Aha! Moving the glob out of the loops (using Ambrus's code) gave the expected results:

/etc/ contains 311 files
Benchmark: running Ordinary, Schwartzian, Strange for at least 5 CPU s
+econds...
  Ordinary:  5 wallclock secs ( 1.47 usr +  4.09 sys =  5.56 CPU) @ 99
+.28/s (n=552)
Schwartzian:  5 wallclock secs ( 3.95 usr +  1.13 sys =  5.08 CPU) @ 3
+33.46/s (n=1694)
   Strange:  5 wallclock secs ( 4.01 usr +  1.12 sys =  5.13 CPU) @ 35
+9.06/s (n=1842)
[download]

/bin/ contains 111 files
Benchmark: running Ordinary, Schwartzian, Strange for at least 5 CPU s
+econds...
  Ordinary:  5 wallclock secs ( 1.30 usr +  3.98 sys =  5.28 CPU) @ 34
+8.86/s (n=1842)
Schwartzian:  6 wallclock secs ( 3.97 usr +  1.45 sys =  5.42 CPU) @ 9
+79.89/s (n=5311)
   Strange:  5 wallclock secs ( 3.84 usr +  1.46 sys =  5.30 CPU) @ 11
+45.85/s (n=6073)
[download]

One thing, If I used "/usr/bin" or any other path with a '/' in the middle it went haywire. Thanks a lot for all the help everybody!