Early in September reinforcements were despatched to strengthen Alexandria and protect the direct line of communications from Ismailia. Here matters were still at a standstill, owing to the unavoidable difficulties of transport; and frequent reconnaissances, involving an occasional skirmish, were made towards Tel el Kebir, where the enemy were now known to be in strength and heavily entrenched. That this point was that in which a decisive battle for the possession of the Delta might have to be fought, had been recognised before the expedition left England. On the 9th, Arabi made his last offensive effort on both sides of the canal, bringing on the second battle of Kassassin; and on this occasion the troops he brought from Tel el Kebir were reinforced by a force of five battalions from Salahieh to the north; but the fighting was not severe and the loss on both sides insignificant, while in retiring, the Egyptians abandoned three guns, two of which were taken by the Royal Marine Light Infantry. The army was now concentrated within striking distance of the first objective, the defeat of the Egyptian army under Arabi. Repeated reconnaissances had shown that in front of the village of Tel el Kebir was a long line of entrenchments, the right resting on the canal, the left, some four miles out _en l’air_ in the desert. The desert, absolutely treeless, and without marked undulations, afforded absolutely no cover, and to cross the fire-swept approach against entrenched troops would have caused serious loss. Sir Garnet, therefore, decided on making a night march to get within charging distance, and thus inaugurated on a large scale the system of night attacks, which, as a distinguished soldier long since remarked, will, if properly prepared for and organised by a nation, cause it to win the next great war. The ground favoured the operation, but the distance was not inconsiderable, and the danger of that unreasoning panic which sometimes seizes the best troops was always present. At anyrate, any manœuvring in the dark or the early dawn was out of the question. The army must march in the order in which it was going to fight, and therefore each battalion had one half in first and the other half in second line, either marching in line formation or in line of companies in column of fours at deploying interval, from which lines could speedily and readily be formed. Extended order was not required for the rush into the entrenchments which the general planned. It was not to be a fire-action, but a shock-battle such as the Peninsula saw. [Illustration: _Formation of the Line of Battle at Tel-el-Kebir, 13^{th} Sept^{r} 1882._]