Alpatych kept meeting and overtaking baggage trains and troops on the road.
The slower class of meteors overtaking the earth (like the Andromedids of November) have a velocity of about 8 or 10 m.
It is a most expert swimmer and diver, easily overtaking and seizing fish in the water; but when it has captured its prey it brings it to shore to devour.
Got my first speeding ticket on this - doing 45mph overtaking a dustbin lorry on a dual carriageway in Cleveleys.
Overtaking her I noticed she clung to the banister with one hand and held a crumpled mitten to the lips with the other.