For some reason I realised that the civilians hadn't spoken since we started out, except to answer Jack's query about the guns. Now they stood at one side of the clearing, holding their weapons with the muzzles conscientiously towards the ground, quietly watching. The four of us gathered on the edge of the clearing well back from the pool and Jack set off the charge. The explosion was not nearly as loud as the first, even though the charge was much bigger, because the water was so much deeper. The spout of water was very broad, but didn't rise much higher than a man's height. The whole surface of the pool erupted into small choppy waves. The green slimy weed broke up, and injured and dead fish mixed and swirled with the vegetable debris. We walked to the bank and stared down as the water settled. A vast reptile shape appeared in the murk, first as just something with a huge head, four outstretched legs and a strangely misshapen tail. It was visible only as a ghostly form just below the surface of the muddy disturbed water.
