“The troops set off in silence, no smoking or giving of orders aloud being permitted. The engineers had set up directing posts as guides in the earlier part of the march, but in the deep darkness of a moonless night these were not easy to find. Only the North Star and the Little Bear, shining through the drifting clouds, gave the leaders some fixed point by which to find the way. Sir Garnet sent his own naval aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Rawson, R. N., who was accustomed to steer by the stars, to act as a guide with Sir Edward Hamley’s division. Even with this help the flanks of the Highland Brigade in the course of the night march lost their direction after a short halt, and circled round until a crescent-like formation was the result. “A second halt was necessary to remedy the confusion. Soon after, a strange light appeared upon the horizon, and Sir Garnet feared it was the first sign of the coming dawn. If so, the night attack had failed. But no rising sun followed that long streak of light, and later on they learned that a comet had been observed in the heavens for the first time on that eve of Tel-el-Kebir.” On September 27, the comet was seen at Vienna, according to a telegram received by the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, but meanwhile it had been observed continuously at the Cape of Good Hope Observatory since September 8. It was seen on this date by Mr. Finlay, a member of the observatory staff, while he was going homeward after working all night at the dome. Happening to glance eastward, his attention was at once attracted by the comet. Returning hastily to the observatory, he proceeded to make the necessary measurements for recording its position with regard to a small star in its neighborhood. One can imagine the anxiety with which its reappearance was awaited next morning by Sir David Gill, the director of the observatory, and by those who may have heard the good news of a comet in the offing. The following morning the comet was again observed, and Sir David Gill sent a telegram to Sir James Anderson, chairman of the Eastern Telegraph Company: Kindly tell Astronomer Royal, Greenwich, that bright comet was observed here yesterday morning by Finlay. Right ascension this morning, nine hours, forty minutes, increasing hourly, nine minutes. Declination one degree south, increasing half degree south daily.