It was truly a pleasant spot, and there
was additional satisfaction in the thought that with so little to guide
them they had been able to light upon it without lengthy search. Then
ensued a conversation, during which the visitor learnt and imparted many
things. Amongst the former he heard that once before, when the railway
was being made, a white man had been seen in the neighbourhood, but the
present occasion was the first, when the village had beheld one close.
And this stranger told them of the Malays and his life amongst them, and
how their houses and customs resembled theirs, while Usoof, alone
venturing to remain upright, acted as interpreter as a swarm of young
brown relations clasped his hands and ruthlessly robbed him of his watch
and chain, his brass buttons, and all the loose coins in his pockets.
Then X., who has a material mind, asked to see the title deeds of their
lands, which were produced and inspected, and they were instructed how
to proceed, so that when the time came the absent Usoof, as the eldest
son, should obtain his fair share of the inheritance. Then, as the
shadows were lengthening, and the zigzags on the padi had given way to a
soft and mellow light fanned by an evening breeze, X. gave the signal to
depart and announced that farewells must be made. Hurrying over his own,
he wandered towards the river so that he might not witness the anguish
of the mother bereaved anew of her long lost son, but he could not
escape hearing the sounds of sobs which arose behind him. And the little
procession of two--the European with his limp collar, and the Javanese
bereft of all his finery--started once more across the plain. But the
procession grew and grew, as one by one the fond relations hurried after
it for one more glimpse or one more word for the departing brother.
Then the traveller began to feel as near a brute as ever in his life
before, and suggested to Usoof that he should bid him good-bye and
return for good to the bosom of his weeping family. But this he declined
to do, and at the rustic stile the actual parting came. Arrived at the
train, the good station-master was still on the look-out and walking
around as though something unusual had happened, but, tired and hot, X.
parried his questionings with some abruptness. But the interviewer was
as persistent as if he were on the staff of a London evening paper, and
after producing an inverted wheelbarrow, which he offered X. as a seat,
went to his ho