"Usually," the magistrate replied, "it is men with some real or imagined grudge who choose to become outlaws. But their code is to rob only officials and wealthy people; they often help people in distress, and they have a reputation for courage and chivalry. They call themselves 'brothers of the green woods.' '"'ell, Hoong, it was a good fight, but we have lost time. Let's hurry on."
They entered Yen-chow at dusk, and were directed by the guards at the gate to the large hostel for traveling officials in the center of the town. Magistrate Dee took a room on the second floor, and ordered the waiter to bring them a good meal, for he felt hungry after the long journey.
When they had finished their meal, Hoong poured out a cup of hot tea for his master. Dee sat down near the window and looked out on the place below, in front of the hostel, where there was a busy coming and going of lance-knights and footmen. The light of torches shone on their iron helmets and breastplates.
Suddenly there came a knock on the door. Turning round, the magistrate saw two tall men enter the room.
"August heaven!" he exclaimed, astonished. "Here we have our two brothers of the green woods!"
The two bowed awkwardly. They still wore their patched riding jackets, but now they had hunting caps on their heads. The burly fellow who had attacked them first spoke. "Sir, this afternoon on the road you told that captain that we were your assistants. I talked this over with my friend, sir, and we agreed that we wouldn't like to make you a liar, you being a magistrate. If you'll take us on, we'll serve you loyally."
The magistrate raised his eyebrows. The other man said hurriedly, "We know nothing of the work in a tribunal, sir, but we know how to obey orders, and we thought we could perhaps make ourselves useful by doing the rough work for you."
"Take a seat," Magistrate Dee said curtly. "I'll hear your stories." The two sat down on footstools. The first laid his big fists on his knees, cleared his throat and began.
"My name is Ma Joong, I am a native of Kiangsu Province. My father owned a cargo junk, and I helped him as mate. But since I was a strong boy who liked fighting, my father sent me to a wellknown boxing master, and had him teach me also some reading and writing, so as to qualify for becoming an officer in the army. Then my father died unexpectedly. Since there were many debts, I had to sell our boat, and entered the service of the local magisstrate, as his bodyguard. I soon found out that he was a cruel and corrupt scoundrel. Once he cheated a widow out of her property by extracting a false confession from her by torture. I quarreled with him and he made to strike me. Then I knocked him down. I had to flee for my life and took to the woods. But I swear by the memory of my dead father that I never wantonly killed a man, and robbed only those who could afford the loss. You can take my word for it that the same goes for my blood brother here. That's all!"
Magistrate Dee nodded, then looked questioningly at the other man. He had a finely chiseled face, a straight nose and thin lips. Fingering his small mustache, he said, "I call myself Chiao Tai, because my real family name is well and honorably known in a certain part of the empire. A high official once willfully sent a number of my comrades for whom I was responsible to their death. The scoundrel disappeared, and the authorities to whom I reported his crime refused to take action. Then I became a highwayman, and roamed all over our empire, hoping one day to trace the criminal and kill him. I never robbed the poor, and my sword is unsullied by unjust blood. I'll serve you on one condition, namely that you'll allow me to resign as soon as I have found my man. For I have sworn by the souls of my dead comrades that I would cut off his head and throw it to the dogs."
The magistrate looked intently at the two men in front of him, slowly caressing his side whiskers. After a while be said, "I'll accept your offer, including Chiao Tai's condition-on the understanding that, should he find his man, he'll first give me an opportunity for trying to redress his wrong by legal means. You can go with me to Peng-lai, and I'll see whether I can use you. If not, I'll tell you so, and you'll promise then to have yourselves enlisted at once in our northern army. With me it is all or nothing."
Chiao Tai's face lit up. He said eagerly, "All or nothing, that'll be our motto!"
He rose and knelt before the magistrate, knocking his forehead to the floor three times in succession. His friend followed his example.
When Ma Joong and Chiao Tai had risen again Magistrate Dee spoke.
"This is Hoong Liang, my trusted adviser, from whom I have no secrets. You'll closely co-operate with him. Peng-lai is my first post; I don't know how the tribunal there is organized. But I presume that the clerks, constables, guards and the rest of the personnel are, as usual, locally recruited. I hear that queer things are happening in Peng-lai, and heaven knows how far the personnel of the tribunal is mixed up in those. I need people by my side whom I can trust. You three shall be my ears and eyes. Hoong, let the waiter bring a jug of wine!"
When the cups had been filled, Magistrate Dee pledged the three men in turn, and they respectfully drank to his health and his success.
The next morning when the magistrate came downstairs he found Hoong Liang and his two new assistants waiting for him in the courtyard. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai had evidently been out shopping already; they now wore neat brown robes with black sashes, small black skullcaps completing their uniforms of officers of the tribunal.
"The sky is cloudy, sir," Hoong remarked. "I fear we'll get rain." "I strapped straw hats to the saddles," Ma Joong said. "Those should see us through to Peng-lai."
The four men mounted their horses and left the city by the east gate. For a few miles they rode along the highway crowded with travelers; then the traffic grew less. As they entered a deserted mountainous country, a horseman came galloping from the opposite direction, leading two horses on a leash. Glancing at them, Ma Joong observed, "Good horseflesh! I like that blazed one."
"The fellow shouldn't carry that box on his saddle," Chiao Tai put in. "That's asking for trouble!"
"Why?" Hoong asked.
"In these parts," Chiao Tai explained, "those red leather boxes are always used by rent collectors to carry their cash. Wise people conceal them in their saddlebags:"
"The fellow seems to be in a mighty hurry," Magistrate Dee remarked casually.
At noon they reached the last mountain ridge. A torrential rain came pouring down. They took shelter under a high tree on a plateau by the roadside, overlooking the fertile green peninsula on which the district of Peng-lai was located.
While they were eating a cold snack Ma Joong told with gusto some stories about his adventures with farm girls. Magistrate Dee took no interest in ribald tales, but he had to admit that Ma Joong had a certain caustic humor that was rather amusing. But when he began on another similar story, the magistrate cut him short saying, "I am told that there are tigers in these parts. I thought those animals favored a drier climate."
Chiao Tai, who had been listening silently to the conversation, now remarked, "Well, that's hard to say. As a rule those brutes keep to the high wooded land, but once they have acquired the taste for human flesh they'll also roam about in the plains. We might get good hunting down there!"
"What about those tales about weretigers?" Magistrate Dee asked.
Ma Joong cast an uneasy glance at the dark forest behind them. "Never heard about it!" he said curtly.
"Could I have a look at your sword, sir?" Chiao Tai asked. "It seemed a fine antique blade to me."
As he handed him the sword, the magistrate said, "It is called Rain Dragon."
"Not the famous Rain Dragon!" Chiao Tai exclaimed ecstatically, "The blade all swordsmen under heaven talk about with awe! It was the last and best sword forged three hundred years ago by Threefingcr, the greatest swordsmith that ever was!"