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Scene: Danny and William are in Doc’s office the next morning.
Doc: It’s, it’s… it’s… absolutely flabbergasting.
William: If it works, it will make Danny the all-time champion of the world. Can you give us the stuff?
Doc: Well, eh, yes… of course. But I think it will require a little… a little planning. Military planning.
Danny and his father then head to the general store and pass Mr. Snoddy on his way out.
William: (Tipping his cap.) Afternoon, Snoddy. (Thinks.) Oooh, would you, uh…? (He draws Snoddy close and begins to talk.)
Then William and Danny go inside the store.
Shopkeeper: Raisins, eh? (Winking at them.) One bag do you?
William: How many have you got?
Shopkeeper: Oh, I don’t know. Twenty or thirty I suppose.
William: (Looks at Danny.) We’ll take the lot. (Shopkeeper is stunned.)
Scene: Back at home, William and Danny open the bags and pour the raisins into large bowls to soak. Then William begins opening the many bottles of sleeping pills Doc has provided and grinding the tablets into a powder.
William: This should just put them to sleep for a day and a night. Then we’ll snaff them. Easy as pie. (Danny sets down a bowl of raisins ready to be prepared.) Let’s have a go.
William begins by nicking the raisin with a razor blade. Then he uses a pocket knife blade to fill it with the sleeping powder. Lastly he sews it up with a needle and thread.
William: Darling, I think we’re going to do it!
They continue to prepare raisins all day, and that night Danny’s head is drooping on the table.
William: You should go to bed, my love. I’ve got all tomorrow. I’ll close up for the day.
Danny goes to bed while William continues to prepare the raisins. He also folds some burlap bags to put the pheasants in.
Scene: Next morning, William is rushing Danny out the door for school.
William: Come on Dan. Hurry up. Now come straight back after school, all right? If we’re not up the woods by sunset we’ll be too late. Danny! (Gives Danny his forgotten school bag.) Go on. (Danny rushes off to school.)
Scene: Captain Lancaster is pacing through the classroom watching the students write.
He’s got a metal clip he’s holding behind his back that he’s snapping. Sidney elbows Danny, who has fallen asleep on the desk. But Danny doesn’t wake up. Lancaster walks over to him and snaps the clip right by Danny’s head. He jerks awake.
Capt. Lancaster: Having forty winks are we, Smith? Well, we’ll have to wake you up a bit, won’t we? Stay behind after the bell.
Danny: But sir, I’ve got to get home.
Capt. Lancaster: You’ll do as you’re told, boy.
After the bell rings that day, the other students happily leave while Mr. Snoddy watches from his office. Nearby, Danny waits with Captain Lancaster.
Capt. Lancaster: Right, Smith. (Opening door.)
Danny: Please, sir, I’ll do any other punishment. I just can’t be late tonight.
Capt. Lancaster: Then you’d better put a bit of beef into it, hadn’t you? Twenty times. At the double.
Danny heads out into the schoolyard and begins running laps as Lancaster watches.
Capt. Lancaster: Come on, boy. Pick those feet up. Hup hup hup!
Back the caravan, William checks his watch and wonders where Danny is. At school, as soon as Captain Lancaster looks away Danny darts behind a shed and climbs over the wall. By the time Lancaster realizes it, Danny’s disappeared.
Capt. Lancaster: Smith? Smith!
Lancaster heads towards the shed and figures out what’s happened. He tries to climb up the wall but he gets his trousers caught on a nail. As he tries to go over, his pants rip further and further. Mr. Snoddy comes out and sees him.
Mr. Snoddy: Captain Lancaster. What on earth are you doing, man?
Capt. Lancaster: (Trying to hold on and keep his pants up.) I’m… He was… This is the school… It’s a bear pit. The most disgusting shambles I’ve ever seen. I’m resigning. You heard me! As of now. (He falls to the ground.)
Mr. Snoddy: Good.
Scene: In Hazell’s wood, Danny and William – wearing dark clothing with black on their faces – are scattering raisins for the pheasants.
The birds happily peck away. Suddenly William hears the keepers nearby and he and Danny dive for cover. The keepers have heard something too.
2nd Keeper: Wait a minute! (They listen.) Nah.
1st Keeper: What’s that? (Pointing in the opposite direction.)
William: (To Danny.) If they see the raisins…
The keepers walk over to check on the birds. To distract them, William breaks a stick.
2nd Keeper: Ah-ha! Ah-ha. This way, this way. (The keepers run towards William.) Stay here.
The keeper walks around searching, but Danny and William are too well hidden. Danny’s hand is sticking out, though, and the keeper stands right on it. Danny tries to remain silent and still. The keeper eventually moves.
2nd Keeper: How about this? And what for?
1st Keeper: About a hundred quid.
2nd Keeper: A hundred quid? Our lad won’t be out poaching with his leg in plaster, will he? Hmm. I’m certainly not standing out here all night on the wages I get paid. (Starts to leave.) Are you comin’?
The two keepers leave and William breathes a sigh of relief.
William: Are you all right, Danny? (Danny stands and stretches his fingers.) Let me see your hand. (William kisses it.)
William and Danny continue spreading raisins until their sacks are empty.
William: All we can do now is to wait.
As the birds fly up to roost, Danny and William sit on the forest floor.
Danny: Maybe it isn’t going to work, Dad. Maybe there’s something we haven’t thought of.
William: Give it time.
Danny: What?
William: Give it time. (Looks up at the trees nervously.)
They wait longer, but nothing is happening. Just as William looks like he’s about to give up, they hear a thump. Then another. Two birds have fallen from the trees.
William: Come on, Dan!
They stand there laughing as the birds begin to literally rain down around them. They do a dance of joy. Meanwhile, two cars and a truck pull up to the woods. It’s Doc, Mr. Snoddy, and the Postman. William beckons for them to come and see. There stands Danny surrounded by hundreds of sleeping pheasants.
Mr. Snoddy: (Incredulous.) Oh my laddies… It’s a pic!
The men begin packing the birds into the burlap sacks and then onto the trucks. Later, Danny helps unpack them onto a bed of straw back in the garage.
Mr. Snoddy: Well, that’s the last. I can hardly believe it! It’s historic!
Doc: (Looking at all the birds.) What are we going to do with them all when they wake up?
William: What do you think we should do with them, Danny?
Danny: (Considers.) Let them go.
Mr. Snoddy: Well said, lad.
William: Danny, we’ve got to spread the good news.
The men make a fire balloon and and light it.
William: Okay, let’s let her go. (The balloon rises into the night sky.) Oh, it’s a good one, Danny. This’ll let the village know.