[53] It is related that one of the men-of-wars' men, when in working dress and carrying a huge package of stores, was accosted by a smart Commissariat officer, who asked the sailor who he was. Jack stopped in his work, and wiping the perspiration from his brow, replied, "Well, sir, I used to be a British sailor, but now I'm blowed if I don't begin to think I'm a blooming Commissariat mule."
[54] The dam, which by threatening the water supply had necessitated the advance, was found to have been made of bundles of reeds cleverly lashed together with telegraph wire, with sand thrown over each layer. All the next day the bluejackets, assisted by a fatigue party of soldiers, went to work up to their necks in the water trying to cut through the dam. Little or no impression, however, was made upon it. It was then operated on with gun-cotton, which had but little effect on the sand. A large hole was made, but it instantly filled up again. Pickaxes and shovels were then set to work, but it was not until the 27th that the dam was at last cleared away and the Canal opened to navigation.
[55] "Egypt in the Nineteenth Century," by A. D. Cameron, pp. 76-77.
[56] Mahmoud Pasha Fehmi, who was captured, was the Chief of the Staff of the Egyptian Army. He missed the train and was found strolling, apparently unconcerned, about the railway station at Mahsameh. As he was in the ordinary Egyptian dress with a "tarboosh" and white umbrella, he would probably have got away unobserved had he not been recognized and denounced by a wounded Egyptian soldier.
[57] Tel-el-Kebir and Kafr Dowar are the two great strategical points to be held in defending Lower Egypt. This will at once be seen on referring to a map of the Delta.
[58] This was turned by the Highlanders, who passed to the south.
[59] This work was absolutely useless in the battle, being taken by the Highlanders in the rear and by the 2nd Brigade in the flanks.
[60] As a fact 25,000 rations were served out to the Egyptian force at Tel-el-Kebir on the 12th September.
[61] This order being disobeyed by a drunken soldier, who by his shouting might have betrayed the presence of the force to the enemy, he was promptly seized, bound, and chloroformed into a quiescent state.
[62] 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, Royal Marine Light Infantry, 2nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers.