When Bill returns home from his boarding school for his autumn half-term break, his father's keeper offers to take him duck shooting on the family's estate.

His next chance to try the stick is in the Christmas holiday, and this time Bill takes his younger brother Peter and a pet dog with him to the family's Scottish estate.

At home in his library, Bill's father discovers an old volume with a 12th century tale which tells of the two staves mentioned in the Book of Zechariah 11:7,[2] one called "Beauty", which favours the pursuit of pleasure, and the other "Bands", which should be used only for serious purposes.

Bill plays a prank on some selfish neighbours, rescues his uncle Bob, an aviator whose plane has been lost over the Sahara, and visits an elephants' graveyard.

From a picture paper, Bill learns of young prince Anatole, heir to the throne in the Balkan kingdom of Gracia, who has been imprisoned by the ambitious Prime Minister, Kuno.