They had been informed that they should find refreshments at Damanhour, but they met with nothing there but miserable huts, and could procure neither bread nor wine; only lentils in great abundance, and a little water. They were obliged to proceed again into the desert. Bonaparte saw the brave Lannes and Murat take off their hats, dash them on the sand, and trample them under foot. He, however, overawed all: his presence imposed silence, and sometimes restored cheerfulness. The soldiers would not impute their sufferings to him, but grew angry with those who took pleasure in observing the country. On seeing the men of science stop to examine the slightest ruins, they said they should not have been there but for them, and revenged themselves with witticisms after their fashion. Caffarelli, in particular, brave as a grenadier, and inquisitive as a scholar, was considered by them as the man who had deceived the general and drawn him into this distant country. As he had lost a leg on the Rhine, they said, "He, for his part, laughs at this: he has one foot in France." At last, after severe hardships, endured at first with impatience, and afterwards with gaiety and fortitude, they reached the Nile on the 10th of July, after a march of four days. At the sight of the Nile and of the water so much longed for, the soldiers flung themselves into it, and, bathing in its waves, forgot their fatigues. Desaix' division, which from the advance-guard had become the rear-guard, saw two or three hundred Mamluks galloping before it, whom they dispersed by a few volleys of grape. These were the first that had been seen, which warned the French that they would speedily fall in with the hostile army. The brave Murad Bey, having received the intelligence of the arrival of Bonaparte, was actually collecting his forces around Cairo. Until they should have assembled, he was hovering with a thousand horse about the army, in order to watch its march. The army waited at Ramanieh for the arrival of the flotilla. It rested till July 13th, and set out on the same day for Chebreiss. Murad Bey was waiting there with his Mamluks. The flotilla, which had set out first and preceded the army, found itself engaged before it could be supported. Murad Bey had a flotilla also, and from the shore he joined his fire to that of his light Egyptian vessels. The French flotilla had to sustain a very severe combat. Perree, a naval officer who commanded it, displayed extraordinary courage; he was supported by the cavalry, who had come dismounted to Egypt, and who, until they could equip themselves at the expense of the Mamluks, had taken their passage by water. Two gunboats were retaken from the enemy, and Perree was repulsed.