Free The Killer Koala by Kenneth Cook Page A

stand up in there,' he said when the wire stopped
running out. 'It's going to be a hell of a bang in water as shallow
as that. We'd better keep back a bit.'
    'Will
the charge kill him?' I asked.
    'Probably.
It'll push him flat and wreck his guts. He'd be near enough to dead.'
    'He's
not likely to come rushing out?'
    'No
way. He might stick his head up after a while to have a look and see
whether there's anything worth eating. But he probably won't be
interested in more food at the moment. He'll just want to be left
alone.'
    At
times I thought there was something terribly coldblooded about Jack's
attitude, but I suppose it was the only way to go about the job.
    We
all went back a few paces from the bank and I set off the charge.
    It
was a hell of a bang.
    A
vast gout of muddy water and weed shot high into the air, one bank
collapsed and a large gum toppled slowly over and fell into the pool.
Two large catfish and a barramundi and an eel suddenly were flopping
and wriggling on the grass at our feet and we were drenched by water
with a vaguely rotten smell.
    There
was no sign of a crocodile.
    'Thought
that pool would be a bit shallow for him,' said Jack ' We'll try
further down. Bit too much geli there too — you
can't judge it unless you know how deep the pool is all over and it's
no good probing because there's often holes or tunnels in the sides.'
    'He
couldn't be in there and dead?'
    'Nah.
If he was in the pool itself, he'd float up. If he was in a cave in
the bank, the top would have blown off. The top of the cave's always
above the surface of the water.'
    It
did strike me that tramping around the banks of a pool that might
have contained earth caves sheltering crocodiles a hair's breadth
from our feet was not exactly prudent, but Jack wasn't worried and he
gave every indication of being careful and competent.
    The
next pool was only ten minutes' walk away. It was much larger, with
only a couple of trees on the banks and a large clearing all around
it. Again, there were all sorts of tracks and droppings and the pool
had been disturbed by something.
    'That
looks more like it,' said Jack. 'It has to be pretty deep, too. We'll
give it a hell of a blast.'
    He
began packing gelignite sticks into the metal container.
    'Will
that kill him if he's in a cave?' I asked.
    'Oh,
yeah. The pressure this sort of thing creates under water is
unbelievable. Trouble is, you kill everything else in the pool too.
Still, that can't be helped.'
    He
tossed the container into the centre of the pool and fed out a lot of
wire while it sank.

'It's
deep all right,' he said.
    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. I heard three rifles being cocked.
    'Wait
for it,' said Jack. 'Wait till he's right up.'
    The
thing seemed to be about to break the surface when a huge bubble
erupted on the water to the sound of a horrendous belch. A gust of
stinking crocodile breath hit us with such force we all stepped back.
Then Jack moved right to the water's edge with his rifle ready.