Danny, the Champion of the World

Danny and William use their flashlights to look for fallen pheasants in the woods. It suddenly occurs to William that a pheasant sleeps up a tree without falling out, so “surely there isn’t any reason why the pills should make it fall down” (146). As the two of them stand in gloomy silence thinking about this terrible oversight, they hear a soft “Thump.” All around them, pheasants start to rain down from the trees. William gazes around him like a “child who has just discovered that the whole world is made of chocolate” (150). William and Danny collect and pile up all the sleeping pheasants, and William counts them: “one hundred and twenty!” (153). William is ecstatic and congratulates Danny, telling him that this makes Danny “the champion of the world!” (153). They fill their sacks with pheasants and drag their catch to the trail. To Danny’s astonishment, a taxi driven by Charlie Kinch, a friend of William’s, is waiting for them on the trail. Charlie, a seasoned poacher, is more than happy to help William out in exchange for some pheasants. William explains to Danny that taxis are the perfect transport for poachers since no one knows who is inside apart from the driver.