rt of a stroke of lightning; for no bird could have
power enough to raise and drop him from a great height upon rocks, as
the eagles do on earth."

"I suspect, if anxious for turtle soup," said Bearwarden, "we must
attach a lightning--rod, and wait for a thunderstorm to electrocute
him."

CHAPTER VIII.

SPORTSMEN'S REVERIES.

Feeling grateful to the huge tortoise for the good service he had
rendered, they shot a number of the great snakes that were gliding
about on the ground, and placed them where he would find them on
awaiting. They then picked their way carefully towards stretches on
which the grass was shortest. When they had gone about two miles, and
had already reached higher ground, they came to a ridge of rock running
at right angles to their course. This they climbed, and on looking
over the edge of the crest beheld a sight that made their hearts stand
still. A monster, somewhat resembling an alligator, except that the
back was arched, was waddling about perhaps seventy-five yards from
them. It was sixty feet long, and to the top of its scales was at
least twenty-five feet high. It was constantly moving, and the
travellers noticed with some dismay that its motion was far more rapid
than they would have supposed it could be.

"It is also a dinosaur," said the professor, watching it sharply, "and
very closely resembles the Stegosaurus ungulatus restored in the
museums. The question is, What shall we do with the living specimen,
now that we have it?"

"Our chairman," said Ayrault, "must find a way to kill it, so that we
may examine it closely."

"The trouble is," said Bearwarden, "our bullets will explode before
they penetrate the scales. In the absence of any way of making a
passage for an explosive ball by means of a solid one, we must strike a
vital spot. His scales being no harder than the trunk of a tree, we
can wound him terribly by touching him anywhere; but there is no object
in doing this unless we can kill him, especially as there is no deep
stream, such as would have delayed the mastodon in reaching us, to
protect us here. We must spread out so as to divert his attention from
one to another."

After some consultation it was decided that Cortlandt, who had only a
shot-gun, should remain where they were, while Bearwarden and Ayrault
moved some distance to the right and left. At a signal from Cortlandt,
who was to attract the monster