In another moment it was on the bank, and in a stride wading
halfway across.  The knees of its foremost legs bent at the farther
bank, and in another moment it had raised itself to its full height
again, close to the village of Shepperton.  Forthwith the six guns
which, unknown to anyone on the right bank, had been hidden behind the
outskirts of that village, fired simultaneously.  The sudden near
concussion, the last close upon the first, made my heart jump.  The
monster was already raising the case generating the Heat-Ray as the
first shell burst six yards above the hood.