had still two oxen left and could always eat their "cutter", and they
had a fair, though not ample, supply of water, but the appearance of
the Arabs was a blow to Shard for it showed him that there was no
getting away from them, and of all things he dreaded guns. He made
light of it to the men: said they would sink the lot before they had
been in action half an hour: yet he feared that once the guns came up
it was only a question of time before his rigging was cut or his
steering gear disabled.

One point the Desperate Lark scored over the Arabs and a very good one
too, darkness fell just before they could have sighted her and now
Shard used the lantern ahead as he dared not do on the first night
when the Arabs were close, and with the help of it managed to do three
knots. The Arabs encamped in the evening and the Desperate Lark gained
twenty knots. But the next evening they appeared again and this time
they saw the sails of the Desperate Lark.

On the sixth day they were close. On the seventh they were closer. And
then, a line of verdure across their bows, Shard saw the Niger River.

Whether he knew that for a thousand miles it rolled its course through
forest, whether he even knew that it was there at all; what his plans
were, or whether he lived from day to day like a man whose days are
numbered he never told his men. Nor can I get an indication on this
point from the talk that I hear from sailors in their cups in a
certain tavern I know of. His face was expressionless, his mouth shut,
and he held his ship to her course. That evening they were up to the
edge of the tree trunks and the Arabs camped and waited ten knots
astern and the wind had sunk a little.