clear night as that on which he had seen Lieutenant Sutch limp into the
courtyard and hesitate at the sight of him. The strip of sky was
cloudless and starry overhead; the air had the pleasant languor of a
summer night in June; the lights flashing from the windows and doorways
gave to the leaves of the trees the fresh green look of spring; and
outside in the roadway the carriages rolled with a thunderous hum like
the sound of the sea. And on this night, too, there came a man into the
courtyard who knew Durrance. But he did not hesitate. He came straight
up to Durrance and sat down upon the seat at his side. Durrance dropped
the paper at which he was glancing and held out his hand.

"How do you do?" said he. This friend was Captain Mather.

"I was wondering whether I should meet you when I read the evening
paper. I knew that it was about the time one might expect to find you in
London. You have seen, I suppose?"

"What?" asked Durrance.

"Then you haven't," replied Mather. He picked up the newspaper which
Durrance had dropped and turned over the sheets, searching for the piece
of news which he required. "You remember that last reconnaissance we
made from Suakin?"

"Very well."

"We halted by the Sinkat fort at midday. There was an Arab hiding in
the trees at the back of the glacis."

"Yes."

"Have you forgotten the yarn he told you?"

"About Gordon's letters and the wall of a house in Berber? No, I have
not forgotten."

"Then here's something which will interest you," and Captain Mather,
having folded the paper to his satisfaction, handed it to Durrance and
pointed to a paragraph. It was a short paragraph; it gave no details; it
was the merest summary; and Durrance read it through between the puffs
of his cigar.

"The fellow must have gone back to Berber after all," said he. "A risky
business. Abou Fatma--that was the man's name."

The paragraph made no mention of Abou Fatma, or indeed of any man except
Captain Willoughby, the Deputy-Governor of Suakin. It merely announced
that certain letters which the Mahdi had sent to Gordon summoning him to
surrender Khartum, and inviting him to become a convert to the Mahdist
religion, together with copies of Gordon's curt replies, had been
recovered from a wall in Berber and brought safely to Captain Willoughby
at Suakin.

"They were hardly worth risking a life for," said Mather.

"Perhaps not," replied Durrance, a little doubtfully. "But after all,
one is glad