He had tried that with lamentable results.

To invoke the help of religion.

He had tried that with strictly negative results; the Powers above did not seem inclined to intervene in this private affair.
To appeal to the Pasteur.

That he had not tried but, unpromising as the venture seemed to be, by Jove! he would.

In his imminent peril there was nothing to which he would have appealed, even Mumbo-Jumbo itself if it gave him the slightest hope of protection from Madame Riennes.
Accordingly, when they went to the observatory that night, instead of applying his eye to the telescope in the accustomed fashion, Godfrey rushed at the business like a bull at a gate.