The two men talked together and meanwhile Hillyard and the rest of his party halted.
Hillyard lit his pipe.
"Who is it, Hamet ?" he cried, and the shikari turned with his companion and came back.
"It is the postman," he said as though the delivery of letters along the Dinder River were the most commonplace of events.
"The postman!" cried Hillyard.

"What in the world do you mean ?" "Yes," Hamet explained.

"He carries letters between Abyssinia and Senga on the Blue Nile.

He is now on his way back to Abyssinia." "But how long does it take him ?" Hillyard asked in amazement.
"He goes and returns once a year.

The journey takes him four months each way unless he meets with a party shooting.