With the Dragoon Guards holding the ground at Kassassin, Graham moved his brigade to take possession of the village. Arabi did not contest the British advance, and the Malverns joined the Yorks and Lancs, Cornwalls, and Marines in posting pickets and preparing entrenchments.
“We’re only seven miles from Arabi’s base at Tel-el-Kebir,” Jack spread his now battered map on his travel desk. “He can’t retreat forever unless he goes south into the desert.”
Bryant looked worried. “We’re running short of stores, sir.”
“We’ve moved faster than even Wolseley anticipated,” Jack explained. “That leaves us with logistical problems. The army needs food, ammunition, medical equipment, and fodder for the horses, and we don’t have a locomotive to pull wagons along the railway.”
Wolseley’s vaunted effici
