A SEARCH FOR OPIUM. WHAT CAME OF IT.
To return that night to Banjoe Pahit was clearly impossible. Verstork
had to hold a preliminary inquiry into the terrible event which
had so suddenly disturbed the dessa, and about this investigation,
he was determined to set at once, and to conduct it in the thorough
and conscientious manner in which he was wont to discharge all his
duties. These were the facts which this inquiry brought to light.
At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Singomengolo, the opium farmer's
trusty spy, and a Chinese bandoelan had made their appearance in the
dessa Kaligaweh. They had proceeded straight to the opium-den, where
they had to obtain some necessary information from the men in charge
of that establishment. When they had learned what they wanted to know,
they went to the Loerah's house; but that functionary was not at home,
having been called away, as we know, to make the necessary arrangements
for the next day's hunting. So the two worthies had betaken themselves
to one of the other members of the dessa government, who granted
them the assistance of the local police. Accompanied by a couple of
policemen, the Chinese bandoelan went to the dwelling of Setrosmito,
the father of Baboe Dalima, and when he got there, he signified his
intention of searching the premises.
Said he to Setrosmito: "You never visit the store kept by Babah Than
Kik Sioe, you never smoke any opium there, nor even purchase any
from him. The opium-farmer has, therefore, come to the conclusion
that you manage somehow to get hold of smuggled opium. Anyhow, my
orders are to search your house, thoroughly."
"I never go to the den to smoke," was the honest old peasant's
straightforward reply, "nor do I smoke opium at home; you will find
nothing of the kind under my roof. But do as you like!"
Thereupon, the Chinaman and his two policemen were about to enter,
when Setrosmito stopped them.
"No, no," said he, very calmly, "wait a bit. Before you begin,
I shall have you fellows searched."
And, turning to some of his friends whom the appearance of the
bandoelan had brought about the hut, he said: "Sidin and Sariman,
just lend a hand to overhaul these fellows."
The opium-hunters were too well used to such treatment to make any
serious resistance, and they submitted to the scrutiny--a scrutiny
which was conducted most minutely, but which did not result in
producing the least trace of opium. When they had been examined
thoroughly, Setrosmito allowed the men to enter his dwelling, and to
proceed with their visitation of the premises.
The hunt which ensued was merely a repetition of the scene which
had, a short time ago, taken place in the wretched cabin of poor
Pak Ardjan; but if no opium had been found upon the persons of the
searchers, neither did the Chinese bandoelan, nor his men succeed in
discovering the slightest trace of contraband goods in any corner
of the house. Just as in Pak Ardjan's case, here again they turned
over everything, and ransacked every hole and corner; but not the
slightest vestige of opium was found in the place.
At length the Chinaman despairing of success, and very angry at his
failure, cried out in a rage: "Where are your children?"
Setrosmito quietly answered, "The children are on the common minding
the oxen."
An evil smile played upon the yellow features of the bandoelan,
when he heard this man actually was the possessor of a pair of oxen.
In the once thriving dessa Kaligaweh, there were, alas! at present
very few of the inhabitants who could boast of owning so much as
that. He did not, however, speak a single word; but he left the hut
taking his two policemen with him, and went to report to Singomengolo
that all their trouble had been fruitless.
When Singo had heard his subordinate's statement, he looked with a
contemptuous and pitying smile upon him, as he scornfully said to
the Chinaman:
"Much use you are to Lim Ho and Lim Yang Bing! You a bandoelan! You
will never find smuggled opium," he continued, in a jeering tone,
"you are too clumsy."
"No," was the man's indignant reply, "nor you either, where there is
no opium to be found!"
"Come, Keh," said Singo. "Will you bet me a rix-dollar that I don't
manage to find some?"
"Quite impossible," cried the Chinaman, "I have turned the house
inside out. I have searched the bamboo laths of the walls and roof,
and there is nothing--absolutely nothing anywhere."
"Have you looked under the hearth?" asked Singomengolo.
"Yes."
"And in the ashes under the hearth?"
"Yes," was the reply again.
"And have you grubbed up the floor?"
"Yes."
"And have you turned over the baleh-baleh and the cushions?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" cried the man, impatiently. "I am no child,
I suppose."
"No, you are no child," jeered Singo, "but you are one of the greatest
fools in the world; as stupid as one of those oxen! Now, just you
come along with me," he added, after having flung these amenities at
the head of his pig-tailed countryman. "Just you come along with me
and you will see that my eyes are better than yours. You could see
nothing; but I shall manage to ferret out something before long. Those
mangy dessa-dogs always have opium about them."
The wretch seemed to forget that in that very dessa he had himself
first seen the light; however--that is the way of the world!
So the four men set out once again to Setrosmito's house; and once
again, as before, did the Javanese attempt to insist upon searching the
persons of his unwelcome visitors before allowing them to enter. But
Singomengolo would have nothing of the kind. He refused point-blank
to submit to any search. Said he, in his blustering way: "You lay your
hands on me and I will thrash you like a mangy cur!" Setrosmito tried
to protest; but it was in vain. "Aye, aye," said he, "if that be the
case then I have but little doubt that they will find anything they
want. I know all about those tricks. Kabajan," he continued, as he
turned to one of the chief men of the dessa, who stood looking on
among the crowd which was rapidly assembling. "Kabajan, I call upon
you to witness what is about to happen here."
But the latter, who had the greatest horror of coming into collision
with the wretches of the opium monopoly, made no reply whatever to
the old man's appeal, and quietly slipped away.
Singomengolo, with a brutal and defiant laugh, entered the hut with
his followers. It so happened that at the moment, Setrosmito's little
children also came in. The two boys and their sister had just returned
from the common, and opened their eyes wide at seeing so many people
assembled round their father's house. The two boys were eight and nine
years of age. Like most of the young Javanese children, they had pretty
little faces, with the funniest expression in their twinkling and
roguish dark-brown eyes; but their appearance was, to a European eye,
wholly spoilt by the manner in which their heads had been treated. They
were clean shaven except one single tuft of hair of about a hand's
breadth, which the razor had spared and which one of the boys wore
on the top of his head, and the other over his left ear. They had the
well-formed and supple limbs which are characteristic of their race,
and were exceedingly slender in the waist. These natural advantages
were seen to the greatest advantage since, in accordance with the
primitive customs of the island, they ran about completely naked,
with nothing on at all except a silver ring round each ankle. The
little girl, a child of seven, was remarkably pretty, her well-formed
childish face peeping out charmingly under a profusion of jet-black
glossy hair. Her arms were bare, and the only clothing she wore was a
bright-coloured patchwork apron which was secured round the hips by a
slender chain of silver, from which dangled a small ornamental plate
of the same metal. When they ran into the hut they found Singomengolo
very busy indeed turning over the contents of boxes and prying into
pots and pans, while their father was most carefully watching every
gesture he made, and was not allowing a single motion of his nimble
hands to pass unnoticed. This close attention vexed the wretched spy
beyond measure, who thus saw his wicked plan frustrated, because,
while those keen eyes were upon his fingers, he could not even attempt
to exercise his sleight of hand without being instantly detected. In
the hope therefore of distracting the father's attention, Singo made a
sign to the Chinaman, who, with his slanting eyes, sat looking at the
children and leering most offensively at pretty little Kembang. The
man understood the signal and at once seized one of the boys, and,
under the pretence of searching for concealed opium, he felt all over
their little bodies, under the armpits, in fact, anywhere wherever
a little mandat-ball could by any possibility lie hidden. The boys
kicked and fought under this disgusting treatment and did all they
could to bite and scratch the dirty scoundrel; but not a single cry
did they utter which might draw away their father's eyes from the
manipulations of Singomengolo. But when the bandoelan laid hold of
the girl and strove to tear off her apron, the poor child could not
repress a loud cry of terror, she tore herself away from his rude
grasp, and flying to her mother, tried to hide herself on her breast,
while the poor woman clasped her child in her arms as if to protect
it from further insult. It was, however, in vain; the Chinaman with
his sickly yellow face came up to the mother and, with the help of
his two assistants, wrenched the poor girl from the woman's arms,
who was wholly unable to resist their violence.
"Your turn next," cried the Chinaman to the mother, "that young cat
has had plenty of time to pass the stuff to you. Keep your seat!"
Then the disgusting scene through which the two boys had passed
was re-enacted on this helpless child--a proceeding infinitely more
loathsome, inasmuch as its victim was a little creature of the tender
sex towards whom the wretch thought he might with impunity act as
he pleased.
"Alla tobat!" screamed the poor woman who was compelled to see her
daughter thus outraged wantonly before her eyes.
That bitter cry of distress had the desired effect. For a single
instant it caused Setrosmito to turn his watchful eyes to his wife;
but that single instant was sufficient. Quick as lightning Singomengolo
took advantage of it, and slipped his closed hand under the little
Pandan mat which was spread out over the baleh-baleh and which,
during the search, had already three or four times been lifted and
shaken without result. Then, in triumph, he produced from under it
a little copper box, and, as he held it up with a theatrical gesture
he exclaimed:
"You see that; after all, there was smuggled opium in the house;
I knew I should find it!"
Setrosmito turned deadly pale at the sight; he well knew what the
Dutch law-courts had in store for him, and the thought of the ruin
which thus stared him in the face filled him with rage and fury.
"There was no opium concealed here," he cried out; and in his despair
not well knowing what he was doing, he put his hand out mechanically
to the kris, an old heirloom which was stuck into the bamboo-wall
above the baleh-baleh.
"You dirty dog," he cried to Singomengolo, "it was you yourself that
slipped that box under the mat!"
The words had scarcely passed his lips before Singomengolo answered
the frantic accusation by a blow with his clenched fist which struck
Setrosmito right in the mouth. Maddened with pain and rage the unhappy
man plucked the kris from its sheath; but at that moment, suddenly,
little Kembang uttered a heartrending scream of pain and horror. That
cry saved the life of the opium spy. The poor father looked round as
if bewildered at the sound; but when he saw the disgusting leer upon
the Chinaman's face and in what an outrageously indecent manner that
wretch was treating his pretty little flower, the blood seemed to rush
to his head and his rage was at once turned into another direction. A
red mist--red as blood--clouded his eyes.
"Help, help, pain, pain!" cried poor little Kembang.
Utterly blinded and wholly beside himself with fury the father,
kris in hand, flew towards the miscreant.
"Amokh, Amokh!" shouted one of the policemen, as he saw the flaming
kris in the frenzied father's hand.
"Amokh, Amokh!" cried the crowd outside taking up the shout without
knowing what was going on inside the hut. Women and children rushed
away yelling and screaming in all directions. Soon on all sides
resounded the fatal words:
"Amokh, Amokh!"
The men flew home to fetch their lances and krisses, not in the
least knowing what really was the matter, but at the mere terror of
the sound.
"Amokh, Amokh!" repeated the watchmen as they rushed wildly to the
guardhouse and began to make as much noise as they could upon the
public gongs.
The policeman who had been the first to cry Amokh, made a frantic
effort to draw his sabre; but the blade was so firmly rusted into
the sheath that no efforts he could make would draw the weapon. The
other policeman who had no time to draw tried to lays hands upon the
infuriated Javanese; but as he attempted to seize him, he received a
slash across the face and breast which was no doubt but a deep flesh
wound; but though not mortal, occasioned so much pain and so much
bleeding that the wounded man fell back moaning and was glad enough
to save his life in headlong flight. The sight was quite enough for
his comrade, and he also took to his heels at full speed.
Then Setrosmito found himself face to face with the ill-starred
Chinaman, who had not let go his hold on the little girl and concerning
whose outrageous behaviour there could be not the slightest doubt.
"Let her go! let her go, I say!" yelled the father, mad with rage and
foaming at the mouth. Whether the bandoelan was utterly bewildered in
the presence of such imminent peril, or whether, in his excitement,
he did not realise the full extent of the danger; suffice it to say
that he did not obey that supreme command. His wan face now made more
than usually hideous by passion, wore a vacant and unmeaning smile;
still he did not release the girl; but only tried to get her in front
of him, and to shield himself behind her.
"Amokh, Amokh!" was still the cry all around.
"Let go!" roared Setrosmito, again; and again the wretched Chinaman
replied with a vacant laugh.
"Amokh, Amokh!" resounded the gong with threatening roar.
"Let go!--You won't!--Well then, die like a dog!--" shrieked the
wretched father, goaded to madness. And--with lightning speed, before
the miserable Chinaman had time to cower down behind the little girl
whom he still held before him--Setrosmito drew the well-tempered
blade across the fellow's throat.
"Alas, I am dead!" yelled the Chinaman, his eyes wildly rolling in
his head. They were the last words he uttered. With convulsive clutch
he tried to close the gaping wound in his neck; but it was no use,
the blood violently came spurting in fine jets through his fingers,
a dreadful fit of coughing seized him, and the torrent of blood
which rushed from his mouth covered poor little Kembang from head to
foot. Tottering like a drunken man, and still grasping the girl, the
wretch, for a few moments, tried to steady himself, but then reeled
and fell heavily to the ground in the agony of death.
"Amokh, Amokh!" was still the cry all round the hut.
"Amokh, Amokh!" still harshly roared the gongs.
For three or four seconds Setrosmito, after his dreadful deed, stood
gazing about him like a man utterly dazed or in a dream. He at length
brought his left hand to his eyes and then slowly he seemed to recover
his reason; then he began to realize his position. At his feet there
lay the Chinese bandoelan still convulsively twitching in the throes
of death; but soon all was over.
All this had passed in an incredibly short space of time, almost with
the swiftness of thought; but the room in which the father stood over
the victim of his momentary frenzy was already quite deserted; for,
with his men, Singomengolo had also taken to his heels. Even the two
little boys, who at first had stared at the spectacle hardly knowing
what was taking place, had taken to flight in alarm at their father's
threatening kris, and the wife had snatched up her little daughter
and she also had rushed from the house.
"Amokh, Amokh!" that shout outside sounded in the ears of the
unhappy man as his death-knell. He knew but too well of what terrible
significance was the fatal word. He knew well that wherever that word
is heard, the entire population rushes at once to arms, and that,
without stopping to make any inquiry, without even knowing who the
man-slayer is, it cuts him down without the smallest mercy, though
perhaps he may in reality be guilty of nothing worse than merely
defending his own life or protecting the honour of wife or children.
Already a few armed men came charging into the hut with their
lance-points levelled at his breast.
"Stand back!" shouted Setrosmito whose rage had not yet had time to
cool down. "Stand back! whoever comes nearer I will serve as I have
served that wretch!"
The man was evidently in deadly earnest and the kris was waved in
so threatening a manner at the words that his assailants turned and
fled in alarm and formed up in a close ring around the hut. In that
circle there was a great deal of talking, of consulting, of screaming
and gesticulating; but there seemed not to be a single man who felt
the smallest desire of again crossing the threshold.
It was at this juncture that Controller Verstork came galloping up
with the gentlemen who accompanied him and, as we have heard, put an
end to the murderous scene by taking the ill-fated man prisoner.
In the course of the inquiry which followed Singomengolo produced the
opium which he declared he had found in Setrosmito's house and which,
in the interest of the opium-farmer, he had confiscated.
In the small copper-box there was but a very small quantity of the
poppy-juice which, when weighed at the opium store, was found to be
but fifty matas, that is about eighteen milligrams. It was a brownish
sticky mass enclosed in a tiny box which could be easily concealed
in the closed palm of a man's hand. The Controller took possession
of the box and in the presence of the opium-hunter he sealed it up
according to the law.
"Did anyone witness the finding of this box under the mat on the
baleh-baleh?" asked Verstork.
"Oh yes, certainly," was the reply, "the Chinese bandoelan saw me
find it."
"The man who is dead? Anyone else?" continued the Controller.
"Yes, the two policemen," said Singo.
"Indeed!" remarked Verstork. "These were the men, I think, who,
a few moments before could discover nothing?"
"No matter," said the opium spy with great effrontery. "I, kandjeng
toean," he continued, "am a sworn bandoelan--I found it there and
my word suffices. The testimony of the policemen is altogether
superfluous."
The look of utter contempt and loathing which Verstork cast upon him
as he spoke seemed to have but little effect upon the shameless spy;
for he merely made the usual obsequious salute and as he turned to go,
he muttered:
"I shall go and make my report to Babah Lim Yang Bing and to the
Inspector of Police."
Then he mounted his horse and rode away seemingly along the high-road
to Santjoemeh. Seemingly; for presently it will appear whither he
actually did go and what business he had on hand.
As soon as he was out of sight of the dessa he took a pathway to the
right which ran through the rice-fields and along that bridle-path
he rode across the hilly country and thus took a more direct way to
the capital than that which the highway offered. His horse seemed to
know the country well and made good progress, so that it was hardly
midnight when he reached a lonely little cabin. There he dismounted,
knocked up its inmate and sent the man on with a message to Santjoemeh.
When Verstork reached the house of the Loerah who with the Wedono
had actively assisted him in his troublesome inquiry, it was about
nine o'clock in the evening.
He found his friends assembled there and impatiently awaiting his
arrival.
"I say," muttered August van Beneden, "how long you have kept us!"
The young barrister was not in the best of tempers just then for he
had been very anxiously looking forward to the promised expedition
and now he began to fear that it might not come off at all. Moreover
he had, in the Loerah's house, been frightfully bored as he waited
for his friend's return.
"I say, how long you have kept us!"
"It was no fault of mine," replied Verstork. "I have had my hands
pretty full to-night."
"Besides," he continued, "it makes no great difference; for the more
I can get through to-night the less I shall have to do in the morning."
"In the morning?" said another of the company in no agreeable surprise.
"Yes, of course," said Verstork. "Supposing for a moment that in
order to keep you company, I had not held that inquiry this evening;
but had ridden back with you to Banjoe Pahit as we proposed to do,
why--then I must have gone through it all to-morrow morning and then
we must have said good-bye to our hunting party."
"To-morrow morning!" echoed Edward van Rheijn. "Would not Monday
morning have done just as well?"
The Controller gave the young man a look which evidently was full of
displeasure. He had indeed a sharp answer on the tip of his tongue;
but he refrained from uttering it, and very quietly replied:
"No, no, Monday would have been too late in a matter of this
kind. Remember, we have to do with a case of man-slaughter which is
moreover complicated by an opium scandal, and as matters stand even
now we shall find this a sufficiently perplexing business."
"And are you quite ready now?" asked van Rheijn.
"Yes," replied the other.
"So that to-morrow morning there will be nothing to detain you?"
"All right, all right!" said Verstork somewhat impatiently.
"And you will be able to take the lead in our expedition, I hope."
"Yes, yes, you need not trouble about that, I have only a couple of
letters to write."
"A couple of letters!" cried van Rheijn but half reassured.
"A short report," said the Controller, "to the Resident, and a request
to the native prosecutor and to the doctor to come and view the body
and to hold the inquest."
"Is not that right, van Nerekool?" continued he, turning to his
friend. "That is the proper course to take, is it not?"
"What did you say?" said the young lawyer starting up as from a dream,
and passing his hand over his forehead;--lost in anxious thought he
had hardly heard his friend's question.
The question was repeated and received an affirmative answer.
"We have a good long ride before us to get back to Banjoe Pahit,"
remarked Theodoor Grenits, "and to-morrow morning it will be light
very early, eh?"
"Certainly it will," replied Verstork; "but," continued he as he
looked at his watch, "we must not think of getting back to Banjoe
Pahit to-night. It is now quite nine o'clock, and, however brightly
the moon may be shining we cannot possibly go faster than at a walk,
so that we cannot expect to reach the Controller's quarters before
midnight. No, I shall write my official letters here at the tjarik's,
they can then be at once sent off by the Loerah. The Wedono will ride
back to Banjoe Pahit to get everything ready for to-morrow's work. He
has the command of all the beaters there, that has been all arranged
and settled and we need not trouble about that, even though we change
our quarters for the night."
"That is all very well," said August van Beneden, "but where shall
we find these quarters?"
"Well," rejoined Verstork, "we must do the best we can, 'à la guerre
comme à la guerre.' There is a small passangrahan here in the dessa
which is furnished with a single baleh baleh and we must ask the
Loerah to fit it up for us somehow or other."
"To fit it up?" cried Grenits in surprise; "have you an outfitting
store here in this out-of-the-way place?"
"No, no, my worthy disciple of Mercury," replied Verstork with a laugh,
"that kind of establishment would do but a very poor business here. If
we can lay our hands upon a few pillows and a couple of mattresses
we must think ourselves very lucky."
"A couple of mattresses for the seven of us," grumbled van Beneden
who was by no means unmindful of his bodily comforts, "that is but
a poor allowance I fear."
"For my part," said Verstork, "I am quite ready to give up my share. I
prefer the baleh baleh. It will not be the first time I have slept
on one; and slept very soundly too I can tell you. The others must
draw lots. But--"
"But what?" asked van Rheijn.
"Someone just now spoke of seven," replied Verstork. "It seems to me
we are but six--Who is missing? The deuce! where is Mokesuep?"
"Yes," cried a couple of others, "where has Mokesuep got to?"
"He was off like a shot as soon as he heard the cry of Amokh," said
van Rheijn laughing. "I saw him when we turned for Kaligaweh riding
back full speed to Banjoe Pahit."
"Now, I call that prudence with a vengeance," remarked Grenits.
"Prudence! Is that the right word do you think?" asked one of the
others.
"I don't care," said van Rheijn, "I am heartily glad we have got rid
of the fellow, for the time, at all events. I say, Verstork, how in
the world did you manage to get hold of such a sneak as that?"
"Oh," replied Verstork, "I often find the fellow useful. He is
thoroughly up, you see, in all excise quibbles; and I think it best
to keep in with him. You can all understand that--can you not?"
"Well," said van Rheijn, "I wish he would be off altogether and go
right on to Santjoemeh."
"No," said Verstork, "I don't think he will do that."
"Wedono, will you see to it that Mr. Mokesuep is called early
to-morrow morning?"
"Yes, kandjeng toean," replied the native.
"And now, gentlemen," said Verstork, "I must leave you for half an
hour or so to the care of the Loerah, he will make you as comfortable
as he can--won't you, Loerah?"
"Yes, kandjeng toean," was the invariable reply.
A few minutes later the sportsmen had taken possession of the
passangrahan, while the Controller sat in the small verandah of the
tjarik's house busily writing his letters.