'What was that?' I asked.
'Ssshh!'
We stood listening.
Thump!
'There's another!' I said.
It was a deep muffled sound as though a bag of sand had been dropped to the ground.
Thump!
'They're pheasants!' I cried.
'Wait!'
'They must be pheasants, Dad!'
Thump! Thump!
'You may be right, Danny!'
We switched on our torches and ran towards the sounds.
'Where were they?' my father said.
'Over here, Dad! Two of them were over here!'
'I thought they were this way. Keep looking! They can't be far!'
We searched for about a minute.
'Here's one!' my father called.
When I got to him he was holding a magnificent cock bird in both hands. We examined it closely with our torches.
'It's doped to high heaven,' my father said. 'It won't wake up for a week.'
Thump!
'There's another!' I cried.
Thump! Thump!
'Two more!' my father yelled.
Thump!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
'Jeepers!' my father said.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Thump! Thump!
All around us the pheasants were starting to rain down out of the trees. We began rushing round madly in the dark, sweeping the ground with our torches.