Havelaar had asked the Controller to invite the chiefs who were present at Rangkas-Betoong to remain there until the next day, in order to take part in the Sebah[1] which he intended to hold. These meetings were usually held once a month; but either because he wished to save unnecessary journeys to and fro to some of the Chiefs who lived rather far from the head-centre—for the division of Lebak is very extensive—or because he wanted to address them solemnly at once, without waiting for the appointed day, certain it is that he had fixed the first Sebah-day for the next morning.
In front of his residence, on the left-hand side, but in the same grounds, and opposite the house where Mrs. Slotering lived, stood a building which partly contained the offices of the Assistant-Residency, including the local Treasury, and partly consisted of a wide open colonnade, offering a specially suitable place for such a meeting. And there it was that early the following morning the Chiefs were assembled. Havelaar appeared, bowed, and sat down. He received the written monthly reports on agriculture, stock, police, and justice, and laid them by for later examination.
After this everyone expected an address like that which the Resident had delivered the day before, and it is uncertain whether Havelaar himself had the intention of saying anything else; but one must have heard and seen him on such occasions to realize how, during an address of this kind, he was carried away by his subject, and, by his characteristic manner of speaking, gave a new colouring to the most familiar things; how then his figure would rise erect, his glance would shoot fire, his voice would change from soft caress to bladelike sharpness, from his lips would flow metaphors as though
- ↑ Council Meeting.
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