When the escort caught up with him they rode on through the night, across a moonlit landscape of silky dunes interspersed with rocky massifs. At dawn they caught up with the artillery train, labouring along the route towards El Arish. The wheels of the gun carriages rotated for short distances before sinking into the sand so that the carriages had to be dragged forward. Berthier had been right, Napoleon reflected: this was no terrain for heavy wheeled traffic. He gave orders for the largest-calibre guns to be left behind and all available camels and horses to be harnessed to the mortar batteries and the lightest field pieces, and then drove them forward to join Reynier’s division outside the fort at El Arish.

They arrived late in the afternoon and as they crested the last rise before the village Napoleon saw the fort, a large square constructed from solid-looking masonry. To the left the sea sparkled serenely in the sunlight. Leaving the artillerymen and his escort to haul the mortars into the camp, Napoleon rode ahead to find General Reynier.The division commander was in a small redoubt on a low escarpment beyond the fort.

‘What the hell are you doing up here?’ Napoleon demanded. ‘Your men are facing the wrong way.’

‘No, sir. We were attacked by a relief force yesterday. The advance battalion only just managed to hold them off until I could bring up support. Then the enemy broke and retreated up the coast.’

‘Have you sent any scouts forward to see how far they’ve gone?’

Reynier paused, nervously. ‘No, sir. Not yet.’

‘Why not? If they’ve gone then your men have been sitting on their arses here for two days when they could have been down there assaulting the fort.’

‘We’ve already tried frontal attacks. My men didn’t even get over the wall before they were repulsed. With heavy losses, sir.’

‘I see.’ Napoleon frowned. ‘Right, then, leave a battalion up here, just in case the enemy does come back. Get the rest down to cover the fort and make ready for another assault. Meanwhile, as soon as the mortars are in place, we’ll give those Turks a shelling they won’t forget in a hurry.’