When Danny turns nine, he discovers his father’s “most private and secret habit” (25). One night Danny wakes up to find that his father is not in the caravan, office, or the workshop. This makes Danny panic for “the first time in his life” (27) since he is sure his father would never willingly leave him alone at night. Danny, deeply distressed, waits for his father on the front porch and eventually hears him walking toward the caravan.

William knows he owes Danny an explanation, so he shares his deep, dark secret: He loves the thrill of poaching and had been poaching up in Hazell’s wood, six and half miles away from their caravan. William’s grandfather had taught him to poach when he was 10 years old, and he has been hooked ever since. He tells Danny that poaching was a necessity for a lot of people in England who were starving. Using his storytelling skills, William paints a picture of “wealthy idiots” (32) buying thousands of baby pheasants, which they over feed “like kings” (30), taming them and then shooting the fat pheasants for sport while people all around are starving.