CHAPTER XI
THE VENGEANCE OF BUDDHA
When Miss Temple launched her terrible and unwilling accusation againsther father, and was carried unconscious from the room, I realized that Iwas, to all intents and purposes, a free man. Whatever thecircumstantial evidence which had been so cleverly brought against me bythe Scotland Yard men, I knew that it could have no weight againstactual testimony to the effect that it was Major Temple, and not myself,who had, early that morning, crept out upon the roof of the porch andentered Ashton's room by way of his window. Miss Temple, it is true, hadtestified that the window was closed, but she could not know whether ornot it was bolted, or whether Ashton had opened it later, beforeretiring, to secure fresh air in his room during the night. To me itseemed probable that he had. How to account for its subsequent reboltingfrom the inside I could not imagine, unless Major Temple had done it,unknown to me, when we first entered the room on the morning of thetragedy. I looked to see all these matters cleared up when he was placedupon the stand, and I was not surprised to see one of the officers inthe court approach the figure sitting bowed and silent among the buzzingspectators and, laying a hand upon his shoulder, bend down and whisper afew low words into his unheeding ear. That Major Temple's arrest mustinevitably follow his daughter's testimony was apparent to everyone. Hearose and was about to accompany the officer to the dock, when there wasa murmur of voices about the door, and I saw Sergeant McQuade enter withthe ugly figure of Li Min beside him, followed by the interpreter, whileInspector Burns, stepping quickly to the Magistrate's desk, said a fewhurried words to him in a low voice.
The Magistrate, apparently very much surprised, turned to thecourt-room, rapped loudly for order and motioned to the officer incharge of Major Temple to release him. Sergeant McQuade, meanwhile, withhis prisoner, had advanced to the dock, and without further ceremony Isaw the court attendants administer the oath, the import of this beingexplained to the Chinaman by the interpreter.
I learned afterward that Li Min, upon his first appearance as a witness,had been under the impression that he was being tried for his attempt tosteal my satchel, and, as he did not then know that his compatriots inLondon had secured the emerald, feared to make disclosures regarding hisattempt to secure it which would inform the police of its whereabouts.The interpreter, a Chinaman of the better class, who was in the habitof acting in this capacity for the police, had argued with him duringthe noon hour, had convinced him that he was not charged with any crime,that the emerald Buddha had been secured by his friends in London, andwas, ere now, no doubt, on its way back to China. Under thesecircumstances he was at last persuaded to tell his story and, after aninterminable amount of questioning, it was at last dragged from him. Ihave placed his testimony together into the form of a narrative, whichwill enable the reader to understand its purport, without being underthe necessity of going through the laborious cross-questioning by theMagistrate and the interpreter which was necessary in order to drag itforth.
It seems that Li Min, a native of South China, and by religion afollower of Buddha, had associated himself with the reform movement inChina, which has drawn into its ranks many of the most intelligent ofthe Chinese. Like many of his countrymen, he was under suspicion, and,knowing the enmity of the Dowager Empress and her advisers toward themovement, had come to Hong Kong with the intention of leaving thecountry. His engagement as a servant by Major Temple was for him a pieceof excellent luck, as it enabled him to leave China without being underany suspicion as to his motives for doing so. It was during the voyageto England, and his subsequent stay in Major Temple's service, that hefirst learned the story of the emerald Buddha. Piece by piece hegathered the details of the story, and from frequent conversationsbetween Major Temple and his daughter, which they carried on withoutregard for his presence, he came to know of Ashton's determination tosecure the sacred relic. His religious feelings were outraged by what heheard, and he promptly communicated the whole matter by letter to aBuddhist priest in Hong Kong, with the suggestion that he send word tothe followers of Buddha in Ping Yang. This was done, but much time hadelapsed, and, when the word at last reached Ping Yang, Ashton hadalready escaped with the jewel. The priest in charge of the shrine, uponreceiving the information as to the stone's destination, set out at oncefor London with two of his followers, determined upon the recovery ofthe emerald at any cost. They made such speed that they got to Pekin aconsiderable time before Ashton arrived there, owing to his wanderingsin the interior after his escape from his pursuers. They set out at oncefor England and arrived in London some weeks before Ashton's coming.They at once communicated not only with Li Min but with their followersin London, and a plan was worked out which would inevitably haveresulted in the recovery of the jewel, had it been peaceably turned overto Major Temple as they supposed would be the case. Li Min was tonotify them as soon as Ashton arrived at Major Temple's, and, afterthat, both he and the Major's house were to be carefully watched and thestone recovered at the first opportunity. They naturally supposed thatthe bargain between Major Temple and Ashton would be carried out, andthe stone left in Major Temple's possession. It would then be Li Min'spart to admit his confederates to the house and with their assistancesteal the jewel and make away with it. When Li Min, in waiting on thetable that night, first saw the emerald Buddha his impulse was to seizeit at once and remove it from the impious hands of the foreign devils.This he was of course unable to do. He then planned to go into Exeterthat night and send word to his confederates in London, as arranged,but, owing to the furious storm, and the impossibility of accomplishinganything at that late hour of the night, he determined to wait untilearly the next morning. He overheard the quarrel between Ashton andMajor Temple after dinner, and the fear that the former might leave thehouse the next day, taking the jewel with him, had left him awakethroughout the night, devising plans for the coming day. He arose abouthalf-past four o'clock, but, as it was still raining heavily, he creptsilently through the hallway of the west wing to Ashton's door, hopingto find it unfastened. Upon finding it bolted, he had gone to the windowat the end of the hall, unfastened it, raised the sash and looked out.It was still raining, although not so heavily, and the light of earlydawn was beginning to show in the sky. He made a quick decision to climbout upon the roof, enter Ashton's room by means of the window, securethe emerald and make his way as quickly as possible to the town, wherehe could place the jewel in safe hands. But, fearing lest, in the earlymorning light, he might be recognized by some chance early riser amongthe stablemen or gardeners, he descended swiftly to the main hall, threwon a long tan rain-coat and tweed cap belonging to Major Temple and, sodisguised, returned once more to the upper floor and thence by way ofthe window to the porch roof. He was making his way quietly along to thewindow of Mr. Ashton's room when seen by Miss Temple, but he was soabsorbed in his work that he did not observe her. Arriving at Mr.Ashton's window, he had tried it, only to find it bolted on the inside.The increasing light showed him dimly the interior of the room, withAshton lying asleep in the bed. In trying to force the window he had cuthis hand badly upon a projecting nail or bit of glass, but in hisexcitement he failed to realize it, and had rested his palm, coveredwith blood upon the window sill, his fingers pointing inward. Hisefforts to open the window had also resulted in some noise, which awokethe sleeping man within. What followed I will try to tell in Li Min'sown words as rendered into English by the interpreter. "I saw the man(Mr. Ashton) rolling about in his bed. He seemed to be suffering, and Iheard him groan and once cry out in his sleep. I pushed the windowagain, and it made a loud noise. The man jumped up quickly, and startedtoward the window. His face was white, and terrible. And, as he jumpedfrom the bed, the hand of Buddha, the mighty, the wonderful one, whoknows all things, smote him like a flash of fire. He fell upon thefloor, uttering a loud cry. I was frightened, and ran along the roof andclimbed into the house through the hall window. I heard sounds ofsomeone moving about in the room of the young man (Mr. Morgan). I closedthe window, but forgot to bolt
it in my hurry. I ran quickly along thehall and went down the stairs. I put the coat and cap in the closet inthe hall, where I had found them, and went out through the servant'sentrance. I walked into Exeter and sent word to my brothers in Londonthat the sacred relic had come. Then I had some breakfast and came back.Afterward I learned that the jewel was gone. I did not know whether TheGreat Buddha had taken it away or not. I tried to get into the room, butit was always locked. At last the dead man was taken away and I was sentto fix the room. I searched everywhere--under the carpets, behind thepictures, in the mattress of the bed--but I could not find the stone. Atlast the young man (Mr. Morgan) came into the room suddenly, and Iwatched him. He, too, I knew, was seeking for the jewel. After a time,he took the piece of soap and went away. I was a fool--I had not thoughtof the soap, which lay there in front of my eyes. It was the only thingI had not searched. I knew that, if Buddha had not taken away the stone,it must be concealed there. I watched the young man. I saw him put itin his bag. I went downstairs, and, after a while, when the satchel wasleft unguarded for a moment, I took it. The young man and the officerwere outside and stopped me. When I was taken into the jail at Exeter,my friend, Chuen Moy came to see me. I told him through the bars whathad happened. I did not know whether the young man would keep the stoneor give it to the officer. I told Chuen Moy that they were both going toLondon in the afternoon. I told Chuen Moy to go to London and to informour brothers that they might get the stone. I have done nothing wrong.The man who died had offended the great Buddha. He committed a sacrilegein the shrine and he deserved to die. The mighty hand of theall-powerful one was stretched out, and he fell dead. I myself have seenthe miracle. It is the vengeance of Buddha."
I do not know what the effect of this weird story was upon the othersin the court-room, but to me it rang with all the accents of sincerityand truth. Not that I believed in the vengeance of Buddha, although eventhat I was not in the face of the evidence prepared to deny, but theactual events of his story, as he related them, explained everything,and nothing. There were no clues which had not been unraveled and madeclear, yet we were as far from the solution of the mystery as ever. Myheart gave a great leap of joy when I heard the Chinaman's simple,sincere confession, and knew that, because of his disguise, his tan coatand cap, Muriel had been mistaken in supposing the figure on the roof tohave been her father. For I knew that this terrible thing about herfather, which she so firmly believed, and which she had for days keptlocked in the recesses of her heart, must have almost broken it duringthose many hours of uncertainty and fear. Yet for my sake, she had toldthe terrible truth, as she believed it, and to save me she had gone allthe way to London, to ask my advice as to the proper course for her topursue. I realized what it must have meant to her to launch that fearfulaccusation against her own father and I began to hope that she mighthave for me a feeling not dissimilar to that which I so strongly feltfor her.
There was some confusion in the court-room when Li Min finished hisstory, several of the spectators began to laugh at what they considereda remarkably ingenious, yet ridiculous, defense on the Chinaman's part.As they glanced at the Magistrate, however, they saw nothing approachingamusement upon his grim face. On the contrary it was very evident, whenLi Min had been taken back to his cell, that he not only believed theChinaman's story, but had been very deeply impressed by it.
Major Temple was put upon the stand again, but his examination resultedonly in a repetition of his former statements and a forcible denialthat he had left his room from the moment he retired the eveningpreceding Mr. Ashton's death until he heard my cries for help the nextmorning. There was no evidence now to connect either Miss Temple, herfather or myself with the death of the collector. Li Min had borne outmy story regarding the taking of the cake of soap in every particular. Iwas discharged, along with Major Temple and Miss Temple, and only Li Minremained in custody. He was, of course, held upon the technical chargeof assaulting McQuade and threatening him with a deadly weapon.Inspector Burns and Sergeant McQuade both signified their intention ofgoing to London at once. The latter, however, arranged to come down toThe Oaks the following day to make a final examination into the mystery.He did not believe for a moment that part of Li Min's story whichreferred to the sudden death of Mr. Ashton, and was already working onsome theory, which he did not elaborate to me, whereby Li Min might havebeen able to open the window of the dead man's room, enter, commit themurder and rebolt the window behind him after he had left. If he couldestablish this, he felt sure that he could send Li Min to the gallows. Iwas requested by Major Temple, who seemed much broken in health andspirits by the events of the past few days, to accompany him and hisdaughter back to The Oaks, an invitation of which I was by no means slowto avail myself. The poor girl was greatly upset, and very much tiredout, and we made haste to get her home as quickly as possible. I was toosick of the whole matter of Mr. Ashton's death to discuss it, althoughthe Major broached the subject several times on our way back. I wantedto get Miss Temple home, where I hoped for an opportunity to have a talkwith her, and to show in some way my appreciation of her efforts in mybehalf, and her trip to London to see me. I had wired the caretaker atmy studio in town early that morning to send me down some clothes, and Ihoped to be able to appear at dinner in a more presentable costume thanthe walking suit which I had been forced to wear, throughout myremarkable series of adventures, for the past five days.
It was close to five o'clock when we arrived home, and I found mybelongings awaiting me. I was given the same room that I had previouslyoccupied and, when I appeared at dinner at eight, I felt like a humanbeing for the first time since I had entered Major Temple's door. I wasglad to see that both the Major and his daughter were much rested, andwe sat down to dinner with some show of cheerfulness, Miss Templelooking especially charming in a green silk evening gown which to myartist's eyes made her a picture that I longed to put on canvas. I toldher so, and we were soon discussing pictures, and art generally, at alively rate. Only the Major seemed depressed, and I imagine this camefrom his regret at the loss of the wonderful emerald Buddha. He did notrefer to it in any way, but I was conscious of a far-away look in hiseyes which spoke volumes. What had become of the jewel, I did not know,but I fancied that McQuade's hurried trip to London had something to dowith the search his men were making for the lost underground temple ofBuddha and thought it more than likely that I would know more about itwhen he returned the next day.
We passed an hour very pleasantly at table, and after dinner MajorTemple excused himself upon the plea that he wanted to write someletters and retired to his den, while Miss Temple and I sat down beforethe fire in the library for our first real tete-a-tete. It had begun torain heavily outside, with a stiff breeze blowing from the southwest,and it seemed wonderfully fine and warm and altogether delightful,sitting here in the firelight with the woman I loved beside me.
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