This is from memory, without the book in front of me, so I hope my description of the scene's roughly right:
In Tintin and Tibet, Captain Haddock is climbing when he gets a burst of what looks like green sparks around the top of his ice-axe, which is protruding from his rucksack. Tintin calms him down, telling him it's just St Elmo's Fire - a sort of electrical discharge from ionized air sometimes seen round the top of ships' masts. Tintin reminds the Captain that, as a sailor, he should know of this phenomonon. St Elmo (also known as Erasmus of Formiae, according to Wikipedia) is the patron saint of sailors. (Maybe he's related to the Captain's often-mentioned guardian angel!) |