And Van Oudijck and Eva, on the road behind the station, slowly driving past the busy multitude which still buzzed about the hadjis, respectfully carrying their luggage, obsequiously offering their little carts: Van Oudijck and Eva suddenly looked at each other and, though neither of them cared to express it in words, they told each other with a glance of understanding, that they felt it, that they felt that, both of them, both together this time, in the midst of this fanatical multitude.... They both felt it, the unutterable thing, the thing that lurks in the ground, that hisses under the volcanoes, that slowly draws near with the far-travelled winds, that rushes onwards with the rain, that rattles by in the heavy, rolling thunder, that is wafted from the far horizon of the boundless sea; the thing that flashes from the black, mysterious gaze of the secretive native, that creeps in his heart and cringes in his humble salutation; the thing that gnaws like a poison and a hostile force at the body, soul and life of the European, that silently attacks the conqueror and saps his energies, causing him to pine and perish, sapping his energies very slowly, so that he wastes away for years; and in the end he dies of it, perhaps by a sudden, tragic death: they both felt it, both felt the unutterable thing.... And, in feeling it, together with the sadness of their leave-taking, which was so near at hand, they failed to see, amid the waving, billowing, buzzing multitude which reverently hustled the yellow-and-purple dignity of the hadjis returned from Mecca, they failed to see that one, tall, white hadji rising above the crowd and peering with a grin at the man who, though he had lived his life in Java, had been weaker than That.... THE END NOTES [1] The duit, or doit, was a coin of the Dutch East India Company, a little lower in value than the cent, of which latter a hundred go to the guilder or florin (1s. 8d.). The survival of the duit complicated the official accounts considerably. [2] £50. [3] The Dutch always speak of the Dutch East Indies--Java, Sumatra, Celebes, etc.--as India. [4] The Binnenlandsch Bestuur, or inland administration. [5] The native states of Surakarta and Djokjakarta are known as the Vorstenlanden, or Principalities. [6] The native regent, or rajah. [7] Of 1900. [8] The regent's palace. [9] Resident's wife. [10] A nervous disorder which is manifested by sudden periods of intense suggestibility, resulting in mimicry. Recovery is commonly instantaneous. [11] Maid-servants. [12] The chief coffee-growing district of Java.