"'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.' "'So let us do,' said I. "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. "We had to begin again. "After giving our steeds a little breathing time we set off once more in pursuit. "This time, when we got up to her, Périères attacked on her right, and I on her left, each of us simultaneously seizing an arm. "The main-spring gave way, it was true, but it went on from force of habit, and made one revolution more. She dragged us onward for about half-a-score yards, and our horses, in spite of our efforts to stop them, could not resist the impetus. "At last she stopped. With a sudden wrench she disengaged her two arms from our grasp, and crossing them on her breast, she said in an angry tone— "'What do you want?' "We were non-plussed. What was the matter with her? Why did she speak to us in that way? Why cast on us such furious glances from behind her blue spectacles? "I replied timidly— "'Miss Poles, we were anxious about you, and did not know what had become of you.' "'Ah!' said she, bitterly, 'you are anxious about me now that those Abyssinians no longer form part of the caravan.' "This was a revelation for Périères. "The Abyssinians had, in fact, asked, when we left Singate, permission to proceed with us as far as Kokreb. We willingly gave our consent, and they availed themselves of it in the most considerate manner possible, keeping themselves to themselves throughout the journey. But, very probably, during the evening we passed near the Wady Kokreb, Delange, ever eager in the pursuit of knowledge, paid the Abyssinians a visit for the purpose of obtaining from them some information about their country. Miss Poles, whose heart, after having for a long time wavered between Delange, Périères, and myself, had appeared of late to be fixed on the Doctor, had naturally suffered cruelly at finding herself neglected for these strangers, and in her spite, anger, and despair, she had hurled herself into space to get out of the way of the faithless one. "Her first answer to our further questions was enough to convince us that we were not, mistaken. "'But, Miss Poles,' we asked, 'why go so fast, and fatigue yourself to such an extent?'