Judge Dee was going to bow his farewell but his host had already turned his back on him and was shuffling back to the screen at the end of the room.

The judge waited till the blue screen had dropped behind his host's back. Then he went out.

Outside he found Sergeant Hoong sleeping with his back against the garden gate.

The judge woke him up.

The sergeant passed his hand over his eyes. He said with a happy smile:

"It seems to me that I have never slept so peacefully! I dreamt of my childhood when I was still four or five years old, things I had completely forgotten!"

"Yes", Judge Dee said pensively, "this is a very strange abode…"

They climbed the mountain ridge in silence.

When they were standing once more under the pinetrees on the top, the sergeant asked:

"Did the hermit give Your Honour much information?"

Judge Dee nodded absent-mindedly.

"Yes", he replied after a while, "I learned many things. I know now for certain that the testament we found concealed in the Governor's picture is a forgery. I also learned what was the reason why the old Governor suddenly resigned all his offices. And I know now the other half of General Ding's murder."

The sergeant was going to ask for some further explanation. But noticing the expression on Judge Dee's face he remained silent.

After a brief rest they descended the slope. They mounted their horses and rode back to the city.

Ma Joong was waiting in Judge Dee's private office.

As he started on his report of how he and Chiao Tai had caught the Uigur, the judge shook off his pensive mood and listened eagerly.

Ma Joong assured the judge that no one knew about the arrest. He related in great detail his conversation with the Uigur chieftain, omitting only his unexpected meeting with the girl Tulbee and her warning; he assumed, quite correctly, that Judge Dee would not be interested in that romantic interlude.

"That is excellent work!", Judge Dee exclaimed when Ma Joong had finished. "Now we have the trump card in our hands!"

Ma Joong added:

"Tao Gan is now entertaining Yoo Kee in the reception hall. They are drinking tea together. When I looked in there a few moments ago Tao Gan was fretting because Yoo Kee is talking so fast that he can't get in a word!"

The judge looked pleased. He said to Sergeant Hoong:

"Sergeant, go to the reception hall and tell Yoo Kee that to my great regret I am unavoidably detained by urgent business. Offer him my apologies and inform him that I shall see him as soon as I am free!"

When the sergeant made to go the judge asked:

"Did you, by the way, succeed in finding out the whereabouts of Mrs. Lee, that friend of the Governor's widow?"

"I ordered Headman Fang to see to that, Your Honour", replied the sergeant. "I thought that since he is a local man he might obtain quicker results than I."

The judge nodded. Then he asked Ma Joong:

"What are the results of the autopsy on the old couple we found in the garden of the Governor's mansion?"

"The coroner confirmed that they died a natural death, Your Honour", Ma Joong replied.

Judge Dee nodded. He rose and started changing into his official robes. While he was placing the winged judge's cap on his head he suddenly said:

"If I am not mistaken, Ma Joong, you reached the ninth and highest grade in boxing about ten years ago, did you not?"

The tall fellow squared his shoulders. He replied proudly:

"Indeed, Your Honour!"

"Now think back", Judge Dee ordered, "and tell me how you felt towards your master when you were still a beginner, say of the second or third grade!"

Ma Joong was not accustomed to analyse his feelings. He knitted his brows and thought furiously. After a while he answered slowly:

"Well, Your Honour, I was deeply devoted to my master. He certainly was one of the finest boxers of our time and I admired him greatly. But when I boxed with him and he eluded my cleverest blows without the slightest effort, playfully hitting me anywhere he liked despite my frantic defence, I still admired him but at the same time I hated him because of his infinite superiority!"

Judge Dee smiled wanly.

"Thank you, my friend!", he said. "This afternoon I went to the mountains south of this city and there met a person who greatly disturbed me. Now you have put into words exactly what I did not dare to formulate so clearly for myself!"

Ma Joong had no idea what the judge was talking about but he felt flattered by the praise. With a broad smile he pulled aside the screen leading to the court hall. The judge passed through and ascended the dais.

Three beats on the gong announced the opening of the afternoon session of the tribunal.

No one knew that anything but routine matters would be dealt with, so only a few dozen spectators had drifted into the court hall.

As soon as Judge Dee had seated himself behind the bench and opened the session, he gave a sign to Headman Fang. Four constables went to the entrance of the court hall and remained standing there on guard.

"Because of important reasons of state", Judge Dee announced, "no one shall leave this court before the session is closed!"

A murmur of astonishment rose from the audience.

Judge Dee took up his vermilion brush and filled out a slip for the warden of the jail.

Two constables brought in the Uigur. He walked with difficulty, they had to support him by his arms.

In front of the dais he let himself down on one knee; the splinted leg he stretched out in front with a groan of pain.

"State your name and profession!", Judge Dee ordered.

The man lifted his head. Deep hatred shone from his burning eyes.

"I am Prince Ooljin, of the Blue Tribe of the Uigurs!", he snapped.

"Among you barbarians", the judge said coldly, "a man

calls himself a prince as soon as he has twenty horses! But that is neither here nor there.

The Imperial Government in its infinite grace has deigned to accept the Khan of the Uigurs as a vassal and he has duly sworn allegiance to His Majesty taking a solemn oath with Heaven and Earth as witness.

You, Ooljin, have been scheming to attack this town. You have betrayed your own Khan and you are guilty of rebellion against the Imperial Government.

Rebellion is a most serious crime, it is punished with the extreme penalty in a severe form. Your only hope for having this punishment somewhat mitigated lies in telling the complete truth; this means that you must also reveal who are the Chinese traitors who promised to collaborate with you in the execution of your nefarious scheme."

"You call such a Chinese a traitor", the Uigur shouted, "I call him a just man! Some Chinese recognize that what they have taken from us must be given back. Dit not you Chinese encroach on our pastures, your peasants ploughing our good grasslands and transforming them into rice fields? Have we not been driven away farther and farther to the desert where our horses and cattle die on our hands?

I shall not reveal the names of those Chinese who realized the awful wrong that your people have done to us, the Uigur tribes!"

The headman was going to hit him but the judge raised his hand.

Leaning forward in his chair he said quietly:

"It so happens that I have no time for preliminaries. Your right leg is already broken, you cannot walk anyway. So it won't inconvenience you much if your other leg should be broken too."

Judge Dee gave a sign to the headman.

Two constables threw the Uigur on his back on the floor and stood with their feet on his hands. Another brought a wooden trestle of about two feet high.