MARTIN RATTLER. 148

Barney was not a good stalker. The alligator
awoke, and made for the water as fast as it could
waddle. The Irishman rushed forward close up, as it
plunged into the river, and discharged the compound
of lead and stones right against the back of its head.
He might as well have fired at the boiler of a steam-
engine. The entire body of an alligator—back and
belly, head and tail—is so completely covered with
thick hard scales, that shot has no effect on it; and
even a bullet cannot pierce its coat of mail, except in
one or two vulnerable places. Nevertheless the shot
had been fired so close to it that the animal was
stunned, and rolled over on its back in the water.
Seeing this, the old trader rushed in up to his chin
and caught it by the tail; but at the same moment
the monster recovered, and, turning round, displayed
its terrific rows of teeth, The old man uttered a
dreadful roar, and struggled to the land as fast as
he could; while the alligator, equally frightened, no
doubt, gave a magnificent flourish and splash with its
tail, and dived to the bottom of the river.

The travellers returned disgusted to their canoe,
and resumed their journey up the Amazon in
silence.

The vulnerable places about an alligator are the
soft parts under the throat and the joints of the legs.