yoo Kee in his wickedness destroy that testament he will deem that my picture had yielded up its secret and leave it in the hands of my faithful young wife, till you, my wise colleague, read its hidden meaning and find the present document.

I beseech August Heaven to grant that when you read this document the hands of Yoo Kee shall not be stained with blood. Should he, however, have committed a dark crime I hold you responsible for forwarding the enclosed plea to the competent authorities.

May Heaven bless you, my wise colleague, and have pity on my house!

Signed and sealed: Yoo Shou-chien.’

“This confirms what we found in every detail!” Sergeant Hoong exclaimed.

Judge Dee nodded absent-mindedly. He was engrossed in the enclosure, a loose sheet of thick ornamental paper that had been rolled up together with the scroll.

Then he read its content aloud:

‘Yoo Shou-chien, who never once pleaded the cause of himself or his own, now after his death humbly pleads for such mercy as can be extended within the limits of the law for his eldest son Yoo Kee who became a criminal through the incompetent guidance of his old father who always loved him despite his faults.’

Silence reigned in the dimly lit pavilion. The only sounds heard were the shouts of the constables outside.

The judge slowly rolled up the scroll. Deep emotion thickened his voice as he said slowly:

“His Excellency Yoo truly was a noble man!”

Tao Gan was scratching the table with his fingernail.

“There is an engraved design here!” he remarked.

He pulled out his knife and started scraping off the dirt. Sergeant Hoong and Ma Joong set to work also. Gradually a circular design became visible.

Judge Dee leaned forward.