ansport from
Sarras. The country to the south and east was continually patrolled, to
guard against a turning movement, and the communications were further
strengthened by the establishment of fortified posts at Semna, Wady
Atira, and Tanjore. The friendly Arab tribes--Bedouin, Kabbabish,
and Foggara--ranged still more widely in the deserts and occupied the
scattered wells. All this time the Dervishes watched supinely from
their position at Fuket, and although they were within a single march
of Akasha they remained inactive and made no attempt to disturb the
operations.

Meanwhile the concentration of the Egyptian army on the frontier was
proceeding. The reservists obeyed the summons to the colours of their
own free will and with gratifying promptness, instead of being tardily
dragged from their homes in chains as in the days of Ismail. All
the battalions of the army were brought up to war strength. Two new
battalions of reservists were formed, the 15th and 16th. The 15th was
placed at Assuan and Korosko on the line of communications. The 16th was
despatched to Suakin to release the two battalions in garrison there
for service on the Nile. The 1st Battalion of the North Staffordshire
Regiment was moved up the river from Cairo to take the place of the
Wady Halfa garrison of six battalions, which had moved on to Sarras and
Akasha. A Maxim battery of four guns was formed from the machine-gun
sections of the Staffordshires and Connaught Rangers and hurried south.
The 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Egyptian Battalions from Cairo were passed in
a continual succession along the railway and river to the front. In all
this busy and complicated movement of troops the Egyptian War Office
worked smoothly, and clearly showed the ability with which it was
organised.

The line of communications from Cairo, the permanent base, to the
advanced post at Akasha was 825 miles in length. But of this distance
only the section lying south of Assuan could be considered as within
the theatre of war. The ordinary broad-gauge railway ran from Cairo to
Balliana, where a river base was established. From Balliana to Assuan
reinforcements and supplies were forwarded by Messrs. Cook's fleet
of steamers, by barges towed by small tugs, and by a number of native
sailing craft. A stretch of seven miles of railway avoids the First
Cataract, and joins Assuan and Shellal. Above Shellal a second flotilla
of gunboats, steamers, barges, and Nile boats was collected to