CHAPTER V.
The sheik waited, well satisfied, until Ben-Hur drew his horses off the field for the forenoon--well satisfied, for he had seen them, after being put through all the other paces, run full speed in such manner that it did not seem there were one the slowest and another the fastest--run in other words, as if the four were one.
"This afternoon, O sheik, I will give Sirius back to you." Ben-Hur patted the neck of the old horse as he spoke.

"I will give him back, and take to the chariot." "So soon ?" Ilderim asked.
"With such as these, good sheik, one day suffices.

They are not afraid; they have a man's intelligence, and they love the exercise.

This one," he shook a rein over the back of the youngest of the four--"you called him Aldebaran, I believe--is the swiftest; in once round a stadium he would lead the others thrice his length." Ilderim pulled his beard, and said, with twinkling eyes, "Aldebaran is the swiftest; but what of the slowest ?" "This is he." Ben-Hur shook the rein over Antares.

"This is he: but he will win, for, look you, sheik, he will run his utmost all day--all day; and, as the sun goes down, he will reach his swiftest." "Right again," said Ilderim.
"I have but one fear, O sheik." The sheik became doubly serious.
"In his greed of triumph, a Roman cannot keep honor pure.