"Because," she says smiling, "I'm afraid the beasts will get me while you're gone."
"Rats!" says I.
"Tigers!" says she. "Oh, Right, you unplumbable old idiot! Do you think you can come into this cave and hide anything from me under that transparent face of yours? The minute you came in and hemmed and hawed, and said as you had nothing to do you guessed you'd have a go with the firesticks—I knew. What scared you?"
I surrendered and told her.
"... And then," she said, "you think maybe they'll hurt—us?"
I nodded.
"Why, it's war," she said. "I've read enough about war to know that there are two safe rules to follow. First, declare war yourself while the other fellow's thinking about it; and then strike him before he's even heard that you have declared it. That sounds mixed, but it's easy enough. We'll declare war on the dangerous beasts while I'm still in the months of hop, skip, and jump."
"A certain woman," said I, "wouldn't let the beasts go down in the old Boldero, as would have been beneficial for all parties."
"This is different," she said. "This island's got to be a safe place for a little child to play in or Ivy Bower's got to be told the reason why."
"You're dead right, Ivy dear," I says, "and always was. But how? I'm cursed if I know how to kill a tiger without a rifle.... Let's get fire first and put the citadel in a state of siege. Then we'll try our hand at traps, snares, and pitfalls. I'm strong, but I'm cursed if I want to fall on a tiger with nothing in my hands but a knife or an axe."