promised him
everything, and, taking leave of him with many thanks, I returned to the
ship. I related the whole affair to M. Dolfin, who was highly amused. We
sailed on the following day, but on the fourth day, on the other side of
Curzola, we were visited by a storm which very nearly cost me my life.
This is how it happened:

The chaplain of the ship was a Sclavonian priest, very ignorant, insolent
and coarse-mannered, and, as I turned him into ridicule whenever the
opportunity offered, he had naturally become my sworn enemy. 'Tant de
fiel entre-t-il dans l'ame d'un devot!' When the storm was at its height,
he posted himself on the quarter-deck, and, with book in hand, proceeded
to exorcise all the spirits of hell whom he thought he could see in the
clouds, and to whom he pointed for the benefit of the sailors who,
believing themselves lost, were crying, howling, and giving way to
despair, instead of attending to the working of the ship, then in great
danger on account of the rocks and of the breakers which surrounded us.

Seeing the peril of our position, and the evil effect of his stupid,
incantations upon the minds of the sailors whom the ignorant priest was
throwing into the apathy of despair, instead of keeping up their courage,
I thought it prudent to interfere. I went up the rigging, calling upon
the sailors to do their duty cheerfully, telling them that there were no
devils, and that the priest who pretended to see them was a fool. But it
was in vain that I spoke in the most forcible manner, in vain that I went
to work myself, and shewed that safety was only to be insured by active
means, I could not prevent the priest declaring that I was an Atheist,
and he managed to rouse against me the anger of the greatest part of the
crew. The wind continued to lash the sea into fury for the two following
days, and the knave contrived to persuade the sailors who listened to him
that the hurricane would not abate as long as I was on board. Imbued with
that conviction, one of the men, thinking he had found a good opportunity
of fulfilling the wishes of the priest, came up to me as I was standing
at the extreme end of the forecastle, and pushed me so roughly that I was
thrown over. I should have been irretrievably lost, but the sharp point
of an anchor, hanging along the side of the ship, catching in my clothes,
prevented me from falling in the sea, and proved truly my sheet-anchor.
Some men came to my assistance, and I was