CHAPTER XXIII.
THE COURT ADJOURNED.
On a certain day, not very long after the events narrated in the former chapters, a carriage drew up before the pandoppo of the Regent’s house situated on the green of Santjoemeh, where the members of the judicial bench of that district used to hold their court.
Out of the carriage there stepped a gentleman who looked with some surprise at the concourse of people which had gathered around the house; but who, nevertheless, with calm and dignified air, walked up the steps which led to the interior.
That gentleman was Mr. Zuidhoorn, the president of the district-court, who, on the day appointed, had come to open the session.
The crowd assembled in front of the Regent’s pandoppo consisted chiefly of Javanese, a circumstance which could not but attract the notice of the judicial functionary, inasmuch as the native population, which was formerly so fond of frequenting the courts held under the Wariengien trees of the village green by its native chiefs, now shows the greatest disinclination to enter the Dutch courts of justice.
As a rule, the Javanese is never seen there except he be fettered or under the escort of a couple of policemen—that is to say, either as a prisoner, as a criminal, or as a witness. Among the crowd some Chinamen also were conspicuous, and all were evidently awaiting with anxiety an event of no common interest.
“What is the meaning of this concourse, Mr. Thomasz?” asked Mr. Zuidhoorn of the deputy-recorder, whom he met as he entered the pandoppo.
The latter, who was a half-caste, looked up at his chief with a puzzled expression of countenance.