No time was lost after the landing of the troops at Ismailia, the advance commencing the day following the occupation. At 11 a.m. General Graham started from the town with 800 men and a small naval contingent, and marched across the heavy sand, arriving in position at Nefiché at 1.30 p.m.
The Egyptian camp was found completely deserted, the enemy having retired to the westward along the Fresh Water Canal. A few tents were left behind, and about thirty railway trucks full of provisions and ammunition. The remains of the wrecked train which had been struck by the Orion's shell were also lying about. The locomotive, however, which was badly wanted, was gone, and the telegraph wires were cut. The entire force under Graham bivouacked here, and the position was at once placed in an efficient state of defence. Shelter trenches were thrown up, and guns were placed in position.
Later in the day a reconnaissance was made to the westward, and the presence of the enemy was discerned about four miles distant.
The troops had carried with them two days' rations, and it was necessary to accumulate a small stock of stores before continuing the advance. In consequence, the next two days were devoted to preparations.
Transports continued to arrive daily in Lake Timsah, and landing went on rapidly. On the 22nd, twenty-six transports, besides vessels of war, were moored off Ismailia. At 4 p.m. all the bluejackets from the fleet re-embarked, except three Gatling guns' crews and a torpedo party, who had advanced with Graham to Nefiché.[53]
On the 23rd there was increased activity in Ismailia, several transports arriving from Suez with portions of the Indian Contingent. The Khedive's Palace was converted into a hospital. Lines of rails were laid down from the landing-place to the station, and stores were disembarked in great quantities and moved up to the front.
On the following day commenced a series of engagements, which, with some intervals, continued until the dispersal of the Egyptian Army at Tel-el-Kebir.
At 4 a.m. on the 24th, Wolseley made an advance with the object of seizing a position on the Fresh Water Canal and railway which would insure the water supply. His force consisted of three squadrons of cavalry, two guns (R.H.A.), and 1,000 infantry (York and Lancaster Regiment and Marines). Following the line of railway, they arrived at 7.30 a.m. on the north side of the Canal, at a point about midway between El Magfar and the village of Tel-el-Mahuta. At this point the enemy had constructed his first dam across the Canal, and after some skirmishing, in which the Household Cavalry made a successful charge, the dam was taken possession of.
From this point the enemy could be seen in force about a mile-and-a-half further on, holding a line extending across the Canal, at a distance of 2,000 yards from the British front. At Mahuta also a large embankment was seen blocking the railway, and a second dam had been constructed across the Canal. The smoke of locomotives constantly reaching Mahuta indicated that reinforcements were arriving at that point from the direction of Tel-el-Kebir.
Nevertheless, Wolseley, at the risk of being outnumbered—the enemy's force amounting in all to about 7,000 men—decided to hold his ground till evening, by which time the reinforcements sent for to Nefiché and Ismailia would arrive.