wrath upon the battalions and compelled the broken-hearted
Sergeant-Cooks to dismantle their improvised establishments.
Notwithstanding this discouragement, the cooks stuck to their tasks with
that faithfulness which always characterised their attitude to the
remainder of their comrades. They never let the men down.

At Tel-el-Kebir had been concentrated the 1st and 2nd Australian
Divisions. The N.Z. and A. Division was at Moascar (near Ismailia). The
8th Infantry Brigade, which had arrived in Egypt from Australia about
the middle of December, was covering a wide front on the eastern bank of
the Suez Canal. The three brigades of Light Horse had recovered their
mounts and were stationed near Cairo.

The camp of the 1st and 2nd Divisions ran for some two or three miles
along the north bank of the Wady Tumilat, through which in ancient days
had flowed the waters of the Nile to an outlet in the chain of lakes, of
which Timsah was the nearest. The stream bed is some two miles wide and
is dotted about with small villages and extensive cultivated tracts,
whose edges are sharply defined by the sand and gravel of the Arabian
Desert. On the south bank are traces of a canal excavated about 600
B.C., whilst on the north bank runs the Ismailia, or Sweet Water, Canal.
This is also a work commenced in ancient times, re-opened some 60 years
ago and continued to Suez originally for the purpose of supplying those
engaged on Lesseps' great work.

The camp backed on to the railway line and faced towards the open
desert, to the north. The 28th was on the extreme right of the infantry,
but still further to the right lay the three brigades of the artillery
of the 2nd Division, which had recently arrived from Australia. The
neighbouring ground was historical. On it had been camped Arabi Pasha's
rebel army of 25,000 Egyptians and 5,000 Bedouins to oppose Sir Garnet
Wolseley's flank march on Cairo from Ismailia. About 1,000 yards to the
east of the 28th, was a line of earthworks--ditch, rampart, bastion, and
redoubt--which, commencing at the Sweet Water Canal, extended about due
north for nearly five miles. Other and smaller works lay to the west of
this line. At dawn on the 13th September, 1882, the British, 17,000
strong with 61 guns, had attacked the Egyptian Army by storming the
fortifications. Within an hour the enemy was routed with heavy loss,
including 58 guns, and at the small cost to the assailants of 57 killed
and 412 other casualti