affair in which I had ‘crossed’ the General. You will now also understand the reference in the words which concluded my answer to the strictures on my financial administration, the words in which I requested to be spared any considerations of indulgence.”
“It certainly was very strong, for a man of your years!” said Duclari.
“I thought it natural. But one thing is certain, the General was evidently not accustomed to anything like this. And also that I suffered a good deal from the consequences of the affair. Oh, no, Verbrugge, I see what you are going to say; but I certainly never regretted it. And I must even add that I should not have confined myself to simply protesting against the manner in which the General questioned the witnesses, nor to refusing my signature to some of the depositions, if at that time I could have guessed what I only knew afterwards, viz., that it was all the upshot of a deliberate predetermination to make out a case against my predecessor. I imagined that the General, convinced of Si Pamaga’s innocence, allowed himself to be carried away by an estimable desire to save an innocent victim from the results of a judicial error, in so far as this was still possible after the lash and the branding. This view certainly allowed me to protest against falsity, but the latter offence did not make me so indignant as I should have been if I had known that it was not a question of saving an innocent man, but that the falsity was practised for the purpose of destroying, at the expense of my predecessor’s honour and welfare, the proofs that stood in the way of the General’s policy.”
“And what happened further to your predecessor? ” asked Verbrugge.
“Fortunately for him he had already left for Java before the General arrived again at Padang. He appears to have been able to justify himself before the Government at Batavia; at least he remained in the service. The Resident of Ayer-Bangie, who had signed the order of execution, was . . .”
“Suspended?”
