The Mandarin's Fan Part 24

"For money?"

"No. He refused to take a penny. He seemed anxious to get rid of the fan, and kept looking round everywhere as though he thought someone might be listening. I asked him how the fan could tell about the death, but all he said, was, that it could."

"But in what way?" asked Ainsleigh, puzzled.

"I really don't know," said the Major, with an air of fatigue. "I am telling you all I know. I took the fan and cleared, and got home safely enough. Then I hid away the fan--where it doesn't matter; but I have travelled so much that I always keep a secret place for money and valuables. I placed the fan there, though I really didn't know what to make of the matter. After a few days I came to my rooms to find that everything had been ripped open and smashed and searched--"

"And the fan was gone," said Rodgers.

"Not it. They--whosoever they were who searched, could not find my hiding place. Well, a day or two later, as I was walking along the street at night, I was seized up and gagged, and carried to some low Chinese house. There a Chinaman examined me, and asked me what I had done with the fan--"

"What sort of a man was he?" asked Rupert, "would you know him again?"

The Major looked doubtful. "Chinamen are all so alike," he said, "but this chap had only one eye, and was a villainous looking beast. He declared that he knew the first Celestial had given me the fan, and that he wanted it. I refused to give it up. He took out a knife, and said he would slice me up. Oh," broke off the Major looking grey and old, "however shall I forget that terrible moment, Ainsleigh. Do you wonder that I shudder to relate this adventure, and that I refuse to speak of it. I was in that miserable place, in the midst of a horde of Chinamen, bound and helpless, with a knife at my throat. I never did care for death," said Tidman boldly, "but to be cut slowly into slices, was more than I could stand."

"Why didn't you give up the fan then?" asked Rodgers.

"Because I made up my mind that slicing or no slicing, I wasn't going to be bullied by a lot of heathen devils. The position was awful, but I'm an Englishman, and I resolved to hold off to the last moment, I dare say I would have given up the fan after all, as the one-eyed brute began to cut me up. I lost a big toe--"

"Oh," said Rupert, while Rodgers shook his head, "did this man cut a toe off?"

"Yes--my big toe. I was about to give in, when suddenly a small Chinese boy dressed in red--queerly enough, as the Chinese don't go in much for that colour--appeared and said something. The one-eyed Chinaman scowled, and put his knife away. Then he cleared out with the boy and his other friends and I was left alone. Then with the loss of blood, and the pain of my toe I fainted."

"No wonder," said Ainsleigh, "I don't blame you. Well?"

"Well, then I came to my senses in my own room. Forge was with me and said that he had traced me to the hovel and had rescued me with the aid of the Canton police. He declared that I would have to leave Canton at once, or this one-eyed Chinaman would be after me. I agreed, and with Forge I went that very day on board a homeward-bound steamer. I thanked Forge for having helped me, and he asked if I would give him the fan as a reward. I refused, as I wanted to know how it could tell about Markham's death. Forge said that if I kept possession of the fan, the one-eyed Chinaman would track me to England and kill me. But I held out, till I got to Marport. Then I grew weary of Forge worrying me, particularly as he promised to do what he could to learn the secret of the fan, and help me to marry Miss Wharf. So he took the fan, and then, as you know, Ainsleigh, he took it out to China again, where it fell into the hands of a pirate from whom Clarence Burgh received it."

"But how did it get from Dr. Forge's hands into those of the pirate?"

asked Rodgers curiously.

"I don't know; you can ask Forge. He lives here."

The detective took a note of the doctor's address. "That's all right,"

he said, "there's no doubt the poor lady was killed to procure this fan.

Did you tell her of your adventure?"

"No," said the Major with a shudder. "I merely said that I could not learn how Markham was killed and she refused to marry me. I did not care about speaking of the adventure. You know how the fan came into Miss Wharf's possession Mr. Rodgers?"

"Yes," the detective nodded, "Mr. Burgh told me, but I'll have another talk with him. Humph. It seems to me that one of these Chinamen killed Miss Wharf, and that the tie was used to lay the blame on Mr. Ainsleigh here."

"Well," said Ainsleigh drawing a breath, "I am glad to hear that you don't suspect me, but I can't think that Tung-yu stole the tie, even though he did see me place it in the coat."

"I'll look after that cloak-room attendant," said Rodgers, making another note, "and he'll have to give an account of himself. But I don't see what this private G.o.d Kw.a.n.g-ho has to do with the matter."

"I can only tell you this," said Major Tidman, "I had a cold last night and stopped in my room. But I heard that Tung-yu was down the stairs, and, as I knew him in Canton, I went to have a look for him. He was a pleasant companion in Canton."

"Did you tell him about the fan and your adventure?"

"No, Ainsleigh, and I was annoyed that you should have let slip that I had such an adventure. I don't want to be mixed up in the matter.

Tung-yu is nice enough, but if he has to do with the fan he is quite capable of turning nasty and making things unpleasant for me. But I mentioned about his advertis.e.m.e.nt, and how I came to know of it through you. He confessed that Lo-Keong had lost the fan and wished it back again, as it had to do with some family business. The finding of it was referred to the G.o.d Kw.a.n.g-ho, and the priest of the G.o.d, said that two men were to search for the fan."

"Hwei and Tung-yu."

"Yes. They were to search on alternate days. If Hwei found it he was to kill the person from whom he got it. If it was Tung-yu's day he was to give the fortunate person five thousand pounds."

"And whose day was it on the night of the crime?"

"Hwei's," said the Major, "that was why Tung-yu could not buy the fan when Miss Wharf offered it to him."

CHAPTER XII

AT THE INQUEST

When Mr. Orlando Rodgers of the C.I.D. rolled into the Superintendent's office the next day to relate what he had heard, he was not so glib as usual. After sleeping on the extraordinary tale he had heard from Major Tidman, and considering the fragments imparted by Clarence Burgh, and young Ainsleigh, he came to look on the matter as something to do with the Arabian Nights. The fan which the deceased lady had carried at the ball was certainly gone, and the whole of these marvellous matters connected with China, hung on the fan. But Miss Wharf may have been murdered for some other reason, and Rodgers was half inclined, when looking into the case in the cold searching morning light, to abandon the fan theory. But he delayed doing this until he had consulted with Superintendant Young, who looked after the Marport police.

"What do you think of it?" he asked, when his tale was told. The Superintendent was a tall thin man with a cold eye and a distrustful manner. He believed only half he saw, and absolutely nothing he heard.

Consequently when Rodgers ended, and his opinion was asked, he sniffed disdainfully, and put on his most official expression. "It's a fairy tale," said Young in his dry voice, which was like the creaking of a rusty wheel.

"Well now, the woman was murdered."

"But not for this fan, Mr. Rodgers."

"Then what motive do you think--?"

"I don't undertake to say, sir. Let us gather all the evidence we can and submit it to an intelligent jury at the inquest. It takes place to-day at the public house near the corner of the Cliff Road and not far from Ivy Lodge. When the jury has inspected the body, it will sit with the Coroner at the Bull's Head."

"A Chinaman calling himself Tung-yu was at the ball you know," said Rodgers, unwilling to abandon the theory in spite of his doubts.

"Where is he now?"

"I can't say. Mr. Christopher Walker brought him down, and I went to see that young gentleman before he departed for business this morning. He told me that Tung-yu was a clerk in the same firm of tea merchants as he was employed with, and had not been at the office since he left to come to the ball. Mr. Walker last saw Tung-yu at the door of the hotel, looking out across the pier."

"Well," said Young drily.

"That yacht was there," went on Rodgers, "and showed a green light so it's just possible that Mr. Burgh may be right and that the Chinaman did steam away in her."

"Well then, search for the yacht."

"I intend to, and when I find her--"

"Mr. Tung-yu will have an explanation. No, Mr. Rodgers," said the Superintendent rising, "I can't believe all this business is about a trifle such as this fan. Some more serious motive is at the bottom of this murder. Now Mr. Ainsleigh's tie--"

"I can explain that," said the detective, and he did.

Young listened disbelievingly. "So he says," was his comment.