“Sit still or we overturn the boat!” a voice growled. “Who are you?”
The speaker laid his hands on the gunwale. Dripping with muddy water, he looked like a weird river goblin.
“Old Shao from the village up the river told us to come here,” Ma Joong said. “We got into a bit of trouble with the constables there.”
“Tell your story to the captain!” the man said. He gave the paddle back, adding: “Row straight ahead to that light you see there!”
Six armed men stood waiting for them on a roughly made landing stage. In the light of the lantern carried by their leader Chiao Tai saw that they wore army uniforms, but without any insignia. They took the two men through a dense forest.
Soon they saw lights glimmering among the trees. They came out on a large clearing. About a hundred men were assembled round campfires, cooking rice gruel in iron pots. All were armed to the teeth. They were taken to the other end of the clearing to a group of four men sitting on footstools under three very old oak trees.
“These are the two fellows about whom our sentries reported, Captain!” the leader of their escort reported respectfully.
The man addressed as captain was a broad-shouldered fellow with a close-fitting mail jacket and baggy trousers of black leather. His hair was bound up with a red scarf. Looking the two men up and down with small, cruel eyes, he barked:
“Speak up, rascals! Your name? Where from? Why? The whole story!”
He spoke with the clipped voice of a military officer. Chiao Tai thought that he was probably a deserter.
“My name is Yoong Bao, Captain,” Ma Joong said with an ingratiating smile. “Me and my mate are just two brothers of the green woods.” He related how they had got into a fight with the constables, and how the innkeeper had sent them to Three Oaks Island. He added that they would deem it a great honor if the captain would take them into his service.
“First we’ll check your tale!” the captain said. And to their guard he added: “Take them to the enclosure where the others are!”
Each got a wooden bowl with rice gruel; then they were led through the forest to another, much smaller clearing. The light of a torch shone on a hut built from logs. In front a man was squatting in the grass eating his rice. At the edge of the enclosure a girl in the blue jacket and trousers of a peasant woman was kneeling under a tree, also busy with her chopsticks.
“You’ll not leave this place!” their guard warned and walked off. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai sat down cross-legged opposite the squatting man, who gave them a morose look.
“My name is Yoong Bao,” Ma Joong addressed him cordially. “What is yours?”
“Mao Loo,” the other replied in a surly voice. He threw his empty rice bowl to the girl and growled: “Wash it up!”
She rose without a word and picked up the bowl. She waited till Ma Joong and Chiao Tai were ready, then also took their empty bowls. Ma Joong eyed her with approval. She was looking sad and she walked with some difficulty, but it was easy to see that she was a very handsome girl. Mao Loo had followed his look with an angry frown. He said gruffly:
“Nothing for you! That’s my wife!”
“Pretty wench!” Ma Joong remarked indifferently. “Listen, why do they keep us apart here? One would think we were criminals!”
Mao Loo spat on the ground. He looked quickly at the shadows around them. Then he said in a low voice:
“They are far from friendly, brother! I came here the other day with a friend of mine, a good fellow. We said we wanted to join them. The captain asked all kinds of questions. My friend got annoyed and said a few straightforward things. D’you know what happened?”
Ma Joong and Chiao Tai shook their heads. Mao Loo passed his forefinger across his throat.
“Just like that!” he said bitterly. “They put me here, like in prison! Last night two fellows come sneaking along to drag my wife away; I have to fight with them, till the guards come and collar them. I must say that they are disciplined, but apart from that it’s a nasty crowd, and I am sorry I came!”
“What are they up to?” Chiao Tai asked. “I thought they were decent robbers who’d welcome people like us!”
“You go and ask them!” Mao Loo sneered.
The girl reappeared and put the rice bowls under a tree. Mao Loo growled at her:
“Can’t you talk to me?”
“Amuse yourself!” the girl replied calmly, and entered the hut. Mao Loo went red with rage, but he made no attempt to follow her. He cursed and said:
“I saved that slut’s life! And what do I get? Nothing but a sour face! She got a good beating with a bit of rope, but a fat lot it helped!”
“A woman needs miles of rope across her behind before you get her sensible,” Ma Joong remarked philosophically. Mao Loo rose and walked over to the foot of a large tree. He kicked a heap of leaves together and lay down. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai found a place among the dry leaves on the other side of the enclosure. Soon they were sound asleep.
Chiao Tai was awakened by someone blowing on his face. Ma Joong whispered close to his ear:
“I have been out reconnoitering, brother. Two large junks are moored in the main creek, all ready to sail tomorrow morning. There are no watchmen. We could tap our friend Mao Loo on his head, and put him and the girl on one of those junks. But you and I couldn’t possibly get that heavy junk out of the creek onto the river. Quite apart from the fact that one has to know the fairway.”
“Let’s hide in the hold!” Chiao Tai whispered. “Tomorrow, after the bastards have got the junk out on the river, we come out and take them by surprise.”
“Splendid!” Ma Joong said contentedly. “Either we get them, or they get us. That’s the kind of simple proposition I like. Well, as a rule they don’t start before dawn; we still have time for a good nap.”
Soon they were snoring.
An hour before dawn Ma Joong got up. He shook Mao Loo by his shoulder. When he sat up, Ma Joong hit him unconscious with a hard blow on his temple. He bound Mao Loo’s hands and feet tightly with the thin rope he carried round his waist, and gagged him with a strip of cloth he tore from his jacket. Then he woke up Chiao Tai, and together they went into the hut.
Chiao Tai took out his tinderbox and made light while Ma Joong woke up the girl.
“Me and my mate are from the tribunal in Han-yuan, Mrs. Djang,” he said. “We have orders to take you back to the city.”
Moon Fairy looked them up and down suspiciously in the faint light. She said curtly:
“You can tell me many things! If you as much as touch me I’ll shout!”
Ma Joong sighed and took out Judge Dee’s letter, which he had concealed in the fold of the rag round his hair. She read it through, nodded, and asked quickly:
“How do we get away from here?”
After Ma Joong had explained their plan, she remarked:
“The guards bring the morning rice shortly after dawn. They’ll raise the alarm when they find us gone.”
“I have been busy one hour during the night laying a false trail through the forest, in the opposite direction,” Ma Joong replied. “You can trust us to know our job, dearie!”
“Keep a civil tongue in your mouth!” the girl snapped.
“A spirited wench!” Ma Joong said with a grin to Chiao Tai. They went outside. Ma Joong loaded Mao Loo on his shoulders. He was an expert in woodcraft; he led Chiao Tai and the girl unerringly through the dark forest to the creek. The black hulls of two large junks loomed up before them.
When they had gone aboard the one in front, Ma Joong went straight to the trap door aft and let Mao Loo slide down the steep ladder. Then he jumped down after him, and Chiao Tai and Moon Fairy followed. They were in a small kitchen. Forward the hold was filled to the ceiling with piles of large wooden boxes, with thick straw ropes wound round them.
“Climb up there, Chiao Tai,” Ma Joong said, “and try to shove the upper boxes of the second row aside a bit. That’ll be a good place to hide. I’ll be back
presently.”
He grabbed the toolbox that was lying in a corner and climbed up the ladder. While the girl inspected the kitchen, Chiao Tai hoisted himself up on top of the pile of boxes, and crawled into the narrow space between them and the ceiling. As he set to work moving the upper boxes he muttered:
“They are uncommonly heavy; the fellows must have stuffed them with stones!”
When he had made sufficient room for the four of them, he heard Ma Joong come back.
“I have drilled a couple of holes in the other junk,” he said contentedly. “By the time they notice that their hold is flooded, they won’t find those holes so easily!” He helped Chiao Tai to hoist Mao Loo on top of the boxes. He had regained his senses and was wildly rolling his eyes. “Don’t suffocate, please!” Chiao Tai said. “Remember that our magistrate wants to question you before you die!”
When they had deposited Mao Loo between two boxes, Ma Joong crawled over to the first row and stretched out his hands.
“Come up here!” he said to Moon Fairy. “I’ll help you.”
But the girl didn’t respond; she was thinking, biting her lips. Suddenly she asked:
“How many men does the crew of such a junk consist of?”
“Six or seven,” Ma Joong replied impatiently. “Get a move on!”
“I’ll stay where I am!” the girl announced. Wrinkling her nose, she added: “I am not dreaming of crawling on those dirty boxes!”
Ma Joong cursed roundly.
“If you don’t-” he began.
Suddenly heavy footsteps resounded up on deck; orders were shouted. Moon Fairy pushed open the hatch in the stern and looked outside. She stepped up to the pile of boxes and whispered:
“About forty armed men are boarding the junk behind us!”
“Come up here at once, I tell you!” Ma Joong hissed.
She laughed mockingly. She took off her jacket. With bare torso she started to wash the pans.
“Magnificent figure!” Ma Joong whispered to Chiao Tai. “But what in the name of Heaven does that bit of skirt think she’s doing?”
Heavy ropes thudded down on the deck; the junk started to move. The sailors who poled it along began to sing a monotonous song.
Suddenly the ladder creaked. A hefty fellow remained standing halfway down, and stared openmouthed at the half-naked woman. She gave him a saucy look, then asked casually:
“Are you coming to help me?”
“I … I must inspect the cargo,” the man brought out. His eyes were glued to the girl’s round bosom.
“Well,” Moon Fairy said with a sniff, “if you prefer the company of those dirty boxes, just suit yourself! I can manage very well alone!”
“Not on your life!” the man exclaimed. He quickly went down and up to the girl. “Aren’t you a looker!” he said with a broad grin.
“I don’t think you are so bad either,” Moon Fairy said. She let him fondle her a moment, then pushed him away and said: “Pleasure comes after work! Get me a bucket of water!”
“Where are you, Liu?” a hoarse voice called down through the trap door.
“Busy inspecting the cargo!” the man shouted back. “I’ll come up by and by! You look whether the sail is ready!”
“For how many fellows must I cook rice?” the girl asked. “Do we have soldiers on board?”
“No, those are on the junk behind us,” the man called Liu replied as he handed her the bucket. “You just cook something nice for me, dearie; I am the mate and the boss here, you see! The helmsman and the four sailors can eat what’s left over!”
A clatter of arms sounded on deck.
“Didn’t you say we have no soldiers on board?” Moon Fairy asked.
“Those are the guards of our last outpost,” Liu replied. “They come to search the ship before she goes out on the river.”
“I like soldiers!” the girl said. “Get them down here!”
The man quickly climbed up the ladder again. He pushed his head through the trap door and called out:
“I have just searched the entire hold, men! It’s hot as Hell down here!” There was some altercation; then he came down with a satisfied leer. “I got rid of those!” he said. “I have been a soldier too, dear; I’ll do my best!” He put his arm round her waist and started fumbling with the cord of her trousers.
“Not here!” Moon Fairy said. “I am a decent woman. You go and look on top of those boxes there; maybe there’s a little cozy corner up there for us!”
Liu hurriedly went to the pile of boxes, and hoisted himself up. Ma Joong grabbed him by his throat, pulled him on top and tightened his grip till the man was unconscious. Then he jumped down into the kitchen. Moon Fairy quickly closed the hatch and put on her jacket again.
“That was a pretty piece of work, my wench!” Ma Joong whispered excitedly. Then he ducked behind the ladder. Two heavy boots came down through the trap door. “What in Hell are you at, Liu!” an angry voice asked.
Ma Joong jerked the man’s legs backward. He tumbled down; his head hit the floor with a dull crash. He didn’t move. Chiao Tai stuck out his hands from above, and together they got the unconscious man up on the boxes.
“Truss him up and come down here, brother Chiao!” Ma Joong whispered. “I’ll climb on deck through the hatch. Be ready to receive the other bastards that I’ll send down to you here!”
He climbed through the hatch, pulled himself up along tie outside of the hull by the anchor rope, and stepped noiselessly on deck. When he had made certain that no one had seen him, he sauntered up to the helmsman, who was holding the heavy rudder beam with both hands, and remarked:
“It became too hot for me down in the hold!” He saw they were in the middle of the river now. The second junk was behind them. He stretched himself out on his back on the deck.
The helmsman gave him a startled look, then whistled. Three sturdy sailors came running aft.
“Who the devil are you?” the first asked.
Ma Joong folded his hands under his head. He yawned prodigiously and said:
“I am the guard, supposed to watch the cargo. I just finished checking the boxes with old Liu.”
“The mate never tells us a thing!” the sailor muttered with disgust. “Thinks the world of himself, he does! I’ll just go and ask how much sail he wants put on.” He went toward the trap door. Ma Joong scrambled up and followed him together with the two others.
When the man stood over the trap door, Ma Joong suddenly gave him a kick that sent him tumbling down the ladder. He turned round quick as lightning and gave the sailor that came for him a blow under his jaw that made him stagger backward against the railing. Ma Joong followed up with a thrust in his heart region that sent him over the railing into the river. The third sailor lunged out at Ma Joong with a long knife. Ma Joong ducked; the knife passed over his back as he butted his head into his attacker’s midriff. The man fell gasping over Ma Joong’s back. Ma Joong righted himself and heaved the knife wielder over the railing.
“All good fish fodder!” he called out to the helmsman. “Just keep to your steering job, my friend, else you’ll join them!” He peered at the second junk, which had now fallen far behind. It had developed a heavy list to starboard; a crowd of people was running in confusion over the tilting deck. “Those men will never keep their shirts dry!” he remarked cheerfully. Then he went to adjust the large reed sail.
Chiao Tai stuck his head through the trap door.
“You sent me only one,” he said. “Where are the others?”
Ma Joong pointed down to the water; he was intent on getting the sail right. Chiao Tai came on deck and said: “Mrs. Djang is making our noon rice.”
There was a strong breeze; the junk made good speed. Chiao Tai searched the two distant banks. He asked the helmsman:
“When’ll we arrive at a military post?”
“In a couple of hours,” the man replied with a sullen face.
“Where were you bound for, bastard?” Chiao Tai asked again.
“You are lucky, fellow!” Chiao Tai remarked. “You won’t have to join the fray!”
As they were sitting in the shadow of the sail eating their noon rice, Ma Joong related to Mrs. Djang the adventures of her husband. When he had finished her eyes were full of tears. “The poor, poor boy!” she said softly.
Ma Joong exchanged a quick glance with Chiao Tai. He whispered:
“Do you get what such a spanking wench sees in that mealy-mouthed weakling?”
But Chiao Tai didn’t hear him; he was looking intently ahead. He exclaimed:
“Do you see those banners? That’ll be the military post, brother!”
Ma Joong jumped up and shouted an order at the helmsman. Then he went to shorten the sail. Half an hour later the junk was lying alongside the quay.
Ma Joong handed Judge Dee’s letter to the corporal in charge of the post. He reported that he was bringing in four robbers of Three Oaks Island, and one of their junks. “I don’t know what she is carrying,” he added, “but it’s plenty heavy!” They went to have a look at the cargo together with four soldiers. Just as the corporal, the soldiers had their helmets strapped on tightly, they wore iron shoulder and arm plates over their mail coats, and next to their swords they carried on their belts heavy battle-axes.
“Why do you fellows drag along all that ironware?” Ma Joong inquired, astonished.
The corporal gave him a worried look. He replied curtly:
“There are rumors about skirmishes with armed bands downriver. These four men are all I have left here; the rest have gone with my captain to Liu-chiang.”
In the meantime the soldiers had broken open one of the boxes. It was packed with iron helmets, leather jackets, swords, crossbows, arrows and other military goods. The helmets were marked in front with a small white lotus flower, and there was a bag with hundreds of small silver models of the same emblem. Chiao Tai put a handful of those in his sleeve. He said to the corporal:
The Chinese Lake Murders Page 18