Meanings of preferred the risk in English

He preferred the risk of losing them to showing fear, perhaps helping to start a panic.

He might have escaped, but he preferred the risk of death to the double stain of surprise and flight.

She ought to have consulted a lawyer first, but her soul preferred the risk of disaster to the shame of asking counsel.

Harry, however, declared that he preferred the risk of being shot while endeavoring to escape, to the certainty of being executed if carried to London.