" And I rode rapidly back.
I came in sight of her just as she was turning into the gateway of a
pretty house yard. Doubtless she lived there. I turned again and spun
away faster than I had gone that day.
For more than a month I journeyed and sojourned in a beautiful river
valley and among the low foot-hills of the mountains. The weather was
fair, the scenery was pleasing, and at last I came to believe that I
had passed the boundaries of Cathay. I took no tablets from my little
box. I did not feel that I had need of them.
In the course of time I ceased to travel north-ward. My vacation was
not very near its end, but I chose to turn my face towards the scene
of my coming duties. I made a wide circuit, I rode slowly, and I
stopped often.
One day I passed through a village, and at the outer edge of it a
little girl, about four years old, tried to cross the road. Tripping,
she fell down almost in front of me. It was only by a powerful and
sudden exertion that I prevented myself from going over her, and as I
wheeled across the road my machine came within two feet of her.
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