there were fifty onthe vessel, worshipped other gods than those of Egypt, that is, suchof them as worshipped any gods at all.
Many of these men, Philo said warningly, murmured because a priestessof Isis was on board their ship, which they thought would anger thePhœnician gods of whom the images had been set upon the prow, asmight lawfully be done when a vessel was hired by Tyre or Sidon.
I answered laughing that as he and I knew, Isis could hold her ownagainst Baal, Astarte, and all their company. Then, changing my mien,I asked him suddenly what he meant.
"Only this, Holy one," he answered: "That if by chance the ship cameinto danger--and I like not the signs of the sky and the moaning ofthe black north wind with rocks not two leagues away upon our lee,then I say if this ship came into danger, as might chance this verynight, for here gales grow suddenly--well, Holy one, you might be indanger also. In such cases, Holy one, sometimes the Phœnicians demanda sacrifice to the Cabiri, the great gods of the sea whom we do notworship."
"Is it so?" I answered coldly. "Then tell them that those who demandsacrifices often furnish the victims. Have no fear, mybrother-in-the-goddess. But if trouble comes, call to me to help you."
Then I stretched out to him the sistrum that was part of myornaments of office in which I had been brought aboard that ship, andhe kissed it with his lips and went about his business.
Scarce had he gone when the black north wind began to blow. It blewfearfully, rising hour by hour and even minute by minute, till thegale was terrible. The rowers could no longer row, for the great seasbroke their oars, of which the handles struck them, hurling thembackward from the benches, and the sail they tried to hoist upon themast was torn away and went flapping down the wind like a woundedgull. Thus continually the Hapi was driven in toward the coast ofSyria where, still some miles away, the moonlight when it broke outbetween the clouds showed the white surf of breakers foaming on theiron rocks of Carmel.
Toward midnight the tall mast snapped in two like a rotten stick andwent overboard, carrying with it certain men and crushing others. Thenterror took hold of all the company upon this ship, so that they beganto cry aloud who believed that black death was on them.
Now one shouted,"We are bewitched! At this season there should be no such gale, it isagainst nature."
Another answered,"Little wonder that we are bewitched who carry with us a sorceress ofEgypt, one who hates our gods, wherefore they are angry."
This they said because they had heard the tale of the water turned toblood, also of the oracles I was wont to utter in the temple atMemphis. For in that city dwelt many Phœnicians who were greattalkers and lovers of strange tales, though now, Holly 

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