The Island Where Time Stands Still (19 page)

Considering the matter further it occurred to Gregory
that he had not so far given sufficient importance to the time factor. As the crates had been swinging some thirty feet above the ground, the assassin would have had to allow a couple of seconds for their fall. Had he intended to kill Tsai-Ping he would have waited until Gregory was beneath the crates before cutting the rope. As it was he must have timed the cutting for them to fall on Gregory, and seen too late that Tsai-Ping had stepped forward into his place.

Another small point emerged as Gregory was attempting to picture the scene as the murderer must have looked down upon it from above. To have picked out any one of the three Chinamen could not have been easy, as they were all wearing soft felt hats; but since his second day in San Francisco he had been wearing a panama. Its light-coloured straw and broad brim would have identified him beyond all doubt, making him the perfect target.

Later that night, before going to sleep, he went over the whole wicked business again, but could think of no other factor which might throw further light on it. There was, he knew, nothing concrete to go on except the fact that the coolie had deliberately cut the rope with intent to murder someone. Yet all his speculations led him to the belief that the ‘someone' had been himself; and that it was Wu-ming, goaded into taking desperate measures by his insane jealousy, who had planned the attempt upon him.

It was not until the following evening that Gregory saw Wu-ming again, and when he did his belief was strengthened. The young man's usually impeccable clothes looked as if he had slept in them, his face was haggard and his widely-space eyes were dim from weeping. Kâo and A-lu-te, who were condoling with him when Gregory came upon them in the upper-deck lounge, accepted as quite natural his hesitant explanation that his extreme grief was due to his having as a small boy cherished a deep affection for his uncle. But as Gregory had never seen him display the least trace of such a feeling towards Tsai-Ping, he thought it much more probable that his acute distress arose from a very different cause.

As ancestor worshippers, the Chinese regard patricide as
the most appalling of all crimes, and next to it they rank the murder of any other male relative of a senior generation. Moreover, Wu-ming had been born and bred among an island polulation specially dedicated to preserve China's ancient traditions. If, therefore, even unintentionally, he had caused his uncle to be killed it was not grief which had reduced him to this parlous state, but terror and remorse.

That, in spite of the years he had spent among unbelievers, he was still dominated by Confucian ideas soon became apparent by the concern he showed about the proper disposal of his uncle's body. He had temporarily lodged it in San Francisco's most expensive mortician's parlour, where it was now in process of being embalmed. The purpose of his visit to the yacht that evening was to arrange for a suitable mortuary chapel to be fitted up on board; so that the Mandarin's remains could be conveyed in a fitting manner back to the island for burial.

Kâo at once agreed that the honourable spirit of Tsai-Ping would know no rest until his bones reposed beside those of his honourable father—who had been the original head of one of the Seven Families responsible for colonising the island—and said that he would personally supervise the furnishing of a mortuary chapel. After a moment he added thoughtfully:

‘So far the Council's decision to invite the Princess Josephine to become our Empress has resulted in nothing but disappointment and ill fortune. I am convinced that my instinct to abandon the project after her disappearance was a sound one. The Council's having overruled me and sent me back to renew the search for her has now deprived us of the wise and upright Tsai-Ping. Clearly the whole venture is subject to the most evil influences. Therefore I am most averse to tempting providence further. In fact, I feel that the wisest course would be for me to accept the Mandarin's death as an omen and bear his honourable remains home with a minimum of delay; then humbly submit to the Council that they should devise some other means of providing for the succession.'

Somewhat to Gregory's surprise this defeatist pronouncement by Kâo was immediately countered by excited protests from both A-lu-te and Wu-ming. It was the former who got in first.

‘But Uncle!' she exclaimed. ‘You cannot have forgotten what happened when the Council was faced with this problem before. It had got to its wits' end, and almost despaired of finding a solution until the proposal of making Josephine Empress was put forward. That happy way out of our trouble met with everyone's approval; and since we are now convinced that she is still alive how can we possibly return without her?'—‘I entirely agree!' Wu-ming cried with heat. ‘To disappoint our countrymen with no better justification than the fear that some misfortune might come upon us while endeavouring to carry out their wishes would be shameful.'

Such plain speaking by a Chinaman was quite exceptional, as even in the smallest transactions of daily life it is their custom to go to almost any pains to save one another from loss of ‘face'. It was inexcusable, even allowing for Wu-ming's overwrought state, and Gregory was not surprised to see Kâo's eyes go dark with anger at this open imputation of cowardice. But A-lu-te saved the situation by swiftly putting in:

‘You must not allow your concern for
us
to prejudice your judgment, Uncle. Your proposal to sacrifice your own principles in order to carry us out of danger does you much honour, but we could not agree to it.'

The fat man eagerly seized upon the come-back she had given him, and nodded vigorously. ‘You are right, my child. It was of you younger people that I was thinking.'

‘Of course I realised that, Sir,' Wu-ming diplomatically completed the face-saving process. ‘But however evil the influences we have to combat, we must see this matter through. We owe that now not only to ourselves but to the dead. You are all aware how conscientiously my honourable uncle devoted his energies to tracing the Princess, and how alone among us he concentrated his every thought upon that duty.
Since his death I have been greatly oppressed by recalling how little aid I gave him, and I feel that to make good that neglect is a debt I owe to his spirit. While standing by his bier this morning I took an oath that I would not engage in any other undertaking until this mission with which the Council charged him and yourself is completed.'

Kâo bowed gravely. ‘I should be grateful for your help; but permit me to point out that as our Export Manager there must be many other matters requiring your attention.'

‘There is nothing that cannot wait,' replied Wu-ming with a shrug. ‘At banks in a dozen cities we have large credit balances, and many other considerable sums are due to us. If we made no further sales for a year the Council would still be in no danger of running short of funds. In fact, as a long-term policy, it would prove to our advantage to stop selling altogether for a while, as that would create a shortage of our products in the world's markets and later enable us to raise our prices. In any case my sense of guilt led me to take this oath to my uncle's spirit, so I must now abide by it.'

As Wu-ming ceased speaking, Gregory thought to himself, ‘This oath that he has taken clinches matters. He would never have committed himself so deeply simply because he failed to give his uncle all the help he could. The sense of guilt he talks about is really fear that unless he does his utmost to atone for Tsai-Ping's murder the old boy's spirit will revenge itself upon him.'

Meanwhile A-lu-te was declaring with an earnestness that equalled Wu-ming's, ‘I too, have reason to reproach myself. The novel delights of this American city led me to forget how much hangs upon the success of our mission. Instead of frittering away my time in vain amusements I should have been keeping a record of the inquiry and writing many of the letters in connection with it.'

‘Oh come!' Gregory protested. ‘You are being much too hard on yourself. Right up till the day before yesterday, when I received the F.B.I. report, you believed Josephine to be living happily with her boy-friend. No one could possibly
blame you for feeling that there was no great urgency about tracing her, and in the meantime taking the opportunity to enjoy life here while you had the chance.'

She shook her head sadly. ‘What I believed is no excuse. We know now that the Princess was kidnapped. All this time that poor dumb girl may have been suffering acutely both in mind and body; yet I—the person who was sent here specially to act as her friend and companion—have not lifted a finger to help her. Still worse, for my selfish ends I have monopolised your time and a great deal of Mr. Wu-ming Loo's, when both of you should have been concentrating on the search.'

‘If we had, we wouldn't have got anywhere. Before I went to Washington the inquiry had already reached a dead-end.'

‘If we had all helped it might not have been necessary for you to go to Washington. One of us might have hit on a trail leading to Quong-Yü weeks ago. Had we done so the honourable Tsai-Ping would not have been on the spot where he lost his life yesterday.' She paused a moment, then added sharply, ‘Why do you smile?'

‘Forgive me. I was impious enough to find amusement in the fact that the Gods should have elected to strike down the worker of the party rather than one of us drones.' As Gregory told his bland lie he was careful to include Kâo as well as Wu-ming in his glance.

‘I see nothing at all funny about that,' A-lu-te replied coldly. ‘On the contrary, the Gods could have chosen no more serious way of reminding us of our duty. For myself, I applaud the oath that our companion Wu-ming has taken, and I now pledge my word that I will not concern myself with any other interest until we have freed the Princess and invited her to return with us.'

Greatly as Gregory was intrigued by the reactions of these Orientals to a crisis that one of them, unknown to the others, had brought about, he found the high sentiments that were being aired somewhat theatrical. But he could see that A-lu-te had been deeply moved and was very much in earnest so without a hint of mockery, he said:

‘I am the lady A-lu-te's obedient servant, and whenever she desires the inquiry to be resumed she has only to tell me so.'

‘In a case like this I think we ought to ignore the fact that we are in mourning, and resume it at once,' she replied with a rather dubious glance at her uncle.

He shook his head. ‘For us to take up any worldly activity before we have received the honourable remains of Tsai-Ping on board would be most unfitting.'

‘Now that Quong-Yü is expecting a visit from us I cannot help feeling that the sooner he is interviewed the better,' Wu-ming said with an uneasy frown. ‘But if you feel, Sir, that my uncle's spirit would take offence should we fail to adhere strictly to the formalities, I must be ruled by your greater experience.'

‘This seems to me a case in which you can eat your cake and have it too,' Gregory remarked. ‘Since convention requires you to remain temporarily inactive why not observe it, and leave Quong to me. I am quite willing to tackle him on my own, and I see no reason why I should not get as much out of him as would any of you.'

‘That is an excellent idea!' exclaimed A-lu-te; but the two Chinamen considered the suggestion in silence for a moment, until Wu-ming said:

‘I see nothing against it; although I would have liked to hear for myself what Quong has to say.'

Kâo nodded. ‘So would I.' But with a shrug of his broad shoulders, he went on, ‘No matter. Let us accept it. I shall have to go ashore tomorrow morning to purchase funeral furnishings for the mortuary chapel. I will then ring up Quong-Yü and make an appointment with him for Mr. Sallust.'

‘You are most kind; but I too shall be going ashore, so I can save you that trouble. The mention of your name when I ring up should be quite sufficient to ensure Quong-Yü's granting me an interview.'

Gregory's polite little speech displayed no trace of guile; or hint of the importance he attached to it; but, in view of
his narrow escape the previous day, he had made up his mind that no one should know in advance the hour at which he meant to call on Quong, and so be given the opportunity to lay a second ambush for him.

He felt that if he was correct in his belief that Wu-ming had laid the first, the shock he had sustained from murdering his uncle by mistake was so severe that it would be a long time before he screwed up his courage again to hire an assassin. But one could not be certain of that, or even that Wu-ming was definitely the villain of the piece. It was just possible that Quong-Yü, having the full resources of the most powerful Tong in Chinatown at his command, might have laid three or four ambushes—one to cover each approach to his dwelling.

With this in mind Gregory gave very considerable thought to measures for his own protection, and when the yacht's launch put him ashore the following day he went straight to the office of the F.B.I. After a short wait he was shown in to Mr. Edgar C. Grace, who listened attentively to all he had to say. Feeling that no useful purpose could be served by reporting Tsai-Ping's murder, Gregory refrained from mentioning it; but he told Mr. Grace that he intended to visit Quong-Yü, and that he had reason to suppose that on entering Chinatown his life might be in danger. He then suggested a means by which the risk he had to run could be minimised, providing Mr. Grace was willing to give him a little unorthodox co-operation.

The American cocked an eyebrow and asked with a friendly grin, ‘Would you say doing as you wish would come under the phrase “render any reasonable assistance”?'

‘I certainly would,' Gregory grinned back.

‘Then if I refused I'd be going contrary to the terms of reference I received about you from Washington. And if I did that I might get my top taken off, mightn't I?'

‘I'm afraid you might,' Gregory agreed solemnly. ‘And that would be very hard, seeing how much you've helped me already.'