"The man was waiting for me. When he saw me he flew into a violent rage. He stripped me and again beat me cruelly, shouting all the time that I should confess my crime. Finally I fainted, unable to bear the torture any longer.
"What followed then was a terrible nightmare. I got fever and lost all notion of place and time. The man would wake me up only to give me a drink of water, then beat me again. He never took off the ropes. Apart from this physical agony there was always present in my feverish brain the dreadful thought that I had killed the two people I cared for most, my father and my bride…"
His voice trailed off. He swayed on his feet, then sank unconscious to the floor, completely exhausted.
Judge Dee ordered Sergeant Hoong to have him carried to his private office. "Tell the coroner," he added, "to revive this unfortunate youth and dress his wounds. Then give him a sedative and supply him with a decent robe and cap. Report to me as soon as he has recovered. I want to ask him one question before we send him home."
The judge leaned forward and asked the monk coldly:
"What have you to say for yourself?"
Now the monk had, during his checkered career, always managed somehow or other to steer clear of the authorities. He was, therefore, unfamiliar with the severe rules of the tribunal and the drastic methods used to enforce those rules. During the latter part of Candidate Djang's statement he had been muttering angrily, but he had been silenced by vicious kicks from the headman. Now he spoke up in an insolent voice.
"I, the monk, want to protest against-"
Judge Dee gave a sign to the headman. He hit the monk in the face with the heavy handle of his whip, hissing:
"Speak respectfully to His Excellency!"
Livid with rage, the monk rose to attack the headman. But the constables were fully prepared for such an eventuality. They at once fell on him with their clubs.
"Report to me when the man has learned to speak civilly!" Judge Dee told the headman. Then he started to sort out the papers before him.
After some time the sloshing of water on the stone-flagged floor indicated that the constables were reviving the monk by throwing buckets of water over him. Presently the headman announced that he could be questioned.
Judge Dee looked over the bench. The monk's head was bleeding from a number of gashes and his left eye was closed. The other stared up at the judge with a dazed look.
"I have heard," the judge said, "that you told a few gamblers about your dealings with a man called Mao Loo. I now want the truth, and the complete truth. Speak up!"
The monk spat a mouthful of blood on the floor. Then he began with a thick tongue:
"The other day, after the first night watch, I decide to go to the city for a walk. Just as I am coming down the path behind the Buddhist Temple, I see a man digging a hole under a tree. The moon comes out and I see it's Mao Loo. He is in a mighty hurry, using his ax as hoe. I think Brother Mao is up to some dirty trick. But although I am ready for him any time with bare hands or with a knife, I don't like that ax. So I stay where I am.
"Well, he had made his hole; then he throws in his ax, and a wooden box. When he starts shoving the earth in it with his hands, I come out and say: 'Brother Mao, can I help you?' joking-like. He only says: 'You are out late monk!' I say: 'What are you burying there?' He says: 'Nothing but a few old tools. But over there in the temple there's something better!' He shakes his sleeve, and I hear the good money clinking. 'What about a share for a poor man?' I say. He looks me up and down and says: 'This is your lucky night, monk! The people there saw me running away with part of the loot and they came after me, but I gave them the slip in the wood. Now there's only one fellow left in the temple. You go there now quick and grab what you can before they return. I have all I can carry!' And off he goes."
The monk licked his swollen lips. On a sign from the judge the headman gave the monk a cup of bitter tea. He emptied it in one draught, spat, and continued:
"I first started digging just to make sure there's nothing there he forgot to tell me about. But the fellow hadn't lied, for once. I find only a box with old carpenter's tools. So I go to the temple. I ought to have known better! The only thing I find is an old bald-pate snoring in a bare cell, and a coffin in an empty hall! I know that the son of a dog has told me a story just to get rid of me. That's all, Judge. If you want to know more, just catch that bastard Mao Loo and ask him!"
Judge Dee caressed his side whiskers. Then he asked curtly:
"Do you confess having kidnaped and maltreated that young man!"
"I couldn't let him get away from your constables, could I?" the monk asked sullenly. "And you can't expect a man to hand out food and lodging for nothing. He refused to work, so naturally I had to encourage him a bit."
"Don't prevaricate!" the judge barked. "Do you admit having abducted him to your cave by force and beaten him repeatedly with a willow wand?"
The monk shot a sidelong glance at the headman, who was fingering his whip. He shrugged his shoulders and muttered: "All right, I confess!"
The judge gave a sign to the clerk, who read out his record of the monk's statement. The part about Candidate Djang was phrased more positively than the monk had expressed himself, but he agreed that it was correct and affixed his thumbmark to the document. Then the judge said:
"I can have you punished severely on more than one count. I shall defer my verdict, however, till I have verified your statement as to your meeting with Mao Loo. You'll now be put in jail to meditate on what will happen to you if I find that you have lied!"
When the monk was being led away, Sergeant Hoong came in and reported that Candidate Djang had somewhat recovered. Two constables led him in front of the bench. He was now clad in a neat blue robe, and wore a black cap that concealed his shaven head. Despite his haggard appearance one could still see that he was a handsome young man.
He listened carefully to the scribe reading out the record of his statement, then impressed his thumbmark on it. Judge Dee looked at him gravely. He spoke.
"As you have stated yourself, Candidate Djang, you have behaved very foolishly, and thereby seriously impeded the course of justice. However, I deem your harrowing experiences of the past few days sufficient punishment for that. Now I have good tidings for you. Your father is alive and he doesn't blame you. On the contrary, he was deeply shocked when he thought you were dead. He was accused in this tribunal of having been involved in your bride's death; that's why you saw the constables at your house. The apparition you saw in your room was I. In your confused state of mind I must have appeared somewhat forbidding to you.
"I regret to inform you that the corpse of your bride has unaccountably disappeared. This court is doing everything in its power to have it recovered so that it can be given a proper burial."
Candidate Djang covered his face with his hands and started to cry softly. Judge Dee waited a little, then pursued:
"Before I let you return home, I want to ask you one question. Were there, besides your father, other persons who knew that you used the pen name Student of the Bamboo Grove?"
Djang replied in a toneless voice:
"Only my bride, Your Honor. I only started to use that pen name after I had met her, and I therewith signed the poems I sent her."
Judge Dee sat back in his chair.
"That's all!" he said. "Your tormentor has been thrown into jail; in due time he'll receive adequate punishment. You can go now, Candidate Djang."
The judge ordered Ma Joong to bring the youngster home in a closed palanquin, to recall the constables on guard in his father's house and to tell him that the house arrest had been canceled.