"That is true, ... but Adinda—... oh yes, this is better; wait for me under the oak wood, under the Retapan."
"But Saïdjah, how can I know when I am to go to the Retapan?"
"Count the moons; I shall stay away three times twelve moons.... See, Adinda, at every new moon cut a notch in your rice block. When you have cut three times twelve lines, I will be under the Retapan the next day: ... do you promise to be there?"
"Yes, Saïdjah, I will be there under the Retapan, near the oak wood, when you come back."
[Saïdjah returns with money and trinkets at the appointed time, but does not find Adinda under the Retapan.]
... But if she were ill or ... dead?
Like a wounded stag Saïdjah flew along the path leading from the Retapan to the village where Adinda lived. But ... was it hurry, his eagerness, that prevented him from finding Adinda's house? He had already rushed to the end of the road, through the village, and like one mad he returned and beat his head because he must have passed her house without seeing it. But again he was at the entrance to the village, and ... O God, was it a dream?...
Again he had not found the house of Adinda. Again he flew back and suddenly stood still.... And the women of Badoer came out of their houses, and saw with sorrow poor Saïdjah standing there, for they knew him and understood that he was looking for the house of Adinda, and they knew that there was no house of Adinda in the village of Badoer.
For when the district chief of Parang-Koodjang had taken away Adinda's father's buffaloes ...