The letter sent by Shadrack was sent one month before Alexander reached the islands from wherever he was located. It was in response to a letter Mordack must have sent six months to a year before just after Mordack was killed, and Cassima returned to the Green Isles. It must have taken a very long time to reach Shadrack, and it took a month for Shadracks reply to reach Mordack. Mordack must have just received this letter and read it, and was writing a response tto send back to Shadrack which Alexander overheard. Had he had the chance to send his letter it probably would have taken month or more to get back to Shadrack as well. It is not certain how they are sending their correspondence back and forth to each other but it appears to be very slow.