“In the first place he is so far down under the water that the bullets would glance off, and never touch him. And, if by some chance they should hit him, his shell is thick enough to make them seem like dried peas.”
“I’ll aim at his head,” proposed Jerry, anxious to use his rifle on the creature.
“I fancy he has his head well drawn back under his protecting shell,” Mr. Snodgrass went on.
“Try for a flipper,” put in Ned.
“His flippers are mostly only muscle and cartilage,” declared the professor. “He wouldn’t mind a bullet through them any more than you would if you stuck a pin in the calloused part of the palm of your hand.”
“Then what can we do?” asked Jerry, who was beginning to be a little frightened at the prospect before them. The turtle seemed tireless.
“I’ll have to try a trick,” the scientist announced. “Have you a fishing rod aboard?”
“Several of them,” replied Jerry. “But do you think you can catch him on a hook and line?”
“Scarcely. But get the longest pole you have, please. I’ll show you something that I think will make Mr. Turtle let go of our anchor.”