“Resident, I have come to inform you that the court has risen and stands adjourned for a week.”
“What? adjourned? After what my secretary told me? Have the members refused to sit? Splendid fellows those natives!”
“No, no, Resident, by your leave—the chiefs did not refuse at all.”
“Didn’t they? Then how did it come about?”
“I will tell you, Resident. When Mr. Zuidhoorn was about to open the proceedings and when he spoke the words: ‘Usher, clear the court and see that it be not further disturbed,’ he found that the usher had disappeared altogether.”
“The usher disappeared?”
“Yes, Resident, he had got out of the way.”
Van Gulpendam’s face beamed with satisfaction.
“But,” said he, “that would hardly put a stop to the proceedings?”
The secretary here interposed and said: