DAYS OF WAITING AND PREPARATION. 23

Having secured my warrant to join the Sirdar’s army, I started from Cairo for Assouan and Wady Halfa. The headquarters at that date were still in Wady Halfa, On the 21st of July the first detachments of the reinforcements that were to make up the British force to a division, which Major-General Gatacre was

to command, left Cairo for the south. Thereafter,

DaRMALI (BRITISH BRIGADE SUMMER QUARTERS).

nearly day by day up to the gth of August inclusive, troops were sent forward. These consisted of artillery, cavalry, the 21st Lancers, baggage animals, Royal Engineers, Army Service Corps, Medical Corps, and the four battalions of infantry which were to form the second British brigade. The brigade in question comprised 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, the