They were not getting anywhere. They could not go out there in the daytime without being seen from the town. After dark that monster always came and dug in its hole. They could not go out there then. And for a long time after it chased the monster, the tree remained alert, laying for more intruders. Timmy had found that out the hard way.

It looked like there was maybe an hour each morning, just before dawn, when it might be possible to get something accomplished safely.

But what? Nobody had figured that out. They sure weren't going to get a chance to chop the sucker down. Ringing it wasn't worth squat, even if you could get close enough for long enough to do it. How long for a ringed tree to die? Especially this kind?

Somebody suggested poisoning it. That sounded so good that they talked it over, recalling things they had seen used to kill weeds and stuff. Only the method demanded that they have a poison. Which meant going back to Oar to buy it. With money they did not have. And it might take as long as ringing the son of a bitch. Time was not an ally. Tully was in a panic about time already. He thought it a miracle no competition had yet shown.

"We got to do it fast."

Timmy said, "We ain't going to get it done as long as that monster keeps coming around."

"So maybe we help him find what he wants."

"You better got a mouse in your pocket when you say 'we,' cousin," Smeds said. "Because I ain't going out there to help that thing do squat."

"We burn it," Fish said.

"Huh? What?"

"The tree, fool. We burn it down."

"But we can't go out there and…"

Fish yanked a stick out of their woodpile. It was a yard long and two inches in diameter. He sailed it off through the woods. "Take a while, but it'll pile up. Then in with a torch or two. Whoosh. Up in flames. Fire burns out, we go pick up our spike."