The Egyptian Brigades Usually Marched With Three Battalions In
The Front Line And One In Reserve, Each Of The Three In The Front Line
Having Four Companies In Front And Two In Support.
The spectacle of the moving army - the grand army of the Nile - as it
advanced towards its goal was
Especially wonderful in the clear air of the
early morning; a long row of great brown masses of infantry and artillery,
with a fringe of cavalry dotting the plain for miles in front, with the
Camel Corps - chocolate-coloured men on cream-coloured camels - stretching
into the desert on the right, and the white gunboats stealing silently up
the river on the left, scrutinising the banks with their guns; while far
in rear the transport trailed away into the mirage, and far in front the
field-glass disclosed the enemy's patrols. Day after day and hour after
hour the advance was maintained. Arrived at the camping-ground, the zeriba
had to be built; and this involved a long afternoon of fatigue. In the
evening, when the dusty, tired-out squadrons returned, the troopers
attended to their horses, and so went to sleep in peace. It was then that
the dusty, tired-out infantry provided sentries and pickets, who in a
ceaseless succession paced the zeriba and guarded its occupants.
The position of the next camp was a strong one, on a high swell of
open ground which afforded a clear field of fire in every direction.
Everyone that night lay down to sleep with a feeling of keen expectancy.
One way or the other all doubts would be settled the next day.
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