On the 28th a messenger sent by Gordon arrived at Dongola with a letter addressed to the Khedive, Nubar Pasha, and Baring, in cypher, and dated as far back as the 9th September. The letter began:-- "There is money and provisions in Khartoum for four months, after which we shall be embarrassed." A telegram from Gordon to Sir E. Baring and Nubar Pasha, undated, but received 29th November, gave the following details:-- "Seeing now that the Nile is high, and steamers can go as far as Berber, I have formed an expedition of 2,000 men of the Khartoum garrison, which will proceed by steamers in order to rescue the Mudirieh of Berber from the hands of the rebels. After its recovery this force will remain at Berber with food for two months only, and if in that time the relieving army does not reach Berber in order to reinforce it, the Nile will have fallen and the islands will be dry, and the same result will ensue as before. Therefore it is to be hoped that the necessary troops will be sent to seize the Ghesireh of Berber while the Nile is high; and Stewart is going down in the small steamer, the _Abbas_, to proceed to Dongola by way of Berber, in order to communicate (with you) on the Soudan question." On the 29th November a messenger who had been despatched with a letter to Gordon, but had been taken prisoner not far from Khartoum, and had subsequently made his escape, came into camp. He reported that the Mahdi's troops were suffering from disease, food was very dear, the Arabs were deserting, but the Kordofan men were faithful to him; that Gordon sent to the Mahdi, inviting him, if he were the real Mahdi, to dry up the Nile and cross over; that five hundred regulars recently went over to Gordon; that the regulars still with the Mahdi were discontented; that on the 14th he saw an attack made on Khartoum between the Blue and White Niles; that it was repulsed, and the Mahdi, who was looking on, was very angry because it had been made without his orders. Aware that time was of paramount importance, Wolseley, in order to stimulate his men to exertion, offered a prize of £100 to the battalion which should make the quickest passage from Sarras to Debbeh, twenty miles further up the river, a measure which was much criticized by a portion of the British Press.[106] Wolseley now gave orders for the formation of a small naval brigade, to be commanded by Lord Charles Beresford, his naval aide-de-camp.[107] On the 23rd November, some cases of smallpox having occurred at Dongola, Sir Herbert Stewart started to select another camping-ground at Debbeh, a little further up the river. All the remaining troops destined to take part in the expedition reached Wady Halfa by the end of November, with the exception of the 1st battalion of the Cameron Highlanders, which remained at Korosko.