code: protected void readHorizontalHeader(FontFileReader in)
              throws IOException {
          seekTab(in, "hhea", 4);
          hheaAscender = in.readTTFShort(); 
          log.debug("hhea.Ascender: " + hheaAscender + " " + (hheaAscender));
          hheaDescender = in.readTTFShort();
          log.debug("hhea.Descender: " + hheaDescender + " " + (hheaDescender));
          
          in.skip(2 + 2 + 3 * 2 + 8 * 2);
          nhmtx = in.readTTFUShort();
          log.debug("Number of horizontal metrics: " + nhmtx);
  
  
      }
docs: Read the "hhea" table to find the ascender and descender and
  size of "hmtx" table, as a fixed size font might have only
  one width.
  @param in FontFileReader to read the hhea table from
  @throws IOException in case of an I/O problem