The Highland Brigade of four battalions, with Sir Edward Hamley and Sir Archibald Alison, had arrived at Ismailia on September 1, and by the 12th the British forces were concentrated at Kassassin in readiness for decisive action. Previously, however, on September 9, a considerable portion of the Egyptian army from Tel-el-Kebir again attacked the position at Kassassin at daylight; but we were too strong for them, their opportunity was gone, and under the orders of General Willis our troops advanced boldly across the desert, and drove the enemy back, capturing three of their guns. Our losses on the occasion were: killed, 3; wounded, 77; total, 80. Arabi's estimate was very different. In his telegram, September 12, to the Ministry of War, Cairo, he says: 'Moreover, from true observation it has been proved to us that the number of the enemy killed and remaining on the field of battle is about 2,500, and their carts were insufficient for carrying off the wounded.' During the early part of September, reconnoissances were made with a view of ascertaining the general position of the enemy's defences, and, as far as possible, their armament and progress. Our reconnoitring parties consisted of one or two officers with a small mounted escort, who approached the Egpytian entrenchments at daylight and made careful observations from different parts of the desert; the enemy taking little or no notice of their appearance. Indeed, it was rather remarkable that, although the Egyptian leaders must have been aware of the near approach of the British army, they apparently sent out no cavalry at night, and even their infantry pickets were, as a rule, lying about close to their works and only roused themselves at dawn. The right of the enemy's earthworks rested on the fresh-water canal, and then stretched away northerly for nearly four miles across the desert, their left being _en l'air_. Their very extent was a great weakness. So far as could be ascertained before the battle, the entrenchments towards the canal, which were subsequently stormed by the Highlanders, were the most complete and formidable, being armed with many Krupp field-guns, and supported by retrenchments inside. About 1,000 yards in advance of that part of the defences the Egyptians had constructed and armed a detached outwork, which, curiously enough, escaped the observation of our reconnoitring parties. Most fortunately when we advanced on the 13th, and when a portion of our troops must have passed close to it just before daylight, they were not discovered; otherwise our great object of reaching the main line of works unperceived might have been prematurely divulged at a critical moment. The Egyptian forces were estimated as being about 38,000 men, with 60 guns, of which we captured 59. [Illustration:]