Now, those letters, Miss Eustace, had been written a long while ago by General Gordon in Khartum.
They had been carried down the Nile as far as Berber.

But the day after they reached Berber, that town surrendered to the Mahdists.

Abou Fatma, the messenger who carried them, hid them in the wall of the house of an Arab called Yusef, who sold rock-salt in the market-place.

Abou was then thrown into prison on suspicion, and escaped to Suakin.

The letters remained hidden in that wall until Feversham recovered them.