CHAPTER XI.
BACK TO EGYPT.
The Battalion disembarked at 10 a.m. on the 10th January and at once boarded a train. Little of Alexandria could be seen except the sea front and the southern and eastern portions which the railway skirted in its way out between the large shallow lakes, Mariut and Abukir, into the Libyan Desert. The route lay across the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile and through the railway junctions of Tanta, Benha, and Zagazig, to Tel-el-Kebir, a station on the Sweet Water Canal some 16 miles west of Zagazig. Here there was a large military siding and signs of an extensive camp.
Leaving the train the Battalion proceeded to its camp site eastwards for some distance along a new military road. There, standing conspicuously on a little knoll, the first object to catch the eye was a bulky figure which had last been seen at Blackboy Hill and was now recognised, with ironical cheers, as belonging to the Camp Provost Corporal—the terror of all newly-joined recruits.
Near the camp site was parked the Regimental Transport which, under Lieut. T. D. Graham, had for over four months been impatiently awaiting orders to rejoin its parent unit. Men, horses, and vehicles were in fine condition and showed the benefit of the hard training that had been undertaken in anticipation of an advance after the enemy had been dislodged. In the care of the Transport were Australian mails, which had been accumulating for four weeks. These were very welcome.
Judging by the appearance of the lines of the neighbouring units, tents were not plentiful. Thanks, however, to a thoughtful Quartermaster and an unsuspecting Ordnance Officer at Alexandria, the Battalion had brought with it on the train a supply sufficient to house all ranks and allow a few over for the rest of the brigade. Beyond tents and a limited water supply, drawn from a neighbouring main, none of the ordinary conveniences, such as were found at Abbasia, were available. All these had to be provided by the Battalion's own efforts.
MAP OF THE COUNTRY ADJACENT TO TEL EL-KEBIR.
SHEWING ENTRENCHMENTS (ARABI PASHA REVOLT 1882)
AND AUSTRALIAN CAMPS 1916[ToList]