scarce knew what to do next it was hardly likely they could do it now;
and whatever we think of his past and his way of living we cannot deny
that Shard was among the great men of the world.

Of defeat by the Arabs he did not feel so sure. It was useless to try
to cover his tracks even if he had had time, the Arab cavalry could
have picked them up anywhere. And he was afraid of their camels with
those light guns on board, he had heard they could do seven knots and
keep it up most of the day and if as much as one shot struck the
mainmast... and Shard taking his mind off useless fears worked out on
his chart when the Arabs were likely to overtake them. He told his men
that the wind would hold good for a week, and, gipsy or no, he
certainly knew as much about the wind as is good for a sailor to know.

Alone in his chart-room he worked it out like this, mark two hours to
the good for surprise and finding the tracks and delay in starting,
say three hours if the guns were mounted in their epaulments, then the
Arabs should start at seven. Supposing the camels go twelve hours a
day at seven knots they would do eighty-four knots a day, while Shard
doing three knots from ten to four, and four knots the rest of the
time, was doing ninety and actually gaining. But when it came to it he
wouldn't risk more than two knots at night while the enemy were out of
sight, for he rightly regarded anything more than that as dangerous
when sailing on land at night, so he too did eighty-four knots a day.
It was a pretty race. I have not troubled to see if Shard added up his
figures wrongly or if he under-rated the pace of camels, but whatever
it was the Arabs gained slightly, for on the fourth day Spanish Jack,
five knots astern on what they called the cutter, sighted the camels a
very long way off and signalled the fact to Shard. They had left their
cavalry behind as Shard supposed they would. The wind held good, they