Danny is only four months old when his mother dies, and at the beginning of the book, he lives with his widowed father, William, in a gypsy caravan, where William operates a service station and a garage. When Danny is nine years old, he discovers that William has regularly participated in poaching pheasants owned by local magnate, Mr. Victor Hazell. One morning later, at 2:10 am, Danny discovers William's absence; and out of fear of some misfortune, he drives an Austin Seven to Hazell's Wood, where he finally finds William in a trap, incapacitated by a broken ankle, and takes him home. While William recovers from his injury, he and Danny discover that Mr. Hazell's annual pheasant launch party is approaching, which he welcomes to dukes, lords, barons, baronets, wealthy businessmen, etc., and they decide to humiliate him by capturing all the pheasants in the forest. To this end, Danny suggests that he and William place the contents of the sleeping pills prescribed by their surgeon, Doc Spencer, into the raisins that the pheasants will eat; and William calls this new method the "Sleeping Beauty".
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