"We were not mistaken. It was a human being, but of which sex? That we could not divine, as at a distance the bûrnus of an Arab might easily be mistaken for a woman's skirt. Anxious to settle this point without delay, we pushed on at an increased rate, but very soon we were obliged to confess, to our great astonishment, that we gained but little on the pursued. That the being was on foot was evident, but its pace was surprising.
"At length our suspense was at an end. It was Miss Poles, marching on in a quick time peculiar to herself and unknown to our finest troops, with an enormous stride, springy, rapid, but at the same time wonderfully regular.
"The whole of her body seemed to merge into her feet, and they never appeared to touch the ground, or to be together, but flew and whirled about to such an extent that it made one giddy to look at them. It was not a woman, it was the wandering Jew, traversing the earth, overleaping space, escalading mountains, striding over river and sea, passing from one pole to the other.
"And the nearer we approached, the faster went Miss Poles. Did she wish to flee from us? Was she pitting her speed against that of our horses, and did she think she could beat them? She could not hope to beat them for a short distance on the flat, but, perhaps, she thought her staying power was greater than theirs, and that over a long course she would wear them down.
"'Miss Poles! Miss Poles!' exclaimed Périères, 'for heaven's sake stop! Our horses will break down, and we shall never get to the end of our journey!'
"She did not even condescend to turn her head, but went on just the same, straight ahead, mechanically, for all the world like an automaton.
"'She is wound up for twenty-four hours,' said Périères, 'and if the main-spring does not smash, there will be no stopping her. We must smash her main-spring.'
"We set spurs to our horses, dashed on about thirty yards past Miss Poles, and then, suddenly wheeling round, we bore down upon her.
"Impassible as ever, her long body, like a paper spill, glided between our horses, and on she went without the slightest deviation or alteration of her course.
"After giving our steeds a little breathing time we set off once more in pursuit.